멀티로터 기반 다목적 비행 로봇 플랫폼을 위한 강건 제어 및 완전구동 비행 매커니즘

학위논문(박사)--서울대학교 대학원 :공과대학 기계항공공학부,2020. 2. 김현진.오늘날 멀티로터 무인항공기는 단순한 비행 및 공중 영상 촬영용 장비의 개념을 넘어 비행 매니퓰레이션, 공중 화물 운송 및 공중 센싱 등의 다양한 임무에 활용되고 있다. 이러한 추세에 맞추어 로보틱스 분야에서 멀티로터 무인항공기는 부과된 임무에 맞추어 원하는 장비 및 센서를 자유로이 탑재하고 비행할 수 있는 다목적 공중 로봇 플랫폼으로 인식되고 있다. 그러나 현재의 멀티로터 플랫폼은 돌풍 등의 외란에 다소 강건하지 못한 제어성능을 보인다. 또한, 병진운동의 제어를 위해 비행 중 지속적으로 동체의 자세를 변경해야 해 센서 등 동체에 부착된 탑재물의 자세 또한 지속적으로 변화한다는 단점을 가지고 있다. 위의 두 가지 문제들을 해결하고자 본 연구에서는 외란에 강건한 멀티로터 제어기법과, 병진운동과 자세운동을 독립적으로 제어할 수 있는 새로운 형태의 완전구동 멀티로터 비행 매커니즘을 소개한다. 강건 제어기법의 경우, 먼저 정확한 병진운동 제어를 위한 병진 힘 생성 기법을 소개하고 뒤이어 병진 힘 외란에 강건한 제어를 위한 외란관측기 기반 강건 제어 알고리즘의 설계 방안을 논의한다. 제어기의 피드백 루프 안정성은 mu 안정성 분석 기법을 통해 검증되며, mu 안정성 분석이 가지는 엄밀한 안정성 분석의 결과를 검증하기 위해 스몰게인 이론 (Small Gain Theorem) 기반의 안정성 분석 결과가 동시에 제시 및 비교된다. 최종적으로, 개발된 제어기를 도입한 멀티로터의 3차원 병진 가속도 제어 성능 및 힘 벡터의 형태로 인가되는 병진 운동 외란에 대한 극복 성능을 실험을 통해 검증하여, 제안된 제어기법의 효과적인 비행 지점 및 궤적 추종 능력을 확인한다. 완전 구동 멀티로터의 경우, 기존의 완전구동 멀티로터가 가진 과도한 중량 증가 및 저조한 에너지 효율을 극복하기 위한 새로운 매커니즘을 소개한다. 새로운 매커니즘은 기존 멀티로터와 최대한 유사한 형태를 가지되 완전구동을 위해 오직 두 개의 서보모터만을 포함하며, 이로 인해 기존 멀티로터와 비교해 최소한의 형태의 변형만을 가지도록 설계된다. 새로운 플랫폼의 동적 특성에 대한 분석과 함께 유도된 운동방정식을 기반으로 한 6자유도 비행 제어기법이 소개되며, 최종적으로 다양한 실험과 그 결과들을 통해 플랫폼의 완전구동 비행 능력을 검증한다. 추가적으로 본 논문에서는 완전구동 멀티로터가 가지는 여분의 제어입력(redundancy)를 활용한 쿼드콥터의 단일모터 고장 대비 비상 비행 기법을 소개한다. 비상 비행 전략에 대한 자세한 소개 및 실현 방법, 비상 비행 시의 동역학적 특성에 대한 분석 결과가 소개되며, 실험결과를 통해 제안된 기법의 타당성을 검증한다.Recently, multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for a variety of missions beyond its basic flight, including aerial manipulation, aerial payload transportation, and aerial sensor platform. Following this trend, the multirotor UAV is recognized as a versatile aerial robotics platform that can freely mount and fly the necessary mission equipment and sensors to perform missions. However, the current multi-rotor platform has a relatively poor ability to maintain nominal flight performance against external disturbances such as wind or gust compared to other robotics platforms. Also, the multirotor suffers from maintaining a stable payload attitude, due to the fact that the attitude of the fuselage should continuously be changed for translational motion control. Particularly, unstabilized fuselage attitude can be a drawback for multirotor's mission performance in such cases as like visual odometry-based flight, since the fuselage-attached sensor should also be tilted during the flight and therefore causes poor sensor information acquisition. To overcome the above two problems, in this dissertation, we introduce a robust multirotor control method and a novel full-actuation mechanism which widens the usability of the multirotor. The goal of the proposed control method is to bring robustness to the translational motion control against various weather conditions. And the goal of the full actuation mechanism is to allow the multi-rotor to take arbitrary payload/fuselage attitude independently of the translational motion. For robust multirotor control, we first introduce a translational force generation technique for accurate translational motion control and then discuss the design method of disturbance observer (DOB)-based robust control algorithm. The stability of the proposed feedback controller is validated by the mu-stability analysis technique, and the results are compared to the small-gain theorem (SGT)-based stability analysis to validate the rigorousness of the analysis. Through the experiments, we validate the translational acceleration control performance of the developed controller and confirm the robustness against external disturbance forces. For a fully-actuated multirotor platform, we propose a new mechanism called a T3-Multirotor that can overcome