Design, takeoff and steering torques modulation of an 80‐mg insect‐scale flapping‐wing robot

摘要

An 80‐mg double piezo‐actuated insect‐inspired flapping‐wing robot is presented in this Letter. With the design of the two piezoelectric actuators placed back to back, each wing of this robot is independently driven and controlled, giving this robot the ability to achieve asymmetric flapping of the two wings to generate torques for steering. The piezoelectric actuators are designed with electrical insulation and structural reinforcement to improve the reliability under high‐voltage and high‐frequency drive mode. Fibre directions of each component of the robot are reasonably designed to enhance strength and stiffness. The average lift generated by the robot is measured by a customised lift measurement system found to be proportional to the square of the input voltage amplitude. The three steering torques generated by the robot are measured separately by a customised lift measurement system. Each steering torque can only be linearly modulated by its specific control variable of the input voltages. With a total weight of 80 mg and a wingspan of 3.5 cm, this robot can generate sufficient lift to take off and independently modulate all three steering torques with good decoupling, which is vital for the further controlled flight.