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Thrust-Assisted Perching and Climbing for a Bioinspired UAV

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Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Living Machines 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9793))

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Abstract

We present a multi-modal robot that flies, perches and climbs on outdoor surfaces such as concrete or stucco walls. Although the combination of flying and climbing mechanisms in a single platform extracts a weight penalty, it also provides synergies. In particular, a small amount of aerodynamic thrust can substantially improve the reliability of perching and climbing, allowing the platform to maneuver on otherwise risky surfaces. The approach is inspired by thrust-assisted perching and climbing observed in various animals including flightless birds.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A video of SCAMP in operation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAhLW1eq8eM.

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Acknowledgements

Support for this work was provided by NSF IIS-1161679 and ARL MAST MCE 15-4. We gratefully acknowledge the help of H. Jiang, C. Kimes, W. Roderick and C. Kerst in conducting experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Morgan T. Pope & Mark R. Cutkosky

Authors
  1. Morgan T. Pope
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  2. Mark R. Cutkosky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Morgan T. Pope .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol , Bristol, United Kingdom

    Nathan F. Lepora

  2. Universitat Pompeu Fabra , Barcelona, Spain

    Anna Mura

  3. University of Lincoln , London, United Kingdom

    Michael Mangan

  4. Universitat Pompeu Fabra , Barcelona, Spain

    Paul F.M.J. Verschure

  5. Heriot-Watt University , Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Marc Desmulliez

  6. University of Sheffield , Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Tony J. Prescott

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Pope, M.T., Cutkosky, M.R. (2016). Thrust-Assisted Perching and Climbing for a Bioinspired UAV. In: Lepora, N., Mura, A., Mangan, M., Verschure, P., Desmulliez, M., Prescott, T. (eds) Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems. Living Machines 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9793. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42417-0_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42417-0_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42416-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42417-0

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