A tailless aerial robotic flapper reveals that flies use torque coupling in rapid banked turns

Insect flight can be fast and agile, making it hard to study its detailed aerodynamics. Karásek et al. designed an untethered, flapping-wing robot with impressive agility that can mimic fruitfly maneuvers.

They studied the robot's motion during rapid banked turns, which revealed that passive motion through the turn generated yaw torque coupling. This correcting yaw rotation propelled the robot toward the escape heading needed for effective turning.

Despite being 55 times the size of a fruit fly, the robot can accurately mimic the rapid escape maneuvers of flies, including a correcting yaw rotation toward the escape heading. The robot enables new methods for studying animal flight, and its flight characteristics allow for real-world flight missions.

Read more at Science

Image Credit: Jari Hytönen

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