CAREER: Insect-scale Flapping-Wing Micro Aerial Robots Capable of Self-powered Hover and Agile Maneuvering

这个教师早期职业发展（CAREER）奖将为昆虫规模的飞行机器人创造新的能力，即重量小于5克，长度小于5厘米的飞行机器人。这些机器人有潜力为社会提供独特的好处，但它们的发展受到重大工程挑战的阻碍。该项目的目标是演示敏捷机动和精确悬停，仅使用机载电源飞行时间长达10秒。这些能力将使昆虫规模的飞行机器人走上重要的未来应用之路，例如协助作物授粉，或对无法进入的地区进行远程检查。这些机器人的一些特征受到它们的生物类似物的启发，例如驱动它们翅膀的柔软的肌肉状执行器。其他重要的功能，如悬停在一个精确的位置，必须偏离自然的策略，由于大小，重量和功率的限制。例如，当机器人达到其所需的方向时，它会通过使用翅膀像陀螺一样旋转来抵抗阵风等干扰。而且，悬停机器人将依靠附近同伴机器人的低频更新来纠正其飞行，而不是携带沉重且耗电的高速相机和图像处理系统。该研究还辅以教育和推广活动，包括在波士顿和纽约著名的科学博物馆举办展览，通过麻省理工学院的夏季研究计划为代表性不足的高中和本科生举办项目，以及在国际机器人会议上组织研讨会。该项目将开发软驱动微型空中机器人，能够展示昆虫般的敏捷机动和被动稳定的无绳飞行。我们的目标是通过利用介电弹性体致动器的独特性能和昆虫级机器人的动力学来实现变革性的飞行能力。具体而言，该项目将侧重于以下三个方向：（一）快速示范（ii）利用被动稳定性并实施低频（5 Hz）基于视觉的跟踪以演示悬停飞行，而不需要最先进的红外室内跟踪系统;以及（iii）结合紧凑的电力电子设备和电池，以在2.3 g的软空中机器人中实现10秒的无系留飞行。实现这些飞行能力将是开发完全自主的昆虫级空中机器人的长期努力的一个重要里程碑。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award will create new capabilities for insect-scale flying robots, that is, flying robots that weigh less than five grams and are less than five centimeters in length. These robots have the potential to provide unique benefits to society, but their development has been slowed by major engineering challenges. The goal of this project is to demonstrate both agile maneuvers and precise hover, for flight durations of up to ten seconds using only on-board power. These capabilities will set insect-scale flying robots on the path to important future applications, such as assisting in the pollination of crops, or conducting remote inspections of inaccessible areas. Some features of these robots are inspired by their biological analogs, such as the soft, muscle-like actuators that drive their wings. Other important functions, such as hovering at a precise location, must diverge from natural strategies due to size, weight, and power restrictions. For example, when the robot attains its desired orientation it resists disturbances such as wind gusts by using its wings to spin like a top. And, rather than carry a heavy and power-hungry high-speed camera and image processing system, the hovering robot will rely on low-frequency updates from nearby companion robots to correct its flight. The research is complemented by educational and outreach activities including exhibits at distinguished science museums in Boston and New York, programs for underrepresented high school and undergraduate students hosted through MIT’s summer research programs, and workshops organized at international robotics conferences.This project will develop soft-actuated micro-aerial-robots capable of demonstrating insect-like agile maneuvers and passively stable untethered flight. We aim to enable transformative flight capabilities through leveraging the unique properties of dielectric elastomer actuators and the dynamics of insect-scale robots. Specifically, the project will focus on the following three directions: (i) demonstrate fast (1.5 m/s) flight and acrobatic maneuvers such as rapid banked turns and somersaults; (ii) leverage passive stability and implement low frequency (5 Hz) vision-based tracking to demonstrate hovering flight without requiring the state-of-the-art infrared indoor tracking system; and (iii) incorporate compact power electronics and a battery to achieve a 10-second untethered flight in a 2.3 g soft aerial robot. Achieving these flight capabilities will represent a major milestone in the long-term effort of developing fully autonomous insect-scale aerial robots.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.