Design and operation of a small unmanned aerial vehicle with multiple tentacles

In this paper the author presents preliminary and developmental stages of a multi-tentacle MAV (micro air vehicle) platform and its first flight, to be used for various possible operations. The platform consists of a quadcopter base and three of 4 DOF (degrees of freedom) small finger-sized tentacles attached. Unlike mobile manipulating research, which focuses more on the stability and control of manipulators and floating platform, the multiple tentacle system presented in this paper introduces a new design and uncultivated aspects of operational applications of small-scaled aerial robots. The most meaningful implication of the mobile manipulating system in general and multiple tentacle aerial vehicles in this paper is its extended locomotion. Unlike the flying-only vehicles that currently exist and the current trends of unmanned aerial vehicles for achieving only aerial missions while navigation, tentacles enable vehicles to interact with the environment. Some of the mechanisms include object pickup/release, landing on irregular surfaces, perching, and even additional propulsion force for taking off. These concepts are easily observed by almost all types of animals including humans.