Term 252

Design and Development of a Hybrid Roller-Drone: An Aerial and Ground Mobility System

Project Type: Self-Initiated

Project Description

This project presents the development of a Hybrid Roller-Drone that integrates aerial flight and ground mobility to address the high energy consumption of UAVs and the limited accessibility of ground robots. The system is based on a foldable-arm quadcopter with fixed wheels, enabling efficient transition between flight and rolling modes. It achieves a maximum take-off weight of 3.0 kg with a 0.5 kg payload and provides 14–16 minutes of flight time using a 6S Li-Po battery. The control architecture, incorporating an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and cascaded PID controllers, ensures high stability and enables safe mode transitions within 10 seconds. Additionally, energy analysis shows more than 20% reduction in power consumption during ground operation. The final design satisfies all technical and budget constraints, demonstrating readiness for prototyping and experimental validation.