FSTAR Robot Flies Or Drives With A Reconfigurable Design

Prof. David Zarrouk from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has created an interesting robot that is reconfigurable. The robot can fly like a typical quadcopter and then drive on rough terrain if needed. The idea was to create a robot that can squeeze itself into tight spaces using the same motors that it uses for flying; the robot is called FSTAR.

That stands for "flying sprawl-tuned autonomous robot", and Zarrouk designed the robot in cooperation with his grad student Nir Meiri. The sprawl adjusts from a flat configuration to 55 degrees allowing the robot to transform movement between flying and driving. It is also able to adjust its width to crawl or run on flat surfaces.

The bot can climb over large obstacles and up closely spaced walls as well. Ground speed is up to eight feet per second, and it consumes low amounts of energy say the designers. The flexibility and low power consumption make it ideal for applications that might have a longer work time say the duo.

The designers see a possible commercial use for their design with package delivery firms. The bot could fly quickly to its target zone and then drive using wheels, safely and quietly directly to the door of the delivery destination. Search and rescue operations are another potential application for the robot since it can fly over and crawl between obstacles a regular drone can't fly around.

Other potential uses include agriculture, maintenance, cleaning, filming, law enforcement, and entertainment. Zarrouk says that they plan to develop larger and smaller versions to expand the range for different applications.

It's unclear how much the robots might cost if deployed commercially. While the duo says they are suitable for longer duration missions, it's not clear how long they can operate per charge.