Editorial: Soft aerial robots: Design, control, and applications of morphologically adaptive flyers

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 an open-access a icle dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion License (CC BY). The use, dis ibu ion o ep oduc ion in o he o ums is pe mi ed, p o ided he o iginal au ho (s) and he copy igh owne (s) a e c edi ed and ha he o iginal publica ion in his jou nal is ci ed, in acco dance wi h accep ed academic p ac ice. No use, dis ibu ion o ep oduc ion is pe mi ed which does no comply wi h hese e ms. 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 All claims exp essed in his a icle a e solely hose o he au ho s and do no necessa ily ep esen hose o hei a ilia ed o ganiza ions, o hose o he publishe , he edi o s and he e iewe s. Any p oduc ha may be e alua ed in his a icle, o claim ha may be made by i s manu ac u e , is no gua an eed o endo sed by he publishe . F on ie s in Robo ics and AI 02 on ie sin.o g