This Inflatable Drone Bounces And Perches Instead Of Crashing Into The Ground
While drones enable photographers and videographers to capture bird’s eye views of picturesque landscapes and breathtaking time-lapses, the devices aren’t all easy to fly. Anyone who’s tried piloting the gadget would’ve had it crash into the ground or get stuck in a tree.
Now, researchers from Arizona State University have come up with an experimental version of a drone that doesn’t pummel straight into the soil, but uses its inflatable body to bounce off obstacles and, in some instances, even grasp onto them.
The special drone—dubbed the ‘SoBAR’—short for soft-bodied aerial robot, contains the same rigid electronic components found in regular devices. The key difference, however, is its high-strength polyurethane-coated nylon fabric frame, which inflates on command.
SoBAR (Soft-Bodied Aerial Robot) just released on @SoftRobotics_JN! It's soft textile body supports collision resilience & dynamic perching. Onboard fabric bistable grasper used for rapid shape forming grasping. (@patnaiKarishma @asuriselab)
— mechberm (@mechberm) April 21, 2023
#robotics #softrobot #technology pic.twitter.com/Q2LUUViasn
Inspired by the hollow bones of birds, this feature allows for arms at the end of each propeller to stick out past the propeller itself, safeguarding it from striking surfaces. This enables the drone to bounce off the ground or walls without suffering major damage.
To make the gadget even better, the scientists added a steel perching grasper onto the bottom of the SoBAR, encased within an inflatable nylon sleeve. Should the drone hit a branch or bush, the grasper can clamp around it, allowing the device to stay in place.
Not only does this prevent the drone from crashing, but it also acts as an energy-efficient way for it to remain in one location for prolonged periods of time, as the device’s battery doesn’t have to be used to hover in place.
Drone built with a woven textile inflatable frame for the ease of portability and lightweightness. The stiffness of the frame is pneumatically adjusted. pic.twitter.com/Jkcd2aykLP
— mechberm (@mechberm) April 21, 2023
To extricate itself from the area, the drone inflates the integrated actuator and stiffens the grasper sleeves, causing the springs to retract. Impressively, the SoBAR only takes three milliseconds to attach itself to an object, and less than three seconds to move off.
One of the ways the researchers plan to use this newfound innovation is in search-and-rescue efforts, where emergency response teams need to identify voids or spaces in which survivors are trapped. Drones currently on the market aren’t equipped to navigate through rubble just yet.
It can adapt itself to perch on a lot of things! pic.twitter.com/DHqXw7kdnJ
— mechberm (@mechberm) April 21, 2023
“Their rigid frames compromise resilience to collision, so bumping into posts, beams, pipes, or cables in a wrecked structure is often catastrophic. They don’t recover: they crash,” explained Associate Professor Wenlong Zhang.
“Drones need to physically interact with their surroundings to accomplish a range of tasks. A soft body not only absorbs impact forces to provide collision resilience; it also offers the material compliance necessary for dynamic maneuvers such as perching,” he explained.
[via New Atlas and Arizona State University / EurekAlert, cover image via Arizona State University / EurekAlert]
