BogieCopter: A Multi-Modal Aerial-Ground Vehicle for Long-Endurance Inspection Applications

The use of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) for inspection and surveillance missions has proved to be extremely useful, however, their usability is negatively impacted by the large power requirements and the limited operating time. This work describes the design and development of a novel hybrid aerial-ground vehicle, enabling multi-modal mobility and long operating time, suitable for long-endurance inspection and monitoring applications. The design consists of a MAV with two tiltable axles and four independent passive wheels, allowing it to fly, approach, land and move on flat and inclined surfaces, while using the same set of actuators for all modes of locomotion. In comparison to existing multi-modal designs with passive wheels, the proposed design enables a higher ground locomotion efficiency, provides a higher payload capacity, and presents one of the lowest mass increases due to the ground actuation mechanism. The vehicle's performance is evaluated through a series of real experiments, demonstrating its flying, ground locomotion and wall-climbing capabilities, and the energy consumption for all modes of locomotion is evaluated.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), London, 202

Développement d'un drone percheur pour atterrissage et grimpe sur des surfaces verticales

Ce projet visait le développement du premier drone à aile fixe capable de se percher de façon autonome sur des surfaces verticales et d'en décoller. Inspiré par les oiseaux, l'avion développé utilise une manoeuvre de cabrage assistée par la poussée pour rapidement ralentir avant de se poser. Des microgriffes sont utilisées pour permettre à l'avion de s'accrocher à des surfaces rugueuses, alors que le contrôle de la manoeuvre est entièrement embarqué. L'effet de la poussée aérodynamique sur l'enveloppe d'atterrissage de l'avion est analysée et un contrôleur de vitesse verticale est proposé pour créer des descentes fluides et robustes vers un mur. Plusieurs atterissages ont été testé, à travers une plage de conditions de vol. La poussée aérodynamique de l'avion est également utilisée pour grimper le long de surfaces verticales. Des modèles aérodynamiques sont utilisés pour prédire les performance de l'avion dans plusieurs régimes de grimpe aérienne, et sélectionner un contrôleur pour le maintien d'une distance fixe avec un mur en montée verticale. La manœuvre de grimpe est testée à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur, pour des grimpes courtes et longues

Design and development of a controllable wing loading unmanned aerial system

Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) offer all the benefits of wing borne flight without the need for conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) infrastructure. There exists many effective VTOL UAS that utilize battery-powered rotors to provide vertical thrust. The problem with the existing UAS is that the VTOL capability is achieved at the sacrifice of speed, fuel/payload, and operational flexibility. Also, many of these UAS must transition from hover to horizontal flight which is both complex and risky.The current research explores a new type of point launch and landing system that utilizes only liquid fuels, i.e. no electric powered rotors. Instead of exposed rotors, the new configuration has a turbojet engine mounted vertically inside the fuselage to provide vertical thrust. With the turbojet being 'hidden' from the freestream air, it mitigates the drag seen from the other configurations' rotors, allowing a higher top speed. Also, the new configuration bypasses the hover and transition phases of flight.The vertical turbojet effectively changes the weight of the aircraft which allows it to have controllable wing loading (CWL), and therefore variable stall speed. With the jet at full power, the aircraft weighs virtually nothing and can takeoff from the launchpad with almost no airspeed. Likewise, on landing, the aircraft can slow to almost zero airspeed and land with little to no rollout. The CWL configuration has proved it possible to have approximately a 95% reduction in landing distance.This paper describes the study, design, manufacturing, and testing of the point launch and landing CWL configuration. Two commercial off the shelf (COTS) UAVs were retrofitted with a CWL system to test the validity of the idea and the necessary systems.Following the proof of the idea, a composite UAS with a maximum takeoff weight of 50 lb. was designed, manufactured, and flown. It successfully demonstrated both a point launch and point landing while being capable of reaching speeds of up to 100 mph, more than double the top speed of some other VTOL UAS in its weight class

Semi-Autonomous UAV for Surveillance and Emergency Response (SAUSER)

The SAUSER is a drone system that can provide aerial footage of traffic accidents and other emergency situations. The drone system has mounting docks that can be mounted on traffic lights to allow for rapid deployment. The mounting docks also function as charging stations. Literature review was performed to determine the current status of drones in law enforcement. Review was done on both the technological capabilities of drones as well as the legal requirements for drone operation by law enforcement. Concept alternatives were considered to determine the best solution for this problem. A quadcopter with no landing gear was chosen as the best solution to the problem. Design requirements, performance metrics, and estimated budget were developed. Off the shelf electronics were selected to provide the necessary thrust, charging, video feed, and wireless capabilities necessary for the remote operation of the drones from a 911 dispatching station. Sizing calculations were performed to determine the takeoff weight of the drone. Blade Element Momentum Theory analysis was performed to determine if the blades could provide proper thrust. Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis was performed to determine if the drone would experience mechanical failure during the lifecycle of the project. Hand calculations were done to verify the validity of these results. Finally, an economic analysis was performed to determine if the drone meet the budgetary requirements established in the previous sections. It was also done to determine the total cost of the system over a ten-year period

Enabling technologies for precise aerial manufacturing with unmanned aerial vehicles

