Tilt-Ropter: A Novel Hybrid Aerial and Terrestrial Vehicle with Tilt Rotors and Passive Wheels

TL;DR

Tilt-Ropter introduces a fully actuated hybrid aerial-terrestrial vehicle with tilt rotors and passive wheels, enabling energy-efficient multi-mode locomotion, seamless transitions, and real-time environmental force estimation, validated through simulations and experiments.

Contribution

It presents a novel fully actuated hybrid vehicle design with advanced control algorithms for efficient multi-mode operation and environmental robustness.

Findings

92.8% reduction in power consumption during ground mode

Low trajectory tracking errors in simulation and real-world tests

Successful seamless air-ground transitions

Abstract

In this work, we present Tilt-Ropter, a novel hybrid aerial-terrestrial vehicle (HATV) that combines tilt rotors with passive wheels to achieve energy-efficient multi-mode locomotion. Unlike existing under-actuated HATVs, the fully actuated design of Tilt-Ropter enables decoupled force and torque control, greatly enhancing its mobility and environmental adaptability. A nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC) is developed to track reference trajectories and handle contact constraints across locomotion modes, while a dedicated control allocation module exploits actuation redundancy to achieve energy-efficient control of actuators. Additionally, to enhance robustness during ground contact, we introduce an external wrench estimation algorithm that estimates environmental interaction forces and torques in real time. The system is validated through both simulation and real-world experiments, including seamless air-ground transitions and trajectory tracking. Results show low tracking errors in both modes and highlight a 92.8% reduction in power consumption during ground locomotion, demonstrating the system's potential for long-duration missions across large-scale and energy-constrained environments.