Development of flapping robot achieving both flapping and feathering motions using twist drive mechanism

This paper presents the development of a flapping robot for achieving flapping and feathering motions using twist drive mechanism which can mimic the motions based on the musculoskeletal structure of birds. In this paper, first, we describe the design of the aircraft that can perform both flapping and feathering motions. Next, the validity of the design is verified by conducting flapping and feathering motion experiments using the aircraft. In this research, we also focus on the speeds of the two types of movements in order to make the hand twist in time with the flapping of the wings as in the case of real birds. Therefore, we evaluate the performance by changing the thread material, the diameter of thread, the number of threads in one bundle and the length of thread. Then, we re-design the wing structure and achieve the 2 Hz flapping and fast feathering motion.