Canelon-Suarez, Dario (CSE, UMN), Wang, Youbing (MnRI, UMN), Papanikolopoulos, Nikos (University of Minnesota)

Omnibot: A Small Versatile Robotic Platform Capable of Air, Ground, and Underwater Operation

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "UAS Testbeds" (FrD1), Friday, September 4, 2020, 17:10−17:30, Macedonia Hall

2020 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), September 1-4, 2020 (Postponed from June 9-12, 2020), Athens, Greece

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 18, 2024

Abstract

Autonomous systems are increasingly sought after and most available ones are designed to operate in a limited environment. Complementary to available systems, by combining different mechanisms into one design, a new kind of universal robotic platform called the Omnibot is proposed, which can fly, move on the ground, swim and dive into the water at the same time. To achieve this goal, a quadrotor configuration, screwdrive drivetrain, and a bladder-based buoyancy unit are proposed as a robotic design and a proof-of-concept platform is developed. Preliminary results demonstrate that the system is lightweight, cost-effective, versatile and able to navigate in the four kinds of environments and switch between them seamlessly without changing its hardware. This proposed design would enable a robotic system to switch among its methods for locomotion and choose the best mode according to the current goal, environment and the internal power supply conditions thus making it especially suited to carry out complex missions in changing and unpredictable environments.