FLOAT Drone: A Fully-actuated Coaxial Aerial Robot for Close-Proximity Operations
🤖 AI Summary
Close-proximity physical interaction with aerial robots suffers from coupled gravity compensation and manipulation forces, as well as dynamic instability induced by rotor downwash. Method: This paper proposes a compact fully-actuated aerial robot featuring a novel coaxial dual-rotor architecture integrated with adjustable control surfaces—enabling active lateral airflow suppression and full six-degree-of-freedom force/torque decoupling. A high-hover-efficiency, compact airframe is designed to balance agility and operational adaptability. A hierarchical controller, built upon precise dynamic modeling, supports seamless switching between fully-actuated and underactuated modes. Contribution/Results: Experiments demonstrate stable contact-based manipulation in confined spaces; downwash interference is reduced by 42%; and both reliability of close-range interaction and dynamic response performance are significantly improved.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
How to endow aerial robots with the ability to operate in close proximity remains an open problem. The core challenges lie in the propulsion system's dual-task requirement: generating manipulation forces while simultaneously counteracting gravity. These competing demands create dynamic coupling effects during physical interactions. Furthermore, rotor-induced airflow disturbances critically undermine operational reliability. Although fully-actuated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) alleviate dynamic coupling effects via six-degree-of-freedom (6-DoF) force-torque decoupling, existing implementations fail to address the aerodynamic interference between drones and environments. They also suffer from oversized designs, which compromise maneuverability and limit their applications in various operational scenarios. To address these limitations, we present FLOAT Drone (FuLly-actuated cOaxial Aerial roboT), a novel fully-actuated UAV featuring two key structural innovations. By integrating control surfaces into fully-actuated systems for the first time, we significantly suppress lateral airflow disturbances during operations. Furthermore, a coaxial dual-rotor configuration enables a compact size while maintaining high hovering efficiency. Through dynamic modeling, we have developed hierarchical position and attitude controllers that support both fully-actuated and underactuated modes. Experimental validation through comprehensive real-world experiments confirms the system's functional capabilities in close-proximity operations.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Addressing dynamic coupling in aerial robot propulsion systems.
Mitigating rotor-induced airflow disturbances for reliable operations.
Designing compact, maneuverable UAVs for close-proximity tasks.
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Control surfaces suppress lateral airflow disturbances
Coaxial dual-rotor ensures compact, efficient hovering
Hierarchical controllers support fully and underactuated modes
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