the excessive weight increase and poor energy efficiency of the existing fully-actuated multirotor. The structure of the new platform is designed to be as close as possible to the existing multi-rotor and includes only two servo motors for full actuation. The dynamic characteristics of the new platform are analyzed and a six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) flight controller is designed based on the derived equations of motion. The full actuation of the proposed platform is then validated through various experiments. As a derivative study, this paper also introduces an emergency flight technique to prepare for a single motor failure scenario of a multi-rotor using the redundancy of the T3-Multirotor platform. The detailed introduction and implementation method of the emergency flight strategy with the analysis of the dynamic characteristics during the emergency flight is introduced, and the experimental results are provided to verify the validity of the proposed technique.1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation 1 1.2 Literature survey 3 1.2.1 Robust translational motion control 3 1.2.2 Fully-actuated multirotor platform 4 1.3 Research objectives and contributions 5 1.3.1 Goal #I: Robust multirotor motion control 5 1.3.2 Goal #II: A new fully actuated multirotor platform 6 1.3.3 Goal #II-A: T3-Multirotor-based fail-safe flight 7 1.4 Thesis organization 7 2 Multi-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Overview 9 2.1 Platform overview 9 2.2 Mathematical model of multi-rotor UAV 10 3 Robust Translational Motion Control 13 3.1 Introduction 14 3.2 Translational force/acceleration control 14 3.2.1 Relationship between \mathbf{r} and \tilde{\ddot{\mathbf{X}}} 15 3.2.2 Calculation of \mathbf{r}_d from \tilde{\ddot{\mathbf{X}}}_d considering dynamics 16 3.3 Disturbance observer 22 3.3.1 An overview of the disturbance-merged overall system 22 3.3.2 Disturbance observer 22 3.4 Stability analysis 26 3.4.1 Modeling of P(s) considering uncertainties 27 3.4.2 \tau-determination through \mu-analysis 30 3.5 Simulation and experimental result 34 3.5.1 Validation of acceleration tracking performance 34 3.5.2 Validation of DOB performance 34 4 Fully-Actuated Multirotor Mechanism 39 4.1 Introduction 39 4.2 Mechanism 40 4.3 Modeling 42 4.3.1 General equations of motion of TP and FP 42 4.3.2 Simplified equations of motion of TP and FP 46 4.4 Controller design 49 4.4.1 Controller overview 49 4.4.2 Independent roll and pitch attitude control of TP and FP 50 4.4.3 Heading angle control 54 4.4.4 Overall control scheme 54 4.5 Simulation result 56 4.5.1 Scenario 1: Changing FP attitude during hovering 58 4.5.2 Scenario 2: Fixing FP attitude during translation 58 4.6 Experimental result 60 4.6.1 Scenario 1: Changing FP attitude during hovering 60 4.6.2 Scenario 2: Fixing FP attitude during translation 60 4.7 Applications 63 4.7.1 Personal aerial vehicle 63 4.7.2 High MoI payload transportation platform - revisit of [1] 63 4.7.3 Take-off and landing on an oscillating landing pad 64 5 Derived Research: Fail-safe Flight in a Single Motor Failure Scenario 67 5.1 Introduction 67 5.1.1 Related works 68 5.1.2 Contributions 68 5.2 Mechanism and dynamics 69 5.2.1 Mechanism 69 5.2.2 Platform dynamics 70 5.3 Fail-safe flight strategy 75 5.3.1 Fail-safe flight method 75 5.3.2 Hardware condition for single motor fail-safe flight 80 5.4 Controller design 83 5.4.1 Faulty motor detection 83 5.4.2 Controller design 84 5.4.3 Attitude dynamics in fail-safe mode 86 5.5 Experiment result 90 5.5.1 Experimental settings 90 5.5.2 Stability and control performance review 92 5.5.3 Flight results 93 6 Conclusions 96 Abstract (in Korean) 107Docto

