The Atlantis Project: A GPS-Guided Wing-Sailed Autonomous Catamaran

The Atlantis Project: A GPS-Guided Wing-Sailed Autonomous Catamaran

An autonomous catamaran, based on a modified Prindle-19 day-sailing Catamaran, was built to test the viability of GPS-based system identification for precision control. The catamaran was fitted with several sensors and actuators to characterize the dynamics. Using an electric trolling motor, and lead ballast to match all-up weight, several system identification passes were performed to excite s...

An Autonomous Wing-Sailed Catamaran

The following information has been extracted from the thesis submitted by Dr. Gabriel Elkaim to Stanford University, and for which he was awarded his Ph.D. The full thesis, which can be viewed at http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~elkaim/Documents/GabrielElkaimThesis01.pdf (and an extract published in the AYRS’s Journal ‘Catalyst’ which can be found at http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~elkaim/Documents/Catalyst_B...

An Autonomous Wing-Sailed Catamaran - Construction of the Wingsail

Experimental Validation of GPS-Based Control of an Unmanned Wing-Sailed Catamaran

Precision guidance and control of an autonomous, wingsailed catamaran has been demonstrated by Harbor Wing Technologies’ X-1. Based closely on the Atlantis project, the X-1 is larger, more capable version. The platform is a modified Stiletto, a 9.1 m (30 ft) catamaran, experimentally capable of navigating along straight line segments between GPS waypoints and achieving line tracking with averag...

The ROBUR project: towards an autonomous flapping-wing animat

Flapping-wing flight is not applicable to huge aircrafts, but has a great potential for micro UAVs as demonstrated by real birds, bats or flying insects. The ROBUR project aims at designing a robotic platform that will serve to better understand the design constraints that this flying mode entails, and to assess its capacity to foster autonomy and adaptation. The article describes the major com...