Flying Insects and Robots

Flying insects are intelligent micromachines capable of exquisite maneuvers in unpredictable environments. Understanding these systems advances our knowledge of flight control, sensor suites, and unsteady aerodynamics, which is of crucial interest to engineers developing intelligent flying robots or micro air vehicles (MAVs). The insights we gain when synthesizing bioinspired systems can in turn benefit the fields of neurophysiology, ethology and zoology by providing real-life tests of the proposed models. This book was written by biologists and engineers leading the research in this crossdisciplinary field. It examines all aspects of the mechanics, technology and intelligence of insects and insectoids. After introductory-level overviews of flight control in insects, dedicated chapters focus on the development of autonomous flying systems using biological principles to sense their surroundings and autonomously navigate. A significant part of the book is dedicated to the mechanics and control of flapping wings both in insects and artificial systems. Finally hybrid locomotion, energy harvesting and manufacturing of small flying robots are covered. A particular feature of the book is the depth on realization topics such as control engineering, electronics, mechanics, optics, robotics and manufacturing. This book will be of interest to academic and industrial researchers engaged with theory and engineering in the domains of aerial robotics, artificial intelligence, and entomology.

ISBN 354089392X   Pages 328 ISBN13 9783540893929 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG   Weight (grammes) 909 Imprint Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K   Published in Berlin Format Hardback   Height (mm) 260 Publication date 01 Feb 2009   Width (mm) 193 DEWEY 629.892   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

1		Experimental Approaches Toward a Functional Understanding of Insect Flight Control by Steven N. Fry		1
2		From Visual Guidance in Flying Insects to Autonomous Aerial Vehicles by Mandyam V. Srinivasan and Saul Thurrowgood and Dean Soccol		15
3		Optic Flow Based Autopilots: Speed Control and Obstacle Avoidance by Nicolas Franceschini and Franck Ruffier and Julien Serres		29
4		Active Vision in Blowflies: Strategies and Mechanisms of Spatial Orientation by Martin Egelhaaf and Roland Kern and Jens P. Lindemann and Elke Braun and Bart Geurten		51
5		Wide-Field Integration Methods for Visuomotor Control by J. Sean Humbert and Joseph K. Conroy and Craig W. Neely and Geoffrey Barrows		63
6		Optic Flow to Steer and Avoid Collisions in 3D by Jean-Christophe Zufferey and Antoine Beyeler and Dario Floreano		73
7		Visual Homing in Insects and Robots by Jochen Zeil and Norbert Boeddeker and Wolfgang Sturzl		87
8		Motion Detection Chips for Robotic Platforms by Rico Moeckel and Shih-Chii Liu		101
9		Insect-Inspired Odometry by Optic Flow Recorded with Optical Mouse Chips by Hansjurgen Dahmen and Alain Millers and Hanspeter A. Mallot		115
10		Microoptical Artificial Compound Eyes by Andreas Bruckner and Jacques Duparre and Frank Wippermann and Peter Dannberg and Andreas Brauer		127
11		Flexible Wings and Fluid Structure Interactions for Micro-Air Vehicles by W. Shyy and Y. Lian and S. K. Chimakurthi and J. Tang and C. E. S. Cesnik and B. Stanford and P. G. Ifju		143
12		Flow Control Using Flapping Wings for an Efficient Low-Speed Micro-Air Vehicle by Kevin D. Jones and Max F. Platzer		159
13		A Passively Stable Hovering Flapping Micro-Air Vehicle by Floris van Breugel and Zhi Ern Teoh and Hod Lipson		171
14		The Scalable Design of Flapping Micro-Air Vehicles Inspired by Insect Flight by David Lentink and Stefan R. Jongerius and Nancy L. Bradshaw		185
15		Springy Shells, Pliant Plates and Minimal Motors: Abstracting the Insect Thorax to Drive a Micro-Air Vehicle by Robin J. Wootton		207
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From the reviews: "This book is a timely reminder of the beauty and agility of flying insects. ! Comprising of 21 Chapters, 50% written by engineers and 50% written by biologists in the field, this book brings together a collection of works rarely seen outside of a tight circle of like-minded individuals. ! The research compiled for this book represents the state-of-the-art in flying insect analysis, design and fabrication leading to an understanding of further developments in this area." (Stephen D. Prior, The Aeronautical Journal, December, 2010)

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