Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Japan.
Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2020 Dec;42:105-109. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2020.10.001. Epub 2020 Oct 14.
Insects power and control their flight by flapping their wings. By controlling their aerodynamic forces and torques, they can generate precise and agile aerial manoeuvres. From an engineer's perspective, their closed-loop, flight control system depends on an overarching external mechanical 'frame' consisting of wings and thoracic shell, which is actuated by an internal system consisting of flight muscles and a complex nervous system. Insect flights are diverse but robust relying on the integration of different flexible structures including wings, exoskeletal elements, wing-hinges, musculoskeletal elements, and sensors. Computational modelling of biomechanics in insect-inspired flight systems can offer a powerful and feasible tool to unravel a passive and active mechanism (PAM) strategy, that is, how these flexible structures work interactively and complementarily to achieve a systematically efficient and robust flapping-wing dynamics and aerodynamics as well as flight control in various natural environments.
昆虫通过拍打翅膀来产生和控制飞行。通过控制它们的空气动力和扭矩，它们可以产生精确和敏捷的空中机动。从工程师的角度来看，它们的闭环飞行控制系统依赖于一个由翅膀和胸壳组成的总体外部机械“框架”，由飞行肌肉和复杂的神经系统组成的内部系统来驱动。昆虫的飞行方式多种多样，但非常稳健，这依赖于不同柔性结构的整合，包括翅膀、外骨骼元素、翅膀铰链、肌肉骨骼元素和传感器。昆虫启发式飞行系统的生物力学计算建模可以提供一种强大而可行的工具，以揭示被动和主动机制 (PAM) 策略，即这些柔性结构如何相互作用和互补，以在各种自然环境中实现系统高效和稳健的扑翼动力学和空气动力学以及飞行控制。
