UST034

20 S tudying the myriad ways in which animals have evolved over millions of years – and how they can be adopted to help spur engineering advances – has been a lifelong passion for Adrian Thomas, professor of biomechanics at Oxford University and chief science officer (and co-founder) of Oxford-based Animal Dynamics. “The very origins of manned flight came from Otto Lilienthal’s book, Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation ,” Prof Thomas observes. “The Wright brothers quoted it in their patent and in the description of their first aircraft, and famously modelled their breakthrough wing-warping control system on turkey vultures they’d observed around the Kittyhawk area. “Nowadays, however, when you try to find proper, tangible examples of bio- inspired engineering done right, they are few and far between.” Identifying multiple opportunities to fill this gap, Prof Thomas and his team have dedicated the past five years to creating a range of bio-inspired design approaches to unmanned systems engineering. All of these have, to varying degrees, drawn on his extensive knowledge of different biological structures, particularly in wings, fins, tails and other propulsive shapes, and how their exact benefits differ between hundreds of avian and aquatic creatures. Education From a very young age he was fascinated by how animals, particularly fish and birds, move through water or air. In time, that steered him towards designing, building and flying model aircraft. “As a teenager, I spent some time with a group who were designing tailless model aircraft for competition flights,” he recalls. “That configuration gets rid of most of the extraneous drag from the tailplane and fuselage, but they’re finicky when it comes to stability, so control can be a real issue. “However, we concentrated on optimising those designs, and in the end we did so well that they were banned from competitions.” Animal Dynamics’ chief science officer explains how the company’s unmanned system designs are inspired by evolution. Rory Jackson reports Natural selection October/November 2020 | Unmanned Systems Technology Animal Dynamics’ Skeeter UAV mimics dragonfly wing flight to enable a highly stable platform, and might incorporate further insect-inspired tech in the future (Images courtesy of Animal Dynamics)