무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기에 대한 다학제 해석 및 시뮬레이션 프레임워크

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 항공우주공학과, 2023. 2. 이관중.A wingless-type electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) is one of the representative aircrafts utilized logistics and delivery, search and rescue, military, agriculture, and inspection of structures. For a small unmanned aerial vehicles of the wingless-type eVTOL, a quadrotor is a representative configuration to operate those missions. For a large size of the wingless-type eVTOL, it is an aircraft for urban air mobility service (UAM) specialized for intracity point-to-point due to its advantages such as efficient hover performance, high gust resistance, and relatively low noisiness. The rotating speed of the multiple rotors in the wingless-type eVTOL has to be changed continuously to achieve stable flight. Moreover, the speed and the loaded torque of the motors also continuously change. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the rotor thrust and torque with respect to the speed of each rotor as assigned by the controller to predict the flight performance of the wingless-type eVTOL. The electric power required by the motors is also necessary to be predicted based on the torque loaded to the motors to maintain the rotating speed. This study suggests a flight simulation framework based on these multidisciplinary analyses including control, rotor aerodynamics, and electric propulsion system analysis. Using the flight simulation framework, it is possible to predict the flight performance of the wingless-type eVTOL for given operating conditions. The flight simulation framework can predict the overall performance required to resist the winds and the corresponding battery energy of a quadrotor. Flight endurance of an industrial quadrotor was examined under light, moderate, and strong breeze modeled by von Kármán wind turbulence with Beaufort wind force scale. As a result, it is found that the excess battery energy is increased with ground speed, even under the same wind conditions. As the ground speed increases, the airspeed is increased, led to higher frame drag, position error, pitch angle, and required mechanical power, consequently. Moreover, the quadrotor is not operable beyond a certain wind and ground speed since the required rotational speed of rotors exceeds the speed limit of motors. The simulation framework can also predict the overall performance of a wingless eVTOL for UAM service. Because of its multiple rotors, rotor–rotor interference inevitably affects flight performance, mainly depending on inter-rotor distance and rotor rotation directions. In this case, there is an optimal rotation direction of the multiple rotors to be favorable in actual operation. In this study, it was proposed that a concept of rotor rotation direction that achieves the desirable flight performance in actual operation. The concept is called FRRA (Front rotors Retreating side and Rear rotors Advancing side). It was found that FRRA minimizes thrust loss due to rotor-rotor interference in high-speed forward flight. For a generic mission profile of UAM service, the rotation direction set by FRRA reduces the battery energy consumption of 7 % in comparison to the rotation direction of unfavorable rotor-rotor interference in operation.무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기는 택배 및 운송 서비스, 수색 및 구조, 국방, 농업, 구조물 점검과 같은 분야에서 대표적으로 이용되고 있는 항공기이다. 