May 26, 2015VelociRoACH gets a job as an aircraft carrier

The VelociRoACH carrying a H2Bird before take off

In nature, you're not likely to ever see a bird get a piggyback ride from a cockroach and then take off from its back. But in the world of bio-inspired robotics, such things can and do happen. Researchers from the UC Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab have successfully demonstrated a cooperative launching system that puts a lightweight ornithopter on the back of its VelociRoACH robotic carpet crawler for a short run before the H2Bird takes to the air.

The Lab's 10-cm (4-in) long, 32 g (1.1 oz) six-legged robot roach has a top speed of 2.7 meters per second (which is quick, but not the fastest roach at Berkeley, that honor is reserved for the X2 version of the VelociRoACH – which can be seen in this video) and is capable of carrying a payload of up to 120 g (4.2 oz). The brains of the beast are represented by an ImageProc 2.5 micro-controller that's home to a microprocessor, IEEE 802.15.4 radio and motor drivers. It has two brushed DC motors in separate gear boxes to independently drive the legs.

The 13.2 g (0.47 oz) H2Bird micro-aerial vehicle features an ImageProc 2.4 controller and the power train from an i-Bird RC flying bird. Its roughly bird-like shape is made of clear plastic stretched over a carbon fiber-reinforced frame, with a wing span of 26.5 cm (10.4 in). It flaps its four wings for take off and flight and is able to stay aloft for about 2.5 minutes before its 90 mAh battery needs topping up. The tail rotor keeps yaw in check while a servo-driven elevator takes care of pitch.

After conducting tests to determine the precise angle of attack and velocity needed to get the bird in the air, the roach was fitted with a special launch cradle, higher at the front than at the back, and test runs conducted. You can see the results in the video below.

With the robotic flapper on its back, the VelociRoACH motors were found to use up to 24.5 percent more power. But just having the bird in its cradle resulted in the ambulating carrier bot running with more stability, reducing the variance in pitch and roll velocity by as much as 90 percent. The researchers also discovered that having the bird flap its wings slightly while being carried helped increase the average velocity of the robot roach by 12.7 percent.

The roboticists intend to continue the cooperative launching experiments with the aim of getting the bird to take off without human intervention.

Source: Biomimetic Millisystems Lab

VelociRoACH得到一份飛機載具的工作

VelociRoACH得到一份工作作為航空器carrier

的VelociRoACH背著H2Bird才起飛

在自然界中，你不可能永遠看見一隻鳥從得到一個背著蟑螂，然後從它的後麵起飛。但在仿生機器人的世界裏，這樣的事情可能而且確實發生。來自加州大學伯克利分校的仿生Millisystems實驗室的研究人員已經成功地展示了一個合作發射係統，使一個輕量級的撲翼機在其VelociRoACH機器人地毯履帶背麵的一個短期內H2Bird採用空氣之前，

實驗室的10厘米（4 -in）長，32克（1.1盎司）六腿機器人蟑螂具有每秒執行270米的最高速度（這是快，但不是最快的蟑螂伯克利分校，這個榮譽是保留給VelociRoACH的X2版本 - 它可以在該視頻中可以看出），並能夠承載多達120克（4.2盎司）的有效載荷的。獸的大腦是由一個ImageProc 2.5微控製器，這是家庭對微處理器，IEEE 802.15.4無線電設備和電機驅動器為代錶。它在單獨的齒輪箱2刷直流電機獨立地驅動腿部。

的13.2克（0.47盎司）H2Bird微型飛行器設有ImageProc 2.4控製器和從一個i-伯德RC飛鳥動力係。其大緻鳥狀是由透明塑料繃在碳纖維增強型框架，以26.5厘米（10.4）翼展。它扇動它的四個翅膀起飛和飛行，並能之前，其90毫安時電池需要補足，以在空中停留約2.5分鍾。該尾槳保持偏航在檢查的同時伺服驅動的電梯照顧間距。

後進行測試，以確定攻擊，需要得到在空中的飛鳥速度的精確的角度，蟑螂上裝上特別推出的搖籃，在前麵比在後麵，並測試運行進行更高。你可以看到結果在下麵的視頻。

在其背麵的機器人插闆，在VelociRoACH電機被發現使用多達24.5％的功率。但是，僅僅有在搖籃鳥導緻走動載體機器人更穩定的運行，高達90％降低俯仰和滾轉速度的變化。研究人員還發現，有鳥兒拍打翅膀稍稍同時進行幫助12.7％提高機器人蟑螂的平均速度。

的機器人專家打算繼續合作開展實驗，讓鳥起飛未經目的