Students: Arvind Ananthanarayanan, Wojciech Bejgerowski, Li-Jen Chang, John Gerdes, Tobias Karch, Dominik Mueller, Guru Ramu, and Philippe Wandji
Faculty: Satyandra K. Gupta
Collaborators: Hugh Bruck and Stephen Wilkerson
Sponsors: Army MURI, ARL, NSF
| MAV Name | Purpose | Specifications | Image | Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploratory Bird | The purpose of this design was to test the basic compliant mechanism concept and the weight distribution that leads to sustained flapping wing flight. | Weight: 8.3 g (including battery) Wing Span: 33.1 cm Pay Load Capability: 0 g |
 |
UMD_Explor_Bird.wmv |
| Small Bird | This was our first effort in designing a fully steerable lightweight bird. | Weight: 9.7 g (excluding battery) Wing Span: 34.3 cm Flapping Frequency: 12.1 Pay Load Capability: 5.7 g (including battery) |
 |
Click Here to See Video |
| Big Bird | This was our attempt at increasing the payload of the bird to carry on-board sensors. | Weight: 27.9 g (excluding battery) Wing Span: 57.2 cm Flapping Frequency: 4.5 Hz Pay Load Capaility: 19.1 g (including battery) |
 |
Click Here to See Video |
| Big Bird with Vision | We used the payload capacity of the big bird to attach a video camera with radio transmitter to get images as seen by the bird. | Weight: 42.2 g (including battery and video camera) Wing Span: 57.2 cm Flapping Frequency: 4.5 Hz |
 |
Click Here to See Video |
| Big Bird with Folding Wing | By mimicking the folding of the bird’s wing, we slowed the flight velocity by 10% without any appreciable decrease in the overall weight of the bird in flight (this included weight of the bird and the payload). | Weight: 29.9 g (excluding battery) Wing Span: 57.2 cm Flapping Frequency: 4.5 Hz Pay Load Capability: 17.0 g (including battery) |
 |
UMD_Bird_Folding_Wings.wmv |
| Jumbo Bird | This was our attempt at further increasing the payload of the bird to fly with an auto pilot. | Weight: 38.0 g (excluding battery) Wing Span: 63.5 cm Flapping Frequency: 6.1 Hz Pay Load Capability: 33.0 g (including battery) |
 |
Click Here to See Video |
Related Publications
The following papers provide more details on our approach.
- D. Mueller, H.A. Bruck, and S.K. Gupta. Measurement of thrust and lift forces associated with drag of compliant flapping wing for micro air vehicles using a new test stand design. Experimental Mechanics, 50(6):725–735, 2010.
- W. Bejgerowski, J.W. Gerdes, S.K. Gupta, H.A. Bruck, and S. Wilkerson. Design and fabrication of a multi-material compliant flapping wing drive mechanism for miniature air vehicles. ASME Mechanism and Robotics Conference, Montreal, Canada, August 2010.
- J.W. Gerdes, S.K. Gupta, H.A. Bruck, and S. Wilkerson. A review of bird-inspired flapping wing miniature air vehicle designs. ASME Mechanism and Robotics Conference, Montreal, Canada, August 2010.
- W. Bejgerowski, A. Ananthanarayanan, D. Mueller, and S.K. Gupta. Integrated product and process design for a flapping wing drive-mechanism. ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 131: 061006, 2009.
- D. Mueller, J. Gerdes, and S.K. Gupta. Incorporation of passive wing folding in flapping wing miniature air vehicles. ASME Mechanism and Robotics Conference, August 30-September 2, 2009, San Diego.
Contact
For additional information and to obtain copies of the above papers please contact:
Dr. Satyandra K. Gupta
Viterbi School of Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-1453
Phone: 213-740-0491
Email: guptask [AT] usc [DOT] edu