A hovering flapping-wing microrobot with altitude control and passive upright stability

TLDR

The Harvard RoboBee is the first insect‑scale flapping‑wing robot under 100 mg that can lift its own weight, but it tumbles quickly without guide wires due to dynamic instability. We aim to stabilize the RoboBee’s upright orientation by adding aerodynamic dampers. We analyze the modified dynamics with wind‑tunnel experiments and a dynamic model. The dampers enable stable vertical takeoff and hovering altitude control in a feedback loop, marking the first hovering demonstration of an insect‑scale flapping‑wing robot and providing a platform for further dynamics studies.

Abstract

The Harvard RoboBee is the first insect-scale cflapping-wing robot weighing less than 100 mg that is able to lift its own weight. However, when flown without guide wires, this vehicle quickly tumbles after takeoff because of instability in its dynamics. Here, we show that by adding aerodynamic dampers, we can can alter the vehicle's dynamics to stabilize its upright orientation. We provide an analysis using wind tunnel experiments and a dynamic model. We demonstrate stable vertical takeoff, and using a marker-based external camera tracking system, hovering altitude control in an active feedback loop. These results provide a stable platform for both system dynamics characterization and unconstrained active maneuvers of the vehicle and represent the first known hovering demonstration of an insect-scale flapping-wing robot.