Draft:Morpho (UAV)

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  • Comment: Needs things other than recycled press releaeses. Stuartyeates (talk) 21:13, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Morpho is an unmanned aerial vehicle with four tails and wings that can change shape to match different flight modes and adjust to varying wind conditions.[1] The drone was created by a Swiss startup called Elythor, which emerged as a separate entity from the research institute of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.[2][3][4][5] It has a range of multiple kilometers.[6]

Design[edit]

The drone features a streamlined body resembling a bullet, equipped with four arms and four wings that have the ability to rotate around the central structure. Total weight is 3.5 kg. Flight time is 17 minutes.[6] Vertical speed can reach 8 km/h. Cruising speed is 60 km/h. It can conduct autonomous waypoint navigation.[6] Vertical takeoff is accomplished by propellers located on its arms. The drone autonomously adjusts the positioning of its wings to minimize air resistance. When moving in the same direction as the wind, the wings move to capture the airflow, essentially acting as sails. During forward flight, the drone reorients its body horizontally and aligns its wings parallel to the ground to generate lift. The wings can move asymmetrically in order to counterbalance wind resistance that is not centralised. Prototypes have proven able to hover amidst wind speeds up to 9 metres per second (32 km/h).[6] This adaptive wing system significantly enhances energy efficiency.[7] On the ground, the drone sits vertically standing on vertically positioned wings, resembling a 4-legged tripod.[2][4][5]

Applications[edit]

Morpho has the potential for use to inspect installations such as power lines, power plants, wind turbines, and offshore oil platforms that are expensive/complicated to inspect manually. Its adaptable wing system enables it to perform close inspections of these objects.[2][4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Vourtsis, Charalampos; Rochel, Victor Casas; Müller, Nathan Samuel; Stewart, William; Floreano, Dario (19 January 2023). "Wind Defiant Morphing Drones". Advanced Intelligent Systems. 5 (3). doi:10.1002/aisy.202200297. ISSN 2640-4567.
  2. ^ a b c Coxworth, Ben (2023-05-05). "Wind-cheating Morpho combines qualities of copters and fixed-wing drones". New Atlas. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  3. ^ "Morpho Product Announcement". TAdviser.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  4. ^ a b c McFadden, Christopher (2023-05-09). "Morpho: the hybrid fixed-wing multi-rotor drone can use wind in its favor". interestingengineering.com. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  5. ^ a b Carron, Cécilia (2023-05-05). "New inspection drone uses wind to lengthen flight times".
  6. ^ a b c d Ollero, A.; Suarez, A.; Papaioannidis, C.; Pitas, I.; Marredo, J.M.; Duong, V.; Ebeid, E.; Krátký, V.; Saska, M. "AERIAL-CORE: AI-Powered Aerial Robots for Inspection and Maintenance of Electrical Power Infrastructures". arxiv.org. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  7. ^ Vourtsis, Charalampos; Rochel, Victor Casas; Serrano, Francisco Ramirez; Stewart, William; Floreano, Dario (October 2021). "Insect Inspired Self-Righting for Fixed-Wing Drones". IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 6 (4): 6805–6812. doi:10.1109/LRA.2021.3096159. ISSN 2377-3766.

External links[edit]