쿼드로터는 이러한 임무를 수행하기 위한 대표적인 소형 무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기이다. 대형 무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기는 효율적인 제자리 비행 성능, 높은 내풍성, 낮은 소음 공해와 같은 특징으로 인해 도심 내 운항 서비스를 위한 항공기로 활용되고 있다. 무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기의 여러 회전 날개는 안정된 비행을 유지하기 위해, 지속해서 회전 속도를 변화시킨다. 게다가, 모터의 회전 속도와 부하되는 토크 또한 지속적으로 변화한다. 그러므로 무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기의 비행 성능을 예측하기 위해, 제어기에서 각 회전 날개에 부여된 회전 속도에 따른 추력 및 토크를 해석해야 한다. 그리고 이러한 회전 날개의 회전 속도를 유지하기 위해 모터에 부하 되는 토크를 기반으로, 모터에서 요구되는 전력을 예측해야 한다. 본 논문에서는 제어, 회전 날개 공력, 전기 추진 시스템 해석이 포함된 다학제 해석 기반의 비행 시뮬레이션 프레임워크를 제시한다. 비행 시뮬레이션 프레임워크를 이용하여, 실제 운용 환경에서의 무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기 비행 성능을 예측할 수 있다. 비행 시뮬레이션 프레임워크를 활용하여 쿼드로터에 대해 외풍을 저항하기 위한 비행 전반적인 성능과 그에 따른 배터리 에너지 소모를 예측하였다. Von Kármán 외풍 난류와 Beaufort 외풍 강도 등급을 활용하여 남실바람, 건들바람, 된바람 환경에 대한 산업용 쿼드로터의 비행시간을 조사하였다. 그 결과, 동일한 외풍 환경일지라도 전진 비행 속도가 증가할수록 배터리 소요 에너지가 증가한다는 것을 밝혔다. 전진 비행 속도의 증가로 인해 쿼드로터에 유입되는 유속이 증가하여, 동체 항력, 위치 오차, 기수 내림 각도, 요구 기계 동력이 증가하였다. 그리고 특정 외풍 속도와 전진 속도 이상에서의 쿼드로터는 요구되는 회전 날개의 회전 속도가 모터의 회전 속도의 한계보다 높으므로 비행할 수 없었다. 또한, 비행 시뮬레이션 프레임워크를 활용하여 도심 운항 서비스용 무익기형 전기 추진 수직 이착륙기의 전반적인 비행 성능을 예측하였다. 여러 회전 날개의 특징으로 인해, 회전 날개 간 거리와 회전 날개의 회전 방향에 따라 회전 날개 간 간섭효과가 필연적으로 비행 성능에 영향을 미친다. 이때, 운용에 유리한 최적의 회전 날개 회전 방향이 존재한다. 본 논문에서 실제 운용에서 바람직한 비행 성능을 발휘하는 회전 날개의 회전 방향에 대한 개념인 FRRA를 제시하였다. FRRA는 전방 로터의 후퇴 측과 후방 로터의 전진 측이 일직선으로 정렬된 상태의 회전 방향이다. FRRA 회전 방향은 고속 전진 비행에서 회전 날개 간 간섭효과로 인한 추력 손실이 최소화된다. 회전 날개 간 간섭효과로 인해 불리한 비행 성능을 가지는 회전 방향 대비 FRRA 회전 방향은 도심 항공 교통 서비스에 대한 일반적인 운용에서 배터리 소모율이 7% 정도 감소하였다.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Overview of wingless-type eVTOL 1 1.2 Previous studies about wingless-type eVTOL 6 1.2.1 Multidisciplinary analysis of control, aerodynamic, and EPS 6 1.2.2 External wind of wingless-type eVTOLs for small UAVs 9 1.2.3 Rotor-rotor interference of wingless-type eVTOLs for UAM 10 1.3 Motivation and scope of the dissertation 12 Chapter 2. Simulation Framework 16 2.1 Layout and analysis modules in simulation framework 16 2.1.1 Cascade PID control module 19 2.1.1 Aerodynamic analysis module 24 2.1.2 Electric propulsion system analysis module 30 2.1.3 6-DOF dynamics analysis module 33 2.2 Add-on modules for actual operation 37 2.2.1 Wind turbulence module 37 2.2.2 Rotor-rotor interference module 39 Chapter 3. Validation of Simulation Framework 44 3.1 Static thrust and torque on a single rotor test 44 3.2 Wind resistance test 46 3.3 Rotor-rotor interference of tandem rotors 52 3.4 Rotor-rotor interaction of a quadrotor in CFD 54 3.5 Investigation of rotor-rotor interference with respect to rotation directions in a quadrotor 58 Chapter 4. Flight Performance of Quadrotor under Wind Turbulence 65 4.1 Flight conditions 65 4.2 Wind turbulence conditions 66 4.3 Simulation results 69 Chapter 5. Flight Performance of Wingless-type eVTOL for UAM Service with Respect to the Rotor Rotation Directions 78 5.1 Hypothetical model of a wingless-type eVTOL for UAM service 78 5.2 Rotor rotation directions and aerodynamic performance 83 5.2.1 Hover flight 86 5.2.2 Forward flight at 100 km/h 88 5.2.3 Forward flight in the airspeed of 100 km/h with 30 yaw angle 93 5.3 Surrogate models including the rotor-rotor interaction effect 96 5.4 Simulation results 99 Chapter 6. Conclusion 112 6.1 Summary 112 6.2 Originalities of the dissertation 113 6.3 Future works 116 Appendix 118 References 127 국문 초록 144박

12th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons"

Epoxy resins show a combination of thermal stability, good mechanical performance, and durability, which make these materials suitable for many applications in the Aerospace industry. Different types of curing agents can be utilized for curing epoxy systems. The use of aliphatic amines as curing agent is preferable over the toxic aromatic ones, though their incorporation increases the flammability of the resin. Recently, we have developed different hybrid strategies, where the sol-gel technique has been exploited in combination with two DOPO-based flame retardants and other synergists or the use of humic acid and ammonium polyphosphate to achieve non-dripping V-0 classification in UL 94 vertical flame spread tests, with low phosphorous loadings (e.g., 1-2 wt%). These strategies improved the flame retardancy of the epoxy matrix, without any detrimental impact on the mechanical and thermal properties of the composites. Finally, the formation of a hybrid silica-epoxy network accounted for the establishment of tailored interphases, due to a better dispersion of more polar additives in the hydrophobic resin

Design of a Specialized UAV Platform for the Discharge of a Fire Extinguishing Capsule

Tato práce se zabývá návrhem systému specializovaného pro autonomní detekci a lokalizaci požárů z palubních senzorů bezpilotních helikoptér. Hašení požárů je zajištěno automatickým vystřelením ampule s hasící kapalinou do zdroje požáru z palubního vystřelovače. Hlavní část této práce se soustředí na detekci požárů v datech termální kamery a jejich následnou lokalizaci ve světě za pomoci palubní hloubkové kamery. Bezpilotní helikoptéra je poté optimálně navigována na pozici pro zajištění průletu ampule s hasící kapalinou do zdroje požáru. Vyvinuté metody jsou detailně analyzovány a jejich chování je testováno jak v simulaci, tak současně i při reálných experimentech. Kvalitativní a kvantitativní analýza ukazuje na použitelnost a robustnost celého systému.This thesis deals with the design of an unmanned multirotor aircraft system specialized for autonomous detection and localization of fires from onboard sensors, and the task of fast and effective fire extinguishment. The main part of this thesis focuses on the detection of fires in thermal images and their localization in the world using an onboard depth camera. The localized fires are used to optimally position the unmanned aircraft in order to effectively discharge an ampoule filled with a fire extinguishant from an onboard launcher. The developed methods are analyzed in detail and their performance is evaluated in simulation scenarios as well as in real-world experiments. The included quantitative and qualitative analysis verifies the feasibility and robustness of the system

Proceedings of the International Micro Air Vehicles Conference and Flight Competition 2017 (IMAV 2017)

The IMAV 2017 conference has been held at ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21, 2017. More than 250 participants coming from 30 different countries worldwide have presented their latest research activities in the field of drones. 38 papers have been presented during the conference including various topics such as Aerodynamics, Aeroacoustics, Propulsion, Autopilots, Sensors, Communication systems, Mission planning techniques, Artificial Intelligence, Human-machine cooperation as applied to drones

