Design of a Mechanism for Reproducing Hovering Flight of Insects

곤충의 호버링 비행을 구현하는 메카니즘의 설계

Recently, studies have been carried out to develop unmanned Micro Air Vehicles(MAVs) that can search and monitor inside buildings during urban warfare or rescue operations in hazardous environments. However, existing fixed-wing and rotary-wing MAVs cannot travel at extremely low or high speeds, hover in place, or change directions instantly. This has lead researches to search for other flight methods that could overcome those drawbacks. Insect flight principles and its applications to MAVs are being studied as an alternative flight method. To take flight, insects flap and rotate their wings. These wing motions allow for high maneuverability flight such as hovering, vertical take off and landing, and quick acceleration and deceleration. This paper proposes a method for designing a mechanism that reproduces hovering insect flight, the basis for all other forms of insect flight. The design of a mechanism that can reproduce the motion that causes maximum lift is proposed, the required specifications are calculated, and a method for reproducing hovering insect flight with a single motor is presented. Also, feasibility of the design was confirmed by simulation.