Validation of a posture control method of a small flapping robot based on the flight mechanism of a butterfly

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13733
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo Denki University
• Principal Investigator: Fujikawa Taro 東京電機大学, 未来科学部, 准教授 (40618394)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: はばたき / ロボット / 蝶 / CFD解析 / 姿勢制御

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We constructed a 3-axis force sensor system that can measure lift and drag during flapping and a computational fluid dynamics simulator that can reproduce the flying motion of a butterfly-style flapping robot.
As a result of the motion analysis of the flapping robot using these systems, it is clarified that the difference in the range of the downstroke angle and the upstroke angle of the wing has a significant influence on the pitching moment to raise the body.
In addition, the constructed systems showed the effectiveness for quantitative analysis of lift, drag, and moments during flight, which was difficult to analyze directly.

Free Research Field

ロボティクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「尾翼もなく翅の自由度が少ない蝶はどのように姿勢制御を行っているのか．」「固定翼では揚抗比曲線のような翼の設計の指標となるものが存在し，揚力生成や姿勢制御のメカニズムは航空力学的に明確になっている．はばたき翼においても同様に機体設計の指標や姿勢制御メカニズムなどを明確にできないか.」というものが学術的な問いであり，これらを解決するための手法を提案している．本手法が確立できれば，はばたき翼型飛行体の設計法を導くことができるという点で意義深いものである．