Flying robot boasting high agility which enabled maneuvering of insect movement, rapid turning and rapid acceleration 'DelFly Nimble'

A researcher belonging to Mavlab , a laboratory that develops a small flight robot at Delft University of Technology, imitates an agile movement of insects, thereby making it possible to perform small motion that can not be realized by a conventional flying robot We developed " DelFly Nimble " and announced it on Science of Science Journal.

A tailless aerial robotic flapper reveals that flies use torque coupling in rapid banked turns | Science
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6407/1089

Novel flying robot mimics rapid insect flight
https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2018/tu-delft/novel-flying-robot-mimics-rapid-insect-flight/

"DelFly Nimble" developed by Mavlab is an autonomous robot that fly in the sky. This is a robot created by Mavlab and researchers at the University of Wergeningen cooperating to observe the movement of highly agile insects such as fruit flies and reproduce agile behavior. It is the research team's aim to dramatically increase the flight capability of an unmanned flight robot by studying the flight ability of insects.

DelFly Nimble developed by Mavlab researchers seems to realize "unparalleled performance" compared to conventional flying robots, but it also points out that it has simplicity that can be easily designed . DelFly Nimble realizes the flight control in the air like a fruit fly by generating the necessary lift force to stay in the air by flaring 17 times per minute and finely adjusting the movement of the wing back and forth and right and left finely I will. The control mechanism of DelFly Nimble, which was built with reference to the fruit movement, has proven to be very efficient, which makes it possible to quickly jump around in every direction.

Mr. Matěj Karásek who served as the main robot designer in the development of DelFly Nimble said, "This robot can fly at maximum speed of 25 km, can turn 360 degrees and barrel rolls etc." I will. DelFly Nimble's wing width is 33 cm, but its weight is as light as 29 grams, yet it boasts excellent power efficiency. If it is fully charged, it will be possible to hover for 5 minutes, the flight distance will be about 1 km.

You can see how DelFly Nimble actually fly around in the air in the following movie.

DelFly Nimble - an agile insect - inspired robot - YouTube


DelFly Nimble is flying without tremendous sharp turns like insects.

DelFly Nimble is a completely new flying robot made with reference to the movement when fruit flies fly in the sky.

The wings can be moved in all directions.

In addition, the wings can also be operated separately from side to side.

DelFly Nimble can rapidly accelerate forward or sideways.

Because of its superior maneuverability, it is possible to perform a sudden stop or a steep turn, so we will also show you a high-speed right angle turn.

It seems that the agile movement that can not be thought of with such a conventional flight robot became feasible by being able to resemble the fruit movement as much as possible.

Angular acceleration is 5000 deg / s 2.

The maximum flying speed is 25 km / h.

The turning rate is 500 deg / s.

Professor Florian Muijres of the University of Werningen, who engaged in the study said, "When I saw DelFly Nimble flying for the first time, I was surprised how similar its behavior is to insects' DelFly Nimble said that it is meaningful not only for robots but also for insect research.

Professor Guido de Croon of Mavlab says, "Robots inspired by insects like DelFly Nimble are harmless for people because of their light weight, which will lead to the creation of smaller and more efficient flying drones." . DelFly Nimble Many insect robots have been developed before, but many of them have no agility like DelFly Nimble, and because they had an excessively complicated structure, "Smaller size It was not something to serve as a reference for realizing an efficient drone. However, since DelFly Nimble is a robot based on existing manufacturing methods and commercially available parts, there is a possibility that DelFly Nimble will be an invention that will bring great potential to the future drone field.

In addition, DelFly Nimble is developing under the aid of the Netherlands Applied Science Research Organization (TNO), and is planning to develop "an agile robot like a bee" from now on.