The Wheelbot: A Jumping Reaction Wheel Unicycle

Combining off-the-shelf components with 3Dprinting, the Wheelbot is a symmetric reaction wheel unicycle that can jump onto its wheels from any initial position. With non-holonomic and under-actuated dynamics, as well as two coupled unstable degrees of freedom, the Wheelbot provides a challenging platform for nonlinear and data-driven control research. This paper presents the Wheelbot's mechanical and electrical design, its estimation and control algorithms, as well as experiments demonstrating both self-erection and disturbance rejection while balancing.

Distributed Estimation, Control and Coordination of Quadcopter Swarm Robots

In this thesis we are interested in applying distributed estimation, control and optimization techniques to enable a group of quadcopters to fly through openings. The quadcopters are assumed to be equipped with a simulated bearing and distance sensor for localization. Some quadcopters are designated as leaders who carry global position sensors. We assume quadcopters can communicate information with each other.