A plethora of multi-copter drones can be found in a variety of public and private sectors in society; crime detection, border guard, agricultural inspections, aerial photography, cinematography, television, and entertainment. Unlike commercial drones, ornithopters - flapping bird-like drones - have a very different materiality. The different aesthetics and flight dynamics of these machines require designers to rethink the design space of this kind of drone. This study aims to map out the preliminary design space of ornithopters and explore their interesting flight dynamics and material qualities. Participants were invited to a workshop to build and fly three different ornithopters and reflect on the ornithopters and their experiences while flying them. This thesis presents a series of insights into ornithopters, especially their unique materiality. The unique materials used in ornithopters, such as balsa wood, polystyrene, nylon and carbon fiber, allow them to fly more efficiently and withstand the forces of flight. Finally, I argue that designers can embrace the design space of ornithopters by creating features that amplify the unique and unpredictable movements of the machine, which could lead to new and innovative designs. This would work towards a celebration of non-uniformity of morphologies and movements in an ecosystem of biologically-inspired flying robots. / En mängd av multirotor drönare kan hittas i olika offentliga och privata sektorer i samhället; brottsbekämpning, gränskontroller, jordbruksinspektioner, flygfotografering, filmproduktion, television och underhållning. Till skillnad från kommersiella drönare har ornithoptorer - fågelliknande flaxande drönare - en helt annorlunda materialitet. De olika estetiska och flygdynamiska egenskaperna hos dessa maskiner kräver att designers omprövar designutrymmet för denna typ av drönare. Denna studie syftar till att kartlägga det preliminära designutrymmet för ornithoptorer och utforska deras intressanta flygdynamik och materialkvaliteter. Deltagare var inbjudna till en workshop för att bygga och flyga tre olika ornithoptar och för att observera deras upplevelse att flyga med dem. Detta arbete omfattar ett antal insikter om ornithoptar, speciellt deras unika materialitet. De unika material som används i ornithoptar, såsom balsaträ, polystyren, nylon och kolfiber, tillåter de att flyga mera effektivt och motstå krafterna i flygningen. Slutligen argumenterar jag att designers kan ta tillvara designutrymmet av ornithoptar genom att skapa egenskaper som amplifierar de unika och oförutsägbara rörelserna av maskinerna, vilket skulle leda till nya och innovativa designer. Detta skulle bidra till en hyllning av icke uniformitet av morfologier och rörelser i ett ekosystem av biologiskt inspirerade flygande robotar

Conception, modélisation et contrôle des actionneurs intrinsèquement conformes avec une considération particulière sur la configuration anthropomorphe agoniste-antagoniste "La recherche vise à la conception, la modélisation et le contrôle des actionneurs intrinsèquement conformes pour les systèmes anthropomorphes.La première partie du travail se concentre sur l'étude de divers Existants et rechercher la possibilité d'autres actionneurs autres que les moteurs électriques conventionnels.Une attention particulière est accordée aux actionneurs souples à base de polymères élctroactifs qui ont un bon potentiel dans les futures applications robotiques. Parallèlement, on a synthétisé un modèle de la dynamique de l'actionneur et du contrôleur basé sur le modèle (MPC et contrôle optimal) pour un bras anthropomorphe 7 Dofs actionné par une paire antagoniste-agoniste de Muscles Artificiels Pneumatiques (PAM) à chaque articulation. Ce modèle et contrôleur est alors intégré dans l'environnement logiciel développé par l'équipe. En utilisant le bras manipulateur anthropomorphe basé sur PAM et le simulateur numérique, des tests sont effectués afin d'évaluer le potentiel de cet actionneur et de comparer avec les capacités du corps humain. / Design, modeling and control of inherently compliant actuators with a special consideration on agonist- antagonist anthropomorphic configuration" The research aims at the design, modeling and control of inherently compliant actuators for anthropomorphic systems. The first part of the work focuses on the study of various existing designs and look for the possibility of alternative actuators other than the conventional electric motors. Special attention is given to elctroactive polymer based soft actuators which have good potential in future robotic applications. In parallel, a model of the actuator dynamics and the model-based controller (MPC and optimal control) have been synthesized for an anthropomorphic 7 Dofs arm actuated by antagonist-agonist pair of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) at each joint. Such model and controller is then integrated within the software environment developed by the team. Using the PAMs based anthropomorphic manipulator arm and the numerical simulator, tests are done in order to evaluate the potential of this actuator and compare with the human body capabilities.

Hexapod, ROS, Gazebo, Simulation, C++, Python, Node, Service, Publisher, Subscriber, Topic, URDF, SDF, AX-12+, USB2Dynamixel, CM-530, King Spider, Robotis, Navigation