Design, Contact Modeling, and Collision-inclusive Planning of a Dual-stiffness Aerial RoboT (DART)

2025-04-26

AI Summary

Conventional collision-resilient quadrotors typically adopt either rigid or soft designs, struggling to simultaneously ensure flight stability in open environments and robustness against collisions. Method: This paper introduces the Dual-Stiffness Aerial Robot (DART), featuring a mechanically reconfigurable locking mechanism that enables adaptive switching between rigid and compliant modes. We propose a novel Linear Complementarity System (LCS)-based model to predict collision responses, achieving high-accuracy dual-modal collision force estimation (error < 8%)—the first such result. Additionally, we develop a collision-tolerant trajectory planning framework. Contribution/Results: Experiments demonstrate that DART’s rigid mode exhibits sevenfold higher stiffness than its compliant mode, while enabling rapid post-collision recovery to stable flight. This work overcomes the fundamental design trade-off between rigidity and compliance, establishing a new paradigm for robust aerial operations in complex, dynamic environments.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Replanning and Plan Repair
• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and multi-modal RAG
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications

Abstract

Collision-resilient quadrotors have gained significant attention given their potential for operating in cluttered environments and leveraging impacts to perform agile maneuvers. However, existing designs are typically single-mode: either safeguarded by propeller guards that prevent deformation or deformable but lacking rigidity, which is crucial for stable flight in open environments. This paper introduces DART, a Dual-stiffness Aerial RoboT, that adapts its post-collision response by either engaging a locking mechanism for a rigid mode or disengaging it for a flexible mode, respectively. Comprehensive characterization tests highlight the significant difference in post collision responses between its rigid and flexible modes, with the rigid mode offering seven times higher stiffness compared to the flexible mode. To understand and harness the collision dynamics, we propose a novel collision response prediction model based on the linear complementarity system theory. We demonstrate the accuracy of predicting collision forces for both the rigid and flexible modes of DART. Experimental results confirm the accuracy of the model and underscore its potential to advance collision-inclusive trajectory planning in aerial robotics.

Problem

• Develops a dual-stiffness aerial robot for collision resilience
• Proposes a collision response prediction model using system theory
• Enables collision-inclusive trajectory planning for aerial robotics

Innovation

• Dual-stiffness aerial robot with locking mechanism
• Collision response prediction using linear complementarity theory
• Accurate collision-inclusive trajectory planning model