Exploiting Heterogeneity in Networks of Aerial and Ground Robotic Agents

By taking advantage of complementary communication technologies, distinct sensing functionalities and varied motion dynamics present in a heterogeneous multi-robotic network, it is possible to accomplish a main mission objective by assigning specialized sub-tasks to specific members of a robotic team. An adequate selection of the team members and an effective coordination are some of the challenges to fully exploit the unique capabilities that these types of systems can offer. Motivated by real world applications, we focus on a multi-robotic network consisting off aerial and ground agents which has the potential to provide critical support to humans in complex settings. For instance, aerial robotic relays are capable of transporting small ground mobile sensors to expand the communication range and the situational awareness of first responders in hazardous environments. In the first part of this dissertation, we extend work on manipulation of cable-suspended loads using aerial robots by solving the problem of lifting the cable-suspended load from the ground before proceeding to transport it. Since the suspended load-quadrotor system experiences switching conditions during this critical maneuver, we define a hybrid system and show that it is differentially-flat. This property facilitates the design of a nonlinear controller which tracks a waypoint-based trajectory associated with the discrete states of the hybrid system. In addition, we address the case of unknown payload mass by combining a least-squares estimation method with the designed controller. Second, we focus on the coordination of a heterogeneous team formed by a group of ground mobile sensors and a flying communication router which is deployed to sense areas of interest in a cluttered environment. Using potential field methods, we propose a controller for the coordinated mobility of the team to guarantee inter-robot and obstacle collision avoidance as well as connectivity maintenance among the ground agents while the main goal of sensing is carried out. For the case of the aerial communications relays, we combine antenna diversity with reinforcement learning to dynamically re-locate these relays so that the received signal strength is maintained above a desired threshold. Motivated by the recent interest of combining radio frequency and optical wireless communications, we envision the implementation of an optical link between micro-scale aerial and ground robots. This type of link requires maintaining a sufficient relative transmitter-receiver position for reliable communications. In the third part of this thesis, we tackle this problem. Based on the link model, we define a connectivity cone where a minimum transmission rate is guaranteed. For example, the aerial robot has to track the ground vehicle to stay inside this cone. The control must be robust to noisy measurements. Thus, we use particle filters to obtain a better estimation of the receiver position and we design a control algorithm for the flying robot to enhance the transmission rate. Also, we consider the problem of pairing a ground sensor with an aerial vehicle, both equipped with a hybrid radio-frequency/optical wireless communication system. A challenge is positioning the flying robot within optical range when the sensor location is unknown. Thus, we take advantage of the hybrid communication scheme by developing a control strategy that uses the radio signal to guide the aerial platform to the ground sensor. Once the optical-based signal strength has achieved a certain threshold, the robot hovers within optical range. Finally, we investigate the problem of building an alliance of agents with different skills in order to satisfy the requirements imposed by a given task. We find this alliance, known also as a coalition, by using a bipartite graph in which edges represent the relation between agent capabilities and required resources for task execution. Using this graph, we build a coalition whose total capability resources can satisfy the task resource requirements. Also, we study the heterogeneity of the formed coalition to analyze how it is affected for instance by the amount of capability resources present in the agents

Locomotion system for ground mobile robots in uneven and unstructured environments

