Abstract
Multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs) are becoming more prominent for diverse real-world applications due to their inherent hovering ability, swift manoeuvring and vertical take-off landing capabilities. Nonetheless, to be entirely applicable for various obstacle prone environments, the conventional MUAVs may not be able to change their configuration depending on the available space and perform designated missions. It necessitates the morphing phenomenon of MUAVS, wherein it can alter their geometric structure autonomously. This article presents the development of a morphed MUAV based on a simple rotary actuation mechanism capable of driving each arm’s smoothly and satisfying the necessary reduction in workspace volume to navigate in the obstacle prone regions. The mathematical modelling for the folding mechanism was formulated, and corresponding kinematic analysis was performed to understand the synchronous motion characteristics of the arms during the folding of arms. Experiments were conducted by precisely actuating the servo motors based on the proximity ultrasonic sensor data to avoid the obstacle for achieving effective morphing of MUAV. The flight tests were conducted to estimate the endurance and attain a change in morphology of MUAV from “X-Configuration” to “H-Configuration” with the four arms actuated synchronously without time delay.
Highlights
The results revealed that the Multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs) had considerable vibration; it was damped with a damper and kept within a safe limit
The present work focused on the development of morphed MUAV for achieving effective navigation in obstacle prone environments
The mechanical design and corresponding kinematic analysis results suggested that the 45◦ rotation of MUAV arms resulted in a 60%
Summary
The morphing of MUAV is achieved by folding their arms concerning the space constraints during their flight conditions They can navigate effectively in obstacle-prone regions without any difficulties such as birds. Usherwood et al [30] developed morphing MUAV wings by converting wing principles discovered in birds into mechanical designs using a technique known as bioinspiration or biomimetics This bio-hybrid method enables using materials in robots that are too difficult to manufacture and do not yet completely understand, such as flying feathers. The system does not require any aggressive manoeuvres, but it must be a fast embedded mechanism for folding and deploying MUAVs structure It should support the implemented autonomous narrow gap crossing strategy based on onboard sensing and computing process.
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