Science Daily May 31, 2018
Researchers in France have designed a flying robot called Quad-Morphing which has two rotating arms each equipped with two propellers for helicopter-like flight. A system of elastic and rigid wires allows the robot to change the orientation of its arms in flight so that they are either perpendicular or parallel to its central axis. It adopts the parallel position, halving its wingspan, to traverse a narrow stretch and then switches back to perpendicular position to stabilize its flight, all while flying at a speed of 9 km/h. It paves the way for a new generation of large robots that can move through narrow passages, making them ideal for exploration as well as search and rescue missions… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The Quad-Morphing robot. Credit: Valentin Rivière and Stéphane Viollet, Étienne Jules Marey Institute of Movement Sciences (CNRS / Aix-Marseille Université)