SHAPE-SHIFTING DRONE FOR MULTI-ENVIRONMENT OPERATIONS: A COST-EFFECTIVE, REPRODUCIBLE FRAMEWORK FOR ACTIVE AERIAL MORPHOLOGY

Abstract

Morphing quadrotors have shown great promise to maneuver in cluttered and confined spaces but their extensive usage is limited due to high technology costs, complicated manufacturing and the absence of lightweight adaptations for time-varying dynamic response. This paper introduces a cost-effective active morphing quadrotor platform that achieves an 80.8% cost reduction (total system cost ₹12,580 ≈ $150 USD vs ₹65,500 for those of industrial counterpart), which is fully functional, open-source. The system incorporates 3D-printed PETG composite frames with servo-actuated reconfigurable arms, an STM32F407-based flight controller, and hybrid ESP32 communication for RC and mobile parameter tuning. Our contribution in the technical domain is achieved by using a novel dynamic motor mixing algorithm, with real-time servo-angle dependent inertia compensation and cubic polynomial trajectory smoothing. It allows for rapid morphological change from a straight X to a longitudinal morphology to be achieved in 0.28 ± 0.02 sec (n=50 trials) with maximum vertical distance of only ±5 cm. The PETG airframe design is verified in an experiment to prove structural reliability, reduce vibration transfer, stable performance in configurations and better navigation while testing mock restricted airways. The public can access all CAD models, firmware source code, bill of materials, flight data sets and telemetry logs for reproducibility and democratization of morphing UAV technology. By offering a scalable approach to search and rescue, infrastructure testing, and educational research activities in limited-resource contexts, the developed framework connects academic study of aerial morphological phenomena with their practical realization.