Development of a Versatile Drone with a 3-Axis Deformable Frame and Its Application to Disaster Tasks

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20406
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0301:Mechanics of materials, production engineering, design engineering, fluid engineering, thermal engineering, mechanical dynamics, robotics, aerospace engineering, marine and maritime engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Sakaguchi Akinori 九州大学, 先進電気推進飛行体研究センター, 助教 (90912692)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 変形ドローン / 平行リンクモジュール / 災害時タスク / チルト機構

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we have proposed a versatile deformable drone and demonstrated its potential for various disaster-related tasks. Firstly, we proposed a novel drone with a deformable frame that can deform around the roll, pitch, and yaw axes without any thrust loss by effectively utilizing a parallel link mechanism with only three additional actuators. The proposed drone can transform into various shapes such as parallelogram, diamond, and V-shape, without compromising hovering efficiency in any deformation state.
Next, we conducted hovering flight experiments involving aerial deformations to verify the deformable capabilities of the proposed drone. Furthermore, we demonstrated the applicability of its deformation capabilities to disaster-related tasks such as search and rescue of victims, maneuvering through narrow gaps, transportation of supplies, and perching.

Free Research Field

ロボット工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

できるだけ少数の追加アクチュエータのみで，ホバリング効率を低下させずに，高い変形機能を有する変形ドローンを創造するという課題に対して，平行リンク機構をうまく利用することで，推力損失なく，3個の追加アクチュエータのみでロール・ピッチ変形とヨー変形の2つの変形モードを持つ独創的な変形ドローンを提案・具現化したことは，学術的に意義が高い．提案ドローンの高い変形機能によって，物資運搬，パーチング，狭い隙間の通り抜けなど多くのタスクを遂行でき，災害現場での効率的な作業の遂行が期待できるため，社会的意義も大きいと考える．