Artificial insect wings with biomimetic morphology and stiffness

Wing morphology and stiffness are crucial in lift force generation during flapping flight. In this investigation, we present both fabrication and characterization methodologies for artificial insect wings with biomimetic morphology and stiffness using laser cutting and bonding of multilayer materials. Two distinctive achievements have been accomplished: (1) simple and versatile fabrication for the wing shape and venation pattern; and (2) good matches of mass, fundamental natural frequency and stiffness to the real biological insect wings. As such, these works provide a new class of biomimetic artificial insect wings in the field of Flapping-wing Micro Aerial Vehicles (FMAVs).