Design of a Miniature Flapping-Wing Robot Capable of Quick and Energy-Efficient Takeoff

Micro areal vehicles are widely used in civilian and military applications, but it is still challenging for them to take off in place with both high speed and energy utilization efficiency. Inspired by locusts, one solution is to integrate the flying with the jumping motion, utilizing the speed generated by jumping to provide sufficient aerodynamic forces for the flight. In this paper, we develop a miniature locust-inspired robot capable of jumping and flying. By coupling the jumpingleg mechanism and flapping-wing mechanism, the robot has a compacted size (with a body length of 15 cm and a weight of 23 g). Furthermore, we design a cascaded jump-flying controller to achieve stable transition and maneuverable flight. A series of experimental results reveal that the robot achieves a maximum jumping height of 50 cm and a minimum flying turning radius of 0.8 m. Remarkably, the robot is capable of taking off in place through controlling the hindleg and wings coordinately.