This paper presents the design, prototype, and testing of a 150 g (current best estimate) manipulation system that enables Mars Sample Recovery Helicopter (SRH) concept to autonomously pickup, stow, and drop-off Returnable Sample Tube and Glove Assemblies (RGAs) on the surface of Mars next to the Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL). It consists of a 3 DOF planar Robotic Arm (RA), a novel 2 DOF Gripper with compliant fingers, and a Stow Mechanism. Within the planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign, two SRHs would operate in parallel to retrieve and transfer total of 10 RGAs (146g each) to the SRL, as the backup to the Perseverance Rover. Once SRH arrives at the target pickup location, the RA places the Gripper precisely over the RGA. The gripper grabs and picks up RGAs using a linkage based non-back-drivable mechanism and its compliant fingers. Subsequently, the RA is secured into the stow features, following dislodging rocks and pebbles, by going through a specific sequence of joint trajectories. This ensures the RA and RGA are stable and secure during transit to the SRL while all Manipulation System actuators are powered off. The whole sequence of manipulation is performed autonomously using feedback of a pair of stereo-cameras and absolute encoders. Experimental evaluation of the Manipulation System performance has proved its robustness and consistency in successful RGA pickup, stow, and drop-off.

PARSEC (Payload Anchoring Robotic System for the Exploration of Cliffs) is an autonomy-equipped aerial manipulator that can deploy self-anchoring payloads on rocky vertical surfaces. It consists of a hexacopter and a two Degrees of Freedom (2 DoF) mass balancing manipulator, which can autonomously deploy a self-anchoring payload from its custom end-effector. The payload anchors itself via an actuated microspine gripper. Payload sensor data is wirelessly transmitted to the primary vehicle during and after deployment. A novel state machine controls the four-stage PARSEC deployment process. First, the rotorcraft brings the payload into contact with the surface and applies a constant 6 N normal force through a feedback control loop to preload the payload microspine gripper. Second, while the rotorcraft maintains the constant normal force, the gripper is commanded to close until engagement with the surface is confirmed through the current feedback sensing. Then, the aerial manipulator pulls with 5 N force on the anchored payload to ensure a secure grip before releasing the package and flying away. We present experimental validation of a successful deployment of a 430 g payload on a vertical vesicular basalt surface.

Some animals exhibit multi-modal locomotion capability to traverse a wide range of terrains and environments, such as amphibians that can swim and walk or birds that can fly and walk. This capability is extremely beneficial for expanding the animal's habitat range and they can choose the most energy efficient mode of locomotion in a given environment. The robotic biomimicry of this multi-modal locomotion capability can be very challenging but offer the same advantages. However, the expanded range of locomotion also increases the complexity of performing localization and path planning. In this work, we present our morphing multi-modal robot, which is capable of ground and aerial locomotion, and the implementation of readily available SLAM and path planning solutions to navigate a complex indoor environment.

This paper details an autonomous perching and take-off method for a quadrotor micro air vehicle (MAV) using a novel dry adhesive gripper on smooth vertical walls. The gripper mechanism uses three directional dry adhesive pads in a triangular configuration. Each pad is equipped with a force sensor that can detect the pad's loading condition. A servo motor is used to actuate the attachment and detachment of the gripper, which is mounted in the front of a quadrotor MAV. This makes perching possible by simply flying toward and hitting the target surface. Autonomous control is made possible using a Microsoft Kinect to localize the MAV and a PID controller to control the perching maneuver. Experiments show that a minimum speed of 0.4m/s is required to guarantee a successful perch. Also, in 93% of the experiments in which the MAV hits the target at a speed higher than 0.4m/s, the perching maneuver is successful. To initiate a take-off procedure, a release signal is sent to the servo and the gripper is detached from the wall by pulling the adhesive away from the surface. Once the gripper is detached, the MAV becomes airborne again and the control system stabilizes the flight.

This paper analytically and experimentally evaluates the performance of the hybrid terrestrial and aerial quadrotor (HyTAQ) robot. The HyTAQ is composed of a quadrotor hinged at the center of a cylindrical cage. This configuration gives the robot an increased range compared with aerial-only quadrotors and negates any obstacle avoidance issues that are commonly associated with terrestrial-only robots. An accurate dynamical model of the robot is derived, which helps with an in-depth analysis of the system's energy consumption. The analysis quantifies the energy savings during terrestrial locomotion as compared with aerial locomotion. Experimental results validate the analysis and indicate that, depending on the surface, the robot's terrestrial range can be 11 times greater and operational time ten times greater than the aerial range/operation time at equivalent speeds.

This paper details the design, modeling, and experimental validation of a novel mobile robot capable of both aerial and terrestrial locomotion. Flight is achieved through a quadrotor configuration; four actuators provide the required thrust. Adding a rolling cage to the quadrotor makes terrestrial locomotion possible using the same actuator set and control system. Thus, neither the mass nor the system complexity is increased by inclusion of separate actuators for terrestrial and aerial locomotion. An analysis of the system's energy consumption demonstrates that during terrestrial locomotion, the robot only needs to overcome rolling resistance and consumes much less energy compared to the aerial mode. This solves one of the most vexing problems of quadrotors and rotorcraft in general - their short operation time. Experimental results show that the hybrid robot can travel a distance four times greater and operate almost six times longer than an aerial only system. It also solves one of the most challenging problems in terrestrial robot design - obstacle avoidance. When an obstacle is encountered, the system simply flies over it.

Tracked mobile robots (TMRs) can be considered as the most important type of mobile robots. Large contact area of tracks with the ground provides superior advantages for TMRs such as better mobility in unstructured environments, though it may cause a higher risk of slippage. In this paper, an experimental slip model is proposed for exact kinematics modeling, and the parameters of this model will be determined based on experimental analysis of ResQuake. This is a tele-operative rescue mobile robot with great capabilities in climbing obstacles in destructed areas, and its performance was demonstrated in Rescue robot league of RoboCup 2005 in Osaka (Japan), achieving the 2ndbest design award, and RoboCup 2006 in Bremen (Germany) achieving the best operator interface award. Therefore, ResQuake is used here as an experimental platform to study the relationship between slippage of tracks and two main physically meaningful factors, i.e. radius of the tracking path and speed of the robot. The slip coefficients will be obtained as an exponential function of radius of curvature of the path. To validate the obtained results, the proposed model will be used along with two path tracking controllers, and it is empirically demonstrated that the developed model drastically improves the system performance in terms of lower path tracking errors.

This paper presents design and manufacturing procedure of a tele-operative rescue robot. First, the general task to be performed by such a robot is defined, and variant kinematic mechanisms to form the basic structure of the robot will be discussed. Choosing an appropriate mechanism, geometric dimensions, and mass properties will be detailed to develop a dynamics model for the system. Next, the strength of each component is analyzed to finalize its shape. To complete the design procedure, Patran/Nastran was used to apply the finite element method for strength analysis of complicated parts. Also, ADAMS was used to model the mechanisms, where 3D sketch of each component of the robot was generated by means of Solidworks, and several sets of equations governing the dimensions of system were solved using Matlab. Finally, the components are fabricated and assembled together with controlling hardware. Two main processors are used within the control system of the robot. The operator's PC as the master processor and the laptop installed on the robot as the slave processor. The performance of the system was demonstrated in Rescue robot league of RoboCup 2005 in Osaka (Japan) and achieved the 2nd best design award.