DDP Phase 1 Presentation

Design, Analysis and Fabrication of a

Bat-like Biomimetic Wing
Radha Lahoti Advisors:
Prof. Abhijit Gogulapati
Prof. Prasanna Gandhi
Introduction
Bat is the only member of the mammal species capable of
powered flight. While the overall layout of the bones of a bat’s
wing are similar to that in a human hand, the relative sizes of
most bones and muscles are very different.

Bats have upto 25 independently controlled joints in the wing

and highly deforming bones that enable them to dynamically
morph and change the wing camber, and to create complex 3D
wing topology to achieve extraordinary flight performance and
extreme maneuverability.

Thus, creating a robotic counterpart which captures the

capabilities of the bat’s wing would help achieve an
aerodynamically efficient & highly manouverable artificial flight.
Advancements in the field
A group of researchers from the Brown University (Prof. S. Swartz, Prof. K. Breuer’s
group) have published research on bat-flight ranging from investigation and
experimental measurements of bat flight, reconstructing the wing 3D movement to
bio-mimetic design and synthesis. In their paper the "Design and characterization of a
multi-articulated robotic bat wing", they have modeled the design after a fruit bat. [1]

Colorado et al. have introduced another design of

bat robot called BaTboT. The design uses shape
memory alloys for expansion/ retraction of wings.[2]

A double flapping bat-wing using 2 coupled 4 bar

mechanisms has been proposed by D.Kong et al.[3]
Literature review
● Experiments on Bats have been conducted to investigate the kinematics during
flight and to correlate the effect of changing of individual mechanisms of wing
shape control on the resulting aerodynamic force generation [4] [5]
● Flapping flight aerodynamics has also been investigated extensively- different in
case of bats from birds. Efforts have been made to capture the complex
aerodynamics of bat-flight through Studies pertaining to Flexible Flapping Wing
Aerodynamics. It has been found that the anisotropic non-homogeneous wing
membrane of bats plays a significant role in increasing their aerodynamic
efficiency. [6] [7]
● [8] describes a computational model for estimating wing bone stresses, joint
forces and moments and other mechanical and energetic parameters from wing
kinematics employing a detailed aerodynamic model.
Objectives of our project
1. Gain insight into how bats fly and morph their wings during flight, and
design a bio-inspired robotic bat-wing.
2. Construct a robust kinematic and dynamic model which captures the
significant capabilities of the wing (flapping and folding) while keeping
the analytical complexity manageable.
3. Develop actuation and control framework for flapping and morphing of
the model.
4. Fabricate the prototype wing, test and validate through experimentation.
Significance
● The wing design can be implemented to build highly maneuverable and efficient UAVs-
a new generation of flying machines that can maneuver their way through terrain as
easily as bats can. A drone looking like a bat with a camera attached could fly
reconnaissance-without alerting the enemies that they are under surveillance, and long
range search-and-rescue missions in forests, mines, and crumbled buildings.
● A flying machine which looks and behaves very much like bats can help study bats
more closely without disturbing their natural habitat.
● Capturing the aerodynamic forces possible, testing the effects of varying kinematics
outside the biologically relevant range might be possible using a robotic batwing.
● The modelling of highly compliant wings, and the novel actuation method employed in
our work will find applications in actuation of other compliant robotic systems as well.
Model: Complexity Reduction from Biological Batwing
A bat wing has up to 25 actively controlled joints and 34 degrees of freedom of motion. The
shoulder joint is responsible for much of the overall motion of the wing. The elbow
flexion/extension and wrist ab/adduction play a role in wing folding and expanding with each
wingbeat. These motions, combined with those of the shoulder, result in motion of the wing tip
in three dimensions that produce characteristic traces in the top, side, and front views. Finally,
the remaining joints, such as the joints within the digits and the hindlimb, play a role in
controlling the dynamic shape of the wing by contributing to instantaneous camber, angle of
incidence, etc.

