Robots today, though capable of performing a growing number of increasingly complex tasks, lack the agility that would be required to perform in a rapidly changing or dynamic environment, especially when compared to animals and insects, they are very rigid in performance. Recent developments in the field of insect-scale flapping wing micro-robots include controlled hovering flight, sensor integration and controlled landing. However, their ability to perform rapid, dynamic motions has not been explored in depth. We present the design, fabrication, and actuation of a insect-sized (142~mg) aerial robot that is equipped with a bio-inspired tail. Incorporating a tail allows the robot to perform rapid inertial reorientation as well as to shift weight to actuate torques on its body. Here we present the first analysis of tail actuation using a piezo actuator, departing from previous work to date that has focused exclusively on actuation by DC motor. The primary difference is that unlike a geared motor system, the piezoelectric-tail system operates as a resonant system, exhibiting slowly-decaying oscillations. We present a dynamic model of piezo-driven inertial reorientation, along with an open-loop feedforward controller that reduces excitation of the resonant mode. Our results indicate that incorporating a tail can allow for more rapid dynamic maneuvers and could stabilize the robot during flight.

Current bioinspired flapping-wing micro aerial robots incorporate numerous capabilities pulled from the study of insect morphologies, and have utilized these designs to improve flight stability, time, and energy efficiency. However, this approach to design of robotic systems draws unidirectionally from the threshold of biology into robotics, pulling from the mechanisms and mechanics that evolutionary biology has spent millennia iterating, without utilizing these robots to further study insect and animal traits. In this research we develop a flapping-wing micro-aerial robot, scaled up in size from the Harvard RoboBee, designed as a platform for studying the control mechanisms inherent in insect muscle physiology. A concomitant velocity sensing circuit is implemented in a piezoelectric actuator, to self-sense the velocity of the actuator tip and feed it into a control feedback loop. The loop simulates antagonistic delay-stretch activation muscles, mimicking insects that fly asynchronously. Using the concomitant sensing and Upscaled Robobee, the system generates stable oscillatory flapping-wing motion without the use of large off-board displacement sensors across a range of control parameters, and performs as a platform for future DSA control studies.

This book provides a comprehensive coverage on robot fish including design, modeling and optimization, control, autonomous control and applications. It gathers contributions by the leading researchers in the area. Readers will find the book very useful for designing and building robot fish, not only in theory but also in practice. Moreover, the book discusses various important issues for future research and development, including design methodology, control methodology, and autonomous control strategy. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students in the fields of robotics, ocean engineering and related areas.

A new selection of Melville's darkest and most enthralling stories in a beautiful Pushkin Collection edition Includes "Bartleby, the Scrivener", "Benito Cereno" and "The Lightning-Rod Man" A lawyer hires a new copyist, only to be met with stubborn, confounding resistance. A nameless guide discovers hidden worlds of luxury and bleak exploitation. After boarding a beleaguered Spanish slave ship, an American trader's cheerful outlook is repeatedly shadowed by paralyzing unease. In these stories of the surreal mundanity of office life and obscure tensions at sea, Melville's darkly modern sensibility plunges us into a world of irony and mystery, where nothing is as it first appears.

Robotics is a rapidly growing branch of engineering dealing with the designing, modelling and application of robots. Biomimetics is bringing forth new breakthroughs in the field of bio-engineering and bio-inspired robotics. Biomimetic robotics has diverse applications and is a growing field of robotic engineering. It involves the principles and techniques of nanotechnology, fibre optics and other engineering methods for developing bio-morphic systems, artificial implants and bionic implants. Researches and case-studies by internationally acclaimed experts are collated to provide a comprehensive insight into the techniques, modules and the new challenges emerging in the field. It is helpful for students, researchers and professionals associated with robotic engineering and biomimetics.

This book discusses the latest developmens in modelling, simulation and control of flexible robot manipulators. Coverage includes an overall review of previously developed methodologies, a range of modelling approaches including classical techniques, parametric and neuromodelling approaches and numerical modelling/simulation techniques.

Proceedings of SPIE present the original research papers presented at SPIE conferences and other high-quality conferences in the broad-ranging fields of optics and photonics. These books provide prompt access to the latest innovations in research and technology in their respective fields. Proceedings of SPIE are among the most cited references in patent literature.