Innovative, Biologically Inspired Design for Highly Integrated Micro Vehicles with Multiple Modes of Locomotion

Orbital Research Inc. and Theiss Aviation, Inc., propose the development of a novel micro vehicle with multiple modes of mobility that uses biological inspiration to yield an efficient and robust architecture necessary to effectively imbue a vehicle with multiple modes of locomotion. To realize this design, we propose to tightly integrate both locomotion mechanisms via the established principles of biologically inspired design so that the mechanisms have the largest possible number of common structures between them. This reduces the need for locomotion mode specific structures within the design and facilitates the accomplishment of the disparate mobility modes within the highly constrained footprint of a micro vehicle. The use of multi role structures and mechanisms also provides an inherent path for the reuse of actuators and power train elements and therefore tremendously improves the concomitant weight and power constraints of this design. In addition, the principles of biologically inspired design will be used, not only to produce highly integrated locomotion mechanisms, but also to essentially embed a large portion of the mechanisms' control algorithms within the mechanisms themselves. The innovations in mechanism and control design described in the proposed work will enable the development of highly integrated and optimized systems that increase the robustness, flexibility and capability of the vehicle.