The construction industry is currently experiencing a revolution with automation techniques such as additive manufacturing and robot-enabled construction. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a key technology that can o er productivity improvement in the construction industry by means of o -site prefabrication and on-site construction with automated systems. The key bene t is that building elements can be fabricated with less materials and higher design freedom compared to traditional manual methods. O -site prefabrication with AM has been investigated for some time already, but it has limitations in terms of logistical issues of components transportation and due to its lack of design exibility on-site. On-site construction with automated systems, such as static gantry systems and mobile ground robots performing AM tasks, can o er additional bene ts over o -site prefabrication, but it needs further research before it will become practical and economical. Ground-based automated construction systems also have the limitation that they cannot extend the construction envelope beyond their physical size. The solution of using aerial robots to liberate the process from the constrained construction envelope has been suggested, albeit with technological challenges including precision of operation, uncertainty in environmental interaction and energy e ciency. This thesis investigates methods of precise manufacturing with aerial robots. In particular, this work focuses on stabilisation mechanisms and origami-based structural elements that allow aerial robots to operate in challenging environments. An integrated aerial self-aligning delta manipulator has been utilised to increase the positioning accuracy of the aerial robots, and a Material Extrusion (ME) process has been developed for Aerial Additive Manufacturing (AAM). A 28-layer tower has been additively manufactured by aerial robots to demonstrate the feasibility of AAM. Rotorigami and a bioinspired landing mechanism demonstrate their abilities to overcome uncertainty in environmental interaction with impact protection capabilities and improved robustness for UAV. Design principles using tensile anchoring methods have been explored, enabling low-power operation and explores possibility of low-power aerial stabilisation. The results demonstrate that precise aerial manufacturing needs to consider not only just the robotic aspects, such as ight control algorithms and mechatronics, but also material behaviour and environmental interaction as factors for its success.Open Acces

Bioinspired design of a landing system with soft shock absorbers for autonomous aerial robots

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals Inc. One of the main challenges for autonomous aerial robots is to land safely on a target position on varied surface structures in real-world applications. Most of current aerial robots (especially multirotors) use only rigid landing gears, which limit the adaptability to environments and can cause damage to the sensitive cameras and other electronics onboard. This paper presents a bioinpsired landing system for autonomous aerial robots, built on the inspire–abstract–implement design paradigm and an additive manufacturing process for soft thermoplastic materials. This novel landing system consists of 3D printable Sarrus shock absorbers and soft landing pads which are integrated with an one-degree-of-freedom actuation mechanism. Both designs of the Sarrus shock absorber and the soft landing pad are analyzed via finite element analysis, and are characterized with dynamic mechanical measurements. The landing system with 3D printed soft components is characterized by completing landing tests on flat, convex, and concave steel structures and grassy field in a total of 60 times at different speeds between 1 and 2 m/s. The adaptability and shock absorption capacity of the proposed landing system is then evaluated and benchmarked against rigid legs. It reveals that the system is able to adapt to varied surface structures and reduce impact force by 540N at maximum. The bioinspired landing strategy presented in this paper opens a promising avenue in Aerial Biorobotics, where a cross-disciplinary approach in vehicle control and navigation is combined with soft technologies, enabled with adaptive morphology

Bioinspired design of a landing system with soft shock absorbers for autonomous aerial robots

One of the main challenges for autonomous aerial robots is to land safely on a target position on varied surface structures in real‐world applications. Most of current aerial robots (especially multirotors) use only rigid landing gears, which limit the adaptability to environments and can cause damage to the sensitive cameras and other electronics onboard. This paper presents a bioinpsired landing system for autonomous aerial robots, built on the inspire–abstract–implement design paradigm and an additive manufacturing process for soft thermoplastic materials. This novel landing system consists of 3D printable Sarrus shock absorbers and soft landing pads which are integrated with an one‐degree‐of‐freedom actuation mechanism. Both designs of the Sarrus shock absorber and the soft landing pad are analyzed via finite element analysis, and are characterized with dynamic mechanical measurements. The landing system with 3D printed soft components is characterized by completing landing tests on flat, convex, and concave steel structures and grassy field in a total of 60 times at different speeds between 1 and 2 m/s. The adaptability and shock absorption capacity of the proposed landing system is then evaluated and benchmarked against rigid legs. It reveals that the system is able to adapt to varied surface structures and reduce impact force by 540N at maximum. The bioinspired landing strategy presented in this paper opens a promising avenue in Aerial Biorobotics, where a cross‐disciplinary approach in vehicle control and navigation is combined with soft technologies, enabled with adaptive morphology

Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, Supplement 35, September 1973

This special bibliography lists 614 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in August 1973

Aerial Robotics for Inspection and Maintenance

Aerial robots with perception, navigation, and manipulation capabilities are extending the range of applications of drones, allowing the integration of different sensor devices and robotic manipulators to perform inspection and maintenance operations on infrastructures such as power lines, bridges, viaducts, or walls, involving typically physical interactions on flight. New research and technological challenges arise from applications demanding the benefits of aerial robots, particularly in outdoor environments. This book collects eleven papers from different research groups from Spain, Croatia, Italy, Japan, the USA, the Netherlands, and Denmark, focused on the design, development, and experimental validation of methods and technologies for inspection and maintenance using aerial robots