Despite advances in localization and navigation, aerial robots inevitably remain susceptible to accidents and collisions. In this work, we propose a passive foldable airframe as a protective mechanism for a small aerial robot. A foldable quadrotor is designed and fabricated using the origami-inspired manufacturing paradigm. Upon an accidental mid-flight collision, the deformable airframe is mechanically activated. The rigid frame reconfigures its structure to protect the central part of the robot that houses sensitive components from a crash to the ground. The proposed robot is fabricated, modeled, and characterized. The 51-gram vehicle demonstrates the desired folding sequence in less than 0.15 s when colliding with a wall when flying.
@article{arxiv.1907.07056,
title = {A Quadrotor with an Origami-Inspired Protective Mechanism},
author = {Jing Shu and Pakpong Chirarattananon},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.07056},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters