Modular Multi-Rotors: From Quadrotors to Fully-Actuated Aerial Vehicles

Abstract: Traditional aerial vehicles have specific characteristics to perform specific tasks but designing a versatile vehicle that can adapt depending on the task is still a challenge. Based on modularity, we propose an aerial robotic system that can increase its payload capacity and actuated degrees of freedom by reconfiguring heterogeneous modules to adapt to different task specifications. The system consists of cuboid modules propelled by quadrotors with tilted rotors. We present two module designs with different actuation properties. By assembling different types of modules, H-ModQuad can increase its actuated degrees of freedom from 4 to 5 and 6 depending on its configuration. By extending the concept of actuation ellipsoids, we find the body frame of a vehicle with which the controller can maximize the maximum thrust. We use polytopes to represent the actuation capability of the vehicles and examine them against task requirements. We derive the modular vehicles' dynamics and propose a general control strategy that applies for all possible numbers of actuated degrees of freedom. The design is validated with simulations and experiments using actual robots, showing that the modular vehicles provide different actuation properties.