MIT engineers have designed a robotic glider that can skim along the water’s surface, riding the wind like an albatross while also surfing the waves like a sailboat.
In regions of high wind, the robot is designed to stay aloft, much like its avian counterpart. Where there are calmer winds, the robot can dip a keel into the water to ride like a highly efficient sailboat instead.
The robotic system, which borrows from both nautical and biological designs, can cover a given distance using one-third as much wind as an albatross and traveling 10 times faster than a typical sailboat. The glider is also relatively lightweight, weighing about 6 pounds.
The researchers hope that in the near future, such compact, speedy robotic water-skimmers may be deployed in teams to survey large swaths of the ocean.
The albatross does well with the former, as its wings provide natural lift, though it flies between air layers with a relatively small difference in windspeeds.
Meanwhile, the sailboat excels at the latter, traveling between two mediums of very different speeds — air versus water — though its hull creates a lot of friction and prevents it from getting much speed.
The team built a prototype of their design, using a glider airframe designed by Mark Drela, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. To the bottom of the glider they added a keel, along with various instruments, such as GPS, inertial measurement sensors, auto-pilot instrumentation, and ultrasound, to track the height of the glider above the water.
News Source: http://news.mit.edu/2018/albatross-robot-takes-flight-0518
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