Flying Insects and Robots

318 Pages·2010·14.414 MB·English

by  Steven N. Fry (auth.), Dario Floreano, Jean-Christophe Zufferey, Mandyam V. Srinivasan, Charlie Ellington (eds.)

Flying Insects and Robots
Dario Floreano · Jean-Christophe Zufferey ·
Mandyam V. Srinivasan · Charlie Ellington
Editors
Flying Insects
and Robots
123
Editors
Prof.DarioFloreano Dr.Jean-ChristopheZufferey
Director,LaboratoryofIntelligentSystems LaboratoryofIntelligentSystems
EPFL-STI-IMT-LIS EPFL-STI-IMT-LIS
ÉcolePolytechniqueFédéraledeLausanne ÉcolePolytechniqueFédéraledeLausanne
ELE138 ELE115
1015Lausanne 1015Lausanne
Switzerland Switzerland
dario.floreano@epfl.ch jean-christophe.zufferey@epfl.ch
Prof.MandyamV.Srinivasan Prof.CharlieEllington
VisualandSensoryNeuroscience AnimalFlightGroup
QueenslandBrainInstitute Dept.ofZoology
UniversityofQueensland UniversityofCambridge
QBIBuilding(79) DowningStreet
St.Lucia,QLD4072 Cambridge,CB23EJ
Australia UK
[e-mail] [e-mail]
ISBN 978-3-540-89392-9 e-ISBN 978-3-540-89393-6
DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-89393-6
SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork
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(cid:2)c Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2009
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Preface
Flying insects represent a fascinating example of evolutionary design at the micro-
scopicscale.Theirdiminutivesizedoesnotpreventthemfromperceivingtheworld,
flying, walking, jumping, chasing, escaping, living in societies, and even finding
their way home at the end of a long day. Their size and energy constraints demand
extremely efficient and specialized solutions, which are often very different from
thosethatweareaccustomedtoseeinginlargeranimals.
Forexample,thevisualsystemofflyinginsects,whichfeaturesacompoundeye
comprisingthousandsofommatidia–“littleeyes”–representsadramaticalternative
to the design of our own eyes, which we share with all vertebrates and which has
driven the design of today’s cameras. Do insect eyes differ from human eyes only
superficiallywithrespecttotheopticalandimagingcharacteristics,ordothenervous
systemsoftheirownersprocesstheinformationthattheyreceiveindifferentways?
Severalaspectsofthisquestionareexploredinthisbook.
The nervous system of flying insects not only coordinates the perception and
motion of the animal at extremely high speed and in very dynamic conditions, but
itactivelymonitorsfeaturesinthesurroundingenvironment,supportsaccurateland-
ingsinverytinyspots,handlesrecoveryfromhighturbulenceandcollisions,directs
the exploration of the environment in search of food, shelter or partners, and even
enablestheanimaltorememberhowtoreturntoitsnest.
Flyinginsectsmovetheirwingsbyusingthewholethoraxtoproducefast,resonat-
ing,respiration-likecontractionsthatresultinthemovementofthewingappendages,
whosemorphologyandconstituentmaterialsthenmodifythebasic,passiveflapping
motion through the air. As such, these creatures represent a fascinating source of
inspirationforengineersaimingtocreateincreasinglysmallerandautonomousrobots
thatcantaketotheairlikeaducktowater,andgowherenomachinehasgonebefore.
Atthesametime,roboticinsectscanserveasembodiedmodelsfortestingscientific
hypotheses that would be impossible to study in numerical simulations because of
thedifficultyincreatingrealisticvisualenvironments,capturingthephysicsoffluid
dynamics in very turbulent and low-speed regimes, reproducing the elastic proper-
ties of the active and passive materials that make up an insect body, and accurately
modellingtheperception-actionloopsthatdrivethebehaviorofthesystem.
Despite much recent progress, both the functioning of flying insects and the
design of micro flying robots are not yet fully understood, which makes this trans-
disciplinaryareaofresearchextremelyfascinatingandfertilewithdiscoveries.This
bookbringstogetherforthefirsttimehighlyselectedandcarefullyeditedcontribu-
tionsfromacommunityofbiologistsandengineerswhosharethesamepassionfor
v
vi Preface
understandingthedesignprinciplesofflyinginsectsandrobots.Thebookistheoff-
spring of a stimulating meeting with the same title and organizers that was held in
the summer of 2007 at Monte Verità in Switzerland. After the meeting, we decided
toassembleacarefullyeditedvolumethatwouldservebothasatutorialintroduction
to the field and as a reference for future research. In the months that followed, we
solicited some of the participants, as well as additional authors whose research was
complementaryandwouldfitthebookplan,towritechaptersforalargeraudience.
