Omni-Plus-Seven (O 7 + ): An Omnidirectional Aerial Prototype with Minimal Uni-directional Thrusters

Mahmoud Hamandi (1) , Kapil Sawant (1) , Marco Tognon (1) , Antonio Franchi (1, 2)

1 LAAS-RIS - Équipe Robotique et InteractionS
2 University of Twente

The aim of this paper is to present the design of a novel omnidirectional Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with seven uni-directional thrusters, called O 7 + . The paper formally defines the O + design for a generic number of propellers and presents its necessary conditions; then it illustrates a method to optimize the placement and orientation of the platform’s propellers to achieve a balanced O + design. The paper then details the choice of the parameters of the O + 7 UAV, and highlights the required mechanical and electrical components. The resultant platform is tested in simulation, before being implemented as a prototype. The prototype is firstly static-bench tested to match its nominal and physical models, followed by hovering tests in multiple orientations. The presented prototype shows the ability to fly horizontally, upside down and at a tilted angle.

Domaines: Robotique [cs.RO]

Mahmoud Hamandi, Kapil Sawant, Marco Tognon, Antonio Franchi. Omni-Plus-Seven (O 7 + ): An Omnidirectional Aerial Prototype with Minimal Uni-directional Thrusters. 2020 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), Sep 2020, Athens, Greece. ⟨10.1109/ICUAS48674.2020.9214065⟩. ⟨hal-02498482v3⟩