An aerial robot prototype for situational awareness in closed quarters

Abstract

More often homeland security, disaster mitigation and military operations are performed in urban environments. Time consuming, labor intensive and possibly dangerous tasks like bomb detection, search-and-rescue and reconnaissance done with robots could save resources. An aerial robot capable of flying in closed quarters like warehouses, stadiums, underground parking lots and tunnels is featured. The working prototype can fly slowly, safely and transmit wireless video for situational awareness. The design is analytic and employs a multi-disciplinary design optimization to formulate the integration of aerodynamics, sensor suite and task performance.