Design and fabrication of side mounted crank flapping wing robot

Nature is a natural motivator for humans and is always inspired and fascinated for a human. In this paper, a prototype of a flapping wings aerial robot is design to mimics the structure and motion of the bird’s flight. In the last few years the flying vehicles such as drones, ornithopter had been a major area of interest for many due to their application in Micro Aerial Vehicles. The main goal of the research is to develop an ornithopter that maintains flight and surveillance with low speed, hovering over a place and in urban areas without being suspected. The flapping wing concept of birds gives an example of utilizing unsteady aerodynamics to mechanize the miniature flight structures at low Reynolds numbers. This study evaluates the aerodynamics of an ornithopter and discusses the application. The objective is to design and fabricate an ornithopter for the flapping wings to calculate the weight distribution and the lift & drag experienced. An Ornithopter is a mechanical device that uses its ability to flap wings as a locomotive agent. The electric motor is used to drive the gear train to produce flapping motions of the wings. The shape of bird wings varies according to their way of adapting to nature. The wingspan of the ornithopter is 1m (one wing is of 0.5m). Different lift and thrust calculating methods are analyzed and evaluated.