Meeting Abstract

S5.8  Wednesday, Jan. 5  How can bats inspire robotic fliers and micro air vehicles? SWARTZ, SM*; BREUER, KS; Brown University sharon_swartz@brown.edu

Research on the aeromechanics of bats has identified numerous distinctive characteristics in the structure of bat wings and the ways that the wings are employed during flight. However, all flying animals are far more complex than any flying machine that humans can envision building, and not all specializations of bats will prove equally useful in inspiring designs for human-engineered fliers. Moreover, some functionally important aspects of the bat flight apparatus are more readily implemented in engineering design than others. A critical challenge for those interested in seeking inspiration for designing flying vehicles of any kind from the biological world is to identify features that are both functionally significant for the most important tasks at hand – both for the animal and the human design challenge. We discuss three interdisciplinary projects that are inspired by research on aeromechanics of bats: the construction and use of a generalized robotic flapper for comparative biology research, the design of a hovering robotic flapper based on a specific bat species intended to employ novel actuation methods and complex membrane model skins, and the use of novel materials systems for the creation of bioinspired artifical bones of variable stiffness and hair-sensor imbedded skins.