Like snowflakes, no two branches are alike. They vary in size, shape and texture. Some may be wet, or mossy, or have multiple branches. Birds can land on almost any tree branch. This ability intrigued Stanford University engineers Mark Cutkosky and David Lentink, who have both developed techniques inspired by animal abilities.
Years of research into animal-inspired robots and bird-inspired flying robots led researchers to build their own "robobird" SNAG, detailed Dec. 1 in Science Robotics. Although it's called a "robobird," it doesn't look much like the birds we think of. When attached to a quadrotor drone, the SNAG can fly around, grab and carry objects and perch on a variety of branches.
SNAG has its own motor for each leg, which is used to move back and forth, or to process grabbing. Inspired by the alignment of tendons at the ankles of birds, a special device in the robot's leg absorbs the impact energy of landing and converts it into grabbing force. The robot has a particularly powerful high-speed clutch that can trigger a shutdown in 20 milliseconds. Once SNAG grabs the branch, its ankle locks, and an accelerator on its right foot reports that the robot has landed, triggering a balancing algorithm to stabilize it.
After lab tests, the researchers and SNAG ventured into a nearby forest for a real-world test run. Overall, SNAG did very well.
The robots have myriad possible applications, including search and rescue and wildfire monitoring. SNAG's proximity to birds could also provide unique insights into bird biology.
The research paper, entitled "Bird-inspired Dynamic grasping and Perching in Arboreal Environments ", has been published in the journal Science Robotics.
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