Abstract
Flapping-wing drones have attracted significant attention due to their biomimetic flight. They are considered more human-friendly due to their characteristics such as low noise and flexible wings, making them suitable for human-drone interactions. However, few studies have explored the practical interaction between humans and flapping-wing drones. On establishing a physical interaction system with flapping-wing drones, we can acquire inspirations from falconers who guide birds of prey to land on their arms. This interaction interprets the human body as a dynamic landing platform, which can be utilized in various scenarios such as crowded or spatially constrained environments. Thus, in this study, we propose a falconry-like interaction system in which a flapping-wing drone performs a palm landing motion on a human hand. To achieve a safe approach toward humans, we design a trajectory planning method that considers both physical and psychological factors of the human safety such as the drone's velocity and distance from the user. We use a commercial flapping platform with our implemented motion planning and conduct experiments to evaluate the palm landing performance and safety. The results demonstrate that our approach enables safe and smooth hand landing interactions. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to achieve a contact-based interaction between flapping-wing drones and humans.
Abstract (translated)
扑翼无人机因其仿生飞行特性而吸引了广泛的关注。由于其低噪音和灵活翅膀等特点，被认为更有利于与人类友好互动，适合进行人机交互。然而，很少有研究探讨人类与扑翼无人机之间实际的互动方式。建立一个物理互动系统时，我们可以借鉴猎鹰驯养者引导猛禽停落在手臂上的方法。这种方法将人体视为动态着陆平台，在拥挤或空间受限环境中具有多种应用场景。因此，本研究提出了一种类似猎人与鹰互动的系统，使扑翼无人机能够在人的手掌上进行安全着陆。 为了实现安全接近人类的目标，我们设计了一个轨迹规划方法，考虑了物理和心理因素的安全性，如无人机的速度和距离等。我们使用一个商业化的扑翼平台并实施了该运动计划，在实验中评估了手部着陆性能与安全性。结果表明，我们的方法能够实现安全、流畅的手部接触互动。 据我们所知，这是首次实现了扑翼无人机与人类之间的接触式交互。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.17144
