A tailless aerial robotic flapper reveals that flies use torque coupling in rapid banked turns

TLDR

Insect flight is fast and agile, complicating detailed aerodynamic studies. The authors built an untethered flapping‑wing robot capable of replicating fruitfly maneuvers. During rapid banked turns, the robot’s passive motion produced yaw‑torque coupling that corrected yaw and steered it toward the escape heading. Karásek et al., Science, this issue, p.

Abstract

Flying fast and free Insect flight can be fast and agile, making it hard to study its detailed aerodynamics. Karásek et al. designed an untethered, flapping-wing robot with impressive agility that can mimic fruitfly maneuvers (see the Perspective by Ruffier). They studied the robot's motion during rapid banked turns, which revealed that passive motion through the turn generated yaw torque coupling. This correcting yaw rotation propelled the robot toward the escape heading needed for effective turning. Science , this issue p. 1089 ; see also p. 1073