Pitch and yaw control of a robotic insect using an onboard magnetometer

The Harvard RoboBee was the first fly-sized vehicle to lift its own weight. This vehicle has previously demonstrated controlled flight maneuvers, but this required an array of external cameras to precisely track its trajectory. Developing flight-worthy sensors to eliminate the need for external motion capture is an area of active study. In this paper, we consider an onboard analog magnetometer. We show that the sensor meets the size, weight, and power requirements for the RoboBee and can provide feedback on angular position for pitch and yaw angle control. We show that this sensor can provide an accurate angle reading despite proximity to the piezoelectric actuators of this vehicle. This is likely because the actuators are driven by electrostatic forces rather than the electromagnetic forces that drive the electric motors of larger aircraft. This sensor provided sufficient bandwidth to enable rapid pitch angle maneuvers within 200ms on a RoboBee constrained to rotate only about its pitch axis. We also show it operating in a feedback loop to control heading angle, the first demonstration of controlling yaw orientation at this scale.