Related papers: Perching by hugging: an initial feasibility study
Achieving precise, highly-dynamic maneuvers with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a major challenge due to the complexity of the associated aerodynamics. In particular, unsteady effects -- as might be experienced in post-stall regimes or…
Aerial unperching of multirotors has received little attention as opposed to perching that has been investigated to elongate operation time. This study presents a new aerial robot capable of both perching and unperching autonomously on/from…
Aerial robots show significant potential for forest canopy research and environmental monitoring by providing data collection capabilities at high spatial and temporal resolutions. However, limited flight endurance hinders their…
Hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) integrate the efficient forward flight of fixed-wing and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities of multicopter UAVs. This paper presents the modeling, control and simulation of a new type of…
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fill coverage holes as wireless relays during emergency situations. Fixed-wing UAVs offer longer flight duration and larger coverage in such situations than rotary-wing counterparts. Maximizing the…
An aerial vehicle powered by flapping feathered wings was designed, developed and fabricated. Different from legacy flapping-wing aerial vehicles with membrane wings, the new design uses authentic bird feathers to fabricate wings. In field…
This paper presents a soft propelled arm, 3D-printed in TPU 70A, designed to be used in flexible UAVs, an advantageous concept since it reduces risk in the event of a collision thanks to a high energy absorption. The proposed design also…
This paper presents a lifting-wing multirotor UAV that allows long-range flight. The UAV features a lifting wing in a special mounting angle that works together with rotors to supply lift when it flies forward, achieving a reduction in…
Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles are deployed for a variety tasks including surveillance and monitoring. Perching and staring allow the vehicle to monitor targets without flying, saving battery power and increasing the overall mission time…
This research endeavors to design the perching maneuver and control in ornithopter robots. By analyzing the dynamic interplay between the robot's flight dynamics, feedback loops, and the environmental constraints, we aim to advance our…
With UAVs promising capabilities to increase operation flexibility and reduce mission cost, we are exploiting the automated carrier-landing performance advancement that can be achieved by fixed-wing UAVs. To demonstrate such potentials, in…
This paper presents a simulation framework able of modeling the dynamics of a hanging tether with adjustable length, connecting a UAV to a UGV. The model incorporates the interaction between the UAV, UGV, and a winch, allowing for dynamic…
There are various desired capabilities to create aerial forest-traversing robots capable of monitoring both biological and abiotic data. The features range from multi-functionality, robustness, and adaptability. These robots have to weather…
The flight characteristics of bats remarkably have been overlooked in aerial drone designs. Unlike other animals, bats leverage the manipulation of inertial dynamics to exhibit aerial flip turns when they perch. Inspired by this unique…
The design of a prototype to carry out take-off and flight tests with tethered aircrafts is presented. The system features a ground station equipped with a winch and a linear motion system. The motion of these two components is regulated by…
This paper proposes a novel cooperative system for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) which utilizes the UAV not only as a flying sensor but also as a tether attachment device. Two robots are connected…
We consider unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted wireless communication employing UAVs as relay nodes to increase the throughput between a pair of transmitter and receiver. We focus on developing effective methods to position the UAV(s)…
In this work, we propose a centralized control method based on nonlinear model predictive control to let multiple UAVs manipulate the full pose of an object via cables. At the best of the authors knowledge this is the first method that…
This paper presents a novel approach to efficiently parameterize and estimate the state of a hanging tether for path and trajectory planning of a UGV tied to a UAV in a marsupial configuration. Most implementations in the state of the art…
This work demonstrates universal dynamic perching capabilities for quadrotors of various sizes and on surfaces with different orientations. By employing a non-dimensionalization framework and deep reinforcement learning, we systematically…