ISD Seminar: Towards a New Generation of Nature-Inspired Aerial Crafts

Abstract


Unmanned aerial crafts have traditionally sought the inspiration of birds and insects to achieve flight, but nature has another source of achieving flight: Trees! The maple tree employs a highly efficient mechanism for dispersal of their seeds using a wing-shaped seed and a flight mechanic known as autorotation. This mechanism can be analysed and capitalized in the design of novel and highly efficient unmanned aerial crafts which are also inherently safe where they can autorotate and descend to the ground in a controlled manner without power. Such designs also have the added mechanical advantage of not featuring any intricate mechanisms or delicate wings and allow it to operate robustly in the field. One such design is the Transformable HOvering Rotorcraft (THOR), which has been uniquely engineered to combine the range and speed of a horizontal flying platform with the hovering and manoeuvrability of a rotor-wing (just like a maple seed). This design, unlike any other hybrid UAV, maintains full utilization of all aerodynamic surfaces and propulsion sources in both flight modes and represents the most structurally efficient approach to achieving a cruising mode and a hovering mode on the same frame.
 


About the Speaker


Dr Shaohui Foong received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA in 2005 where he continued his postgraduate studies and obtained his M.S. and Ph.D degrees in 2008 and 2010. Dr Foong is currently an Associate Professor in the Engineering Product Development (EPD) Pillar at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Visiting Academician at the Changi General Hospital. In 2011, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. He has a keen interest in mechatronics, which is the synergistic integration of the multiple disciplines of mechanics, electronics, control theory and computer science, and much of his research is centred around designing and developing novel mechatronic systems for a wide spectrum of applications. As the principal investigator for the Aerial Innovation Research (AIR) Laboratory @ SUTD, he directs multi-disciplinary research to tackle unique applications in the aerial domain. One of his ongoing projects is centred on developing nature inspired aerial crafts which adapts the dispersal mechanism of maple seeds to achieve efficient flight. This under-actuated configuration is a true hybrid between fixed-wing aerial crafts and multi-rotors: It is able to perform vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) as well as possess flight endurance similar to that of fixed-wing crafts. Dr Foong also spearheads the ongoing development of a novel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to perform autonomous inspection of tunnels and shafts. This bespoke aerial platform is designed around an innovative 360 degree revolving camera which allows high-fidelity images to be captured with minimal optical distortion and an energy efficient autonomous sensing strategy to minimize weight and enhance flight endurance.
 
 

Associate Professor Shaohui FOONG

Engineering Product Development (EPD)
Singapore University of Technology & Design

foongshaohui@sutd.edu.sg


https://people.sutd.edu.sg/~shao/