Supermaneuverable perching

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cory, Rick E. (Rick Efren)
Other Authors: Russell L. Tedrake.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60142
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author Cory, Rick E. (Rick Efren)
author2 Russell L. Tedrake.
author_facet Russell L. Tedrake.
Cory, Rick E. (Rick Efren)
author_sort Cory, Rick E. (Rick Efren)
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.
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spelling mit-1721.1/601422019-04-12T09:27:22Z Supermaneuverable perching Cory, Rick E. (Rick Efren) Russell L. Tedrake. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-88). Birds have the impressive ability to gracefully 'swim' through the air while executing aerobatic maneuvers that routinely defy modern aeronautical and control engineering, consistently reminding us that the skies are truly their playground. These animals are masters at inducing and exploiting post-stall aerodynamics to quickly execute maneuvers with unprecedented precision, with nowhere near the sustained propulsive power found in modern state-of-the-art aircraft. This amazing ability to manipulate the air is commonly attributed to the intricate morphology of the wings, tail, feathers and overall sensory motor system of the animal. In this thesis we demonstrate, on real hardware, that using only an approximate model of the post-stall aerodynamics in combination with principled and novel tools in optimal control, even a simple fixed-wing foam glider (no propeller) made out of rigid flat plates, with a single actuator at the tail, is capable of executing a highly dynamic bird-like perching maneuver to land on a power-line by exploiting pressure drag on its stalled wings and tail. We present a feedback controller capable of stabilizing the maneuver over a wide range of flight speeds and quantify its robustness to wind-gust disturbances. In order to better characterize the aerodynamics during perching, we performed smoke-visualization in a low-speed free flight wind-tunnel, where we were able to capture real images of the dominant vortex wake dynamics. We describe the application of these results to the synthesis of higher fidelity aerodynamic models. We also demonstrate our initial perching experiments with flapping wings, using a flapping-wing version of our glider as well as our fully computerized two-meter wingspan robotic bird, Phoenix. by Rick E. Cory. Ph.D. 2010-12-06T17:28:35Z 2010-12-06T17:28:35Z 2010 2010 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60142 680723880 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 88 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Cory, Rick E. (Rick Efren)
Supermaneuverable perching
title Supermaneuverable perching
title_full Supermaneuverable perching
title_fullStr Supermaneuverable perching
title_full_unstemmed Supermaneuverable perching
title_short Supermaneuverable perching
title_sort supermaneuverable perching
topic Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60142
work_keys_str_mv AT coryrickerickefren supermaneuverableperching