GDAC Lab — group photo

GDAC Lab

Geometric Dynamics, Autonomy, and Control Laboratory

Facilities

This page introduces the vehicles, the experiment room, and the apparatus used in our work. For what each theme is about, see the Research page.

  • A wheeled drone on the floor, with a large wheel on each side

    Wheeled drone

    A drone with a wheel on each side. Pressed against a wall or ceiling, it travels on its wheels and holds its attitude close to walls and in narrow spaces.

  • A transmitter and several QAV250 drones fitted with motion-capture markers

    Research drones (QAV250)

    QAV250-based drones used as the controlled vehicles. They fly with motion-capture markers attached.

  • The StampFly small drone resting in a palm

    Small drone (StampFly)

    StampFly, a small drone weighing about 37 g. It fits in the palm of a hand and is used for indoor experiments.

  • The flight space of the experiment room, ringed by black curtains and motion-capture cameras

    Experiment room

    The experiment room shared with the Yamada Laboratory. It is equipped with motion-capture cameras and is where the drones fly.

  • A Vicon motion-capture camera mounted on a ceiling rail

    Motion capture

    Two motion-capture systems, Vicon and Qualisys, are used depending on the experiment. They measure the position and attitude of the vehicles for control.

  • A drone fixed to the aluminum-frame thrust test stand

    Thrust test stand

    A stand that measures rotor thrust and reaction torque against voltage and current, using a Leptrino force sensor.

  • One of the 3D printers in the experiment room

    3D printers

    3D printers for making airframe parts. Three machines are used according to the job.

We also have a testbed for wall running and hammering inspection, a haptic teleoperation setup, and an attitude-control test rig. Photographs of these will follow.

Simulator

Alongside the hardware, we develop and publish a MuJoCo simulator, with a demo that runs in your browser.

Other photographs

Photographs of lab activities and everyday life are posted on our external album, the GDAC Lab Blog (in Japanese). The group photo is on the People page.