Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
A Perching Landing Gear For A Quadcopter, Elsa Culler, Gray Thomas, Christopher Lee
A Perching Landing Gear For A Quadcopter, Elsa Culler, Gray Thomas, Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
The design, fabrication, and testing of two prototypes of a landing gear mechanism that would allow a quadcopter to grasp and perch upon a branch-like structure are presented. The prototypes are based upon a snapping-claw mechanism that is triggered on the impact of landing. A complaint claw, fabricated using shape deposition manufacturing techniques, can conform to various shapes and contours of perching structures. Results from flight tests with a commercial off-the-shelf quadcopter and zip line tests are presented which demonstrate the performance of the mechanism.