This book demonstrates how bio-inspiration can lead to fully autonomous flying

robots without relaying on external aids. Most existing aerial robots fly in open

skies, far from obstacles, and rely on external beacons - mainly GPS - to localize

and navigate. However, these robots are not able to fly at low altitude or in confined

environments, and yet this poses absolutely no difficulty to insects. Indeed, flying

insects display efficient flight control capabilities in complex environments despite

their limited weight and relatively tiny brain size.

From sensor suite to control strategies, the literature on flying insects is reviewed

from an engineering perspective in order to extract useful principles that are then

applied to the synthesis of artificial indoor flyers. Artificial evolution is also utilized

to search for alternative control systems and behaviours that match the constraints

of small flying robots. Specifically, the basic sensory modalities of insects, vision,

gyroscopes and airflow sense, are applied to develop navigation controllers for

indoor flying robots. These robots are capable of mapping sensor information onto

actuator commands in real time to maintain altitude, stabilize the course and avoid

obstacles. The most prominent result of this novel approach is a 10-gram

microflyer capable of fully autonomous operation in an office-sized room using

fly-inspired vision, inertial and airspeed sensors.

This book is intended for all those interested in the autonomous robotics, working

both in academic and industrial settings.