Imperial College London

ProfessorMirkoKovac

Faculty of EngineeringDepartment of Aeronautics

Professor in Aerial Robotics
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5063m.kovac Website

 
 
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Location

 

326City and Guilds BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Kovac:2016:10.1126/science.aaf6605,
author = {Kovac, M},
doi = {10.1126/science.aaf6605},
journal = {Science},
pages = {895--896},
title = {Learning from nature how to land aerial robots},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf6605},
volume = {352},
year = {2016}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB - One of the main challenges for aerial robots is the high-energy consumption of powered flight, which limits flight times to typically only tens of minutes for systems below 2 kg in weight (1). This limitation greatly reduces their utility for sensing and inspection tasks, where longer hovering times would be beneficial. Perching onto structures can save energy and maintain a high, stable observation or resting position, but it requires a coordination of flight dynamics and some means of attaching to the structure. Birds and insects have mastered the ability to perch successfully and have inspired perching robots at various sizes. On page 978 of this issue, Graule et al. (2) describe a perching robotic insect that represents the smallest flying robot platform that can autonomously attach to surfaces. At a mass of only 100 mg, it combines advanced flight control with adaptive mechanical dampers and electro-adhesion to perch on a variety of natural and artificial structures.
AU - Kovac,M
DO - 10.1126/science.aaf6605
EP - 896
PY - 2016///
SN - 0036-8075
SP - 895
TI - Learning from nature how to land aerial robots
T2 - Science
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf6605
VL - 352
ER -