Design and Preliminary Validation of a Multi-mode Quadrotor Aerial-Aquatic Vehicle with Tilting Mechanism

This paper presents the development of a quadro- tor vehicle capable of movement between air and water environ- ments. The design challenges, including torque matching in the propulsion system, balance maintenance in different mediums, and waterproofing requirements, are discussed. A prototype is constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed design. Through the tilting mechanism in four rotors, the vehicle can not only fly in air like a normal quadrotor vehicle, but also propel in water with two configured rear thrusters. Moreover, the four tilted rotors cooperate in aligning the center of gravity and buoyancy, addressing limitations observed in traditional aerial-aquatic vehicles. The prototype has been verified through experiments in both air and water.