Drones are undoubtedly highly useful invention. But did you know the effectiveness of a drone often depends on its airtime? It means the higher its air stay time, the more useful a drone is.
So, to increase their efficiency, drones have tiny claws like birds that enable them to hang and perch easily. These special claws also help to extend their flight period and battery time.
Developed by a highly qualified team, the drone claws can help to perch, sit and hang in the air like birds. According to details, the team observed that birds have special feet that enable the birds to stand on any surface by fixing their feet. Sometimes, the claws also allow the birds to lean on them and even sleep the whole night.
How it Happened
While surveying the surrounding areas, the drones need to rest, but they can sit on unique surfaces. So, when functioning, the drone using lidar or special sensors (that are aware of depths) characterizes the surface it hovers on. The purpose of doing this is to match the surface type with the type that suits the drone.
A pair of feet could not suit the drone as there are multiple kinds of surfaces like poles, ledges and more. Moreover, to develop articulating feet, researchers need to apply complicated procedures.
So, they chose to develop 3D-printed static modules with a gripper. These modules enable drones to perch on the surface (of any type), for instance, vertical poles, horizontal bars, and ledges.
Other benefits of these special modules or claws are they are easy to swap and modify. But (modifications depend on many things like the type of mission etc.).
And the best thing is the new claws are showing remarkable results. The only condition is to recognize the surface and position the modules correctly.
