Taking off and Landing a Quadcopter Drone on an ATV
Problem statement
Approximately 135,000 people are involved in ATV accidents each year. Imagine a day perfect for an outdoor ride, and traveling the countryside with the family in a newly purchased ATV. Suddenly, the ATV drives into a huge pit that was not visible from the windscreen. The ATV tumbled in, injuring all those aboard and turning a fun family event into a disaster. An automatic terrain surveying system might have prevented the accident and ensured the safety of those we care about. The drone system, costing under 600 US dollars, automatically takes off from and lands on the ATV, surveys the surroundings while sending visual feedback to the driver or passengers. This warns the driver of hazardous road conditions or objects before the driver can see them from the ground. However, the technology is only halfway there for this to become a reality. Most of the drones are designed for recreational use, taking off and landing on static surfaces, rendering it useless in dynamic and constantly moving scenarios of a driving ATV. There are few available drone softwares that allow the drone to autonomously follow a moving object. But even in such cases, the drone was designed to land on a level surface, which is seldom found on a moving ATV. The solution is to attach a self-leveling landing platform on the ATV, countering this issue. Some ATV owners may question the necessity of such a system, since it is a hefty price to pay for preventing an unlikely event. However, the drone is not only a safety guard, but it adds so much more to the ATV driving experience. Ultimately, this proposed union of drone-ATV navigation will reduce the statistic of ATV accidents and assure safety for ATV users everywhere.
Team members
Sam Yin – leader
Stephen Burbach – communicator
Fan Lou – accountant
Azreena Azizan – admin
Client
Dr. Michael Cheadle, UW-Madison