 | Weakly, Jessica; Li, Xuan; Agarwal, Tejas; Li, Minchen; Folk, Spencer; Jiang, Chenfanfu; Sung, Cynthia Bistable Aerial Transformer: A Quadrotor Fixed-Wing Hybrid That Morphs Dynamically Via Passive Soft Mechanism (Journal Article) In: ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, vol. 16, iss. 7, no. JMR-23-1641, pp. 071016, 2024. @article{weakly2024BATb,
title = {Bistable Aerial Transformer: A Quadrotor Fixed-Wing Hybrid That Morphs Dynamically Via Passive Soft Mechanism},
author = {Jessica Weakly and Xuan Li and Tejas Agarwal and Minchen Li and Spencer Folk and Chenfanfu Jiang and Cynthia Sung },
editor = {Ashis G. Banerjee},
url = {https://youtu.be/eDKwBM2RLOg?feature=shared
https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/mechanismsrobotics/article/doi/10.1115/1.4065159/1198861/Bistable-Aerial-Transformer-BAT-A-Quadrotor-Fixed
},
doi = { 10.1115/1.4065159},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-04-24},
urldate = {2024-04-24},
journal = {ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics},
volume = {16},
number = {JMR-23-1641},
issue = {7},
pages = {071016},
abstract = {Aerial vehicle missions require navigating trade-offs during design, such as the range,
speed, maneuverability, and size. Multi-modal aerial vehicles enable this trade-off to be
negotiated during flight. This paper presents a Bistable Aerial Transformer (BAT) robot,
a novel morphing hybrid aerial vehicle that switches between quadrotor and fixed-wing
modes via rapid acceleration and without any additional actuation beyond those required
for normal flight. The design features a compliant bistable mechanism made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) that bears a large mass at the center of the robot’s body. When
accelerating, inertial forces transition the vehicle between its stable modes, and a fourbar linkage connected to the bistable mechanism folds the vehicle’s wings in and out.
The paper includes the full robot design and a comparison of the fabricated system to
the elastodynamic simulation. Successful transitions between the two modes in mid-flight,
as well as sustained flight in each mode indicate that the vehicle experiences higher
agility in the quadrotor mode and higher flight efficiency in the fixed-wing mode, at an
energy equivalent cost of only 2 s of flight time per pair of transitions. The vehicle demonstrates how compliant and bistable mechanisms can be integrated into future aerial vehicles
for controllable self-reconfiguration for tasks such as surveillance and sampling that
require a combination of maneuverability and long-distance flight.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Aerial vehicle missions require navigating trade-offs during design, such as the range,
speed, maneuverability, and size. Multi-modal aerial vehicles enable this trade-off to be
negotiated during flight. This paper presents a Bistable Aerial Transformer (BAT) robot,
a novel morphing hybrid aerial vehicle that switches between quadrotor and fixed-wing
modes via rapid acceleration and without any additional actuation beyond those required
for normal flight. The design features a compliant bistable mechanism made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) that bears a large mass at the center of the robot’s body. When
accelerating, inertial forces transition the vehicle between its stable modes, and a fourbar linkage connected to the bistable mechanism folds the vehicle’s wings in and out.
The paper includes the full robot design and a comparison of the fabricated system to
the elastodynamic simulation. Successful transitions between the two modes in mid-flight,
as well as sustained flight in each mode indicate that the vehicle experiences higher
agility in the quadrotor mode and higher flight efficiency in the fixed-wing mode, at an
energy equivalent cost of only 2 s of flight time per pair of transitions. The vehicle demonstrates how compliant and bistable mechanisms can be integrated into future aerial vehicles
for controllable self-reconfiguration for tasks such as surveillance and sampling that
require a combination of maneuverability and long-distance flight. |
 | Li*, Xuan; McWilliams*, Jessica; Li, Minchen; Sung, Cynthia; Jiang, Chenfanfu Soft hybrid aerial vehicle via bistable mechanism (Conference) IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021, (*=co-first author, best paper in mechanisms and design). @conference{li2021hav,
title = {Soft hybrid aerial vehicle via bistable mechanism},
author = {Xuan Li* and Jessica McWilliams* and Minchen Li and Cynthia Sung and Chenfanfu Jiang},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.00426
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnTyAVVzJMc},
doi = {10.1109/ICRA48506.2021.9561434},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-05-01},
urldate = {2021-05-01},
booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
abstract = {Unmanned aerial vehicles have been demonstrated successfully in a variety of tasks, including surveying and sampling tasks over large areas. These vehicles can take many forms. Quadrotors' agility and ability to hover makes them well suited for navigating potentially tight spaces, while fixed wing aircraft are capable of efficient flight over long distances. Hybrid aerial vehicles (HAVs) attempt to achieve both of these benefits by exhibiting multiple modes; however, morphing HAVs typically require extra actuators which add mass, reducing both agility and efficiency. We propose a morphing HAV with folding wings that exhibits both a quadrotor and a fixed wing mode without requiring any extra actuation. This is achieved by leveraging the motion of a bistable mechanism at the center of the aircraft to drive folding of the wing using only the existing motors and the inertia of the system. We optimize both the bistable mechanism and the folding wing using a topology optimization approach. The resulting mechanisms were fabricated on a 3D printer and replaced the frame of an existing quadrotor. Our prototype successfully transitions between both modes and our experiments demonstrate that the behavior of the fabricated prototype is consistent with that of the simulation.},
note = {*=co-first author, best paper in mechanisms and design},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
Unmanned aerial vehicles have been demonstrated successfully in a variety of tasks, including surveying and sampling tasks over large areas. These vehicles can take many forms. Quadrotors' agility and ability to hover makes them well suited for navigating potentially tight spaces, while fixed wing aircraft are capable of efficient flight over long distances. Hybrid aerial vehicles (HAVs) attempt to achieve both of these benefits by exhibiting multiple modes; however, morphing HAVs typically require extra actuators which add mass, reducing both agility and efficiency. We propose a morphing HAV with folding wings that exhibits both a quadrotor and a fixed wing mode without requiring any extra actuation. This is achieved by leveraging the motion of a bistable mechanism at the center of the aircraft to drive folding of the wing using only the existing motors and the inertia of the system. We optimize both the bistable mechanism and the folding wing using a topology optimization approach. The resulting mechanisms were fabricated on a 3D printer and replaced the frame of an existing quadrotor. Our prototype successfully transitions between both modes and our experiments demonstrate that the behavior of the fabricated prototype is consistent with that of the simulation. |