The authors and the editors spent most of 2008 writing, revising, and cross-linking
thechaptersinordertoproduceahomogeneous,accessible,andyetup-to-datebook.
Approximately half of the book is written from a biological perspective and the
otherhalffromanengineeringperspective,butinallcasestheauthorshaveattempted
touseplainterminologythatisaccessibletobothsidesandtheyhavemadeseveral
linksandsuggestionsthatcutacrossthetraditionaldividebetweenbiologyandengi-
neering.Thebookstartswithadescriptionoftoday’sadvancedmethodsusedtostudy
flyinginsects.Afterthis,thereaderistakenthroughadescriptionoftheperceptual,
neuronal,andbehavioralpropertiesofflyinginsectsandoftheirimplicationsforthe
designofsensorsandcontrolstrategiesnecessarytoachieveautonomousnavigation
ofminiatureflyingvehicles.Oncethisgroundhasbeencovered,thereaderisgradu-
allyintroducedtotheprinciplesofaerodynamicsandcontrolsuitableformicrosys-
tems with flapping wings and to several examples of robots with fixed and flapping
wings that are inspired by the principles of flying insects. We encourage readers to
photocopy the figures of Chapter 15, cut out the drawings, and assemble a moving
model of the thorax, which should provide an intuitive understanding of the typical
workoutroutineofaflyinginsect.Twochaptersventureintotheareaofrobotsthat
live and transit between the ground and the air. Although these chapters are more
speculative from a biological perspective, they highlight the fact that flying insects
arealsoterrestrialanimalsandthatrobotscapableofatransitionbetweenterrestrial
locomotionandflightcanhaveseveraladvantages.Finally,thebookcloseswithtwo
engineering chapters: one dedicated to energy supply and the possible use of solar
cells to power micro aerial vehicles, and another to the technology available today
andinthenearfutureforrealizingautonomous,flyingmicrorobots.
Wesincerelyhopethatyouwillenjoyandlearnfromthisbookasmuchaswedid
throughouttheentirecreationandeditingofthisproject.Wewouldliketoexpressour
deepgratitudetothecontributorsofallthechapters,whoenthusiasticallypresented
theirknowledgeandachievementsinsuchasmallspaceandtime,andwhodisplayed
amazingpatienceanddedicationinrevisingtheirownmaterialandthatoftheircol-
leagues. Last, but not least, we would like to thank Ronan Nugent at Springer for
welcoming this project, following it through all its production stages while accom-
modating many of our requests, and making sure that it is presented in a form that
bestfitsitscontentbothontheInternetandintheprintededition.
Lausanne DarioFloreano
Brisbane Jean-ChristopheZufferey
Cambridge MandyamV.Srinivasan
12June2009 CharlieEllington
Contents
1 Experimental Approaches Toward a Functional
UnderstandingofInsectFlightControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
StevenN.Fry
2 FromVisualGuidance inFlyingInsectstoAutonomous
AerialVehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
MandyamV.Srinivasan,SaulThurrowgood,andDeanSoccol
3 OpticFlowBasedAutopilots:SpeedControlandObstacleAvoidance 29
NicolasFranceschini,FranckRuffierandJulienSerres
4 Active Vision in Blowflies: Strategies and Mechanisms
ofSpatialOrientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
MartinEgelhaaf,RolandKern,JensP.Lindemann,ElkeBraun,
andBartGeurten
5 Wide-FieldIntegrationMethodsforVisuomotorControl . . . . . . . 63
J.SeanHumbert,JosephK.Conroy,CraigW.Neely,
andGeoffreyBarrows
6 OpticFlowtoSteerandAvoidCollisionsin3D . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Jean-ChristopheZufferey,AntoineBeyeler,andDarioFloreano
7 VisualHominginInsectsandRobots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
JochenZeil,NorbertBoeddeker,andWolfgangStürzl
8 MotionDetectionChipsforRoboticPlatforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
RicoMoeckelandShih-ChiiLiu
9 Insect-Inspired Odometry by Optic Flow Recorded
withOpticalMouseChips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
HansjürgenDahmen,AlainMillers,andHanspeterA.Mallot
10 MicroopticalArtificialCompoundEyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
AndreasBrückner,JacquesDuparré,FrankWippermann,
PeterDannberg,andAndreasBräuer
11 Flexible Wings and Fluid–Structure Interactions
forMicro-AirVehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
W.Shyy,Y.Lian,S.K.Chimakurthi,J.Tang,C.E.S.Cesnik,
B.Stanford,andP.G.Ifju
vii
viii Contents
12 Flow Control Using Flapping Wings for an Efficient
Low-SpeedMicro-AirVehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Kevin D.JonesandMax F.Platzer
13 APassivelyStableHoveringFlappingMicro-AirVehicle . . . . . . . 171
FlorisvanBreugel,ZhiErnTeoh,andHodLipson
14 TheScalableDesignofFlappingMicro-AirVehiclesInspired
byInsectFlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
DavidLentink,StefanR.Jongerius,andNancyL.Bradshaw
15 Springy Shells, Pliant Plates and Minimal Motors:
AbstractingtheInsectThoraxtoDriveaMicro-AirVehicle . . . . . 207
RobinJ.Wootton
16 Challengesfor100MilligramFlappingFlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Ronald S.FearingandRobert J.Wood
17 TheLimitsofTurningControlinFlyingInsects . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Fritz-OlafLehmann
18 AMiniatureVehiclewithExtendedAerialandTerrestrialMobility . 247
RichardJ.Bachmann,RaviVaidyanathan,FrankJ.Boria,
JamesPluta,JoshKiihne,BrianK.Taylor,RobertH.Bledsoe,
PeterG.Ifju,andRogerD.Quinn
19 TowardsaSelf-DeployingandGlidingRobot . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
MirkoKovacˇ,Jean-ChristopheZufferey,andDarioFloreano
20 Solar-PoweredMicro-airVehiclesandChallengesinDownscaling . . 285
AndréNothandRolandSiegwart
21 TechnologyandFabricationofUltralightMicro-AerialVehicles . . . 299
AdamKlaptoczandJean-DanielNicoud
Contributors
RichardJ.Bachmann BioRobots,LLC,Cleveland,USA
GeoffreyBarrows Centeye,Washington,DC,USA,[e-mail]
AntoineBeyeler LaboratoryofIntelligentSystems,EPFL,Lausanne,Switzerland
RobertH.Bledsoe UnitedStatesMarineCorpsandtheNavalPostgraduate
School,USA
NorbertBoeddeker DepartmentofNeurobiologyandCenterofExcellence
‘CognitiveInteractionTechnology’,BielefeldUniversity,Bielefeld,Germany,
[e-mail]
FrankJ.Boria DepartmentofMechanicalEngineeringattheUniversityof
Florida,USA
NancyL.Bradshaw FacultyofAerospaceEngineering,DelftUniversityof
Technology,2629HSDelft,TheNetherlands;ExperimentalZoologyGroup,
WageningenUniversity,6709PGWageningen,TheNetherlands
AndreasBräuer FraunhoferInstituteforAppliedOpticsandPrecision
Engineering,Albert-Einstein-Str.7,D-07745,Jena,Germany
ElkeBraun DepartmentofNeurobiology&CenterofExcellence“Cognitive
InteractionTechnology”,BielefeldUniversity,D-33501Bielefeld,Germany
FlorisvanBreugel CornellComputationalSynthesisLab,CornellUniversity,
Ithaca,NewYork,USA,[e-mail]
AndreasBrückner FraunhoferInstituteforAppliedOpticsandPrecision
Engineering,Albert-Einstein-Str.7,D-07745,Jena,Germany,
[e-mail]
C.E.S.Cesnik DepartmentofAerospaceEngineering,UniversityofMichigan,Ann
Arbor,Michigan,USA,[e-mail]
S.K.Chimakurthi DepartmentofAerospaceEngineering,UniversityofMichigan,
AnnArbor,Michigan,USA,[e-mail]
JosephK.Conroy AutonomousVehicleLaboratory,UniversityofMaryland,
CollegePark,MD,USA,[e-mail]
HansjürgenDahmen CognitiveNeurosciences,UniversityofTübingen,Germany,
[e-mail]
ix
x Contributors
PeterDannberg FraunhoferInstituteforAppliedOpticsandPrecision
Engineering,Albert-Einstein-Str.7,D-07745,Jena,Germany
JacquesDuparré FraunhoferInstituteforAppliedOpticsandPrecision
