Aerodynamic Bio-Mimetics of Gliding Dragonflies for Ultra-Light Flying Robot

A detailed investigation including a low-speed flow study is presented on the development of ultra-light dragonfly mimetic flying robots with a focus on the dragonfly’s remarkable gliding capability. It is revealed that the dragonfly’s corrugated wing structure and cruciform configuration provide superior flying characteristics for fixed wing robots in low Reynolds number flight. It was also found that the dragonfly configuration has additional merit in its compatibility with propellers or high lift devices. This combination with such classic aero-engineering makes possible robots with broader flight envelope than conventional fixed-wing flying robots.