To reduce the complexity to a manageable level while accommodating the crucial motion
capabilities of the wing, we restrict ourselves to taking into account the two significant types
of motion: Flapping and Folding (and unfolding). We plan to develop the actuation
mechanisms for these independently. Furthermore, according to the progress of the project
we will try to inculcate the pitching of the wing as well.
The shoulder has only two degrees of freedom, the elbow and wrist each have one
degree, and all of the other joints of the forelimb are eliminated, restricting all
skeletal elements to a single plane. The angle between the digits doesn’t vary
significantly, hence in the beginning at least, we will keep it constant throughout the
motion.
Kinematic Analysis
𝟇 is the flapping angle. are the
folding angles at the shoulder, elbow and wrist
joints respectively.

The end-effector position D is given by

givenby
 Detailed formulation

Kinematic Analysis using Quaternions

The rotation by an angle θ about an axis
denoted by the unit vector e is represented
by the quaternion q given by:

The quaternion parameters corresponding to

the shoulder joint are K (rotation about y0)
and 𝛼 (rotation about new z). Similarly
parameters corresponding to elbow and wrist
are 𝛽 and 𝛾
Mechanism Design and Actuation of Folding
Bat wing has a large no. of joints and actuation of all joints becomes difficult to
achieve in a mechanical counterpart. Hence, in this work we are exploring a new
paradigm in the design of complex mechanisms based on the concept of
tensegrity. Actuation of such a structure at one location affects multiple degrees of
freedom, thus if we need a repetitive type of motion, we can design the mechanism
which is capable of doing so without actuating all the dof independently.

Iteration 1 Iteration 2
Third design iteration

Schematic
Folding:
Unfolding:
Video- Folding
Video- Unfolding
 Ranges of the angles
The ranges of the joint angles at the shoulder, elbow and wrist for the bat C.
brachyotis are listed in the following table. The ranges attainable using the shown
mechanism are also listed in the table.
Angles Bat’s biological range (°) Attainable range (°)

Min. value Max. value Min. value Max. value

Flapping stroke angle (ϕ) -80 30 - -

Shoulder extension (θ1) 280 320 300 330

Elbow extension (θ2) 20 70 30 75

Wrist extension (θ3) 250 300 255 335

Implementing the string tension based actuation
For the actuation, a main pulley driven by a
servo or a stepper motor, on which the
folding and unfolding threads are wound in
the opposite sense.

Thus, when it rotates in one of the directions,

the wing will fold-in and the tension in the
wires responsible for unfolding will get
released simultaneously, so that the string
doesn’t slack, and similarly for the reverse
direction, unfolding strings would be pulled
and the tension in the folding ones will be
released.
Further planned work- Fabrication
● Finalizing the design, make the CAD and begin with the fabrication.

● The links for bones are to be kept rigid at first, carbon fibre can be used for those- high
strength-weight ratio, for slightly flexible, ABS plastic can be used.

● For the flexible membrane, two types of materials: (1) Nylon, Polyester or Pongee fabric (the
material used in an umbrella) (2) elastomer membrane. The umbrella cloth like fabric isn’t
ultra-flexible like the stretched skin in case of bats, but can act as a lifting surface and
allow some flexibility while folding, it would be resistant to tear or breakage. Whereas the
elastomer membrane would encompass the properties of the biological batwing
membrane, but may be difficult to handle and susceptible to wear and tear.

● A flapping mechanism is to be designed, a four bar planar mechanism, crank-rocker

configuration can be used for the same, the link lengths chosen according to the flapping
amplitude requirement.

● Manufacturing a fixture to mount the wing for testing purpose.

