Insect-inspired Sensors and Actuators Utilizing PiezoMEMS Flapping Wing Structures
Project Leader(s)
UC Santa Barbara
Research Focus Area
A microfabricated insect wing-inspired flapping device is shown. In this project, the wing dynamics will be exploited to develop a gust and wind velocity sensor which can aid in navigation and micro UAV flight.
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are machines on the size scale of the width of a human hair. The size of MEMS can result in vibrations as high as billions of motions per second and high throughput fabrication where thousands of devices can be built at once. MEMS have been built to perform many tasks including tilt sensors, pressure sensors, and inkjet printers and inertial sensors for video game systems. The PiezoMEMs project aims to develop sub-mm, low power, highly sensitive air velocity and gust sensors for microUAVs.
Date Completed
