Engineers Built a Falcon-Like Drone That Perch and Carry Objects Like a Bird

Scientists have been taking inspiration from nature when building robots. The latest of this technology is the drone that can fly and land like a peregrine falcon. The new quadcopter has four 3D-printed talons that it uses to land on a branch or grasp whatever it makes contact with.

Typically, a drone can tip over and bork its rotors on a moderately unleveled surface. But birds wrap their feet around at anything their grasp with their toe pads and talons. Biologist and roboticist David Lentink commented that it seems everything is a landing strip for birds, which inspired them to make a drone with similar characteristics as birds that can perch anywhere.

Stereotyped Nature-Inspired Aerial Grasper (SNAG)

According to Wired, the Stereotyped Nature-Inspired Aerial Grasper (SNAG) is inspired by the predator among predators the peregrine falcon. This bird can dive at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, slamming into its prey mid-air and sinking its talons into the flesh. It is known to be a menace in the sky and the fastest animal on Earth.

Unlike the peregrine falcon, SNAG has no wings but has a lot of rotors. The drone weighs 1.5 pounds and is as big as a real peregrine falcon. Also, its legs work like the falcon's because it starts to collapse and fold to grasp the object or branch.

The more the leg collapses, the more tension there is in the tendon, and a quick-release mechanism could trigger the tendons to pull tighter and increase their grasping force. Its claws and toe pads help the drone to hold tight.

Within 50 milliseconds, the legs of the robot have converted the energy of its impact with the branch into grasping energy. Lentink said that SNAG has a momentum, unlike helicopter landing, and also a dynamic landing as well as a controlled collision. SNAG's right foot then checks its balance, and the motors in the hips correct its posture after landing,

In releasing the grip, the drone's motor decreases the tension in the tendon to let the talons automatically curl back to the open position and allow SNAG to fly away.

The team has released a video in which SNAG performs landing or perching. The video shows how it mimics a peregrine falcon attacking other birds from above as it makes contact with an object. Also, the video shows a slow-motion takeoff in which it relies on its rotors to produce lift like how hummingbirds would flap so fast to take off.

Applications of SNAG

Researchers said that there are a lot of possible applications for SNAG. Science reported that a person controls the drone's flight and landing sequence, but the team is now working on making it fly on its own. As soon as that happens, they can use it in several applications.

According to Science Daily, this could include search and rescue missions, wildlife monitoring, and environmental research. The drone provides unique insights into avian biologies, such as with two different toe arrangements, namely the anisodactyl and zygodactyl. They found that there is little performance between the two arrangements of birds.

Researchers said that part of making SNAG is to create tools that scientists can use to study the natural world. Making a bird-like drone or robot means that they could potentially unlock completely new ways of studying the environment.

This project took years to accomplish, which was inspired by the mysteries of nature. Lentink said that his co-author William Roderick talked to a lot of ecologists six years ago and wrote his NSF fellowship about perching aerial robots for environmental monitoring, which was how the project started.

They published their study, titled "Bird-Inspired Dynamic Grasping and Perching in Arboreal Environments," in Science Robotics.