Robohub.org
 

Multi-purpose wings allow flying robot to walk across rough terrain

by and
26 July 2013



share this:

The Deployable Air Land Exploration Robot (DALER) uses its own wings to crawl and roll over a variety of terrains. Using a self-adjusting structure to transform its wings into rotating arms, the robot is able to flip, rotate and navigate its way around and over obstacles on the ground. Sharing the wings across different modes of locomotion reduces the amount of infrastructure and weight the robot must carry, thus improving flight performance. The ability to adapt to a variety of environments is important in search and rescue operations, where both air and ground searching may be required.

multi-modal_robot_Daler

First prototype of the Deployable Air Land Exploration Robot (DALER), from EPFL’s Laboratory of Intelligent Systems.

In applications such as exploration, search-and-rescue, or environmental monitoring, robots must be able to deal with very complex terrains, such as semi-collapsed buildings, deep caverns, or forests with heavy vegetation. Autonomous robots that can operate both in the air and on the ground are ideal for navigating these kinds of locations — for example, a robot may be needed to fly over a large forest, and then explore areas below the tree canopy. While many dual-locomotion systems already exist, most of these simply add specialized hardware for each locomotion method used (such as wings and wheels), adding both infrastructure and weight to the overall system, and hindering flight performance. Instead, DALER uses just one structure — the wing — to both walk and fly. This design approach is an example of “adaptive morphology”, where one part of a robot’s structure is adaptable and shared between different modes of operation.

The DALER is currently optimized for ground speed. The prototype shown in the video above can move forward at 0.2 m/s (0.7 BL/s), can rotate on spot at 25°/s, and is capable of walking with different gaits. Future iterations of the robot will focus on increasing the adaptability of the wings to improve forward flight, hover flight and displacement on the ground. For example, wings could be fully deployed for flying outdoors and reduced for hover flight and ground modes.

The DALER was developed at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, where researchers investigate bio-inspired artificial intelligence, develop autonomous robotic systems, and address biological questions using computational and robotic models.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.



tags: , , , , , , ,


Ludovic Daler is a Ph.D student at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS).
Ludovic Daler is a Ph.D student at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS).

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large
Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large





Related posts :



Open Robotics Launches the Open Source Robotics Alliance

The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) is pleased to announce the creation of the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA), a new initiative to strengthen the governance of our open-source robotics so...

Robot Talk Episode 77 – Patricia Shaw

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Patricia Shaw from Aberystwyth University all about home assistance robots, and robot learning and development.
18 March 2024, by

Robot Talk Episode 64 – Rav Chunilal

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Rav Chunilal from Sellafield all about robotics and AI for nuclear decommissioning.
31 December 2023, by

AI holidays 2023

Thanks to those that sent and suggested AI and robotics-themed holiday videos, images, and stories. Here’s a sample to get you into the spirit this season....
31 December 2023, by and

Faced with dwindling bee colonies, scientists are arming queens with robots and smart hives

By Farshad Arvin, Martin Stefanec, and Tomas Krajnik Be it the news or the dwindling number of creatures hitting your windscreens, it will not have evaded you that the insect world in bad shape. ...
31 December 2023, by

Robot Talk Episode 63 – Ayse Kucukyilmaz

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Ayse Kucukyilmaz from the University of Nottingham about collaboration, conflict and failure in human-robot interactions.
31 December 2023, by





Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2024 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2021 - ROBOTS Association