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  • © 2010

Flying Insects and Robots

  • First comprehensive and multidisciplinary treatment of the topic.

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (21 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. From Visual Guidance in Flying Insects to Autonomous Aerial Vehicles

    • Mandyam V. Srinivasan, Saul Thurrowgood, Dean Soccol
    Pages 15-28
  3. Optic Flow Based Autopilots: Speed Control and Obstacle Avoidance

    • Nicolas Franceschini, Franck Ruffier, Julien Serres
    Pages 29-50
  4. Active Vision in Blowflies: Strategies and Mechanisms of Spatial Orientation

    • Martin Egelhaaf, Roland Kern, Jens P. Lindemann, Elke Braun, Bart Geurten
    Pages 51-61
  5. Wide-Field Integration Methods for Visuomotor Control

    • J. Sean Humbert, Joseph K. Conroy, Craig W. Neely, Geoffrey Barrows
    Pages 63-71
  6. Optic Flow to Steer and Avoid Collisions in 3D

    • Jean-Christophe Zufferey, Antoine Beyeler, Dario Floreano
    Pages 73-86
  7. Visual Homing in Insects and Robots

    • Jochen Zeil, Norbert Boeddeker, Wolfgang Stürzl
    Pages 87-100
  8. Motion Detection Chips for Robotic Platforms

    • Rico Moeckel, Shih-Chii Liu
    Pages 101-114
  9. Insect-Inspired Odometry by Optic Flow Recorded with Optical Mouse Chips

    • Hansjürgen Dahmen, Alain Millers, Hanspeter A. Mallot
    Pages 115-126
  10. Microoptical Artificial Compound Eyes

    • Andreas Brückner, Jacques Duparré, Frank Wippermann, Peter Dannberg, Andreas Bräuer
    Pages 127-142
  11. Flexible Wings and Fluid-Structure Interactions for Micro-Air Vehicles

    • W. Shyy, Y. Lian, S.K. Chimakurthi, J. Tang, C.E.S. Cesnik, B. Stanford et al.
    Pages 143-157
  12. A Passively Stable Hovering Flapping Micro-Air Vehicle

    • Floris van Breugel, Zhi Ern Teoh, Hod Lipson
    Pages 171-184
  13. The Scalable Design of Flapping Micro-Air Vehicles Inspired by Insect Flight

    • David Lentink, Stefan R. Jongerius, Nancy L. Bradshaw
    Pages 185-205
  14. Challenges for 100 Milligram Flapping Flight

    • Ronald S. Fearing, Robert J. Wood
    Pages 219-229
  15. The Limits of Turning Control in Flying Insects

    • Fritz-Olaf Lehmann
    Pages 231-246
  16. A Miniature Vehicle with Extended Aerial and Terrestrial Mobility

    • Richard J. Bachmann, Ravi Vaidyanathan, Frank J. Boria, James Pluta, Josh Kiihne, Brian K. Taylor et al.
    Pages 247-270
  17. Towards a Self-Deploying and Gliding Robot

    • Mirko Kovač, Jean-Christophe Zufferey, Dario Floreano
    Pages 271-284

About this book

Flying insects are intelligent micromachines capable of exquisite maneuvers in unpredictable environments. Understanding these systems advances our knowledge of flight control, sensor suites, and unsteady aerodynamics, which is of crucial interest to engineers developing intelligent flying robots or micro air vehicles (MAVs). The insights we gain when synthesizing bioinspired systems can in turn benefit the fields of neurophysiology, ethology and zoology by providing real-life tests of the proposed models.

This book was written by biologists and engineers leading the research in this crossdisciplinary field. It examines all aspects of the mechanics, technology and intelligence of insects and insectoids. After introductory-level overviews of flight control in insects, dedicated chapters focus on the development of autonomous flying systems using biological principles to sense their surroundings and autonomously navigate. A significant part of the book is dedicated to the mechanics and control of flapping wings both in insects and artificial systems. Finally hybrid locomotion, energy harvesting and manufacturing of small flying robots are covered. A particular feature of the book is the depth on realization topics such as control engineering, electronics, mechanics, optics, robotics and manufacturing.

This book will be of interest to academic and industrial researchers engaged with theory and engineering in the domains of aerial robotics, artificial intelligence, and entomology.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“This book is a timely reminder of the beauty and agility of flying insects. … Comprising of 21 Chapters, 50% written by engineers and 50% written by biologists in the field, this book brings together a collection of works rarely seen outside of a tight circle of like-minded individuals. … The research compiled for this book represents the state-of-the-art in flying insect analysis, design and fabrication leading to an understanding of further developments in this area.” (Stephen D. Prior, The Aeronautical Journal, December, 2010)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Dario Floreano, Jean-Christophe Zufferey

  • Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia

    Mandyam V. Srinivasan

  • Dept. Zoology, University Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Charlie Ellington

About the editors

Dario Floreano is the director of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL Lausanne. He has authored books on evolutionary robotics and bio-inspired artificial intelligence, and he has given invited talks on the topic at major conferences in robotics, computational intelligence, artificial life and natural computing. Jean-Christophe Zufferey is a scientist at EPFL Lausanne, specializing on research into aerial, bio-inspired and evolutionary robotics. He founded a company that specializes in educational robotics and indoor flyers, and he has gliding and flying pilot licenses. Mandyam V. Srinivasan heads the Visual and Sensory Neuroscience team at the Queensland Brain Institute. He studies the behaviour of small animals, in particular insects, and seeks to elucidate principles of flight control and navigation, and to explore the limits of the cognitive capacities of small brains. Charlie Ellington is Professor of Animal Mechanics at the University of Cambridge, and his interests are in the fields of biomechanics and comparative physiology, with a particular fascination for animal flight.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access