Within the growing family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles (MAV) are a relatively new field of research. Inspired by small size and agile flight of insects and birds, these systems offer a great potential for applications such as reconnaissance, surveillance, search and rescue, mapping, etc. Nevertheless, practicality of these vehicles depends on how we add...

Flapping-wing rectifier systems are defined as systems which produce bulk locomotion through the interaction of periodic wing movement with a surrounding environment. A nonlinear model is developed featuring a 6 degree-of-freedom main body (position and orientation) and wing deformation. Each wing may move independently and is described as the motion of many discrete points in the body-fixed co...

Insect flight studies have advanced our understanding of flight biomechanics and inspire micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) technologies. A challenge of centimeter or millimeter scale flight is that small forces are produced from relatively complex wing motions. We describe the design and fabrication of a millimeter-sized wing flapping mechanism to simultaneously control pitch and stroke of insect and ...

A strong induced flow structure envelops the body of insects and birds during flight. This flow influences many physiological processes including delivery of odor and mechanical stimuli to the sensory organs, as well as mass flow processes including heat loss and gas exchange in flying animals. With recent advances in near-field aerodynamics of insect and bird flight, it is now possible to dete...

Myliobatidae is a family of large pelagic rays including cownose, eagle and manta rays. They are extremely efficient swimmers, can cruise at high speeds and can perform turn-on-a-dime maneuvering, making these fishes excellent inspiration for an autonomous underwater vehicle. Myliobatoids have been studied extensively from a biological perspective; however the fluid mechanisms that produce thru...

Myliobatidae is a family of large pelagic rays including cownose, eagle and manta rays. They are extremely efficient swimmers, can cruise at high speeds and can perform turn-on-a-dime maneuvering, making these fishes excellent inspiration for an autonomous underwater vehicle. Myliobatoids have been studied extensively from a biological perspective; however the fluid mechanisms that produce thru...

Over the last decade, interest in animal flight has grown, in part due to the possible use of flapping propulsion for micro air vehicles. The importance of unsteady lift-enhancing mechanisms in insect flight has been recognized, but unsteady effects were generally thought to be absent for the flapping flight of larger animals. Only recently has the existence of LEVs (leading edge vortices) in s...