Creepy bat-like drone can crash into trees and perch

A creepy bat-like drone can crash into trees and perch.

The innovation sees the vehicle smash into the trunk and fold its wings around to hug it to keep it in place.

The gliding-winged robot, called PercHug, can also latch onto poles and could be used for inspection, maintenance, and biodiversity conservation.

A team from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) say they have taken influence from flying squirrels and geckos, the latter of which exhibits head-first "crash-landing".

The researchers say: "While flying animals substantially reduce their kinetic energy at landing by wing flapping, specialised gliders, like flying squirrels and geckos, land on trees at high speeds and endure elevated forces utilising their limbs or head.

"We took inspiration from flying geckos, which exhibit head-first crash-landing at speeds."

Perching with winged Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has often been solved by means of complex control or intricate appendages.

The team investigated a method that relies on passive wing morphing for crash-landing on trees and other types of vertical poles.

An upturned nose design means the robot can passively reorient from horizontal flight to vertical upon a head-on crash with a pole, followed by hugging with its wings to perch.

The team say: "Inspired by the adaptability of animals’ and bats’ limbs in gripping and holding onto trees, we design dual-purpose wings that enable both aerial gliding and perching on poles."

They were able to demonstrate "crash-perching" on tree trunks with an overall success rate of 73%

"The method opens up new possibilities for the use of aerial robots in applications such as inspection, maintenance, and biodiversity conservation," the team add.

A paper on the project is published in the journal Communications Engineering.