Feedback Design and Implementation for Integrated Posture Manipulation and Thrust Vectoring
Aniket Shashikant Dhole
TL;DR
The paper addresses stability and control challenges that arise when combining posture manipulation with thrust vectoring in both aerial and legged robots. It presents two concrete implementations: Aerobat, where a software-controlled integration of flapping wing dynamics with air-jet stabilization enables untethered flight, and Harpy, where a closed-loop framework with active thruster dynamics stabilization enables preliminary untethered dynamic walking. Key contributions include the design of a unified control architecture that couples posture and thrust-vectoring across platforms, and demonstrations of untethered operation. The work advances cross-domain stability techniques and offers a pathway toward more robust, versatile locomotion for future hybrid robots.
Abstract
This MS thesis outlines my contributions to the closed loop control and system integration of two robotic platforms: 1) Aerobat, a flapping wing robot stabilized by air jets, and 2) Harpy, a bipedal robot equipped with dual thrusters. Both systems share a common theme of the integration of posture manipulation and thrust vectoring to achieve stability and controlled movement. For Aerobat, I developed the software and control architecture that enabled its first untethered flights. The control system combines flapping wing dynamics with multiple air jet stabilization to maintain roll, pitch and yaw stability. These results were published in the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). For Harpy, I implemented a closed-loop control framework that incorporates active thruster assisted frontal dynamics stabilization . My work led to preliminary untethered dynamic walking. This approach demonstrates how thrust assisted stability can enhance locomotion in legged robots which has not been explored before.