TY - GEN
T1 - More than meets the eye
T2 - 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2009
AU - Kossett, Alex
AU - Purvey, Jesse
AU - Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos
PY - 2009/12/11
Y1 - 2009/12/11
N2 - Mobility in small ground robots is often improved by novel mechanisms or wheel designs. This can be successful when navigating rough terrain or climbing small obstacles. However, few such robots are capable of scaling obstacles of arbitrary height or traversing all types of terrain. This paper presents a concept for a miniature robot that combines wheeled ground locomotion with rotary-wing flight capabilities, which has the potential to offer the best features of both helicopters and ground vehicles while addressing the aforementioned challenges to mobility. A proof-of-concept robot has been designed to test this concept. In its ground mode, it is based loosely on the University of Minnesota's Scout line of robots. It transitions from its ground mode to its flight mode by positioning itself on-end, unfolding rotors from its body, and taking off. A full prototype of the design has been constructed and the concept has been shown to be feasible, but the design requires refinement before it is fully functional and robust. Test results from a focused ground-mode-only prototype and the miniature helicopter on which the flight mode is based provide estimates of the robot's performance where data could not be obtained from the full prototype. The results show that, while it is capable of the desired functions, more work is required before the concept can reach its full potential.
AB - Mobility in small ground robots is often improved by novel mechanisms or wheel designs. This can be successful when navigating rough terrain or climbing small obstacles. However, few such robots are capable of scaling obstacles of arbitrary height or traversing all types of terrain. This paper presents a concept for a miniature robot that combines wheeled ground locomotion with rotary-wing flight capabilities, which has the potential to offer the best features of both helicopters and ground vehicles while addressing the aforementioned challenges to mobility. A proof-of-concept robot has been designed to test this concept. In its ground mode, it is based loosely on the University of Minnesota's Scout line of robots. It transitions from its ground mode to its flight mode by positioning itself on-end, unfolding rotors from its body, and taking off. A full prototype of the design has been constructed and the concept has been shown to be feasible, but the design requires refinement before it is fully functional and robust. Test results from a focused ground-mode-only prototype and the miniature helicopter on which the flight mode is based provide estimates of the robot's performance where data could not be obtained from the full prototype. The results show that, while it is capable of the desired functions, more work is required before the concept can reach its full potential.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=76249113599&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=76249113599&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/IROS.2009.5354632
DO - 10.1109/IROS.2009.5354632
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:76249113599
SN - 9781424438044
T3 - 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2009
SP - 5653
EP - 5658
BT - 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2009
Y2 - 11 October 2009 through 15 October 2009
ER -