PercHug Crash-perching on Vertical Poles Drone

I am beginning to think the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has an obsession with biomimicry—in particular, how it lands. First, they created an ornithopter bot-bird that perches, and now the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle that is literally a tree-hugger.

PercHug Crash-perching on Vertical Poles Drone
The inspiration…

This UAV, dubbed PerchHug, is not a flying green activist. I bet Greta Thunberg would love that. It gets its name because the trunk of a tree or pole such as the lamp post is its “landing pad”. How? Well, by hugging the tree or pole. It is as unorthodox as it is creepy. Imagine seeing a bird-like machine flying and crashing itself into a tree that triggers you to scream like a damsel in distress, only to see it hugging the tree to secure itself there.

This unique unmanned aerial features an upturned nose to allow for safe crashing and reorientation of the vehicle from horizontal flight to a vertical position to enable it to hug a tree or a pole. It further boasts segmented wings that are kept straight for flights with a tension wire. On impact, a latch system releases the tension wire and torsion springs pull the wings to wrap around the pole or tree.

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PerchHug is inspired by nature’s creatures like the fruit bat and the great grey owl. It is not 100% successful though. It does however achieve a 73% success rate of crashing into a tree and holding on to it without slipping down. You can the research papers (Crash-perching on Vertical Poles with a Hugging-Wing Robot) submitted to Nature magazine to learn more.

Images: EPFL.

via Gigadgets.