Drone with "claws" sits on the wall and ceiling

Zone of natural disaster or man-made disaster. Impassable jungle. Battlefield. All these places have something in common: they are great for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles, but there ... there is practically no place to sit (for example, to install stationary sensors or a video camera). The drone only hangs in the air at a given point and hangs until the battery runs out. This greatly limits the scope of the use of such a useful tool.

A graduate student from the laboratory of biomimetics and maneuvering technology at Stanford University offered a solution: the drone must be attached to inclined surfaces, walls, ceiling or tree trunks - everything that is nearby. Then he can turn off the motors and work in a stationary mode for many hours and days.

The engineer proposed a double simple and efficient mechanism by which the multikopter is fixed on a flat surface, for example, on the same wall or ceiling.
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They took as a basis the previous development - the SCAMP robot, which is attached to the sheer walls and moves along them.

The mechanism was improved: a kind of “tail” was added, with which the drone hits the wall before landing, in order to create a stable turning point for moving to a vertical position. If the impact speed is chosen correctly, the propellers automatically press the unit.

The coupling with the surface is carried out by special pneumatic platforms with miniature hooks - “claws”.



This method of coupling allows you to fasten not only on smooth surfaces, but also on rough or convex surfaces, like tree trunks. It is even easier to attach to the ceilings, because you do not have to use a support and move to a vertical position.



Although the development is promising, but the author of the project, graduate student Hao Jiang (Hao Jiang) says that there is still a lot of work ahead. The robot clings to far from every object and has not yet learned how to choose suitable ones. Engineers have already developed an algorithm for determining the unsuccessful hook for the premises, but have not yet done so for open spaces where there is wind and unpredictable surfaces.