FireDrone: multi-environment thermally agnostic aerial robot
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Deploying robots in extreme environments reduces risks to human lives. However, robot operating conditions are often limited by environmental factors such as extreme temperatures encountered in fire disasters or polar regions. Especially drones face challenges in carrying thermal management systems protecting vital components, due to limited payload capacity compared to ground robots. Herein, a thermally agnostic aerial robot comprising structural thermally insulating material and a phase change material cooling system, inspired by natural thermal regulation principles, is designed, modelled and experimentally validated. Building on the robot development paradigm of physical artificial intelligence, the concurrent development of materials and design enables the creation of novel physiologically adaptive systems. Polyimide aerogel is applied as one of the main structural materials in the drone's design to adapt the robot's structure and properties to extreme temperatures. Glass fiber reinforcement with silica aerogel particles reduces high-temperature shrinkage and pore structure degradation after exposure to high temperatures and most of the composite aerogel features are preserved. A high technology-readiness-level drone prototype, allowing for operation in a broad range of ambient temperatures, is demonstrated. The proposed technology for thermally agnostic drones may unleash the great potential of aerial robotics in multiple industrial and research applications.
Date Issued
2023-09
Date Acceptance
2023-06-01
Citation
Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2023, 5 (9)
ISSN
2640-4567
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Advanced Intelligent Systems
Volume
5
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Intelligent Systems published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:001005700600001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
Subjects
Automation & Control Systems
COMPOSITES
Computer Science
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
drone
MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES
polyimide aerogel
POLYIMIDE AEROGELS
quadrotor
Robotics
Science & Technology
Technology
temperature agnostic robot
thermal insulation
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
2300101
Date Publish Online
2023-06-13