Origami‐Inspired Morphing Fuselage for Agile Fixed‐Wing Flight

Body morphing is widely used in nature for agile locomotion; yet, despite significant interest in morphing wings, aerial robotics has not explored a morphing fuselage to control flight. Current winged aerial robots rely on complex control systems with multiple control surfaces, yet cannot adapt their body shape. Here, we introduce a morphing‐fuselage strategy to improve agility and turn maneuverability in fixed‐wing horizontal flight and a new class of platform called the soft aerial robot (SoAR) that uses an origami‐inspired morphing fuselage and a simple flight control algorithm, without traditional control surfaces. SoAR extends its flight capabilities by changing body bending curvature in the horizontal and vertical planes during flight. Horizontal bending produces rapid sharp‐turn maneuvers; this functionally substitutes for yaw control surfaces through whole‐body morphing. Vertical up‐bending enables aggressive pull‐ups and a morphing‐enabled emergency‐brake maneuver; this functionally substitutes for the elevator control surface through whole‐body morphing. The same deformable fuselage also grasps and delivers objects by changing its length, without additional actuators, and absorbs external forces to protect the robot from collisions. These results show how a soft morphing fuselage can increase maneuverability and agility in fixed‐wing horizontal flight.