Meeting Abstract
Birds change the shape of their wings through a variety of poses during gliding to precisely control their flight. To test hypotheses about mechanisms that enable robust wing morphing and to quantify their effects, we developed a bio-hybrid flying robot including 40 primary and secondary feathers. We employ an underactuated system to drive feather motion by actuating the proximal and distal feather in each wing based on measured feather and wing bone kinematics from a pigeon (Columba livia). Through outdoor flight tests, we validate the effectiveness of an underactuated wing with many morphing elements in real-world flow environments. Furthermore, we examine how both asymmetric and symmetric wing morphing affect flight performance and enable controlled maneuvers. We compare our flight test results against predictive performance models of our robot with morphing wings as well as with conventional aircraft control surfaces. This work expands our understanding of the role of feathered wing morphing in avian flight.
