LoadFlexBot: A Load-Efficient and Flexible Air-Ground Robot with Multimodal Switching
Xiao Dong Qu, Guocai Yang, Fengrong Liu, Wenji Xu, Hong Liu · 2025
This paper introduces LoadFlexBot, a novel air-ground robot integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) systems to address the limitations of conventional UAVs, such as single-mode operation and limited endurance. The robot features a reconfigurable structure with four multifunctional appendages (each offering four degrees of freedom) and achieves a compact, lightweight design through innovative mechanical solutions, mechanical constraint mechanisms that enhance structural stability, and topology optimization of leg connection plates to maximize stiffness (a 42.9% improvement) under a 5% mass constraint. Kinematic and dynamic models, along with a decoupled control strategy, enable seamless mode switching between UAV (maximum speed of 2 m/s, 2.5 kg payload capacity), UGV (maximum speed of 5 m/s), and crouching (minimum height of 0.3 m) modes. Experimental results validate the robot’s capability to traverse 0.8 m obstacles in UAV mode, achieve 90% energy efficiency in UGV mode compared to flight, and demonstrate superior structural stiffness, load capacity, and operational flexibility compared to state-of-the-art systems like the M4 robot.