Further planned work- Aerodynamics and Control
● Flapping wings involve unsteady aerodynamics and the vortices getting
generated and detached from the airfoil play a significant role in generating
the lift alongside the attached flow based suction mechanism.
● Control design for the actuation of the joints is to be done for the folding of the
wing and for flapping, the motions will be synchronized for simultaneous
operation. We would be employing simplified control laws which would suffice
the requirement. One approach could be implementing PID control for the
reciprocating flapping motion, and servo or stepper motor based control for
the folding and unfolding mechanism.
 References
1. Bahlman JW, Swartz SM, Breuer KS. "Design and characterization of a multi-articulated robotic bat wing", Bioinspir Biomim.
2013 Mar;8(1):016009. doi: 10.1088/1748- 3182/8/1/016009. Epub 2013 Feb 6. PMID: 23385471.
2. PhD thesis, J. Colorado “BaTboT- A Bio-inspired flapping and morphing robot actuated by SMA-based artificial muscles”,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Spain.
3. Kong, Deming & Zhao, Jing-Shan & Saffar Talori, Yaser. (2018). "Mechanism Design and Kinematics Analysis of a Bat Robot".
25-38. 10.1007/978-3-319-67567-1_3.
4. Sekhar S, Windes P, Fan X, Tafti DK (2019) "Canonical description of wing kinematics and dynamics for a straight flying
insectivorous bat (Hipposideros pratti)". PLoS ONE 14(6): e0218672.
5. Rhea Von Busse, Anders Hedenström, York Winter, L. Christoffer Johansson; "Kinematics and wing shape across flight speed
in the bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae", Biol Open 15 December 2012; 1 (12): 1226–1238.
6. Alon Tzezana, G. & Breuer, K. (2019) "Thrust, drag and wake structure in flapping compliant membrane wings", Journal of
Fluid Mechanics, 862, 871-888. doi:10.1017/jfm.2018.966
7. Tatjana Y. Hubel, Daniel K. Riskin, Sharon M. Swartz and Kenneth S. Breuer, "Wake structure and wing kinematics: the flight of
the lesser dog-faced fruit bat, Cynopterus brachyotis", The Journal of Experimental Biology, Volume 213, Pages 3427-
3440,2010.
8. Philip Watts, Erika J. Mitchell, Sharon M. Swarts, "A Computational Model for Estimating the Mechanics of Horizontal Flapping
Flight in Bats: Model Description and Validation", The Journal of Experimental Biology, Volume 204, Pages 2873-2898, 2001.
Thank you
Questions?
Appendix
Kinematics using Quaternions (Math)
The shoulder joint at A has 2 dof, so two parameters
should suffice, but the axis is not known. So, we first
use a parameter K for the rotation about the y0 axis.
So the unit quaternion representing rotation about
y0 axis is given by:

The joint axis at A is the new z-axis rotated by

quaternion p. A rotation of a three-component vector
x by quaternion q can be implemented using
quaternion multiplication. This is accomplished by
the quaternion product: q ⊗ x⊗ q*
Hence,
Kinematics (continued) So, each of the links l1, l2, l3 is rotated first by
quaternion p and further by quaternions a’, b’
This z’ is the new axis of the joints at A, B and C. and c’ respectively. Thus the new quaternions a,
The leg link isn’t moving out of the plane hence b c depicting the net rotations of links l1, l2, l3 are
its joint axis is z0 itself. Now each joint is given by:
parametrized by one parameter further to depict
the amount of rotation, namely α, β, γ. Thus, the
rotation quaternions for the joints at A, B and C,
a’, b’ and c’ respectively are given by:

The end-effector position D is given by:

go back
Third iteration Schematic (with pulleys)

go back
Joints and DoF in a bat’s wing

go back
Path traced by wing tip

go back
Quaternions ● Have 4 components- one scalar
and 3 vector
● 4D complex number- 1 real and
3 imaginary axes

A quaternion can represent a

rotation by angle θ around a unit
vector a:

a
Rotation using Quaternions
● Let q = cos(θ/2) + sin(θ/2) u be a unit quaternion: |q| = |u| = 1

● Let point p = (x,y,z) = x i + y j + z k

● Then the product q⊗p⊗q-1 rotates the point p about axis u by angle θ
● Inverse of a unit quaternion is its conjugate (q*) which can be found by
just negating the imaginary part

● Composition of rotations q12 = q1⊗ q2 ≠ q2⊗ q1 θ

u

● (θ,r) and (-θ,-r) give the same rotation p

go back
q p q*
Quaternion to Matrix Matrix to Quaternion
Gimbal Lock (singularity using Euler angles for 3D rotations)
Gimbal lock is the loss of one DoF in a three-gimbal mechanism for 3D rotations that
occurs when the axes of two of the three gimbals are driven into a parallel configuration,
"locking" the system into rotation in a degenerate 2-dimensional space.