Robohub.org
 

#ICRA16 duckies and robots video: Flying machines


by
09 May 2016



share this:

ICRAduckies

The robotics community have created a series of video tributes that showcase some of the contributions to ICRA, the largest conference in the field of robotics and automation. Episode one features flying robots that can fly, walk, and grasp, with rubber duckies!

Stay tuned for episode two: daily life activities. 


Papers featured in this video:

“Dynamic Underactuated Flying-Walking (DUCK) Robot” Christopher J. Pratt and Kam K. Leang

Duckies can fly, walk, swim and dive. Likewise, this robot is able to fly and walk, by combining the body of a quadrotor, together with passive legs, which are not actively powered. The robot can walk down an inclined surface with its propeller motors turned off, and use the propellers to walk on flat surfaces and to fly.


“Saccade Mirror 3: High-speed gaze controller with ultra wide gaze control range using triple rotational mirrors” Kazuhisa Iida, Hiromasa Oku (Gunma University)

This robotic perception system can track fast objects with very high accuracy over a wide field of view, by using a 1000 frames-per-second camera and three mirrors that are actively controlled. In this clip, the system is tracking a flying duckie.


“Trajectory Generation for Quadrotor based Systems using Numerical Optimal Control”
Mathieu Geisert, Nicolas Mansard (LAAS-CNRS)

This work develops an algorithm to allow a drone to pick up an object while in flight. Optimizing the trajectory is especially challenging because of the interaction of the dynamics of flight and the dynamics of an articulated manipulator.


“The Flying Monkey: a Mesoscale Robot that can Run, Fly, and Grasp”
Yash Mulgaonkar, Brandon Araki, Je-sung Koh, Luis Guerrero-Bonilla, Daniel M. Aukes, Anurag Makineni, Michael T. Tolley, Daniela Rus, Robert J. Wood, Vijay Kumar (UPenn, Harvard, MIT, UCSD)

This is the “flying monkey”, a robot that can fly, walk, and grasp. This new robotic platform merges one of the world’s smallest quadrotor aircraft with a lightweight, simple walking mechanism and a gripper to enable all three functions in a 30g package.

Visit ICRA 2016 trailer to watch upcoming clips and read the ICRA 2016 duckies poems.



tags: ,


Robohub Editors


Subscribe to Robohub newsletter on substack



Related posts :

Robot Talk Episode 147 – Miniature living robots, with Maria Guix

  06 Mar 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Maria Guix from the University of Barcelona about combining electronics and biology to create biohybrid robots with emergent properties.

Developing an optical tactile sensor for tracking head motion during radiotherapy: an interview with Bhoomika Gandhi

  05 Mar 2026
Bhoomika Gandhi discusses her work on an optical sensor for medical robotics applications.

Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?

  03 Mar 2026
Last year, Norwegian-US tech company 1X announced “the world’s first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home”.

Robot Talk Episode 146 – Embodied AI on the ISS, with Jamie Palmer

  27 Feb 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Jamie Palmer from Icarus Robotics about building a robotic labour force to perform routine and risky tasks in orbit.

I developed an app that uses drone footage to track plastic litter on beaches

  26 Feb 2026
Plastic pollution is one of those problems everyone can see, yet few know how to tackle it effectively.

Translating music into light and motion with robots

  25 Feb 2026
Robots the size of a soccer ball create new visual art by trailing light that represents the “emotional essence” of music

Robot Talk Episode 145 – Robotics and automation in manufacturing, with Agata Suwala

  20 Feb 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Agata Suwala from the Manufacturing Technology Centre about leveraging robotics to make manufacturing systems more sustainable.

Reversible, detachable robotic hand redefines dexterity

  19 Feb 2026
A robotic hand developed at EPFL has dual-thumbed, reversible-palm design that can detach from its robotic ‘arm’ to reach and grasp multiple objects.



Robohub is supported by:


Subscribe to Robohub newsletter on substack




 















©2026.02 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence