Computational Structure Design of a Bio-Inspired Armwing Mechanism

Abstract

Bat membranous wings possess unique functions that make them a good example to take inspiration from and transform current aerial drones. In contrast with other flying vertebrates, bats have an extremely articulated musculoskeletal system which is key to their energetic efficiency with impressively adaptive and multimodal locomotion. Biomimicry of this flight apparatus is a significant engineering ordeal and we seek to achieve mechanical intelligence through sophisticated interactions of morphology. Such morphological computation or mechanical intelligence draws our attention to the obvious fact that there is a common interconnection between the boundaries of morphology and closed-loop feedback. In this work, we demonstrate that several biologically meaningful degrees of freedom can be interconnected to one another by mechanical intelligence and, as a result, the responsibility of feedback-driven components (e.g., actuated joints) is subsumed under computational morphology. The results reported in this work significantly contribute to the design of bio-inspired Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) with articulated body and attributes such as efficiency, safety, and collision-tolerance.