A Revolutionary Stabilization Technique for MAVs

      As I have said in my first post, MAVs need flight controllers to stabilize them in flight. These flight controllers have complex algorithm's that run recursively. Usually these systems only take advantage of the four propellers to stabilize the system. Until one of my professors showed me a blog post about a new stabilization technique for MAVs, I also thought using propellers was the only way to stabilize MAVs.

    Like insects, this new system changes the center of mass of the system to stabilize the craft. This technique was developed by a team in the LIMBS Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. The team of researchers who came up with this system, first examined how moths stabilize in flight. below is a video showing how a moth uses his moth to move the center of mass to have a stable flight. 

     Researchers used the same idea to stabilize a quad copter. To make an abdomen that has enough mass for the quad copters, the team of graduate students made a gimbal for the battery. Below is a picture of how the final design looked like.

Notice the battery attached with a servo below the copter. Credit Alican Demir.

With the battery being placed on a servo, the group of researchers were able to stabilize the quad rapidly. A video of the final design is in this blog. After I noticed this new technique for stabilizing in flight, I realized that many more MAVs will begin to have this technology. 

More to add later.