Morphlight Theory Inspired by Raptor: Arm-Wing Cooperative Control Method and its Application

Abstract

Avians can change their wing shape in a fast and efficient manner resulting in high manoeuvrabilities. The wing is composed of several bones and dozens of muscles, enabling it to have morphing abilities. However, various wing postures require complex control strategies, but no method or control device has yet been designed. Therefore, an arm-wing cooperative control method is achieved for the first time in the current research. In the method, the similarities between a human arm skeletal and an avian wing skeletal were figured out, and then a direct mapping between human arm motions and avian wing motions was proposed and established. A motion capture system was utilized to measure the motions of both arm and wing. Thereafter, a bionic wing skeleton was designed and controlled in a real-time manner, which allows a human to flap its arm just like a bird. We guess that the arm-wing cooperative control method could be a new control method for future aircraft.