Reconfigurable Quadrotor Cage With Passive Spring Rolling Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face limitations in range and endurance due to high power requirements and inefficient rotorcraft designs, particularly for smaller vehicles, hindering their use in complex tasks and environments.
Innovation Solution
A quadrotor design with passively reconfigurable joints and elastic components allows switching between flying and rolling states, using pre-stretched coil springs to enable efficient terrestrial locomotion and precise control, reducing power consumption and extending operational range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If traditional rotorcraft design is used for MAVs, then flight capability is achieved, but power consumption is high and range/endurance are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The airframe is designed to be dynamically reconfigurable, allowing the MAV to switch between aerial and terrestrial configurations. The passive reconfigurable joints enable the propellers to change orientation automatically based on the vehicle's state, optimizing the configuration for either flight or ground rolling without active actuators, thereby reducing power consumption while extending operational range.
Solution Approach 2:
The MAV is designed with multi-functionality, capable of performing both aerial flight and terrestrial rolling locomotion using the same vehicle platform. This dual-mode capability allows the vehicle to select the most energy-efficient mode for different mission phases, improving overall energy utilization and extending range and endurance.
2Productivity
If passive reconfigurable joints with elastic components are used, then rolling efficiency and maneuverability are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic components (springs) are pre-stretched during assembly to automatically provide the necessary restoring forces for the passive reconfigurable joints. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for additional actuators or complex control systems to maintain the joints in specific configurations, reducing device complexity while achieving precise rolling control through the natural elastic properties of the springs.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The quadrotor achieves improved rolling efficiency and maneuverability, enabling extended mission range and precise control in cluttered environments with reduced power consumption.
Implementation Method 1
each passively reconfigurable joint includes an elastic component
Implementation Method 2
The wheels are connected respectively to two opposite ends of the body by pre-stretched coil springs
Implementation Method 3
one or more propellers connected to the body... generated thrusts by the propellers
Data Source
AI summary
A quadrotor is proposed than can both fly and roll. The proposed robot employs passively reconfigurable structures to enable the rolling, tightly coupling the attitude of the robot to the rolling cage. The benefits are precise rolling and turning control as well as improved rolling efficiency. The passively reconfigurable structures are enabled by pre-stretched elastic springs to generate a nonlinear restoring torque. The robot leveraged the superior maneuverability in the rolling mode to take photos of the surroundings at different tilting and panning angles to construct a panoramic image. Besides, the results of the power measurements show a significant reduction in the cost of transport brought by at low speed, equating to a 15-fold extension in the operational range.