TYPE Edi o ial
PUBLISHED 21 Ap il 2023
DOI 10.3389/ ob .2023.1196942
OPEN ACCESS
EDITED AND REVIEWED BY:
Pakpong Chi a a ananon,
Ci y Uni e si y o Hong Kong, Hong
Kong SAR, China
*CORRESPONDENCE
Pham Huy Nguyen,
[email p o ec ed]
RECEIVED 30 Ma ch 2023
ACCEPTED 10 Ap il 2023
PUBLISHED 21 Ap il 2023
CITATION
Nguyen PH, Ko ač M and A ue BC
(2023), Edi o ial: So ae ial obo s:
Design, con ol, and applica ions o
mo phologically adap i e lye s.
F on . Robo . AI 10:1196942.
doi: 10.3389/ ob .2023.1196942
COPYRIGHT
© 2023 Nguyen, Ko ač and A ue. This is
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A ibu ion License (CC BY). The use,
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Edi o ial: So ae ial obo s:
Design, con ol, and applica ions
o mo phologically adap i e
lye s
Pham Huy Nguyen1,2*, Mi ko Ko ač1,2 and Begoña C. A ue3
1Ae ial Robo ics Lab, Impe ial College London, London, Uni ed Kingdom, 2Labo a o y o Sus ainabili y
Robo ics, Swiss Fede al Labo a o ies o Ma e ial and Science (Empa), Dübendo , Swi ze land, 3G upo
de Robo ica, Visión y Con ol, Uni e sidad de Se illa, Se illa, Spain
KEYWORDS
so oboi cs, ae ial obo ics, sma ma e ials, manipula ion, collision- esilance, physical
a i icial in elligence, embodied in elligence
Edi o ial on he Resea ch Topic
So ae ial obo s: Design, con ol, and applica ions o mo phologically
adap i e lye s
In ecen yea s, he e has been a conscious e o in he ield o ae ial obo s o end owa ds
de eloping lying ehicles ha a e mo e mechanically obus , maneu e able, ene gy e icien ,
capable o accessing mul i- e ains and pe o ming mul iple unc ions. By combining
undamen al knowledge o biological lye s wi h mul idisciplina y sciences such as ma e ial
science, biology, chemis y, compu e science, and mechanical enginee ing, dawns a new age
o ae ial obo s wi h in e es ing physical a i icial in elligen cha ac e is ics, called so ae ial
obo s. This Resea ch Topic aims o showcase high-quali y wo k om leading esea che s in
he ield. Th ough his Resea ch Topic, he cu en s a e o he a , echnical and concep ual
ba ie s, and u u e oppo uni ies o he opic o so ae ial obo ics a e discussed.
The selec ed pape s in his issue highligh s wo k anging om quad o o s wi h lexible
a ms and o o - il ing mechanisms in Ruiz e al. and Tang e al. Flapping ae ial obo s wi h
embodied ai low sensing o imp o e in-gus ligh in Wang e al. In e ac i e g aspe s o
cap u e mic o-ae ial ehicles mid-ai in Liu e al. And inally, biodeg adable glide s inspi ed
by plan seeds o en i onmen al sensing in Wiesemülle e al.
In he pape , “Ae oelas ics-awa e compensa ion sys em o so ae ial ehicle s abiliza ion,”
Ruiz e al. desc ibes a newly designed lexible a m, now con olled using a endon-
ac ua ed sys em. This sys em is u ilized o in- ligh s abiliza ion, u he imp o ing
he ene gy-e iciency up o 30%, compa ed o i s p edecesso . The s abiliza ion me hod
models he ae odynamic in e ac ions o he lexible a ms, aking in o accoun bending
pe u ba ions du ing pi ching and olling, and any o sion dis u bances du ing yaw
maneu e s. Fu he mo e i ejec s ae oelas ic pe u ba ions u ilizing he Ziegle -Nichols
me hod. The wo k concludes ha maneu e s a e only possible up o angles o 60% o i s
ange o mo ion. In he u u e, he eam is looking o pe o m objec g asping wi h mul i-
unc ional addi ional a ms, among o he ligh pe o mance imp o emen s.
