2.S986: Robot Locomotion Across Fluids: Flying and Swimming Machines
Class Information
How does a quadrotor hold itself in the air, a tuna cruise for thousands of kilometers, or an insect-scale robot hover on flapping wings? This course treats flying and swimming as two faces of one problem: a body pushing off the fluid around it and hands you the tools to understand, model, and actually build machines that move through air and water. The lectures cover aerial locomotion (rotorcraft, fixed-wing, and flapping-wing flight), undulatory swimming and fish robots, and multi-modal air-water systems. Students learn the full robot development stack end to end - bringing a brushless motor to life, tuning an electronic speed controller, integrating a crank-shaft mechanism, sizing wing and tail geometry with a flapping simulation, fabricating wings, and waterproofing electronics. We close the semester with a head-to-head competition for the fastest and most efficient swimmer.
Fall | Graduate | 12 Units (3-0-9) | Prereq:
