Journal of Bionic Engineering (2024) 21:1191–1207 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-024-00486-7

Design of a Bio?inspired, Two?winged, Flapping?wing Micro Air Vehicle with High?lift Performance

Kai Hu1 · Huichao Deng1 · Shengjie Xiao1 · Gongyu Yang1 · Yuhong Sun1 

1 Space Robot Laboratory, The School of Mechanical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China

Abstract

In this paper, we present the development of our latest fapping-wing micro air vehicle (FW-MAV), named Explobird, which features two wings with a wingspan of 195 mm and weighs a mere 25.2 g, enabling it to accomplish vertical take-of and hover fight. We devised a novel gear-based mechanism for the fapping system to achieve high lift capability and reliability and conducted extensive testing and analysis on the wings to optimise power matching and lift performance. The Explobird can deliver a peak lift-to-weight ratio of 1.472 and an endurance time of 259 s during hover fight powered by a single-cell LiPo battery. Considering the inherent instability of the prototype, we discuss the derivatives of its longitudinal system, underscoring the importance of feedback control, position of the centre of gravity, and increased damping. To demonstrate the efect of damping enhancement on stability, we also designed a passive stable FW-MAV. Currently, the vehicle is actively stabilised in roll by adjusting the wing root bars and in pitch through high-authority tail control, whereas yaw is passively stabilised. Through a series of fight tests, we successfully demonstrate that our prototype can perform vertical take-of and hover fight under wireless conditions. These promising results position the Explobird as a robust vehicle with high lift capability, paving the way towards the use of FW-MAVs for carrying load equipment in multiple tasks.

Keywords Flapping wing · Biologically inspired robots · Mechanical design · Flight dynamics · Damping enhancement