Self-assembling Modular Aerial Robot for Versatile Aerial Tasks
Junichiro Sugihara, Masaki Kitagawa, Jinjie Li, Yunong Li, Takuzumi Nishio, Kei Okada, Moju Zhao

TL;DR
This paper introduces LEGION, a modular aerial robot system capable of in-flight self-assembly and reconfiguration, enabling versatile manipulation and navigation in complex environments.
Contribution
The paper presents a novel reconfigurable modular aerial robot that self-assembles mid-flight for cooperative manipulation, combining nimbleness with robust physical interaction.
Findings
Multiple units autonomously dock and form a flying manipulator outdoors.
Self-reconfigurability allows switching between individual flight and collective manipulation.
The system performs primitives like pushing, pulling, rotating, grasping, and carrying.
Abstract
Multirotor aerial robots excel at maneuvering in three-dimensional space, and recent advances enable nimble navigation in cluttered and confined environments, especially for small airframes. By contrast, platforms built for high-altitude work tend to be larger to deliver high thrust for stable physical interaction with the environment. However, these conflicting design requirements create a long-standing trade-off between nimble navigation and robust aerial manipulation. Here, we present LEGION units, which are reconfigurable modular aerial robots capable of in-flight self-assembly for cooperative manipulation, drawing inspiration from the self-organized collectives formed by ants. Each unit retains nimble maneuverability while joint-equipped docking interfaces at both ends enable end-to-end self-assembly into a flying manipulator. We show that multiple units autonomously dock in…
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