South Korean 'flying cart' could elevate your shopping experience

The Manila Times

South Korean 'flying cart' could elevate your shopping experience  South Korean researchers from the Mobile Robotics Lab (MRL) at Seoul National University of Science and  Technology (SeoulTech) have developed a new aerial cargo transportation platform called ‘Palletrone’, which can be controlled by direct human interaction while maintaining in-air stability. As the name suggests, Palletrone is a combination of cargo ‘pallet’ and multirotor ‘drone’: in effect, a flying shopping cart. Cargo can be placed on top of the pallet and moved around by applying gentle force, even while walking on stairs - something not possible with a conventional cart. The research team, led by Lee Seung-jae, a professor of Mechanical System Design Engineering at SeoulTech, said existing multirotor drones have fixed wings and need to be tilted to change direction while hovering. Lee said the Palletrone's applications are not limited to transportation; it could also be used for aerial tasks with a robotic arm or docking with other drones. The research was published earlier this year in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.     REUTERS VIDEO      Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net     Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews #southkorea #palletrone

Transcript

00:00Electron card overcomes these challenges very easily with its

00:29airborne capabilities by carrying cargo and flying as intended by humans. Electron is the

00:35newly developed platform to overcome the limitations of the conventional cargo,

00:40aerial cargo transportation. It contains an exoskeleton so therefore it is very safe

00:45from the human contact and also it can carry the payload very easily without changing the

00:51attitude of the payload so it can provide a very good potential for future payload transportation.

01:22But unlike conventional multi-rotor it can be tilted so with using those tilt technologies

01:29this is a conventional multi-rotor where the propellers are all fixed so therefore if you

01:34want to go left it needs to be tilted left if it wants to go right it needs to tilt right.

01:40But however in this case this is a Pelotron V3 platform. Each propeller contains a servo

01:47mechanism that can control the direction of the thrust. Each propeller all the propellers are

01:54containing the servo motors so therefore by combining those thrust commands we can just

02:00move the entire platform left and right without rotating the attitude of the entire platform.

02:06To overcome the issues we designed a new type of platform. The proposed platform has a cubic

02:12exterior and all propulsion systems are housed inside the fuselage. Then we can place the payload

02:19above the fuselage therefore a payload size limitation can be relieved. The propulsion

02:25system is also newly designed. At the core of the fuselage the servo mechanism is placed with two

02:30arms attached to each axis, axis 1 and axis 2, where a pair of propeller thrusters are installed

02:38on the edge of each component.

02:40This technology has some good characteristics. For example

03:10it can move in an uneven unpaved terrain or stairs where the conventional car cannot move.

03:32When we just push the platform and pull the platform and if we can make the platform to

03:37move accordingly then we can control the motion of the platform. Then we can think about

03:45putting the cargo payload on the top of the side and move those platforms

03:50with using the human-robot interaction technique. Then this becomes a cart.

03:54So this is the reason why we have developed this Peloton shopping cart.

04:08We made a new algorithm called MOSE which is motor free online center of mass estimation algorithm

04:19and with utilizing those algorithms we were able to estimate the center of mass,

04:24updated center of mass position very accurately so therefore we are able to carry the cargo,

04:29the unknown cargo without changing its attitude. Experiment with an actual unknown payload is

04:36conducted. We placed an unknown payload in a random position and start. We compare the flight

04:41performance with and without estimation where the flight after estimation shows improved flight

04:48performance on carrying the payload more stable. So the Peloton is not just a flying shopping cart.

04:56It can be used so using the platform's capacity to maintain its attitude it could be used as an

05:04air taxi industry or it could be used as a general base platform for future aerial robotic tasks.

05:11And we are also developing a new technology called aerial docking which can dock during the mid-air

05:17and then using those technology we are now preparing an aerial batteries change applications

05:24which means that you can maintain a flight even without coming back to the ground and

05:28changing the batteries.

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Transcript

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