Energetics in robotic flight at small scales

• Published in: Interface focus Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 20160088
• Main Authors: Karydis, Konstantinos, Kumar, Vijay
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 06.02.2017
• Subjects: Aerial Robots; Aerodynamic And Ground Effects; Energetics; Energy-Aware Motion Planning; High-Speed Robotic Flight; Review; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles; aerial robots; energy-aware motion planning; high-speed robotic flight; unmanned aerial vehicles; aerodynamic and ground effects; energetics
• ISSN: 2042-8898; 2042-8901
• DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2016.0088

Recent advances in design, sensing and control have led to aerial robots that offer great promise in a range of real-world applications. However, one critical open question centres on how to improve the energetic efficiency of aerial robots so that they can be useful in practical situations. This review paper provides a survey on small-scale aerial robots (i.e. less than 1 m2 area foot print, and less than 3 kg weight) from the point of view of energetics. The paper discusses methods to improve the efficiency of aerial vehicles, and reports on recent findings by the authors and other groups on modelling the impact of aerodynamics for the purpose of building energy-aware motion planners and controllers.