---
_id: '1097'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: We 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.
acknowledgement: "We thank Nobuyuki Umetani for his insightful suggestions in our
discussions. We thank Alan Schultz and his colleagues at NRL for building the hexacopter
and for the valuable discussions. We thank Randall Davis, Boris Katz, and Howard
Shrobe at MIT for their advice. We are grateful to Nick Bandiera for preprocessing
mechanical parts and providing 3D printing technical support; Charles Blouin from
RCBenchmark for dynamometer hardware support; Brian Saavedra for the composition
UI; Yingzhe Yuan for data acquisition and video recording in the experiments; Michael
Foshey and David Kim for their comments on the draft of the paper. \r\n\r\n\r\nThis
work was partially supported by Air Force Research Laboratory’s sponsorship of Julia:
A Fresh Approach to Technical Computing and Data Processing (Sponsor Award ID FA8750-15-2-
0272, MIT Award ID 024831-00003), and NSF Expedition project (Sponsor Award ID CCF-1138967,
MIT Award ID 020610-00002). The views expressed herein are not endorsed by the sponsors.
This project has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant agreement No 645599. "
alternative_title:
- ACM Transactions on Graphics
article_number: '227'
author:
- first_name: Tao
full_name: Du, Tao
last_name: Du
- first_name: Adriana
full_name: Schulz, Adriana
last_name: Schulz
- first_name: Bo
full_name: Zhu, Bo
last_name: Zhu
- first_name: Bernd
full_name: Bickel, Bernd
id: 49876194-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Bickel
orcid: 0000-0001-6511-9385
- first_name: Wojciech
full_name: Matusik, Wojciech
last_name: Matusik
citation:
ama: 'Du T, Schulz A, Zhu B, Bickel B, Matusik W. Computational multicopter design.
In: Vol 35. ACM; 2016. doi:10.1145/2980179.2982427'
apa: 'Du, T., Schulz, A., Zhu, B., Bickel, B., & Matusik, W. (2016). Computational
multicopter design (Vol. 35). Presented at the SIGGRAPH Asia: Conference and Exhibition
on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia, Macao, China: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2980179.2982427'
chicago: Du, Tao, Adriana Schulz, Bo Zhu, Bernd Bickel, and Wojciech Matusik. “Computational
Multicopter Design,” Vol. 35. ACM, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1145/2980179.2982427.
ieee: 'T. Du, A. Schulz, B. Zhu, B. Bickel, and W. Matusik, “Computational multicopter
design,” presented at the SIGGRAPH Asia: Conference and Exhibition on Computer
Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia, Macao, China, 2016, vol. 35, no.
6.'
ista: 'Du T, Schulz A, Zhu B, Bickel B, Matusik W. 2016. Computational multicopter
design. SIGGRAPH Asia: Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques in Asia, ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 35, 227.'
mla: Du, Tao, et al. Computational Multicopter Design. Vol. 35, no. 6, 227,
ACM, 2016, doi:10.1145/2980179.2982427.
short: T. Du, A. Schulz, B. Zhu, B. Bickel, W. Matusik, in:, ACM, 2016.
conference:
end_date: 2016-12-08
location: Macao, China
name: 'SIGGRAPH Asia: Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques in Asia'
start_date: 2016-12-05
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:50:07Z
date_published: 2016-11-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2021-01-12T06:48:15Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '006'
department:
- _id: BeBi
doi: 10.1145/2980179.2982427
ec_funded: 1
file:
- access_level: open_access
content_type: application/pdf
creator: system
date_created: 2018-12-12T10:17:42Z
date_updated: 2018-12-12T10:17:42Z
file_id: '5298'
file_name: IST-2017-759-v1+1_copter.pdf
file_size: 33114420
relation: main_file
file_date_updated: 2018-12-12T10:17:42Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 35'
issue: '6'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '11'
oa: 1
oa_version: Submitted Version
project:
- _id: 25082902-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '645599'
name: Soft-bodied intelligence for Manipulation
publication_status: published
publisher: ACM
publist_id: '6278'
pubrep_id: '759'
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: 1
status: public
title: Computational multicopter design
type: conference
user_id: 3E5EF7F0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 35
year: '2016'
...