Unpowered flight can be used in microrobotics to overcome ground obstacles and to increase the traveling distance per energy unit. In order to explore the potential of goal-directed gliding in the domain of miniature robotics, we developed a 22cm microglider weighing a mere 1.5g and flying at around 1.5m/s. It is equipped with sensors and electronics to achieve phototaxis, which can be seen as a minimal level of control autonomy. A novel 0.2g Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator for steering control has been specifically designed and integrated to keep the overall weight as low as possible. In order to characterize autonomous operation of this robot, we developed an experimental setup consisting of a launching device and a light source positioned 1m below and 4m away with varying angles with respect to the launching direction. Statistical analysis of 36 autonomous flights demonstrate its flight and phototaxis efficiency.

We aim at developing ultralight autonomous microflyers capable of navigating within houses or small built environments. Our latest prototype is a fixed-wing aircraft weighing a mere 10 g, flying below 2 m/s and carrying the necessary electronics for airspeed regulation and obstacle avoidance. This microflyer is equipped with two tiny camera modules, two rate gyroscopes, an anemometer, a small microcontroller, and a Bluetooth radio module. In-flight tests are carried out in a new experimentation room specifically designed for easy changing of surrounding textures.

We aim at developing ultralight autonomous microflyers capable of navigating within houses or small built environments. Our latest prototype is a fixed-wing aircraft weighing a mere 10 g, flying around 1.5 m/s and carrying the necessary electronics for airspeed regulation and collision avoidance. This microflyer is equipped with two tiny camera modules, two rate gyroscopes, an anemometer, a small microcontroller, and a Bluetooth radio module. In-flight tests are carried out in a new experimentation room specifically designed for easy changing of surrounding textures

We give an overview of the EPFL indoor flying project, whose goal is to evolve neural controllers for autonomous, adaptive, indoor micro-flyers. Indoor flight is still a challenge because it requires miniaturization, energy efficiency, and control of nonlinear flight dynamics. This ongoing project consists of developing a flying, vision-based micro-robot, a bio-inspired controller composed of adaptive spiking neurons directly mapped into digital microcontrollers, and a method to evolve such a neural controller without human intervention. This article describes the motivation and methodology used to reach our goal as well as the results of a number of preliminary experiments on vision-based wheeled and flying robots.

Developing a research autonomous plane for flying in a laboratory space is a challenge that forces one to understand the specific aerodynamic, power and construction constraints. In order to obtain a very slow flight while maintaining a high maneuverability, ultralight structures and adequate components are required. In this paper we analyze the wing, propeller and motor characteristics and propose a methodology to optimize the motor/gear/propeller system. The C4 model plane (50g, 1.5m/s) demonstrates the feasibility of such a laboratory flying test-bed.

Landmines are easy to lay but difficult to find and destroy. They are blind killers that should be forbidden as soon as possible. Nevertheless, there are about 100 million mines to be removed, and as many ready to be dispersed by hand or helicopter. A population of lightweight, low-cost, semi-autonomous robots is a clear answer to the problem of demining vast condemned areas. They will work together under close supervision of a monitoring station. They are named Pemex for "PErsonal Mine EXplorers" and this paper focuses on the original design and navigation of the 2-wheel Pemex-B. The Pemex-B robot searches for mines as a dog would. Ground pressure is low enough not to make the mine explode. It has to scan a large area, covering every square foot. In order to accelerate the exploration and get the best efficiency from the surveillance team, several robots have to be used. There are three levels of control: local scan; navigation (GPS and odometry) and collective behaviour (radio coordination).

In order to build lower cost multimicroprocessor systems, a narrow synchronous bus (15 active lines) is proposed. It multiplexes address and data on 8 bits, and arbitrates in two pipe-lined cycles on four lines. Due to the 20 to 40 MHz bus clock, and the pipelined control logic, the performances are equivalent to Multibus-2, IEEE-P896 and similar 32-bit buses. For the implementation, cards are disposed radially around a special connector. The very short connections allows for the usage of fast HC-MOS drivers with only a light adaptation.

the general study of the conversion of a number from the radix p to the radix q number system leads to four different algorithms for integers, and to four similar ones for fractions. Most transform algorithms can be implemented by iterative arrays of cells characterized by simple equations. Such arrays are very attractive with present-time large-scale integration technology.