Contents
22 January 2020
Vol 5, Issue 38
Vol 5, Issue 38
Focus
- Forging global cooperation and collaboration
Major robotics initiatives and government funding programs need better international cooperation and collaboration.
Research Articles
- Soft biohybrid morphing wings with feathers underactuated by wrist and finger motion
A soft biohybrid aerial robot with underactuated feathers shows how birds can steer by morphing their wings with wrists and fingers.
About The Cover
ONLINE COVER Winging It. Bioinspired robotics translates fundamental biological principles into engineering design rules to create robots that perform like natural systems. Inspired by how birds demonstrate agile and efficient flight through wing morphing, Chang et al. studied the skeletal and feather kinematics of the common pigeon to develop a soft biohybrid aerial robot, called PigeonBot, with underactuated feathers that can steer by morphing its wings with wrist and finger joints. This month's cover is a composite image showing the range of PigeonBot's wing morphing—the wings of this biohybrid system are composed of real pigeon feathers. [CREDIT: ERIC CHANG/STANFORD UNIVERSITY]
