{"id":24267,"date":"2018-06-01T15:08:19","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T19:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=24267"},"modified":"2022-03-16T11:31:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:31:53","slug":"mit-albatross-robot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/mit-albatross-robot\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotic Glider Flies Like an Albatross and Sails Like a Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of engineers at MIT has developed <\/span>a robotic glider<\/span><\/a> capable of both soaring through the air in high winds and riding rapidly along the water\u2019s surface.<\/span><\/p>\n

In drafting the unique design of their robot, which they call the \u201c<\/span>wind-powered Unmanned Nautical Air-water vehicle<\/span>,\u201d or UNAv, the researchers drew inspiration from both biological and man-made designs. <\/span><\/p>\n

They looked to albatrosses, seabirds capable of flying far distances in windy areas, in designing the robot\u2019s flight capabilities. They fused that influence with the design of sailboats, allowing the robot to glide atop the water just as efficiently as it flies.<\/span><\/p>\n

The combination proves to be more than the sum of its parts. The UNAv is able to move 10 times faster than sailboats, and requires just a third of the wind power required by albatrosses to fly. <\/span><\/p>\n

The UNAv is also quite lightweight, weighing in at a modest 6 pounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Albatrosses?<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cAlbatrosses are very special creatures,\u201d said Gabriel Bousquet, <\/span>a former postdoc in MIT\u2019s <\/span>Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics<\/span><\/a>, who led the development of the UNAv as part of his graduate thesis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Albatrosses, he noted, fly thousands of miles through some of the harshest weather conditions in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor albatrosses, it seems that the bigger the storm, the better \u2014 and most striking, they travel those huge distances without even flapping their wings,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Albatrosses are able to use the wind to power their flight, allowing them to travel far distances through strong winds and inclement weather, all the while exerting minimal energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

A year ago, Bousquet, along with two other MIT researchers, <\/span>Jean-Jacques Slotine<\/span><\/a>, professor of mechanical engineering and information sciences and of brain sciences, and <\/span>Michael Triantafyllou<\/span><\/a>, the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Professor in Ocean Science and Engineering, published a study on the mechanics of the albatross\u2019s <\/span>unique flight pattern<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Albatrosses use a unique technique called dynamic soaring, in which they move in and out of high- and low-speed layers of air. In the aforementioned study, the researchers identified a mechanism that they termed \u201ctransfer of momentum,\u201d in which the bird gathers momentum from high speed layers of wind and dives down into slower layers, thereby using that momentum to propel itself without constantly flapping its wings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bousquet also noticed that sailboats use the same principle of transferring momentum to move through the water. That is, sailboats gather momentum from the air using the sail and transfer it to the water using the keel, propelling the boat forward along the water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Noting the similarity between the mechanisms of albatross flight and sailboat travel, the researchers sought to create a vehicle that combines the distinct advantages that each design bears. <\/span><\/p>\n

Albatrosses, with wings to provide natural lift, are adept at staying aloft mid-air, while sailboats transfer momentum between two layers, air and water, of very different speeds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe then realized that if we merged the ideas of a sailboat and that of an albatross, by adding a sail and keel sail to a glider airplane, we could bring the best of both world together, and make a system that would both be up to 10 times faster than sailboats, and require one third as much wind as albatrosses to fly using wind power,\u201d said Bousquet.<\/span><\/p>\n