These new capabilities will allow flying robots to conserve battery life, for example, when searching for survivors, or for biologists to take samples very easily in the wild.
This was explained by David Lending, co-author of an article in the journal Science Robotics. Novelty Wednesday “We want to land anywhere, so growth is exciting in terms of engineering and robotics.”
Known in the field of RobotsThe project was inspired by the behavior of animals – in this case, the way birds descend on tree branches and stick to them – in order to overcome technical problems.
But, due to millions of years of evolution, it has not been easy to follow these birds, which are sometimes covered by lichens or allowed to stick to branches of various sizes or shapes that are slippery due to rain.
For this purpose, the Stanford team used high-speed cameras to study how young parrots land in different sizes and objects; Any wood, foam and sandpaper.
In addition, sensors that record the power of the birds landing and returning are placed on the branches.
The scientists noted that when the landing movement is the same in each position, the parrots use their feet to adapt to the differences they encounter.
More specifically, damage Birds They have nails around the seat, and use soft, folded straps to ensure good adhesion.
To give the small drone with four propellers the capability, the scientists designed the clamps based on a model of the legs of a peregrine falcon.
The 3D-printed skeleton includes motors and fishing line for use as muscles and ligaments.
It takes 20 milliseconds to attach the clamps, and then the accelerometer tells the robot that the landing is complete.
Finally, the mechanism allows the mechanical bird to maintain its balance on the tree branch.
The robot was able to catch thrown objects such as tennis balls and land in real condition in the jungles of northwestern America.
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