Improving Flying Drones by Mimicking Flying Squirrels
a year ago
- #Quadcopter
- #Machine Learning
- #Flying Squirrel
- Quadcopters are agile due to independent motor thrust control.
- South Korean researchers enhanced quadcopter agility using flying squirrel-inspired tech.
- Flying squirrels use skin flaps (patagium) and tails for gliding and braking.
- A prototype quadcopter was fitted with a patagium-like membrane between rotors.
- A new controller (TWCC) was developed to coordinate membrane extension with motor thrust.
- A recurrent neural network (RNN) was trained using simulation data for obstacle avoidance.
- The RNN-based controller performed well in obstacle courses but reduced drone range due to added weight and drag.
- Potential applications include drones that perch between agile maneuvers.