Kinodynamic planning for an energy-efficient autonomous ornithopter

This paper presents a novel algorithm to plan energy-efficient trajectories for autonomous ornithopters. In general, trajectory optimization is quite relevant problem practical applications with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Even though the has been well studied fixed and rotatory-wing vehicles, there are far fewer works exploring it flapping-wing UAVs, like These of interest many where long-flight endurance, but also hovering capabilities, required. We propose an efficient approach ornithopter that minimize energy consumption by combining gliding flapping maneuvers. Our builds tree dynamically feasible applies heuristic search online planning, using reference curves guide prune states. present computational experiments analyze tune key parameters, as comparison against recent alternative probabilistic planner, showing best performance. Finally, we demonstrate how our can be used planning perching maneuvers online.