Quad-thopter: Tailless flapping wing robot with four pairs of wings

Abstract

We present a novel design of a tailless flapping wing micro air vehicle, which uses four independently driven pairs of flapping wings in order to fly and perform agile maneuvers. The wing pairs are arranged such that differential thrust generates the desired roll and pitch moments, similar to a quadrotor. Moreover, two pairs of wings are tilted clockwise and two pairs of wings anti-clockwise. This allows the micro air vehicle to generate a yaw moment. We have constructed the design and performed multiple flight tests with it, both indoors and outdoors. These tests have shown the vehicle to be capable of agile maneuvers and able to cope with wind gusts. The main advantage is that the proposed design is relatively simple to produce, and yet has the capabilities expected of tailless flapping wing micro air vehicles.