Quadrotor hoverboard

Abstract

Riding on a quadrotor in a standing position demands extreme piloting skills. However, niche tasks like certain inspection and rescue missions can be accomplished by doing so. In this paper, we propose a control scheme that uses the center of gravity (CoG) variation caused by the tilt of the pilot standing on a quadrotor to maneuver it in the horizontal plane. Keeping potential applications in mind, we design controllers for two modes of operation: a) Maneuver via leaning mode during which the quadrotor converts the forward CoG shift into a proportional forward speed, and the sideward CoG shift to a yaw rate, thus enabling a turn, and b) Remote control mode in which the quadrotor platform rejects all the disturbances including the pilot’s movements and maintains the desired speed and turn commands provided by the pilot using a hand-held remote control. We use a simplified model of a human standing on a quadrotor to test the proposed control laws using simulations. The simulation results show that it is possible to control the quadrotor motion using CoG shifts caused by a pilot with moderate skills.