Compliant Bistable Grippers Enable Passive Perching for Micro Aerial Vehicles
Compliant Bistable Grippers Enable Passive Perching for Micro Aerial Vehicles
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兼容的双稳态夹具可实现微型飞行器的被动栖息
DOI：
10.1109/tmech.2020.3037303
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发表时间：
2020
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Zhao, Jianguo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Zhang, Haijie;Lerner, Elisha;Cheng, Bo;Zhao, Jianguo
具有多旋翼或多旋翼的微型飞行器（MAV）具有许多有前途的应用，从环境监测、农业检查到包裹递送。然而，这些应用通常面临一个关键问题：由于气动效率低和能耗高，微型飞行器的飞行时间有限。一个有希望的解决方案是使用栖息使它们停留在期望的物体上，栖息是生物飞行器的一种重要能力（例如，鸟类）。在这篇文章中，我们提出了一种新的栖息机制的设计和实验：一种低成本的，具有双稳态（即，两个稳定的状态）。夹持器有两个独特的特点。首先，利用双稳态，它可以被动地从打开状态切换到关闭状态，利用之间的影响夹持器和栖息的对象，减轻了精确的运动控制的要求。第二，对于不同的物体，夹持器有两种停留方法。对于高度较小的物体，它可以形成一个封闭的菱形形状来包围物体（包围法）。对于高度较大的物体，夹持器的两个手指可以夹在物体的两侧，以利用摩擦力进行停留（夹持方法）。我们分析了建议的夹具设计，以预测打开和关闭夹具所需的力。我们还预测的对象的大小，将允许成功的栖息的裁剪方法。所有的理论分析都得到了实验验证。最后，我们将夹持器集成到手掌大小的四轴飞行器上，以实现机电一体化系统的栖息，并展示了成功的栖息与修剪和环绕的方法以及空中抓地力。虽然我们的双旋翼夹持器与手掌大小的四轴飞行器一起使用，但该设计策略也可以应用于大型MAV，以实现节能栖息和空中抓取。
Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) with multiple rotors, or multicopters, have many promising applications ranging from environmental monitoring, agricultural inspection, to package delivery. These applications, however, usually face a critical problem: the flight time of MAVs is limited due to the low aerodynamic efficiency and high energy consumption. One promising solution is to make them rest on desired objects using perching, an important capability in biological flyers (e.g., birds). In this article, we present the design and experimentation of a novel perching mechanism: a low cost, 3-D-printed gripper with bistability (i.e., two stable states). The gripper has two unique characteristics. First, using bistability, it can passively switch from open to closed state using the impact between the gripper and the perching object, alleviating the requirement for precise motion control. Second, the gripper has two perching methods for different objects. For objects with a small height, it can form a closed diamond shape to encircle the objects (encircling method). For objects with a large height, the gripper's two fingers can clip on each side of the objects to utilize the friction forces for perching (clipping method). We analyze the proposed gripper design to predict the required force for opening and closing the gripper. We also predict the size of objects that will allow for successful perching for the clipping method. All the theoretical analyses are experimentally verified. Finally, we integrate the gripper onto a palm-size quadcopter to enable a mechatronic system for perching, and demonstrate successful perching with both clipping and encircling methods as well as aerial grasping. Although our bistable gripper is used with a palm-size quadcopter, the design strategy can also be applied to large-size MAVs for both energy efficient perching and aerial grasping.