Morphology-driven design and aerodynamic performance of hovering mosquito-inspired flapping wing pico aerial vehicle

This thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into a bio-inspired aerial vehicle designed based on the morphology and flight characteristics of a mosquito, chosen as a bionic reference. The current problem motivating this work lies in the limitations of existing pico-scale aerial platforms, which often lack the agility, endurance, and efficiency required for several tasks. These limitations have prompted researchers to explore bioinspired design strategies. Inspired by the remarkable flight capabilities of mosquitoes, this research aims to develop a bioinspired aerial vehicle capable of mimicking their unique aerodynamic mechanisms. Mosquitoes, with their smaller wings, higher flapping frequencies, and lower stroke amplitudes compared to other insects, serve as an intriguing model for bio-inspired robotics. The decision to use mosquitoes as inspiration stems from the need to overcome the current limitations of pico-scale aerial platforms and take advantage of their inherent kinematic and aerodynamic properties at such an ultra-small size scale. Key parameters include achieving a significant reduction in weight while maintaining structural integrity and successful hovering. The research objectives revolve around designing and fabricating aerial vehicle’s body, wings, and legs at a pico size scale that closely mimics the morphology of a real mosquito and achieved through rapid prototyping techniques like 3D printing. This is followed by the development of a thorax-based transmission free nano-actuation system, with symmetric flexible wings of 26 mm span. The fuselage is 14.01 mm in length. Complete study involves quasi-steady aerodynamic modeling, stability and control analysis, and high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic simulations, utilizing a high-performance computing facility. The numerical findings are supported by experimental analyses, including flight tests, flow visualization in a wind tunnel, and measurement of time average vertical forces. Numerical analysis involves modeling various aspects, such as kinematics, stability, mean or time cycle average forces, moments, power economy, and instantaneous pressure and vorticity fields. Additionally, the pico vehicle’s airborne capability is evaluated. The research outcomes encompass the successful development of a tethered mosquito-inspired pico aerial vehicle called RoboMos with a weight of around 400 mg, along with a detailed aerodynamic analysis using both numerical and experimental approaches. The main findings include preliminary stability analysis which indicate that the aerial vehicle, when flown without a controller or insufficient power density, remains dynamically unstable. However, taking this preliminary finding into account, the finally designed and fabricated vehicle prototype was able to generate a significant amount of vertical force between 0.4 – 1.0 g, enabling it to hover successfully. The vehicle demonstrated most of the expected aerodynamic phenomena related to insects like development of edge vortices etc., during both computational fluid dynamic simulations and flow analysis in a wind tunnel. The primary focus of this study was on the design, development, and aerodynamic characteristics of the insect-inspired aerial vehicle, with less emphasis on control and autonomy aspects. Future work will address the challenge of achieving full autonomy for the robot, including designing controllers at the nano-pico scale. The findings highlight the potential of small robots inspired by mosquitoes for various flight applications, provided there are further advancements in their development.

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