Development of an active flapping wing using Piezoelectric Fiber Composites

Recently, flapping robots are noticed by many researchers, and many challenges are being made toward the realization of flight motions like insects, birds and so on. The purpose of this work is to develop flapping robots using a new type of piezoelectric material, that is, piezoelectric fiber composites. By using the composites, actuating fibers and sensing fibers can be embedded into a wing as part of the structure and it makes flapping robots with compact and light structure. A prototype of flapping robot capable of flapping and feathering motions has been developed. The design and driving method of the robot as well as experimental results about thrust and lift force are shown in this paper.