Design and Fabrication of a Flapping Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Bird Kinematics

Abstract

The artificial design of the bird was started out with the inspiration of bird flight and breaking that complex motion into a mechanism that is easily replicable. The design went with an active reference to the already existing as well as unique flapping wing UAV titled ʻsmart birdʼ by the Festo Corporation. But unlike the bird designed by Festo, we have changed the active torsion mechanism design and made it completely mechanical for steady flight. The bird will also feature video surveillance features with live feed send to any device on ground through Wi-Fi. Thus the design has taken a smart turn to building an UAV that flies like a bird, making it blend in and undetectable to the naked eye and provide surveillance capability over an area to any number of people on ground thus providing a new version to the concept ʻeyes in skyʼ.

Keywords: Biologically Inspired Flight, Torsion Mechanism Using Material Elasticity, Experimental Techniques, Cost Effectiveness