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AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability
The cheetah, the fastest land animal has been hypothesised to use its tail for manoeuvrability and has been the source for many bio-inspired robotic tails. However, the use of a lightweight tail to achieve the same effects has not be studied. This paper goes into the study of using a lightweight, ae...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Electrical Engineering
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613284050403329 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Bright, Daryn |
| author2 | Patel, Amir |
| author_browse | Bright, Daryn Patel, Amir |
| author_facet | Patel, Amir Bright, Daryn |
| author_sort | Bright, Daryn |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The cheetah, the fastest land animal has been hypothesised to use its tail for manoeuvrability and has been the source for many bio-inspired robotic tails. However, the use of a lightweight tail to achieve the same effects has not be studied. This paper goes into the study of using a lightweight, aerodynamic tail to increase manoeuvrability on a wheeled platform, AeroDima. This is achieved by studying the aerodynamics of a cheetah's tail in a wind tunnel to develop a quasi-steady state model. A bio-inspired aerodynamic tail was then designed to maximise drag forces. This bio-inspired tail was also studied in a wind tunnel and compared to the cheetah tail's model. The tail required a platform to operate on, so AeroDima was designed and manufactured. The tail, designed to be a 3DOF underactuated system, was designed to test the effects of the tail on high-speed manoeuvres through a roll motion swing of the tail. The system was tested both in simulation and physical experiments. The simulation, developed with MATLAB's Simscape Multibody toolbox, was designed to be a comprehensive model of AeroDima. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40804 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:41.762Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Department of Electrical Engineering |
| publisherStr | Department of Electrical Engineering |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40804 AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability Bright, Daryn Patel, Amir Engineering The cheetah, the fastest land animal has been hypothesised to use its tail for manoeuvrability and has been the source for many bio-inspired robotic tails. However, the use of a lightweight tail to achieve the same effects has not be studied. This paper goes into the study of using a lightweight, aerodynamic tail to increase manoeuvrability on a wheeled platform, AeroDima. This is achieved by studying the aerodynamics of a cheetah's tail in a wind tunnel to develop a quasi-steady state model. A bio-inspired aerodynamic tail was then designed to maximise drag forces. This bio-inspired tail was also studied in a wind tunnel and compared to the cheetah tail's model. The tail required a platform to operate on, so AeroDima was designed and manufactured. The tail, designed to be a 3DOF underactuated system, was designed to test the effects of the tail on high-speed manoeuvres through a roll motion swing of the tail. The system was tested both in simulation and physical experiments. The simulation, developed with MATLAB's Simscape Multibody toolbox, was designed to be a comprehensive model of AeroDima. 2025-01-15T11:20:19Z 2025-01-15T11:20:19Z 2024 2025-01-15T09:35:56Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40804 eng application/pdf Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Engineering Bright, Daryn AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| title_full | AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| title_fullStr | AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| title_full_unstemmed | AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| title_short | AeroDima: a cheetah-inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| title_sort | aerodima a cheetah inspired aerodynamic tail for rapid manoeuvrability |
| topic | Engineering |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40804 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brightdaryn aerodimaacheetahinspiredaerodynamictailforrapidmanoeuvrability |