Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and MIT have built ALBATROSS, a bio-inspired robot that drops from the air, lands softly on water and converts into an autonomous sailboat. Short for Airborne Lander with Buoyant Auto-Rotating Sailing Sensor, the roughly 1-kilogram platform uses two rigid wingsails that spin passively like a maple seed during a 150-meter descent. The autorotation slows the fall to about 7 metres per second and cuts impact energy eighteen-fold, allowing a controlled water landing without heavy motors or a parachute. On impact the craft passively self-rights. The same wings then act as wind-driven sails. A fish-fin-style tail rudder provides steering and, in low wind, oscillating propulsion up to 0.4 metres per second. The design uses only three actuators and three main sensors and achieves 91 percent effective mass usage across air and water. In trials at two Singapore reservoirs the robot sailed autonomously.
Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and MIT have built ALBATROSS, a bio-inspired robot that drops from the air, lands softly on water and converts into an autonomous sailboat. Short for Airborne Lander with Buoyant Auto-Rotating Sailing Sensor, the roughly 1-kilogram platform uses two rigid wingsails that spin passively like a maple seed during a 150-meter descent. The autorotation slows the fall to about 7 metres per second and cuts impact energy eighteen-fold, allowing a controlled water landing without heavy motors or a parachute. On impact the craft passively self-rights. The same wings then act as wind-driven sails. A fish-fin-style tail rudder provides steering and, in low wind, oscillating propulsion up to 0.4 metres per second. The design uses only three actuators and three main sensors and achieves 91 percent effective mass usage across air and water. In trials at two Singapore reservoirs the robot sailed autonomously.