Hayman perching stool.

Hayman perching stool.

Supermaneuverable Perching Supermaneuverable Perching

Birds have the impressive ability to gracefully ‘swim’ through the air while executing aerobatic maneuvers that routinely defy modern aeronautical and control engineering, consistently reminding us that the skies are truly their playground. Many of these animals are masters at exploiting post-stall pressure drag to execute maneuvers with unprecedented speed and precision, with nowhere near the ...

Hayman Fire Case Study

_________________________________________ Graham, Russell T., Technical Editor. 2003. Hayman Fire Case Study. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRSGTR-114. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Scansorial Landing and Perching

We describe an approach whereby small unmanned aircraft can land and perch on outdoor walls. Our prototype uses an ultrasonic sensor to initiate a pitch-up maneuver as it flies toward a wall. As it begins to stall, it contacts the wall with compliant “feet” equipped with rows of miniature spines that engage asperities on the surface. A nonlinear hierarchical suspension absorbs the kinetic energ...

Perching with Fixed Wings

Human pilots have the extraordinary ability to remotely maneuver small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) far outside the flight envelope of conventional autopilots. Given the tremendous thrustto-weight ratio available on these small machines [1, 2], linear control approaches have recently produced impressive demonstrations that come close to matching this agility for a certain class of aerobatic ...