Autonomous miniature flying robots: coming soon! - Research, Development, and Results

TLDR

The exponential growth of interest in UAVs is driving the emergence of autonomous miniature flying robots. The article reports that the ASL‑MFR project introduced a design methodology that yields 100 % thrust margin and 30‑min autonomy for a quadrotor and 40 % thrust margin with 20‑min autonomy for a coaxial helicopter, added hybrid active‑passive control for the coaxial platform, and demonstrated rapid reconfiguration and obstacle‑avoidance simulations, reinforcing confidence in autonomous miniature flying robots.

Abstract

The exponential growth of the interest and investigations in UAVs is strongly pushing the emergence of autonomous MFRs. This article presented some developments in the ASL-MFR project. A new design methodology was introduced and applied to a quadrotor and a coaxial helicopter enhancing appreciably the robots characteristics by allowing 100% thrust margin and 30 min autonomy (respectively, 40% and 20 min for CoaX). An original concept of hybrid active and passive control is introduced for CoaX. A simulation software permitting rapid MFR reconfiguration and various testing conditions was shown. Finally, a simulation of an obstacle avoidance controller was presented. The numerous developments presented in this article reinforce our conviction in the emergence of autonomous MFRs.