The smallest members of the cucurbituril family, cucurbit [5]uril and the alkyl-cucurbit[5]urils, can be used as a building blocks, linked by metal ions to create supramolecular rings. The cavities found at the center of these rings have dimensions between 7 and 19 Å in width and 8.5 Å in depth. The partially substituted alkyl-cucurbit[5]urils present the most interesting supramolecular ring formation. This occurs as a result of selective coordination of metal ions to the carbonyl oxygens of the glycoluril moieties carrying alkyl substitution.

Abstract-This paper presents the mathematical modeling of flapping flight for inch-size micro aerial vehicles (MAVs). These vehicles, called Micromechanical Flying Insects (MFIs), are electromechanical devices propelled by a pair of independent flapping wings and are capable of sustained autonomous flight, and therefore mimic real flying insects. In particular, we describe the design and implementation of the Virtual Insect Flight Simulator (VIFS), a software tool intended for modeling true insect flight mechanisms and for testing the flight control algorithms of the MFIs. The VIFS includes models that have several elements which differ greatly from those with either larger rotary, or fixed wing MAVs. In particular, the VIFS simulates wing-thorax dynamics, the flapping flight aerodynamics at a low Reynolds number regime, and the biomimetic sensory system consisting of ocelli, halteres, magnetic compass and optical flow sensors. In this paper we present a mathematical description for each of these models based on biological principles and experimental data. All these models are designed in a modular fashion for quick upgrading and they are integrated together to give a realistic simulation for MFI flapping flight. The VIFS is intended to serve as a tool to evaluate the performance of the MFI flight control unit with an accurate low-level modeling of dynamics, actuators, sensors and environment.

No abstract

Abstract-In this paper we study attitude stabilization strategies via output sensor feedback for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs), inch-size robots capable of autonomous flight. To overcome the limited size and power budget available to these vehicles, ocelli and halteres, novel sensors based on body rotation and orientation sensing mechanisms used by flying insects, are introduced. The analysis and simulations of these sensors show the feasibility of using such biologically inspired approaches to build biomimetic gyroscopes and angular position detectors. Finally, attitude stabilization techniques based on these sensors are proposed and successfully tested on an aerodynamic model for a Micromechanical Flying Insect (MFI). To the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt in using output feedback from biomimetic devices with ocelli and halteres to achieve attitude stabilization in MAVs.