Design and Validation of Soft Flexible Aerial Robot for Safe Human-Robot Interaction

This work addresses the critical challenge of integrating drones into human-aerial robot interaction by presenting a novel Soft Flexible Aerial Robotics (SFAR) design. SFAR features an innovative low-pressure inflatable airbag structure that replaces traditional rigid frames, enhancing safety by mitigating collision risks with humans and payloads. To control this unconventional aerial platform, we present a control strategy based on a virtual link dynamics model that exploits the drone’s unique design. Our contributions include the pioneering design of an aerial robot specifically for Human-Aerial Robot Interaction (HARI), a novel control framework that balances flight performance with passive safety, and the validation of SFAR through real-world experiments, demonstrating its ability to perform at par with traditional rigid-body drones while offering enhanced safety features for seamless and safe integration into human environments.