One of the technology domains with the greatest growth rates nowadays is service robots. The extensive use of ground mobile robots in environments that are unstructured or structured for humans is a promising challenge for the coming years, even though Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) moving on flat and compact grounds are already commercially available and widely utilized to move components and products inside indoor industrial buildings. Agriculture, planetary exploration, military operations, demining, intervention in case of terrorist attacks, surveillance, and reconnaissance in hazardous conditions are important application domains. Due to the fact that it integrates the disciplines of locomotion, vision, cognition, and navigation, the design of a ground mobile robot is extremely interdisciplinary. In terms of mechanics, ground mobile robots, with the exception of those designed for particular surroundings and surfaces (such as slithering or sticky robots), can move on wheels (W), legs (L), tracks (T), or hybrids of these concepts (LW, LT, WT, LWT). In terms of maximum speed, obstacle crossing ability, step/stair climbing ability, slope climbing ability, walking capability on soft terrain, walking capability on uneven terrain, energy efficiency, mechanical complexity, control complexity, and technology readiness, a systematic comparison of these locomotion systems is provided in [1]. Based on the above-mentioned classification, in this thesis, we first introduce a small-scale hybrid locomotion robot for surveillance and inspection, WheTLHLoc, with two tracks, two revolving legs, two active wheels, and two passive omni wheels. The robot can move in several different ways, including using wheels on the flat, compact ground,[1] tracks on soft, yielding terrain, and a combination of tracks, legs, and wheels to navigate obstacles. In particular, static stability and non-slipping characteristics are considered while analyzing the process of climbing steps and stairs. The experimental test on the first prototype has proven the planned climbing maneuver’s efficacy and the WheTLHLoc robot's operational flexibility. Later we present another development of WheTLHLoc and introduce WheTLHLoc 2.0 with newly designed legs, enabling the robot to deal with bigger obstacles. Subsequently, a single-track bio-inspired ground mobile robot's conceptual and embodiment designs are presented. This robot is called SnakeTrack. It is designed for surveillance and inspection activities in unstructured environments with constrained areas. The vertebral column has two end modules and a variable number of vertebrae linked by compliant joints, and the surrounding track is its essential component. Four motors drive the robot: two control the track motion and two regulate the lateral flexion of the vertebral column for steering. The compliant joints enable limited passive torsion and retroflection of the vertebral column, which the robot can use to adapt to uneven terrain and increase traction. Eventually, the new version of SnakeTrack, called 'Porcospino', is introduced with the aim of allowing the robot to move in a wider variety of terrains. The novelty of this thesis lies in the development and presentation of three novel designs of small-scale mobile robots for surveillance and inspection in unstructured environments, and they employ hybrid locomotion systems that allow them to traverse a variety of terrains, including soft, yielding terrain and high obstacles. This thesis contributes to the field of mobile robotics by introducing new design concepts for hybrid locomotion systems that enable robots to navigate challenging environments. The robots presented in this thesis employ modular designs that allow their lengths to be adapted to suit specific tasks, and they are capable of restoring their correct position after falling over, making them highly adaptable and versatile. Furthermore, this thesis presents a detailed analysis of the robots' capabilities, including their step-climbing and motion planning abilities. In this thesis we also discuss possible refinements for the robots' designs to improve their performance and reliability. Overall, this thesis's contributions lie in the design and development of innovative mobile robots that address the challenges of surveillance and inspection in unstructured environments, and the analysis and evaluation of these robots' capabilities. The research presented in this thesis provides a foundation for further work in this field, and it may be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the areas of robotics, automation, and inspection. As a general note, the first robot, WheTLHLoc, is a hybrid locomotion robot capable of combining tracked locomotion on soft terrains, wheeled locomotion on flat and compact grounds, and high obstacle crossing capability. The second robot, SnakeTrack, is a small-size mono-track robot with a modular structure composed of a vertebral column and a single peripherical track revolving around it. The third robot, Porcospino, is an evolution of SnakeTrack and includes flexible spines on the track modules for improved traction on uneven but firm terrains, and refinements of the shape of the track guidance system. This thesis provides detailed descriptions of the design and prototyping of these robots and presents analytical and experimental results to verify their capabilities

Using learning from demonstration to enable automated flight control comparable with experienced human pilots

Modern autopilots fall under the domain of Control Theory which utilizes Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers that can provide relatively simple autonomous control of an aircraft such as maintaining a certain trajectory. However, PID controllers cannot cope with uncertainties due to their non-adaptive nature. In addition, modern autopilots of airliners contributed to several air catastrophes due to their robustness issues. Therefore, the aviation industry is seeking solutions that would enhance safety. A potential solution to achieve this is to develop intelligent autopilots that can learn how to pilot aircraft in a manner comparable with experienced human pilots. This work proposes the Intelligent Autopilot System (IAS) which provides a comprehensive level of autonomy and intelligent control to the aviation industry. The IAS learns piloting skills by observing experienced teachers while they provide demonstrations in simulation. A robust Learning from Demonstration approach is proposed which uses human pilots to demonstrate the task to be learned in a flight simulator while training datasets are captured. The datasets are then used by Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to generate control models automatically. The control models imitate the skills of the experienced pilots when performing the different piloting tasks while handling flight uncertainties such as severe weather conditions and emergency situations. Experiments show that the IAS performs learned skills and tasks with high accuracy even after being presented with limited examples which are suitable for the proposed approach that relies on many single-hidden-layer ANNs instead of one or few large deep ANNs which produce a black-box that cannot be explained to the aviation regulators. The results demonstrate that the IAS is capable of imitating low-level sub-cognitive skills such as rapid and continuous stabilization attempts in stormy weather conditions, and high-level strategic skills such as the sequence of sub-tasks necessary to takeoff, land, and handle emergencies