Figure 1: We provide an interactive system for users to design, optimize and fabricate multicopters. We explore the design space to allow multicopter design with free-form geometry and nonstandard motor positions and directions. Based on user-specified metrics, our system optimizes the copter geometry and suggests a valid controller. Left: a multicopter example with free-form geometry, various motor heights and different propeller sizes. Middle: a pentacopter with optimized motor positions and orientations, allowing 30% increase in payload. Right: a classic hexacopter with three pairs of coaxial propellers.
AbstractWe present an interactive system for computational design, optimization, and fabrication of multicopters. Our computational approach allows non-experts to design, explore, and evaluate a wide range of different multicopters. We provide users with an intuitive interface for assembling a multicopter from a collection of components (e.g., propellers, motors, and carbon fiber rods). Our algorithm interactively optimizes shape and controller parameters of the current design to ensure its proper operation. In addition, we allow incorporating a variety of other metrics (such as payload, battery usage, size, and cost) into the design process and exploring tradeoffs between them. We show the efficacy of our method and system by designing, optimizing, fabricating, and operating multicopters with complex geometries and propeller configurations. We also demonstrate the ability of our optimization algorithm to improve the multicopter performance under different metrics.