F on ie s in Robo ics and AI 01 on ie sin.o g
Nguyen e al. 10.3389/ ob .2023.1196942
In he pape , “QUaRTM: A Quadcop e wi h Unac ua ed Ro o
Til ing Mechanism capable o as e , mo e agile, and mo e e icien
ligh ,” Tang e al. desc ibes a new quadcop e design, capable o
achie ing wo il con igu a ions, mid- ligh , by u ilizing only he
ligh mo o s. To achie e his, he au ho s u ilize sp ung hinges
ins ead o classical igid connec ions. Til ing he con igu a ions
educes he d ag a ea, so he sys em can pe o m as e , mo e
e icien and agile ligh s. The goal o he a ying con igu a ion is
o swi ch be ween applica ions ha need ime-sensi i e asks, like
package deli e y o d one acing. The u u e goals o he p ojec is
o design he sys em o a wide ange o ligh pe o mance h ough
he choice o he sp ung sp ing hinges and he edesign o he ehicle
ame o be mo e ae odynamic.
In he pape , “Sa ely ca ching ae ial mic o- obo s in mid-ai using
an open-sou ce ae ial obo wi h so g ippe ,” Liu e al. desc ibes
an ae ial obo equipped wi h a so g ippe o ca ch ano he
ae ial mic o- obo mid-ai . The So Ae ial G ippe (SoAG) is
an open-sou ce, onboa d g ippe ha is pneuma ically d i en.
Fu he mo e, o a oid he downwash o he quad o o , he SoAG
is moun ed o ho izon al g asping. The sys em is es ed o cap u e
mic o- obo s wi h and wi hou p opelle gua ds, mo ing a an
a e age eloci y o 0.2m/s. A planning me hod is de eloped based
on piecewise polynomial op imiza ion o ca ch he mic o- obo s,
wi hou gene a ing any addi ional ae odynamic dis u bances ha
would a ec he mic o- obo a ge ’s s abili y. The e en ual goal o
he sys em is o be used in sea ch and escue o ae ial obo s, o
cap u e small-scale uniden i ied lying a ge s wi hou damaging he
a ge . In he u u e, he au ho s plan o design a sys em capable
o g asping and ca ying la ge payloads in a obus manne o
ou doo expedi ions. The au ho s also wan o combine hei so
ae ial and g ound obo s oge he .
In he pape , “Embodied ai low sensing o imp o ed in-gus
ligh o lapping wing MAVs,” Wang e al. explo es he sensing
o ai low in o de o enable lapping wing mic o ae ial ehicles
(FWMAVs) o ope a e in condi ions wi h wind and gus s. The
au ho s i s gene a e a eliable model o he in-gus ligh dynamics
o he adap i e con ol amewo k, and hen add he embodied
ai low-sensing app oach o see an imp o emen o 25.15% when
subjec ed o on al wind gus s, o up o 2.4m/s. The con olle
also highligh s imp o ed ene gy e iciency. In he u u e, he au ho s
aim o in es iga e adap i e con olle s o he h us con ol loop, in
o de o u he imp o e posi ion con ol and ene gy e iciency.
Finally, in he pape , “T ansien bio-inspi ed glide s wi h
embodied humidi y esponsi e ac ua o s o en i onmen al sensing,”
Wiesemülle e al. s udied he gliding Alsomi a mac oca pa seed
(Ja an cucumbe seed) in o de o de elop a lib a y o ully ansien
and biodeg adable ae ial glide s. The design space o he glide s we e
s udied and op imized based on he glide ’s dihed al, ai oil cambe ,
and asymme ic ea u es. An embodied humidi y ac ua o si s
onboa d he glide , as a payload ha adjus s he CG o op imized
ligh pe o mance. When i eac s o ainwa e , he ac ua o opens,
allowing an onboa d pH senso o be exposed o he ainwa e . The
sys em also highligh s biodeg adabili y, disin eg a ing comple ely
wi hin a week. To u ilize hese sensing glide s in he eal-wo ld, a
quadcop e wi h a elease mechanism is de eloped o deploy he
glide s om a se heigh . In he u u e, he au ho s wan o expand
he lib a y o biodeg adable senso s onboa d he glide s o measu e
empe a u e, UV in ensi y, mic o pollu an le els, o name a ew.
Au ho con ibu ions
All au ho s ha e equal con ibu ion is w i ing his gues edi o al.
Con lic o in e es
The au ho s decla e ha he esea ch was conduc ed in he
absence o any comme cial o inancial ela ionships ha could be
cons ued as a po en ial con lic o in e es .
Publishe ’s no e
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F on ie s in Robo ics and AI 02 on ie sin.o g