Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are proliferating in both the civil and military markets. Flapping wing UAVs, or ornithopters, have the potential to combine the agility and maneuverability of rotary wing aircraft with excellent performance in low Reynolds number flight regimes. The purpose of this paper is to present new free flight experimental results for an ornithopter equipped with one degr...

Within the growing family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles (MAV) are a relatively new field of research. Inspired by small size and agile flight of insects and birds, these systems offer a great potential for applications such as reconnaissance, surveillance, search and rescue, mapping, etc. Nevertheless, practicality of these vehicles depends on how we add...

Flapping-wing rectifier systems are defined as systems which produce bulk locomotion through the interaction of periodic wing movement with a surrounding environment. A nonlinear model is developed featuring a 6 degree-of-freedom main body (position and orientation) and wing deformation. Each wing may move independently and is described as the motion of many discrete points in the body-fixed co...

Insect flight studies have advanced our understanding of flight biomechanics and inspire micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) technologies. A challenge of centimeter or millimeter scale flight is that small forces are produced from relatively complex wing motions. We describe the design and fabrication of a millimeter-sized wing flapping mechanism to simultaneously control pitch and stroke of insect and ...

Flapping wings provide unmatched maneuverability for flying micro-robots. Recent advances in modelling insect aerodynamics show that adequate wing rotation at the end of the stroke is essential for generating adequate flight forces. We developed a thorax structure using four bar frames combined with an extensible fan-fold wing to provide adequate wing stroke and rotation. Flow measurements on a...

A strong induced flow structure envelops the body of insects and birds during flight. This flow influences many physiological processes including delivery of odor and mechanical stimuli to the sensory organs, as well as mass flow processes including heat loss and gas exchange in flying animals. With recent advances in near-field aerodynamics of insect and bird flight, it is now possible to dete...

Myliobatidae is a family of large pelagic rays including cownose, eagle and manta rays. They are extremely efficient swimmers, can cruise at high speeds and can perform turn-on-a-dime maneuvering, making these fishes excellent inspiration for an autonomous underwater vehicle. Myliobatoids have been studied extensively from a biological perspective; however the fluid mechanisms that produce thru...