KUBeetle-S: An insect-like, tailless, hover-capable robot that can fly with a low-torque control mechanism

Abstract

For an insect-like tailless flying robot, flapping wings should be able to produce control force as well as flight force to keep the robot staying airborne. This capability requires an active control mechanism, which should be integrated with lightweight microcontrol actuators that can produce sufficient control torques to stabilize the robot due to its inherent instability. In this work, we propose a control mechanism integrated in a hover-capable, two-winged, flapping-wing, 16.4 g flying robot (KUBeetle-S) that can simultaneously change the wing stroke-plane and wing twist. Tilting the stroke plane causes changes in the direction of average thrust and the wing twist distribution to produce control torques for pitch and roll. For yaw (heading change), root spars of left and right wings are adjusted asymmetrically to change the wing twist during flapping motion, resulting in yaw torque generation. Changes in wing kinematics were validated by measuring wing kinematics using three synchronized high-speed cameras. We then performed a series of experiments using a six-axis force/torque load cell to evaluate the effectiveness of the control mechanism via torque generation. We prototyped the robot by integrating the control mechanism with sub-micro servos as control actuators and flight control board. Free flight tests were finally conducted to verify the possibility of attitude control.