Dynamics and Control of Hummingbird-Inspired Aerial Robots

该项目的目标是推进扑翼飞行动力学和控制的最新技术水平，从而能够创造下一代微型飞行机器人，其鲁棒性和敏捷性可与自然飞行器相媲美。具体来说，该项目的目标是创造具有蜂鸟卓越飞行品质的飞行机器人。使这些进步的见解将获得从分析和计算研究所发挥的作用，翅膀的灵活性在蜂鸟飞行力学，这将是验证实验上的蜂鸟一样的飞行机器人。具有这些能力的飞行机器人将在搜索和救援、环境监测和应急响应等任务中发挥关键作用。该项目将利用机器人蜂鸟固有的迷人方面，为空气动力学，动力学和控制理论的创造性，严格应用创造一个引人入胜的环境，以激励不同的学生群体追求STEM教育和职业。PI将组织实验室参观、夏令营，并作为演讲嘉宾参加面向少数民族和女性学生的K-12推广项目，为航空航天研究生和本科生提供研究经验。该项目将通过完全非线性模拟和飞行实验，提高对真实蜂鸟式扑翼机器人的飞行动力学、机动性和抗干扰能力的理解。该项目的成果将包括创建和实验验证一个完全非线性的6自由度飞行动力学模型的蜂鸟一样的扑翼机器人与灵活的翅膀，全面的非线性模拟和飞行测试，以确定关键的设计参数的稳定性和可控性的扑翼机器人在悬停，和控制设计的机动性和干扰抑制的基础上确定的线性时不变模型。该项目将讨论被动机翼扭转在机动性中的作用、大的非定常机翼偏转与所产生的气动力和惯性力之间的动态耦合对稳定性的影响、悬停时重心位置在稳定性中的作用、非线性和建模不确定性的影响以及扑翼力学与阵风响应之间的关系。研究结果将加深对自然飞行的空气动力学和控制机制的理解，并展示这些机制如何应用于显着提高下一代生物启发微型飞行器的机动性和阵风耐受能力。

The goal of this project is to advance the state of the art in the dynamics and control of flapping-wing flight, enabling creation of a next generation of miniature flying robots, with robustness and agility comparable to natural flyers. Specifically, this project has the goal of creating flying robots with the remarkable flying qualities found in hummingbirds. The insights to enable these advances will be obtained from analytical and computational studies of the role played by wing flexibility in hummingbird flight mechanics, which will be validated experimentally on a hummingbird-like flying robot. Flying robots with these capabilities would play pivotal roles in missions such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and emergency response. The project will leverage the inherently intriguing aspect of the robotic hummingbird to cultivate an engaging environment for creative, rigorous application of aerodynamics, dynamics and control theory to motivate a diverse population of students to pursue STEM education and careers. The PI will organize lab visits, summer camps and participate as a guest speaker in K-12 outreach programs for minority and women students and provide research experiences for aerospace graduate and undergraduate students.This project will improve understanding of the flight dynamics, maneuverability, and disturbance rejection capabilities of realistic hummingbird-like flapping-wing robots through fully nonlinear simulations and flight experiments. Results of the project will include the creation and experimental validation of a fully nonlinear 6-DOF flight dynamics model of a hummingbird-like flapping-wing robot with flexible wings, comprehensive nonlinear simulations and flight tests to identify critical design parameters for stability and controllability of a flapping-wing robot in hover, and control design for maneuverability and disturbance rejection based on identified linear time invariant models. The project will address the role of passive wing-twist in maneuverability, the effect on stability of dynamic coupling between large unsteady wing deflections and the resulting aerodynamic and inertial forces, the role of center of gravity location in stability while hovering, the effect of nonlinearities and modeling uncertainties, and the relation between the flapping wing mechanics and wind gust response. The outcomes will provide increased understanding of the aerodynamic and control mechanisms of natural flight, and show how these mechanisms may be applied to dramatically improve the maneuverability and gust-tolerance capabilities of the next generation of bio-inspired micro air vehicles.