Voliro Hexacopter Uses Tilting Rotors to Expand Flight Capabilities

For their bachelor’s theses, eleven students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Zurich University of the Arts have created a unique multicopter design with some really interesting features. The hexacopter, called Voliro, has each of its six rotors mounted on tilting arms, which opens up some new flight possibilities. Voliro isn’t the first drone we’ve seen that has this ability, but what the team of students are doing with the capability is definitely noteworthy.

As showcased in their demo video, the tilting rotor arms have introduced a lot of possibilities for flight maneuvers most drones aren’t capable of. Voliro can achieve stable flight in practically any orientation (on its side, at an angle, upside down, etc.), and the students were able to take advantage of this to give it unique abilities, like being able to “drive” on a wall. The flexibility of the design also lends itself towards new ways of handling standard maneuvers, such as take offs and landings.

While adding tilting rotors may not be groundbreaking mechanically speaking (though the final concept looks very well sorted in that regard), what is impressive about the project is the programming and control of Voliro. They’ve introduced a novel way of controlling the drone with a single hand, using a glove fitted with six IMUs (inertial measurement units). The pilot can fly Voliro intuitively, while still being able to take advantage of all of its capabilities.

It’s not entirely clear if the team plans on launching Voliro as a commercial product, but it seems like that might be their eventual intention. Either way, the project is very innovative and is sure to get the students an A on their theses.