Engineering,Albert-Einstein-Str.7,D-07745,Jena,Germany
MartinEgelhaaf DepartmentofNeurobiology&CenterofExcellence“Cognitive
InteractionTechnology”,BielefeldUniversity,D-33501Bielefeld,Germany,
[e-mail]
RonaldS.Fearing BiomimeticMillisystemsLab,UniversityofCalifornia,
Berkeley,CA,USA,[e-mail]
DarioFloreano LaboratoryofIntelligentSystems,EPFL,Lausanne,Switzerland,
Dario.Floreano@epfl.ch
NicolasFranceschini BioroboticsLab,InstituteofMovementScience,CNRS&
UnivoftheMediterranean,Marseille,France,[e-mail]
StevenN.Fry InstituteofNeuroinformatics(INI)&InstituteofRoboticsand
IntelligentSystems(IRIS)–SwissFederalSchoolofTechnologyZürich,
Switzerland
BartGeurten DepartmentofNeurobiology&CenterofExcellence“Cognitive
InteractionTechnology”,BielefeldUniversity,D-33501Bielefeld,Germany
J.SeanHumbert AutonomousVehicleLaboratory,UniversityofMaryland,
CollegePark,MD,USA,[e-mail]
PeterG.Ifju DepartmentofMechanicalandAerospaceEngineering,Universityof
Florida,Gainsville,FL,USA,ifju@ufl.edu
KevinD.Jones NavalPostgraduateSchool,Monterey,CA,USA,[e-mail]
StefanR.Jongerius FacultyofAerospaceEngineering,DelftUniversityof
Technology,2629HSDelft,TheNetherlands
RolandKern DepartmentofNeurobiology&CenterofExcellence“Cognitive
InteractionTechnology”,BielefeldUniversity,D-33501Bielefeld,Germany
JoshKiihne UnitedStatesMarineCorpsandtheNavalPostgraduateSchool,USA
AdamKlaptocz LabofIntelligentSystems,EPFL,Lausanne,Switzerland,
adam.klaptocz@epfl.ch
MirkoKovac LaboratoryofIntelligentSystems,EPFL,Lausanne,Switzerland,
Mirko.Kovac@epfl.ch
Fritz-OlafLehmann InstituteofNeurobiology,UniversityofUlm,
Albert-Einstein-Allee11,89081Ulm,[e-mail]
DavidLentink ExperimentalZoologyGroup,WageningenUniversity,6709PG
Wageningen,TheNetherlands;FacultyofAerospaceEngineering,DelftUniversity
ofTechnology,2629HSDelft,TheNetherlands,[e-mail]
Y.Lian DepartmentofAerospaceEngineering,UniversityofMichigan,AnnArbor,
Michigan,USA,[e-mail]
Contributors xi
JensP.Lindemann DepartmentofNeurobiology&CenterofExcellence
“CognitiveInteractionTechnology”,BielefeldUniversity,D-33501Bielefeld,
Germany
HodLipson CornellComputationalSynthesisLab,CornellUniversity,Ithaca,
NewYork,USA,[e-mail]
Shih-ChiiLiu InstituteofNeuroinformatics,UniversityofZürichandETHZürich,
Zürich,Switzerland,[e-mail]
HanspeterA.Mallot CognitiveNeurosciences,UniversityofTübingen,Germany,
[e-mail]
AlainMillers CognitiveNeurosciences,UniversityofTübingen,Germany,
[e-mail]
RicoMoeckel InstituteofNeuroinformatics,UniversityofZürichandETHZürich,
Zürich,Switzerland,[e-mail]
CraigW.Neely Centeye,Washington,DC,USA,[e-mail]
Jean-DanielNicoud DidelSA,Belmont,Switzerland,[e-mail]
AndréNoth AutonomousSystemsLab,ETHZ,Zürich,Switzerland,
[e-mail],[e-mail]
MaxF.Platzer NavalPostgraduateSchool,Monterey,CA,USA,
[e-mail]
JamesPluta UnitedStatesMarineCorpsandtheNavalPostgraduateSchool,USA
RogerD.Quinn DepartmentofMechanicalandAerospaceEngineeringatCase
WesternReserveUniversity,Cleveland,USA,[e-mail]
FranckRuffier BioroboticsLab,InstituteofMovementScience,CNRS&Univof
theMediterranean,Marseille,France,franck.ruffi[e-mail]
JulienSerres BioroboticsLab,InstituteofMovementScience,CNRS&Univof
theMediterranean,Marseille,France,[e-mail]
W.Shyy DepartmentofAerospaceEngineering,UniversityofMichigan,Ann
Arbor,Michigan,USA,[e-mail]
RolandSiegwart AutonomousSystemsLab,ETHZ,Zürich,Switzerland,
[e-mail]
DeanSoccol ARCCentreofExcellenceinVisionScience,QueenslandBrain
Institute,UniversityofQueensland,St.Lucia,QLD4072,Australia,
[e-mail]
MandyamV.Srinivasan ARCCentreofExcellenceinVisionScience,Queensland
BrainInstitute,UniversityofQueensland,St.Lucia,QLD4072,Australia,
[e-mail]
B.Stanford DepartmentofMechanicalandAerospaceEngineering,Universityof
Florida,Gainsville,FL,USA,bstan@ufl.edu