The goal of Piccolissimo is to create a small, simple, and self-powered flying vehicle. Piccolissimo has just one motor and two rigid bodies, which are propellers that spin in opposite directions. The mass distribution and relative rotor speeds are designed to maintain passive stability in hover. Cartesian velocity control is obtained by introducing an asymmetry in the rotation axis of the two rotating bodies and pulsing the thrust at appropriate times. The dynamic model for this device is developed and presented, highlighting the terms that enable a workable design. Two devices are discussed: a vertically controllable version that is 28 mm in the largest dimension and Cartesion controllable version that is 39 mm in the largest dimension.

The paper presents a model for adding stabilizers to a flying device without rotational momentum (such as quadrotors or ornithopters) that will create passively stable vehicles in hover. This model enables the design of the size and location of these stabilizers that will vary the stability and performance of the vehicle. The model is verified with nine experimental vehicles that span the stability design space. Passive stability allows the removal of costly inertial sensors and increases the robustness of the vehicle. Analysis of the cost and drag that impacts flight performance is also discussed.

In this work, we present a low-cost, flying research MAV, comparable to common quadcopter platforms. We propose a flyer with only two moving parts (a rotor and a stator) and a single actuator that is capable of hovering flight without active attitude control. The passive stability is analyzed and reduced to two mechanisms that are a function of the relative offset of the center of pressure and center of mass, the angular momentum of rotor and stator and the differential lift of the spinning elements. The design space over these parameters is explored with a dozen models that are unstable and one that is stable. Interestingly, the two stability mechanisms are not compatible requiring opposing design emphasis. Passive stability of this model is verified by Routh Hurwitz criterion, in simulation and a physical prototype. The vehicle has the added benefits of low complexity and favorable size scaling compared to other MAVs. The vehicle design guidelines derived from both theory and experimentation are presented.

Disaster scenarios involve a multitude of obstacles that are difficult to traverse for humans and robots alike. Most robotic search and rescue solutions to this problem involve large, tank-like robots that use brute force to cross difficult terrain; however, these large robots may cause secondary damage. H.E.R.A.L.D, the Hybrid Exploration Robot for Air and Land Deployment, is a novel integrated system of three nimble, lightweight robots which can travel over difficult obstacles by air, but also travel through rubble. We present the design methodology and optimization of each robot, as well as design and testing of the physical integration of the system as a whole, and compare the performance of the robots to the state of the art.

Connection mechanisms are critical to many modular reconfigurable systems. This paper introduces the ModLock manual connection system which is both easy and fast to attach/detach (requires seconds) as well as strong (failure at 2.2kN tensile load). This low cost, low profile connection system has been demonstrated on a variety of robot configurations including legged walkers, flying quadrotors and wheeled robots.

Tactile information is valuable in determining properties of objects that are inaccessible from visual perception. In this paper, we present a tactile perception strategy that allows a mobile robot with tactile sensors in its gripper to measure a generic set of tactile features while manipulating an object. We propose a switching velocity-force controller that grasps an object safely and reveals, at the same time, its deformation properties. By gently rolling the object, the robot can extract additional information about the contents of the object. As an application, we show that a robot can use these features to distinguish the internal state of bottles and cans-purely from tactile sensing-from a small training set. The robot can distinguish open from closed bottles and cans and full ones from empty ones. We also show how the high-frequency component in tactile information can be used to detect movement inside a container, e.g., in order to detect the presence of liquid. To prove that this is a hard recognition problem, we also conducted a comparative study with 17 human test subjects. The recognition rates of the human subjects were comparable with that of the robot.

Tactile information is valuable in determining properties of objects that are inaccessible from visual perception. In this work, we present a tactile perception strategy that allows any mobile robot with tactile sensors in its gripper to measure a set of generic tactile features while grasping an object. We propose a hybrid velocity-force controller, that grasps an object safely and reveals at the same time its deformation properties. As an application, we show that a robot can use these features to distinguish the open/closed and fill state of bottles and cans - purely from tactile sensing - from a small training set. To prove that this is a hard recognition problem, we also conducted a comperative study with 17 human test subjects. We found that the recognition rate of the human subjects were comparable to our robotic gripper.