The Quadroller: Modeling of a UAV/UGV hybrid quadrotor

Energetic efficiency is a key limiting factor of hovering UAVs. Equipping a quadrotor with low-friction wheels allows it to exploit efficient rolling locomotion to travel long distances on smooth surfaces — common in human environments. A novel feature of this approach is the use of skateboard steering trucks that use lateral tilt to affect steering. This allows existing quadrotor flight controls for driving without modification to the avionics. In this paper we present turning mechanics for driving along the ground and performance curves for the vehicle rolling over different surfaces. We show experimentally that the rolling range of a commercial off-the-shelf quadrotor greatly exceeds its flying range, despite the small added mass of rolling wheels.