A team of scientists from Arizona State University has developed a drone with an inflatable frame that can absorb shocks and prevent crashes. The drone is also equipped with a bistable gripper that allows it to land on branches and hold onto objects without electricity.
Small drones are becoming increasingly important in rescue operations, but their rigid frames make them prone to crashing into walls and objects easily. Wenlong Zhang, a professor and robotics expert at the university, highlights that their inflexibility can lead to a loss of control in situations where the drone collides with objects, such as poles, beams, pipes or cables within a destroyed building.
To address this issue, Zhang’s team developed an inflatable frame that allows the drone to adapt to its surroundings and compensate for unexpected shocks and impacts. The frame’s rigidity is adjustable, making it suitable for different scenarios. This allows the drone to perform dynamic movements such as landing on branches.
Birds are able to absorb impact energy through their soft tissues and flexible joints. The research team developed a hybrid bistable gripper that functions similarly. The gripper can assume two resting states – open and closed – in which it does not require any energy supply. When the drone lands, the gripper automatically changes from an open to a closed state, allowing it to grip a branch or other structure securely.
The system of the adjustable frame and bistable gripper can significantly improve the use of drones in search and rescue operations, forest fire monitoring, military reconnaissance and space exploration, according to Zhang. The drone can wait for its mission without consuming energy for sitting, and a gripper can pneumatically pull the drone back to take off again when necessary.
Overall, this innovation is a significant step towards making drones more reliable and adaptable in challenging environments, ultimately improving their effectiveness in various fields.
