South Korea develops flying shopping cart for light goods

South Korean researchers from the Mobile Robotics Lab (MRL) at Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech) have developed a new aerial cargo transportation platform called ‘Palletrone’, which can be controlled by direct human interaction while maintaining in-air stability.

As the name suggests, Palletrone is a combination of cargo ‘pallet’ and multirotor ‘drone’: in effect, a flying shopping cart. Cargo can be placed on top of the pallet and moved around by applying gentle force, even while walking on stairs - something not possible with a conventional cart.

The research team, led by Lee Seung-jae, a professor of Mechanical System Design Engineering at SeoulTech, said existing multirotor drones have fixed wings and need to be tilted to change direction while hovering. They can only load freight in cargo bays beneath the fuselage, limiting the size and fragility of the cargo they can carry.

To overcome these issues, Lee said the team put the drone inside a pallet-like exoskeleton, which makes it possible to carry cargo on top of the pallet regardless of size or type, while it is safe to be approached by humans during flight. They used ‘physical human-robot interaction’ technique on drone controlling, so a person can push or pull a rear-mounted handle to maneuver it directly.

For stable flight, the research team put servo motors on propellers, so that wings can be rotated for thrust vectoring in any direction without tilting the multirotor. They also developed a new estimation algorithm to calculate the drone's center of mass, which helps maintain its horizontal attitude even while carrying unknown cargo in unexpected positions.

The research team has so far tested the proof-of-concept Palletrone by carrying up to 3 kilograms of cargo; certainly not enough for the average weekly grocery shop. It could also be used for aerial tasks with a robotic arm or docking with other drones.