Aruna Raman (2021 cohort rep)
Research project title:
Insect Inspired Reaching on a Flying Robot
Principal goal for project:
The Hummingbird Hawkmoth is the ultimate aerial manipulator. Can we study its behaviour to reverse engineer key desired behaviours that we want to see in these robots?
Research project:
I want to study how the Hummingbird Hawkmoth uses visual feedback to probe flowers when feeding, while keeping stable in its hovering flight. This is, in many ways, analogous to the task of an Aerial Manipulator: a flying robot with manipulator(s) attached to its body. Yet the Hawkmoth manages to accurately inspect flowers despite unmodelled environmental disturbances (e.g. wind), unknown environments and a (relatively!) small number of neurons. Can we look to the Hawkmoth to build stable, robust yet computationally simple Aerial Manipulator controllers?
