title: A bioinspired multi-modal flying and walking robot.
abstract: With the aim to extend the versatility and adaptability of robots in complex environments, a novel multi-modal flying and walking robot is presented. The robot consists of a flying wing with adaptive morphology that can perform both long distance flight and walking in cluttered environments for local exploration. The robot's design is inspired by the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus, which can perform aerial and terrestrial locomotion with limited trade-offs. Wings' adaptive morphology allows the robot to modify the shape of its body in order to increase its efficiency during terrestrial locomotion. Furthermore, aerial and terrestrial capabilities are powered by a single locomotor apparatus, therefore it reduces the total complexity and weight of this multi-modal robot.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (http://lis.epfl.ch) at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Daler
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mintchev
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanini
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Floreano
mesh_terms: D000401:Aircraft / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology*