Tactile-based Exploration, Mapping and Navigation with Collision-Resilient Aerial Vehicles

This article introduces XPLORER, a passive deformable UAV with a spring-augmented chassis and proprioceptive state awareness, designed to endure collisions and maintain smooth contact. We develop a fast-converging external force estimation algorithm for XPLORER that leverages onboard sensors and proprioceptive data for contact and collision detection. Using this force information, we propose four motion primitives, including three novel tactile-based primitives: tactile-traversal, tactile-turning, and ricocheting-to aid XPLORER in navigating unknown environments. These primitives are synthesized autonomously in real-time to enable efficient exploration and navigation by leveraging collisions and contacts. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, highlighting the potential of passive deformable UAVs for contact-rich real-world tasks such as non-destructive inspection, surveillance and mapping, and pursuit/evasion.