Design and Kinematics of a Dielectric Elastomer Actuated Micro Dragonfly Robot

Dragonflies fly in a unique way compared to other hovering insects. Soft robotics are used to learn more about their flapping motion. An at-scale dragonfly robot is designed around Dielectric Elastomer Actuators that compress and expand 0.5mm. With this knowledge, MATLAB was used to predict the linkage sizes that control the wing stroke movement. Using the values calculated in MATLAB, Solidworks was used to design a soft robot that mimics a dragonfly’s flight. Motion analysis was then used to map the movements of the robot. This analysis showed an angular wing displacement of 93⁰ in the θ direction. The wing hinge (φ direction) moves 90⁰ on the upstroke and is stopped by a limiting piece to 40⁰ on the downstroke.

Name thesis:degree_name

Bachelor

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Arase, Cathleen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chen, Yufeng (Kevin)

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright MIT

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144664

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/144664