Dr Ali Khaheshi - London South Bank University

Flapping-wing drones must overcome serious technical challenges before they can be used in the real world, mostly due to their low energy efficiency. Insects have addressed this challenge mainly by their elaborate wings, which automatically change shape to adapt to flight forces. This phenomenon is key to their aerodynamic performance. Artificial wings that mimic key design features of adaptive insect wings can improve the efficiency of flapping-wing drones.

However, translating design features of complex biological wings to artificial drone wings is not a trivial task, which bring in design, fabrication, and control challenges. This is why existing flapping-wing drones have not yet reached their full potential.

This project aims to develop a design, fabrication, and control framework for bioinspired adaptive wings that can enhance energetic efficiency of flapping-wing drones. Specifically, we will address three research questions:

• What are the optimal designs for bioinspired adaptive wings?
• How can bioinspired adaptive wings with a nature-level complexity be fabricated?
• How should bioinspired adaptive wings be actuated and controlled?

Energy efficiency remains a key barrier to deploying small drones in public and for commercial use. As a result, the project will accelerate widespread use of miniaturised drones for civilian applications such safety, search and rescue, communication, inspection, and environmental preservation. It will also create opportunities in the field which is of significant interest to the intelligence community.