DASH Robot: Minimalistic Design and Optimal Aerial-Terrestrial Locomotion via Contact-Implicit Control

2026-07-20

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenge of achieving efficient, flexible, and mechanically minimalist aerial–terrestrial locomotion on a single platform by introducing the DASH robotic system. Integrating ducted coaxial fan thrust vectoring with lightweight springy legs, DASH employs contact-implicit model predictive control to enable autonomous, energy-efficient transitions between flight and jumping modes for the first time. Its structurally simple, unified design facilitates seamless mode switching during periodic hopping, aerial flight, and obstacle traversal. Experimental results validate the effectiveness and energetic advantages of the proposed mechanical architecture and control strategy.

Abstract

We present a novel and minimalistic design of an aerial-terrestrial robot DASH: Ducted Aerial Spring Hopper. The goal is to enable both aerial and ground locomotion capabilities on a unified mobile robot that is mechanically-minimalistic, locomotion-versatile, and energy-efficient. We propose an organic integration of ducted fan co-axial body with a springy leg at the bottom for realization. The ducted fan module provides thrust-vectoring as the main actuation for agile flying; when it is combined with the light-weight spring leg, the robot realizes highly efficient ground hopping with energy circulation. Moreover, to realize optimal locomotion with two modes, we employ a contact-implicit model predictive controller to automatically choose locomotion modes and actuation. We successfully validated the design and control of DASH through a range of tasks, including periodic hopping, aerial flight, and mode-free locomotion with autonomous mode transitions during obstacle traversal.

Problem

• aerial-terrestrial locomotion
• minimalistic design
• energy-efficient robot
• unified mobile robot
• locomotion versatility

Innovation

• aerial-terrestrial locomotion
• minimalistic robot design
• ducted fan actuation
• spring-legged hopping
• contact-implicit MPC