A Self-Balanced Vehicle Base for Takeoff of a Flapping-Wing Robot

摘要

The self-takeoff of flapping-wing robots (FWRs) is essential for their actual applications in outdoor long-term and large area surveillance, search and rescue, etc. As can be found in some large birds, they take off assisted by bipedal running to achieve an initial velocity. In this work, a self-balanced vehicle base is proposed to provide the initial velocity for a flapping-wing robot. The forces on the wheels and the base body are analyzed first. Then, the dynamic models of the vehicle base are obtained considering the forces from the flapping wings on the base. Furthermore, we investigate the vehicle base’s balancing and running control methods and conduct the control performance simulations. Finally, a prototype of an FWR with the vehicle base is fabricated. The results show the feasibility of the self-balanced vehicle used running for the FWR taking off. The results of this paper could give guidelines for flapping-running multi-modal locomotion robot design.