TRANSHAMAVEH: UNIVERSAL DESIGN OF TRANSFORMABLE HOUSING FOR AERIAL MARITIME VEHICLE HYBRIDS
Abstract
This research aims to propose a novel approach to transforming a commercial aerial vehicle to a maritime vehicle and vice versa, dramatically widening the usability and operability of such a vehicle and minimizing its logistics costs for deployment and recovery. A robotic housing scalable to fit into off-the-shelf aerial vehicles will be developed and an integrated system unit will be tested in the air and inland aquatic environments. This research consists of three primary steps, preliminary design and virtual prototyping, detailed design and fabrication, and validation and analysis toward practical applications. There are many technologies that may help provide an aerial vehicle with mobility both in the air and maritime domain. These include concepts of a transformable mechanism or a trans-medium propulsion system capable of airborne flight and surface and submerged navigation. This research is aiming at developing a universal approach to the design of hybrid vehicles, developing a robotic housing that endows an aerial vehicle with the capability of being transformed to a surface or submersible configuration. Preferred benefits include easy fabricability and disposability without using any sophisticated mechanisms for reconfiguring the vehicle platform, leading to the realization of a swarm of aerial vehicles in a rapid and low-cost way. Vehicle mode transition can be achieved through the power transmission clutching mechanism of the robotic housing, minimizing the development effort of transformable vehicles from scratch.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 20, 2023
- Source ID
- FA23862214042
Entities
People
- Nak-young Chong
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
- United States Air Force