Manta Ray Inspired Flapping-Wing Blimp

TL;DR

This work introduces Flappy, a manta ray–inspired flapping-wing blimp that uses wing undulation and a tail to generate propulsion and attitude control, offering a potentially safer and more energy-efficient alternative to propeller-based LTA vehicles. The authors present a low-cost, modular design featuring two helium balloons, carbon-fiber supports, and servo-driven wings and tail, coupled with a Bluetooth-enabled ESP32 control system. Through parametric testing of wing structure and shape, they identify an optimal configuration (stiff wing, AR=1.0, gamma=0.25, concave trailing edge) that achieves high thrust at moderate flap settings, while endurance remains around 37 minutes and maximum range reaches approximately 2420 m. Comparisons with a propeller-based baseline show Flappy delivering greater range at practical speeds, highlighting the practical potential of flapping-wing LTA vehicles for safe long-range operation and education, with future work directed at autonomy and fluid-dynamic analysis.

Abstract

Lighter-than-air vehicles or blimps, are an evolving platform in robotics with several beneficial properties such as energy efficiency, collision resistance, and ability to work in close proximity to human users. While existing blimp designs have mainly used propeller-based propulsion, we focus our attention to an alternate locomotion method, flapping wings. Specifically, this paper introduces a flapping-wing blimp inspired by manta rays, in contrast to existing research on flapping-wing vehicles that draw inspiration from insects or birds. We present the overall design and control scheme of the blimp as well as the analysis on how the wing performs. The effects of wing shape and flapping characteristics on the thrust generation are studied experimentally. We also demonstrate that the flapping-wing blimp has a significant range advantage over propeller-based systems.

Figures (11)

• Figure 1: The flapping-wing LTA vehicle: "Flappy".
• Figure 2: (a) Top-view schematic of Flappy. (b) Servo-motor mount. (c) Clamp for wing-servo attachment (green).
• Figure 3: Longitudinal model for pitch analysis. (a) Definition of distances. (b) Definition of pitch and tail angles.
• Figure 4: Analysis of pitch control. (a) The effect of tail angle on the body pitch angle when the vehicle is stationary. (b) The effect of forward velocity on the body pitch angle when the tail is $\pm90^\circ$.
• Figure 5: Wing shape and parameters. (a) Definition of the parameters $W$, $L$, and the ratio $\gamma$. (b) Wing with concave trailing edge, $\gamma=0.5$ and $AR=1$. (c) No sweep back, $\gamma=0$ and $AR=1$. (d) Large sweep back, $\gamma=0.75$ and $AR=1$.