SBIR Phase II: Drones for Industrial Indoor Robotic Applications

Vimaan Robotics, Inc., San Jose CA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project would be the ability to deploy drones in industrial and commercial indoor environments as aerial robots. A key requirement to deploying drones in such indoor environments in the presence of people is to make them safe and non-threatening. In addition, for drones to function as robots, they need to be made fully autonomous and minimize the need for human operation or intervention. These attributes are not possible with conventional drone technology today. The ability to use drones as aerial robots can open opportunities in applications, such as warehouse inventory scanning, construction, security, and factory automation. Such robots can enable functions such as scanning and reconstruction of the environment, or also “pick and place” at high throughput within factories. The use of drones in industrial indoor environments for these applications can also result in broader societal benefits, including improved worker safety inside industrial indoor environments (by performing tasks that may otherwise require harnesses, forklifts or ladders); reduced environmental impacts (in construction sites by catching discrepancies early and minimizing rework and material wastage), and larger benefits (enabling automated factories of the future). This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Project has the potential to advance the frontiers of knowledge in design and control systems for use in drones and other applications. Drones face challenges relating to efficiency, noise and safety. This research addresses design and control systems for rotorcraft and enables improved performance, broadening the range of applications. This research project will be focused on the design and modeling of the system, development of the control mechanisms for the system, and integration, test and demonstration to advance legacy technologies hitherto deployed in rotorcraft. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.