Collaborative Adjustment of Wing-Tail Distance and Tail Attitude to Achieve Agile Maneuver Flight of Biomimetic Flapping Wing Robot

Collaborative Adjustment of Wing-Tail Distance and Tail Attitude to Achieve Agile Maneuver Flight of Biomimetic Flapping Wing Robot | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Collaborative Adjustment of Wing-Tail Distance and Tail Attitude to Achieve Agile Maneuver Flight of Biomimetic Flapping Wing Robot Wenfu Xu, Guangze Liu, Erzhen Pan, Wei Sun, Shihua Wang, Lei Yan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4360661/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In nature, raptors exhibit remarkable hunting abilities through their adept use of rapid aerial maneuvers. The key to achieving such exceptional maneuverability lies in the dynamic adjustment of the distance between the center of gravity (COG) and aerodynamic center (AC) across a wide range. Drawing inspiration from this natural phenomenon, we have developed a biomimetic flapping-wing robot with agile flying capabilities. By coordinating adjustments in wing-tail distance and tail attitude, we can effectively manipulate the relative positioning of the robot's COG and AC, as well as modulate wing and tail moments generated with respect to COG, thereby influencing climbing and descending characteristics. This enhanced agility allows us to define and achieve 13 Dynamic Flying Primitives (DFPs), including ascend and pull-up, ascend and inverted flight, dive and inverted flight, among others. Furthermore, by combining different DFPs, we have successfully executed 9 typical maneuvers such as figure-of-eight somersaults, inverted flight maneuvers, large-angle dives followed by steeply climbs, etc., all for the first time on flapping-wing robots. Finally, outdoor flying tests have been conducted to validate that our biologically-inspired flapping-wing flying robot equipped with a self-adjustment strategy for wing-tail distance and tail attitude can achieve unprecedented levels of agile maneuverability. Physical sciences/Engineering/Aerospace engineering Physical sciences/Engineering/Mechanical engineering Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Movie.S1.Theplatformofbiomimeticflappingwingrobot.mp4 Movie.S1. The platform of biomimetic flapping wing robot Movie.S2.Thedistanceadjustmentprocessbetweenthewingsandtail.mp4 Movie.S2. The distance adjustment process between the wings and tail Movie.S3.Thedeformationprocessofthetail.mp4 Movie.S3. The deformation process of the tail Movie.S4.Theupwardsomersaultmaneuver.mp4 Movie.S4. The upward somersault maneuver Movie.S5.Thedownwardsomersaultmaneuver.mp4 Movie.S5. The downward somersault maneuver Movie.S6.ThefigureofXXX8XXXsomersaultmaneuver.mp4 Movie.S6. The figure of “8” somersault maneuver Movie.S7.Thecontinuousupwardsomersaultmaneuver.mp4 Movie.S7. The continuous upward somersault maneuver Movie.S8.Thecontinuousdownwardsomersault.mp4 Movie.S8. The continuous downward somersault Movie.S9.Theupwardsnakemaneuver.mp4 Movie.S9. The upward snake maneuver Movie.S10.Thedownwardsnakemaneuver.mp4 Movie.S10. The downward snake maneuver Movie.S11.Invertedflightmaneuver.mp4 Movie.S11. Inverted flight maneuver Movie.S12.Largeanglediveandclimbsteeplymaneuver.mp4 Movie.S12. Large angle dive and climb steeply maneuver Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4360661","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":304827161,"identity":"991256a5-d863-4b87-8ddd-f51ab0a5b83b","order_by":0,"name":"Wenfu Xu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAr0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDAC5gMMDB8bJEBMAyK1sCUwMM5skJAgTQszbwMDCVoMjvGYSdvusKhjYG/eJsFQc4cYLWxp0rlngA7jOVYmwXDsGWEtZvebj0nntgG1SOSYSTA2HCZCyzHGNmlLkBb5N0RrYT4mzQi2hYdILfbH2JIte9skJNt40ootEo4RoQWo1PDGz7Y6fn72wxtvfKghQgscsIGIBBI0jIJRMApGwSjAAwD7aS+Sv72pVwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenfu","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":304827162,"identity":"27ae8b16-8814-4401-8af8-02d41084ae02","order_by":1,"name":"Guangze Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Guangze","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":304827163,"identity":"998db811-f5f9-41d1-9497-6cd772c59e9a","order_by":2,"name":"Erzhen Pan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Erzhen","middleName":"","lastName":"Pan","suffix":""},{"id":304827164,"identity":"3a75e67b-ac97-4bfc-b1eb-4b053bef84df","order_by":3,"name":"Wei Sun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wei","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun","suffix":""},{"id":304827165,"identity":"2dd48af4-036b-4b8c-9bf9-9cb6054f16af","order_by":4,"name":"Shihua Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shihua","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":304827166,"identity":"dc6fa08b-2928-4f70-a872-0bf46af7438c","order_by":5,"name":"Lei Yan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lei","middleName":"","lastName":"Yan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-05-02 18:35:45","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4360661/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4360661/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00480-9","type":"published","date":"2025-08-01T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":88148948,"identity":"a46a458b-cb44-47e0-ad3a-bba79fd1773d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-02 07:09:03","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1608686,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4360661/v1_covered_5fa674a8-1de1-44ba-8712-fe476ce257bd.pdf"},{"id":60548355,"identity":"c74051b5-09e8-4976-91a4-7fa0abaf15aa","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-18 04:25:18","extension":"mp4","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":10033262,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Movie.S1. 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