A Miniature Flapping Mechanism Using an Origami-Based Spherical Six-Bar Pattern

Abstract

In this paper, we suggest a novel transmission for the DC motor-based flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAVs). Most DC motor-based FWMAVs employ linkage structures, such as a crank-rocker or a crank-slider, which are designed to transmit the motor’s rotating motion to the wing’s flapping motion. These transmitting linkages have shown successful performance; however, they entail the possibility of mechanical wear originating from the friction between relative moving components and require an onerous assembly process owing to several tiny components. To reduce the assembly process and wear problems, we present a geometrically constrained and origami-based spherical six-bar linkage. The origami-based fabrication method reduces the number of the relative moving components by replacing rigid links and pin joints with facets and folding joints, which shortens the assembly process and reduces friction between components. The constrained spherical six-bar linkage enables us to change the motor’s rotating motion to the linear reciprocating motion. Due to the property that every axis passes through a single central point, the motor’s rotating motion is filtered at the spherical linkage and does not transfer to the flapping wing. Only linear motion, therefore, is passed to the flapping wing. To show the feasibility of the idea, a prototype is fabricated and analyzed by measuring the flapping angle, the wing rotation angle and the thrust.

Special Issue on Advances in Bio-Inspired Robots

“…A novel type of wall-climbing robot is proposed with a new gear transmission system arm and an adherence mechanism inspired by cicadas and geckos. The adherence force experiments demonstrate that the bionic spines and bionic materials achieved good climbing on cloth, stone, and glass surfaces [6].…”

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“…Based on the analysis in the previous section, the motion trajectories of Points A and C are known to be functions of α. By using infinitesimal analysis, α can be divided into n segments, and the motion trajectories of Points A and C can be represented by n + 1 points, which can be expressed as Equation (20).…”

“…The mechanisms employed by existing flapping MAVs to achieve wing flapping can be broadly categorized as follows: gear-bar linkage-based mechanisms [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], springbar linkage-based mechanisms [23]; string-based mechanisms [24][25][26][27], 'Smart Composite Microstructures' (SCM) and voltage-driven piezoelectric bimorphs mechanisms [28][29][30][31], and motor direct drive mechanisms [32,33]. Among these, the voltage-driven piezoelectric bimorph mechanism boasts a high flapping speed but suffers from a low driving capacity.…”