Design and development of mechanical bird

Abstract

In past few years, the research on flying vehicles having wings for flapping mechanism also known as ornithopter or mechanical robotic bird has been a big area of interest because of its application in spy project in defence. These miniature spy vehicles mimic the natural birds and hard to differentiate between artificial and natural bird which has never been seen before in agility in flight. This new interest in the field of flying vehicles has raised series of new problems in vehicle dynamics and control to explore in this field. In order to get a better control of flapping wing mechanism, we made a prototype ornithopter called Robotic Mechanical bird. This present mechanical bird is capable of carrying a heavy as much as 500 g of computer and electronic sensor with pay load. This is designed specially, for the spy project and control research in defence. This design is made with special care to sustain the crash survivability, optimize payload capacity and can be easily repaired in the field itself during the crash. Lift and thrust of mechanical flapping membrane were measured in wind tunnel tests experiment under different speeds, frequencies and angles of attack. The study of this project mainly covered the design process of mechanical, electrical and aerodynamic systems of the mechanical robotic bird and initial control experiment.