Autonomous flying robots have some interesting potential applications, but their usefulness is limited if they cannot move across uneven terrain after landing. But a new bio-based bot being experimented with can do it by mimicking the way a crow walks.
The device, aptly named RAVEN (Robot-Inspired Vehicle for Multiple Environments), was developed by Won Dong Shin and colleagues at EPFL University in Switzerland. Although it looks like a flapping-winged robot, it actually flies using a combination of two semi-fixed wings and a propeller.
But RAVEN’s real selling point is its articulated legs.
These are not as anatomically complex as real crows, but they mimic the hips, ankles, and feet of real crow legs with joints. This arrangement allows the robot to walk (alternately placing one foot in front of the other), jump over gaps and small obstacles, and jump onto raised surfaces.
© 2024 EPFL/Alain Herzog (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Just like a real crow, this robot can also jump down when starting its flight. Tests have shown that increasing takeoff speed in this way is significantly more energy efficient than taking off without a jump.
“Multifunctional robotic legs expand opportunities to deploy conventional fixed-wing aircraft in complex terrain through autonomous takeoff and multimodal locomotion,” the scientists wrote in a paper on their research recently published in the journal Nature It is stated in
You can watch RAVEN walk, hop, jump, and fly in the video below.
Supplementary video 01
Source: CIMEX
