Visual Flight Control for the Very Smallest Aerial Vehicles

该项目的目标是通过为基于视觉的控制系统创建设计指南，实现小到大黄蜂甚至小到蚊子的自主机器人。这将对机器人技术产生革命性的影响。与大型机器人相比，昆虫机器人将部署在更有限的空间中，更接近人类而不会产生碰撞危险，并且通过收集环境中可用的少量能量（如阳光）来持续进行部署。因此，它们将比目前可能的更详细地感知环境条件。一个重要的应用是定位温室气体甲烷的泄漏，美国是世界上主要的甲烷出口国。其他例子包括定位初期火灾，从植物冠层内监测农业，检查密闭空间，以及以较低的发射成本探索外层空间。然而，到目前为止，低于1克的机器人具有有限的传感器和动力系统，并且由于极端的尺寸、重量和动力限制，尚未在没有外部传感器反馈的情况下执行受控飞行。我们的目标是更好地了解小尺度的物理学如何影响昆虫大小的反馈控制系统的设计。教育目标是提高高中至研究生院学生，特别是少数民族学生对工程和机器人技术的兴趣并提供培训。这个机器人基础研究项目将致力于了解小尺度物理学如何影响小于1克的飞行机器人的昆虫大小反馈控制系统的设计。特别是，该项目的研究活动将包括：1）对物理尺度对机器人感测、控制和功率的影响进行建模和分析，2）设计和分析一个悬停控制器，它与最小的毫米级飞行机器人的约束兼容，并将作为开源软件发布，以及3）设计和分析用于在寻找诸如化学品或电力的源的同时学习通过杂乱环境的基本视觉导航的系统（开放源代码）。研究结果将在模拟中进行测试，以及在大黄蜂大小的300毫克扑翼飞行机器人和新型传感器套件上进行测试。这将是第一次在昆虫大小的机器人上演示稳定悬停和障碍物导航。为了最大限度地减少反馈控制所需的功率，将仅使用被动传感，如视觉，苍蝇启发的风传感器，以及专门用于计算的乘法和加法运算。 免费课程计划和其他在线资源将被创建并公开传播，以帮助教育工作者教学生如何设计、建造和操作受本工作中使用的昆虫机器人启发的“可折叠机器人”。该项目得到跨理事会的支持机器人学项目的基础研究，由工程局（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程局（CISE）共同管理和资助该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this project is to realize autonomous robots as small as bumblebees and even gnats by creating design guidelines for their vision-based control systems. This will have a revolutionary impact on robotics. Compared to larger robots, insect robots will deploy in larger numbers, in more confined spaces, in closer proximity to humans without impact hazard, and do so persistently by collecting small amounts of energy that are available in the environment such as sunlight. As a result they will sense environmental conditions in far greater detail than is currently possible. An important application is locating leaks of the greenhouse gas methane, of which the USA is the world's leading exporter. Other examples include locating incipient fires, monitoring agriculture from within the plant canopy, inspecting confined spaces, and exploring outer space at reduced launch cost. To date, however, robots below a gram have limited sensor and power systems and have not yet performed controlled flight without feedback from external sensors because of extreme size, weight, and power constraints. Our objectives are to better understand how the physics of small scale affects the design of insect-sized feedback control systems. The educational objectives are to drive interest and provide training in engineering and robotics for students in high school through graduate school, particularly minorities. This Foundational Research in Robotics project will address the objective of understanding how the physics of small scale affects the design of insect-sized feedback control systems for flying robots smaller than one gram. In particular, the project’s research activities will include: 1) modelling and analyzing the effects of physical scale on robot sensing, control, and power, 2) designing and analyzing a hovering controller compatible with the constraints of the very smallest, millimeter-sized flying robots, to be released as open source software, and 3) designing and analyzing a system for learning basic visual navigation through a cluttered environment while seeking a source such as a chemical or power (also open source). Findings will be tested in simulation, as well as on a bumblebee-sized 300 mg flapping-wing flying robot and a novel sensor suite. The result will be the first demonstration of stable hovering and obstacle navigation on an insect sized robot. To minimize the power required for feedback control, only passive sensing such as vision, a fly-inspired wind sensor, and exclusively multiply and add operations for computation will be used. Free lesson plans and other online resources to help educators teach students how to design, build, and operate “foldable robotics” inspired by the insect robots used in this work will be created and publicly disseminated.This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.