Caltech & University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA) Bat Bot (B2) (1)

Not soldAcademic research robot (Science Robotics, February 2017).

Not for sale (research)Not programmableRobotic batMorphing membrane wings93 g

Not soldShipping: Not sold. Not available; a university research project.

Remote control: Not possible. A university research platform.

Science Robotics paper ↗PubMed abstract ↗

Overview

Bat Bot mimics the bat's highly articulated wing by driving only a few dominant joints and letting an ultrathin, stretchable silicone membrane morph with them. It achieved fully self-contained autonomous flight using virtual-constraint control, and was published in Science Robotics in 2017 as a platform for studying bat flight. Lead author Alireza Ramezani later continued the line with the Aerobat morphing-wing project.

Specifications

Category	Flapping-wing fliers · Flapping-wing robots
Released	2017
Availability	Not for sale (research)
Programmability	No programmability
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	No vision sensors
Actuators	Unknown
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Unknown
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	93 g; wingspan about 47 cm per IEEE Spectrum (Caltech describes it as roughly one foot)
Locomotion	Articulated morphing armwings with a 56-micrometre silicone membrane skin; asynchronous wing and leg (tail) motions
Compute	STMicroelectronics STM32F429 microcontroller on a custom main control board, with SD-card logging; Bluetooth and an 8-channel RC receiver link to a host
Camera	None
Sensors	VectorNav VN-100 IMU; five AS5048 Hall-effect encoders at the elbows, hips and flapping joint
Runtime	Not published
Speed	Peak of about 14 m/s recorded in a diving maneuver
SDK	None