Go-anywhere hybrid drone quickly switches from flight to ground travel and back

Staircases, tight gaps, vertical walls, rubble – conventional robots might traverse one or two of these, but struggle with the others. A new hybrid quadcopter and driving robot can tackle all of them, according to its creators.

Developed at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, the FStar (flying sprawl-tuned autonomous robot) is designed to overcome a wide range of obstacles to complete a variety of potential applications.

An online video shows a quick transition between conventional four-rotor drone flight and driving on the ground. The rotors and wheels use the same brushless motors to turn, with the propellers appearing to continue spinning during ground travel. Using an integral gearbox and differential steering the device can drive at almost 10km/h or fly at 54km/h. It can reportedly carry a payload of 400g.

The robot’s sprawl changes from a flat flying configuration to 55^o. It can adjust its width to drive on flat surfaces, climb over large obstacles or squeeze through narrow gaps.

The developers claimed ‘low’ energy consumption makes the FStar ideal for a broad range of long timescale jobs. The online video mentions a maximum operation time of 20 minutes.  

The robot could be useful for package deliveries, the researchers said, flying most of the way before using its wheels to safely and quietly reach destinations. Its combination of flight and ground travel could also make it suitable for search-and-rescue, agriculture, maintenance, cleaning, filming as well as law enforcement applications.

"We plan to develop larger and smaller versions to expand this family of sprawling robots for different applications, as well as algorithms that will help exploit [the best] speed and cost of transport for these flying-driving robots," said professor David Zarrouk, who developed the device with graduate student Nir Meiri.

The developers will present the FStar tomorrow (21 May) at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2019 in Montreal, Canada.