Abstract
Miniature indoor robotic airship platforms offer high mobility, safety, and extended flight times. This paper focuses on the feasibility, design, development, and evaluation of such a platform for robotics education and research. Selected commercially available envelope materials were considered and tested in terms of their helium retention capability and mechanical properties. The obtained envelope properties were used in a feasibility study, demonstrating that indoor airships are environmentally and financially viable, given an appropriate material choice. The platform’s mechanical design was studied in terms of gondola placement and rotor angle positioning, resulting in an unconventional, asymmetric arrangement. The developed system was finally tested in a simple path following experiment for proof-of-concept purposes, proving its efficiency in attaining the desired heading and altitude configuration. The proposed robotic airship platform can be used for a variety of education and research oriented applications. Its design is open-source, facilitating replication by others.
Highlights
In the golden age of the giant airships, these vehicles had surpassed the fixed wing aircraft in terms of flight range, payload, and fuel efficiency
This paper focuses on the feasibility, design, and development of an open-source, helium-based, indoor robotic airship that can be used for education and research purposes
The amount of gas escaping Q was defined as the volume of helium at standard temperature and pressure (STP), according to IUPAC which defines them as TSTP = 273.15 K and pSTP = 105 Pa [30]
Summary
In the golden age of the giant airships, these vehicles had surpassed the fixed wing aircraft in terms of flight range, payload, and fuel efficiency. Even though the dream of filling the skies with fleets of transport and cargo ships has faded, the advantages of lighter-than-air (LTA) crafts remain. These can be applied in several fields of robotics education and research, where miniature robotic devices (both aerial and mobile) are slowly but surely making their appearance, attracting an increased interest. In terms of indoor exploration and navigation, airships offer higher mobility and looser path planning constraints when compared to ground robots. Their field of view is less obstructed and locomotion issues over different terrain and obstacles are bypassed completely.
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