Finding Structure Configurations for Flying Modular Robots

Flying Modular Structures offer a versatile mechanism that can change the arrangement of constituent actuators according to task requirements. In this work, we extend a modular aerial platform that can expand its actuation capabilities depending on the configuration. Each module is composed of a quadrotor in a cage that can rigidly connect with other modules. The quadrotor is connected with the cage by a revolute joint that allows it to rotate with respect to the cage. Modules located in the structure are either parallel or perpendicular to one another. The task specification defines forces and moments needed during the execution. We propose two search methods to find a configuration that can satisfy the specification. The first approach consists of an exhaustive search that yields optimal structure configurations by exploring the whole search space. The second approach proposes a heuristic based on subgroup search, reducing the problem complexity from exponential to linear. We validate our proposed algorithms with several simulations. Our results show that the proposed heuristic is computationally efficient and finds a near-optimal configuration even for flying modular structures composed of a large number of modules.

Authors

• Bruno Gabrich
• David Saldaña
• Mark Yim

Keywords

• Actuators
• Computational modeling
• Search problems
• Computational efficiency
• Complexity theory
• Task analysis
• Intelligent robots
• Structural Configuration
• Modular Robots
• Search Space
• Search Method
• Exhaustive Search
• Revolute Joints
• Degrees Of Freedom
• Center Of Mass
• Control Input
• Quadratic Programming
• Configuration Space
• Force Vector
• Force Distribution
• Number Of Configurations
• Roll Angle
• Angular Acceleration
• Skew-symmetric
• Desired Structures
• Inertia Tensor
• Module Configuration
• Level Of Modularity
• Line Configuration
• Arbitrary Configuration