Design and Control of a Perching Drone Inspired by the Prey-Capturing Mechanism of Venus Flytrap

Abstract: The endurance and energy efficiency of drones remain critical challenges in their design and operation. To extend mission duration, numerous studies explored perching mechanisms that enable drones to conserve energy by temporarily suspending flight. This paper presents a new perching drone that utilizes an active flexible perching mechanism inspired by the rapid predation mechanism of the Venus flytrap, achieving perching in less than 100 ms. The proposed system is designed for high-speed adaptability to the perching targets. The overall drone design is outlined, followed by the development and validation of the biomimetic perching structure. To enhance the system stability, a cascade extended high-gain observer (EHGO) based control method is developed, which can estimate and compensate for the external disturbance in real time. The experimental results demonstrate the adaptability of the perching structure and the superiority of the cascaded EHGO in resisting wind and perching disturbances.