The project is related to the fields of quad-copters and automatic control. The research project focuses on proposing a theoretical and experimental framework to develop a complete autonomous air vehicle system capable to take off, fly, and explore an unknown indoor-outdoor environment and landing. The idea also consists of making it open source and simplify the whole fabrication and assembly process.
In the near future, there are several fields in which the use of robots can be beneficial in order to complete tasks with precise timing or position requirements that are complex, or that are to be carried out in hostile environments and now a days it has been being explored for the Areal Robotic Construction Techniques, Transportation and also for the Photography and Video recording. Specifically, the development of quad-copters has generated great interest in the automatic control area.
The quad-copter can be described as a vehicle with four propellers in a cross configuration as shown in the Figure.
The front and the rear motor rotate clockwise, the left and the right motor rotate counter-clockwise, nearly cancelling gyroscopic effects and aerodynamic torques in trimmed flight. By varying the speed of the single motors, the lift force can be changed and vertical and/or lateral motion can be created. Pitch movement is generated by a difference between the speed of the front and the rear motor while roll movement results from the difference between the speed of the left and right rotor, respectively. Yaw rotation results from the difference in the counter-torque between each pair (front-rear and left-right) of rotors.
Some of the advantages of the quadcopter configuration are the simplicity of its design, its high maneuverability and its load capacity, which allows taking off and landing as well as flight in tough surroundings. To stabilize and guide the quad copter autonomously - independent of the algorithms they are used - it needs the combination of multiple sensors.
The essential quad-copter components:
Frame – The structure that holds all the components together. They need to be designed to be strong but also lightweight.
Rotors – Brushless DC motors that can provide the necessary thrust to propel the craft. Each rotor needs to be controlled separately by a speed controller.
Propeller
Battery – Power Source
IMU – Sensors
Microcontroller – The Brain
RC Transmitter