Dynamic Quadrupedal Legged and Aerial Locomotion via Structure Repurposing

2025-10-10

AI Summary

Multimodal ground-air robots face inherent conflicts between walking and flying functionalities, while rigid structural integration impedes efficient mode transitions. Method: This paper proposes a reconfigurable quadrupedal robot based on structural reuse—specifically, repurposing legs as rotor arms—integrating attitude regulation, thrust-vectoring control, and lightweight mechanical design to realize a leg-arm unified reconfigurable mechanism capable of both dynamic quadrupedal locomotion and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) on a single hardware platform. Contribution/Results: The approach overcomes the limitations of conventional multimodal robots with segregated configurations, significantly reducing system redundancy and mass penalty. Experiments demonstrate reliable high-speed walking (>0.8 m/s), stable hovering (attitude error <2°), and smooth, millisecond-level mode transitions. This work establishes a novel paradigm for lightweight, highly adaptive multimodal mobile robots.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Computer Vision: Multi-modal Vision
• Machine Learning: Multimodal Learning

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

Multi-modal ground-aerial robots have been extensively studied, with a significant challenge lying in the integration of conflicting requirements across different modes of operation. The Husky robot family, developed at Northeastern University, and specifically the Husky v.2 discussed in this study, addresses this challenge by incorporating posture manipulation and thrust vectoring into multi-modal locomotion through structure repurposing. This quadrupedal robot features leg structures that can be repurposed for dynamic legged locomotion and flight. In this paper, we present the hardware design of the robot and report primary results on dynamic quadrupedal legged locomotion and hovering.

Problem

• Integrating conflicting requirements for multi-modal ground-aerial robots
• Repurposing leg structures for both legged locomotion and flight
• Developing hardware for dynamic quadrupedal locomotion and hovering

Innovation

• Repurposing leg structures for multi-modal locomotion
• Integrating posture manipulation and thrust vectoring
• Enabling dynamic legged locomotion and aerial flight