衝突保護と全方位作業のための能動回転ケージで囲まれた飛行ロボットの開発

―第1報：機構設計と制御システム構築―

抄録

Aerial robots have many applications, such as infrastructure inspection and rescue scenarios. However, dealing with the high amount of obstacles proper to such situation is a difficult challenge for flying robots. Therefore, some flying platforms enclosed in a protective shell that can rotate passively using a gimbal system are proposed. Such platforms present great advantages as they are capable of robust flight in complex environments. On the other hand, the protective shell limits devices or sensors mounted on the robot to pass outside environment freely. We propose a concept of aerial robot capable of colliding into obstacles with keeping their flight stability, and using in the whole space around the robot as a manipulating space. We show a design using active rotatable cage equipped with aerial robots. The active rotatable cage system is composed of four components: 2 DoF active gimbal mechanism, two track rail type mobile platforms, rail for the two platforms, two passive protective cages. Through the gap between two cages, it allows the mobile platforms to manipulate freely without disturbing by protective cage. We also introduced coupled drive mechanism for driving active gimbal mechanism to realize the lightweight vehicle. After addressing important design considerations, we present a concept platform. A prototype model has been developed to illustrate the concept. Laboratory-based tests demonstrate the robot’s ability.