Design, modeling and control of an owl-inspired robot in a standing posture

Abstract

This paper deals with an original study based on anatomical observation of owl’s motions in a standing posture. Owls are specific birds typified by upright stance, sharp talons and adapted feathers for silent flight. Owls can rotate their heads and necks as much as a complete turn without any difficulty. A new kind of robot is proposed here inspired from owls in two phases: standing posture and flight. The first complicated case presents the goal of this work. To model different possible motions of owl’s head and neck, a large observation of the natural behavior can allow us to propose a close design to reality. A dynamic model is then generated to verify miscellaneous rotations and movements. Finally, a fuzzy control system is developed to reach desired values of head and neck’s angles. The paper is ended with a conclusion and future work suggestions.