Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FAAV (Design and locomotion of Bio-inspired Flapping-Wing Aerial-Aquatic robots)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-12-01 bis 2023-11-30
More than ever before we are realizing the importance of our lakes, rivers and oceans. Conservation of our water ecosystems as well as climate models and flood management all depend on the availability of local, rapid and extensive environmental data. There are important open questions regarding the impacts of climate change on water temperature and water flow alteration, sedimentation in glacial flows, algal blooms, coral reef degradation, fishery exploitation, pressures due to invasive alien species, emissions of pesticides, pollutants and microplastics. To this day, all these issues cannot be well quantified due to a lack of available data. The importance of advancing our knowledge of water systems advocates for the development of aerial-aquatic robots as a transformative solution for effective monitoring. Data collection has improved (for example from remote satellite imagery or autonomous sinking-rising buoys e.g. ARGO floats), but coverage in space and time is still insufficient to provide a consistent picture globally, and the existing solutions are expensive.
This project aims to push our knowledge in mobile robotics, focusing on locomotion capabilities in air and in water. Biology provides a strong source of inspiration for solving the extremely challenging constraints that aerial-aquatic operation poses. Indeed, over 20 species of diving birds routinely fly and swim, some even reaching depths of over 100 m. These examples serve as design starting points, which need to carefully integrate engineering limitations. The specific objectives of this project is to understand how flapping flight can adapt to two vastly different media in a small, mobile system. Through the use of robotics, flight, swimming and transitions locomotion are explored.
In conclusion, hybrid locomotion with flapping propulsion has been successfully achieved in a limited set of conditions. This is clearly just the beginning towards these robots seamlessly moving in and out of our aquatic environments, but the application potential is vast and the current results demonstrate the validity of the approach. Further efforts are required to improve control methods, efficiencies and propulsive power, as well as continued research regarding the impact of wind, wave and current natural elements, which are ubiquitous outdoors.
This project aims to push our knowledge in mobile robotics, focusing on locomotion capabilities in air and in water. Biology provides a strong source of inspiration for solving the extremely challenging constraints that aerial-aquatic operation poses. Indeed, over 20 species of diving birds routinely fly and swim, some even reaching depths of over 100 m. These examples serve as design starting points, which need to carefully integrate engineering limitations. The specific objectives of this project is to understand how flapping flight can adapt to two vastly different media in a small, mobile system. Through the use of robotics, flight, swimming and transitions locomotion are explored.
In conclusion, hybrid locomotion with flapping propulsion has been successfully achieved in a limited set of conditions. This is clearly just the beginning towards these robots seamlessly moving in and out of our aquatic environments, but the application potential is vast and the current results demonstrate the validity of the approach. Further efforts are required to improve control methods, efficiencies and propulsive power, as well as continued research regarding the impact of wind, wave and current natural elements, which are ubiquitous outdoors.
During the project, efforts have been allocated to the study of diving birds, and their adaptation between air and water. The change in wing frequencies and swimming speeds has been a focal point. Subsequently, development of the first robotic prototypes has been undertaken, integrating all aspects necessary for aerial flight, underwater swimming, communication and scientific sensing. The project saw the advent of three full prototypes designs and tests. The resulting robots have been tested in flight conditions, both in the tracking indoor space and outdoors. Experiments in water tanks were also performed throughout the project. The main outcomes of the action are 1) the development of a simulation framework for flapping robots 2) the demonstration of swimming and flying behaviour 3) the achievements of transitions between water and air. 4) the presentation of fully functional hybrid prototypes. These results show the very first bio-inspired flapping robots that can move in both fluids. Not only was hybrid operation shown and investigated, underwater performance is comparable to that of the state-of-the-art swimming-only robots.
The results of this project were and will be presented at the Swiss Robotics Days, the Gordon Research conference in the USA, the ISRR 2022 and the IIT Tech Fest. There is large potential for new research projects which build upon the results achieved, which would enable robots to move in more challenging aquatic environments.
The results of this project were and will be presented at the Swiss Robotics Days, the Gordon Research conference in the USA, the ISRR 2022 and the IIT Tech Fest. There is large potential for new research projects which build upon the results achieved, which would enable robots to move in more challenging aquatic environments.
Previously, hybrid flapping robotics has focused on ground-breaking theoretical developments and impressive experimental work aero-hydrodynamics. Despite these efforts, there has been no published attempts at applying such technology to autonomous, mobile robots. As such, this project is one of the logical steps beyond the state-of-the-art if we want to move towards a future where aerial-aquatic robots become our effective monitoring and sampling agents! This would have a huge impact on other fields of science, especially in environmental sciences and biology. Thanks to this project, deeper understanding in the energetics of diving birds can also be obtained through comparative analysis with robotics