A Long-Endurance Flapping-Wing Robot Based on Mass Distribution and Energy Consumption Method.

Flapping-wing robots (FWRs) have great potential in comprehensively optimizing the flexibility, cruising speed, load capacity, and the robot mass. Recently, researchers have focused on small-wingspan FWRs but with a large limitation of the payload and endurance. In this article, we design an eagle-like FWR with a vision system and a flight control system, where the wingspan is as long as 1.78 m and the mass is 985 g (without the vision system). Even though the FWR carries a vision module weighing 165 g, it can cruise for more than 1 h where the flight speed frequently reaches 5.9 m/s. If the FWR removes the vision system and further adds a 132-g battery, the flight time can be increased to 95–110 min. By considering the vision module as a payload, according to the mass distribution method and successful FWR examples, we roughly determine the mass of the electronic system and the FWR structure. The FWR structure is designed to satisfy the mass limitation and, most importantly, guarantee the endurance as long as possible. This structure optimization, although is not unique, is of large novelty and different from the formulaic mass distribution method.