iRonCub 3: The Jet-Powered Flying Humanoid Robot

TL;DR

This paper introduces iRonCub 3, a jet-powered humanoid robot, and reports its first liftoff, addressing control, estimation, and system integration challenges unique to aerial humanoid robots.

Contribution

It presents the mechanical and software architecture of iRonCub 3 and demonstrates its first liftoff, advancing aerial humanoid mobility research.

Findings

Successful simulation validation of control and estimation

First liftoff of a jet-powered humanoid robot

Design considerations for complex experimental environments

Abstract

This article presents iRonCub 3, a jet-powered humanoid robot, and its first flight experiments. Unlike traditional aerial vehicles, iRonCub 3 aims to achieve flight using a full-body humanoid form, which poses unique challenges in control, estimation, and system integration. We highlight the robot's current mechanical and software architecture, including its propulsion system, control framework, and experimental infrastructure. The control and estimation framework is first validated in simulation by performing a takeoff and tracking a reference trajectory. Then, we demonstrate, for the first time, a liftoff of a jet-powered humanoid robot - an initial but significant step toward aerial humanoid mobility. Also, we detail how the experimental area around a jet-powered humanoid robot should be designed in order to deal with a level of complexity that is substantially superior than indoor humanoid robot experiments.