Researchers have developed a method that allows a flapping-wing robot to land autonomously on a horizontal perch using a claw-like mechanism. The innovation could significantly expand the scope of robot-assisted tasks. A bird landing on a branch makes the maneuver look like the easiest thing in the world, but in fact, the act of perching involves an extremely delicate balance of timing, high-impact forces, speed, and precision. It's a move so complex that no flapping-wing robot (ornithopter) has been able to master it, until now. Raphael Zufferey, a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems and Biorobotics ab ( BioRob ) in the School of Engineering, is the first author on a recent Nature Communications paper describing the unique landing gear that makes such perching possible. He built and tested it in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Seville, Spain, where the 700-gram ornithopter itself was developed as part of the European project GRIFFIN. "This is the first phase of a larger project.
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