HMAS: enabling seamless collaboration between drones, quadruped robots, and human operators with efficient spatial awareness

Heterogeneous robots equipped with multi-modal sensors (e.g., UAV, wheeled and legged terrestrial robots) provide rich and complementary functions that may help human operators to accomplish complex tasks in unknown environments. However, seamlessly integrating heterogeneous agents and making them interact and collaborate still arise challenging issues. In this paper, we define a ROS 2 based software architecture that allows to build incarnated heterogeneous multi-agent systems (HMAS) in a generic way. We showcase its effectiveness through a scenario integrating aerial drones, quadruped robots, and human operators (see https://youtu.be/iOtCCticGuk). In addition, agent spatial awareness in unknown outdoor environments is a critical step for realizing autonomous individual movements, interactions, and collaborations. Through intensive experimental measurements, RTK-GPS is shown to be a suitable solution for achieving the required locating accuracy.

Towards a New Paradigm of UAV Safety

With the rising popularity of UAVs in the civilian world, we are currently witnessing and paradim shift in terms of operational safety of flying vehicles. Safe and ubiquitous human-system interaction shall remain the core requirement but those prescribed in general aviation are not adapted for UAVs. Yet we believe it is possible to leverage the specific aspects of unmanned aviation to meet acceptable safety requirements. We start this paper with by discussing the new operational context of civilian UAVs and investigate the meaning of safety in light of this new context. Next, we explore the different approaches to ensuring system safety from an avionics point of view. Subsets of operational requirements such as geofencing or mechanical systems for termination or impact limitation can easily be implemented. These are presented with the goal of limiting the collateral damages of a system failure. We then present some experimental results regarding two of the major problems with UAVs. With actual impacts, we demonstrate how dangerous uncontrolled crashes can be. Furthermore, with the large number of runaway drone experiences during civilian operations, the risk is even higher as they can travel a long way before crashing. We provide data on such a case where the software controller is working, keeping the UAV in the air, but the operator is unable to actually control the system. It should be terminated! Finally, after having analyzed the context and some actual solutions, based on a minimal set of requirement and our own experience, we are proposing a simple mechanical based safety system. It unequivocally terminates the flight in the most efficient way by instantly removing parts of the propellers leaving a minimal lifting surface. It takes advantage of what controllability may remain but with a deterministic ending: a definite landing.