Mechanical Engineering
Quadcopter Transformer Vehicle
I designed and built this vehicle for a research project as an intern at the UMD UAS test site. This vehicle can transform between a rover and a quad copter in order to complete missions with regimes both conducive and restrictive to flight. Applications for this vehicle include search and rescue, exploration, inspections, and more.
Performance
Early test of version 2
Design
The design is based around the idea of using the same motors for flight and driving. This allows both flight and driving systems to use the vehicles powerful primary motors, and removes the need for heavy and expensive auxiliary motors.
Instead, a pair of lightweight but powerful servo motors are used to "transform" the vehicle from flight to drive mode. During the transformation to drive mode, a clutch engages the powertrain of each wheel to one of the brushless motors.
Each wheel also has a dedicated servo to rotate the wheel assembly. This allows for all wheels steering, and extra flight modes that utilize tilting rotors, including a low power ground effect hover mode.
On each wheel, a compact gear train transfers power from the motor to a ring gear, that serve as the wheel. A simple clutch connects the motor to the reduction gear train. The clutch is mechanically disengaged when the vehicle transforms to flight mode.
Features
Multi-Material Wheels
With inner gear teeth
3 cups
Flour
Transmission
Radio,Telemetry, Video
Auto-pilot
Using GPS and telemetry
1½ cups
Butter
Live Camera
With LED headlights and information overlays
3 Blade Prop
for increased thrust at a smaller diameter
The first version of the vehicle was created in the summer of 2017. The vehicle used pulleys to transfer power to the wheels and a friction clutch system. The wheels use lubricated bearing directly contacting the motors. This original design was sturdy in flight, but very fragile when driving. It also lacked the ability to rotate the wheels, so it could only turn using skid drive (wheels slip over surface). Version 2 altered the frame and wheel design to stiffen the vehicle to improve driving capabilities and reduce wear. Adding an extra degree of freedom to the wheels improved driving characteristics and allowed for new flight modes. Switching from a friction clutch and pulleys to a crown clutch and gears also improved reliability and durability.