Robot turns outstanding to pass on rolling flight on the ground

Specialized robots that can both fly and drive us on the ground before trying to transform and move away. But when the landing ground is tough, these robots are sometimes stuck and cannot continue to work.

Now, a team of Caltech engineers has developed a real transformer that has the “brain” to transform into the air, allowing the dronelike robot to move smoothly and start its operations on the ground without break. The increased agility and the robustness of these robots could be particularly useful for commercial delivery systems and robotic explorers.

The new robot, nicknamed Atmo (aerial transforming morphobot), uses four propellants to fly, but the shrouds that protect them become the wheels of the system in an alternative driving configuration. The whole transformation is based on a single engine to move a central seal that raises atmo propellants in drone or downward mode in training mode.

The researchers describe the robot and the sophisticated control system which pilots it in an article recently published in the journal Communications engineering.

“We have designed and built a new robotic system inspired by nature – by the way animals can use their bodies in different ways to reach different types of locomotion,” explains Ioannis Mandralis, a graduate student in Caltech aerospace and the main document of the new document. For example, he said, birds fly and then change body morphology to slow down and avoid obstacles. “Having the ability to transform in the air unlocks many possibilities to improve autonomy and robustness,” explains Mandralis.

But the transformation of the tunes also poses challenges. Complex aerodynamic forces come into play both because the robot is close to the ground and because it changes its shape as it turns.

“Even if it seems simple when you look at a land of birds, then you run, in reality, it is a problem that the aerospace industry has struggled to face for probably more than 50 years,” explains Many Gharib, Ph.D., Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering, Director and Booth-Kresa Caltech’s Caltech’s Center for And technicians (Cast) and the director of the aero-emission graduate for aero-terminal systems and techniques (Cast), and director of the Aerosh’s Center for aeropose and technolies (Contrapements (Caltospac Laboratoires of California Institute of Technology (Galcit).

All flying vehicles experience complicated forces near the ground. Consider a helicopter, as an example. As it arrives for an landing, its propellers push a lot of air down. When this air touches the floor, part of it bounces back; If the helicopter arrives too quickly, it can be sucked in a vortex formed by this reflected air, which makes its elevator lose.

In the case of Aato, the level of difficulty is even greater. Not only does the robot have to face the complex forces, but it also has four jets that constantly modify the extent to which they are pulling towards each other, creating additional turbulence and instability.

To better understand these complex aerodynamic forces, the researchers carried out tests in the Cast drones laboratory. They used what are called charging cell experiences to see how the changing robot configuration when it came for landing affected its push force. They also carried out experiences of visualization of smoke to reveal the underlying phenomena which lead to such changes in dynamics.

The researchers then fed this information on the algorithm behind a new control system that they created for Atmo. The system uses an advanced control method called predictive control model of the model, which works continuously predicting how the system will behave in the near future and adjusting its actions to stay on the CAP.

“The control algorithm is the greatest innovation of this article,” explains Mandralis. “Quadrotors use special controllers because of how their propellants are placed and how they fly. Here, we introduce a dynamic system that has not been studied before. As soon as the robot begins to transform, you get different dynamic couplings – different forces that interact with each other. And the control system must be able to respond quickly to all this.”