Lift force control of a flapping-wing microrobot

This paper introduces a methodology for designing real-time controllers capable of enforcing desired trajectories on microrobotic insects in vertical flight and hovering. The main idea considered in this work is that altitude control can be translated into a problem of lift force control. Through analyses and experiments, we describe the proposed control strategy, which is fundamentally adaptive with some elements of model-based control. In order to test and explain the method for controller synthesis and tuning, a static single-wing flapping mechanism is employed in the collection of experimental data. The empirical results validate the suitability of the chosen approach.