Flexbee: A Grasping and Perching UAV Based on Soft Vector-Propulsion Nozzle

2025-10-21

AI Summary

Traditional quadcopter UAVs face challenges in integrating flight, active grasping, and passive perching due to high control coupling, poor structural reusability, and functional compartmentalization. To address this, we propose Flexbee—a soft-bodied, multifunctional quadcopter UAV—whose core innovation lies in the design and integration of four Soft Vector Propulsion Nozzles (SVPNs). Each SVPN unifies flight propulsion, active grasping, and passive perching within a single actuation mechanism, enabling, for the first time, physical-layer fusion and dynamic decoupling of all three functions. Leveraging an equivalent torque model, we derive a linearized, high-fidelity dynamical model and design a hierarchical dual-mode controller. Experimental results demonstrate Flexbee’s stable multimodal performance across autonomous flight, grasping of unstructured objects, and perching on vertical or inclined surfaces. The platform significantly enhances environmental adaptability and system compactness while eliminating functional redundancy.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Computer Vision: Multi-modal Vision
• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to design a new type of grasping and perching unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), called Flexbee, which features a soft vector-propulsion nozzle (SVPN). Compared to previous UAVs, Flexbee integrates flight, grasping, and perching functionalities into the four SVPNs. This integration offers advantages including decoupled position and attitude control, high structural reuse, and strong adaptability strong adaptability for grasping and perching. A dynamics model of Flexbee has been developed, and the nonlinear coupling issue of the moment has been resolved through linearization of the equivalent moment model. A hierarchical control strategy was used to design controllers for the two operational modes of Flexbee. Finally, flight, grasping, and perching experiments were conducted to validate Flexbee's kinematic capabilities and the effectiveness of the control strategy.

Problem

• Designing a UAV with integrated flight, grasping, and perching capabilities
• Resolving nonlinear coupling in moment dynamics through model linearization
• Developing hierarchical control strategies for grasping and perching operations

Innovation

• UAV uses soft vector-propulsion nozzles for grasping
• Linearized equivalent moment model resolves nonlinear coupling
• Hierarchical control strategy manages flight and perching modes