NMPC-based Unified Posture Manipulation and Thrust Vectoring for Agile and Fault-Tolerant Flight of a Morphing Aerial Robot

Abstract: This thesis presents a unified control framework for agile and fault-tolerant flight of the Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot (M4) in aerial mode. The M4 robot is capable of transitioning between ground and aerial locomotion. The articulated legs enable more dynamic maneuvers than a standard quadrotor platform. A nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach is developed to simultaneously plan posture manipulation and thrust vectoring actions, allowing the robot to execute sharp turns and dynamic flight trajectories. The framework integrates an agile and fault-tolerant control logic that enables precise tracking under aggressive maneuvers while compensating for actuator failures, ensuring continued operation without significant performance degradation. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, demonstrating accurate trajectory tracking and robust recovery from faults, contributing to resilient autonomous flight in complex environments.