SplitFlyer: a Modular Quadcoptor that Disassembles into Two Flying Robots

Songnan Bai; Shixin Tan; Pakpong Chirarattananon

doi:10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797

SplitFlyer: a Modular Quadcoptor that Disassembles into Two Flying Robots

Songnan Bai
, Shixin Tan
, Pakpong Chirarattananon^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We introduce SplitFlyer-a novel quadcopter with an ability to disassemble into two self-contained bicopters through human assistance. As a subunit, the bicopter is a severely underactuated aerial vehicle equipped with only two propellers. Still, each bicopter is capable of independent flight. To achieve this, we provide an analysis of the system dynamics by relaxing the control over the yaw rotation, allowing the bicopter to maintain its large spinning rate in flight. Taking into account the gyroscopic motion, the dynamics are described and a cascaded control strategy is developed. We constructed a transformable prototype to demonstrate consecutive flights in both configurations. The results verify the proposed control strategy and show the potential of the platform for future research in modular aerial swarm robotics.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	1207-1214
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-7281-6212-6
ISBN (Print)	978-1-7281-6211-9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797
Publication status	Published - Oct 2020
Event	2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020): Consumer Robotics and Our Future - Virtual, Las Vegas, United States Duration: 25 Oct 2020 → 29 Oct 2020 https://www.iros2020.org/index.html

Publication series

Name	IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
ISSN (Print)	2153-0858
ISSN (Electronic)	2153-0866

Conference

Conference	2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020)
Place	United States
City	Las Vegas
Period	25/10/20 → 29/10/20
Internet address	https://www.iros2020.org/index.html

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10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797

https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.14862

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@inproceedings{550832541bea4ae88c8669adc51eb281,

title = "SplitFlyer: a Modular Quadcoptor that Disassembles into Two Flying Robots",

abstract = "We introduce SplitFlyer-a novel quadcopter with an ability to disassemble into two self-contained bicopters through human assistance. As a subunit, the bicopter is a severely underactuated aerial vehicle equipped with only two propellers. Still, each bicopter is capable of independent flight. To achieve this, we provide an analysis of the system dynamics by relaxing the control over the yaw rotation, allowing the bicopter to maintain its large spinning rate in flight. Taking into account the gyroscopic motion, the dynamics are described and a cascaded control strategy is developed. We constructed a transformable prototype to demonstrate consecutive flights in both configurations. The results verify the proposed control strategy and show the potential of the platform for future research in modular aerial swarm robotics.",

author = "Songnan Bai and Shixin Tan and Pakpong Chirarattananon",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-7281-6211-9",

series = "IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems",

publisher = "IEEE",

pages = "1207--1214",

booktitle = "2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)",

address = "United States",

note = "2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020) : Consumer Robotics and Our Future ; Conference date: 25-10-2020 Through 29-10-2020",

url = "https://www.iros2020.org/index.html",

}

Bai, S , Tan, S & Chirarattananon, P 2020, SplitFlyer: a Modular Quadcoptor that Disassembles into Two Flying Robots. in 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)., 9340797, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, pp. 1207-1214, 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020), Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, 25/10/20. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797

SplitFlyer: a Modular Quadcoptor that Disassembles into Two Flying Robots. / Bai, Songnan ; Tan, Shixin ; Chirarattananon, Pakpong.
2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). IEEE, 2020. p. 1207-1214 9340797 (IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems).

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - SplitFlyer

T2 - 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020)

AU - Bai, Songnan

AU - Tan, Shixin

AU - Chirarattananon, Pakpong

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - We introduce SplitFlyer-a novel quadcopter with an ability to disassemble into two self-contained bicopters through human assistance. As a subunit, the bicopter is a severely underactuated aerial vehicle equipped with only two propellers. Still, each bicopter is capable of independent flight. To achieve this, we provide an analysis of the system dynamics by relaxing the control over the yaw rotation, allowing the bicopter to maintain its large spinning rate in flight. Taking into account the gyroscopic motion, the dynamics are described and a cascaded control strategy is developed. We constructed a transformable prototype to demonstrate consecutive flights in both configurations. The results verify the proposed control strategy and show the potential of the platform for future research in modular aerial swarm robotics.

AB - We introduce SplitFlyer-a novel quadcopter with an ability to disassemble into two self-contained bicopters through human assistance. As a subunit, the bicopter is a severely underactuated aerial vehicle equipped with only two propellers. Still, each bicopter is capable of independent flight. To achieve this, we provide an analysis of the system dynamics by relaxing the control over the yaw rotation, allowing the bicopter to maintain its large spinning rate in flight. Taking into account the gyroscopic motion, the dynamics are described and a cascaded control strategy is developed. We constructed a transformable prototype to demonstrate consecutive flights in both configurations. The results verify the proposed control strategy and show the potential of the platform for future research in modular aerial swarm robotics.

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U2 - 10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797

DO - 10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340797

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 978-1-7281-6211-9

T3 - IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

SP - 1207

EP - 1214

BT - 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

PB - IEEE

Y2 - 25 October 2020 through 29 October 2020

ER -

SplitFlyer: a Modular Quadcoptor that Disassembles into Two Flying Robots

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