Abstract
In this paper, we propose a palm-top single-rotor flying robot with asymmetric wings as an experimental prototype for designing a novel compact robot, to move over uneven terrain. The proposed robot prevents its body from rotating by the rotor reaction passively, which is different from the way general helicopters adopt. This characteristic can reduce the number of actuators, and thus the robot can be simplified, light-weight, miniaturized and made cheaper easily. Although the robot has only one rotor, it can generate lateral motions by arranging the wings asymmetrically around its body axis while it generates only stable vertical motions for symmetrically arranged wings. Experimental results show that a small prototype of about 6 [g] can generate movements not only in vertically but also horizontally, which shows the possibilities of a new novel compact flying robot.
