ASP projects

SmartCopter: Sensor-vision-enabled autonomous robotic helicopter for civil applications in urban environments

Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs) are being developed by the aeronautical community at a fast pace and for a wide range of applications due to advances in sensor technology and automation.
Missions which are best suited for UAV platforms are typically “dull, dirty and dangerous”. Among such missions, there are a number of operational scenarios which could be performed by smart, compact, highly autonomous, vertical take-off and landing vehicles, capable of navigating without or with very limited human supervision in complex, unknown urban environments. In fact, rotorcraft UAVs can maneuver in small, restricted areas and can hover in place, something which can not be accomplished by other flying platforms.
The design of smart, compact, safe rotorcraft UAVs with rapid deployment capabilities and an intuitive and effective humanmachine interface to support complex operations in highly dynamic situations, is an extremely fascinating challenge, with great potential rewards.
The scope of this ASP project is the analysis of mission scenarios and the study of enabling technological solutions for sensor-enabled robotic helicopters capable of performing missions in a highly autonomous fashion, with a special emphasis on applications in urban environments.

Principal Academic Tutors
Carlo Luigi Bottasso
Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

Academic Tutors
Gabriella Olmo
Electronics, Politecnico di Torino
Remo Sala
Mechanics, Politecnico di Milano
Stefano Tubaro
Electronics and Information Technology, Politecnico di Milano

External institution
AgustaWestland
Aermatica

External Tutors
Paolo Marras
Aermatica
Giuseppe Pagnano
AgustaWestland
Marco Cicalè
AgustaWestland

Team members
TEAM A
Andrea Fogante [Team controller], Space Engineering
Fabio Biscani [Project Communication Coordinator], Aerospace Engineering
Raghavendra Kempanna, Mechanical Engineering
Alberto Laratta, Electronic Engineering
Saverio Ricci, Automotive Engineering

TEAM B
Laura Mainini [Team controller], Aerospace Engineering
Stefano Agostoni, Mechanical Engineering
Giulio Molinari, Space Engineering
Marco Rubino, Automotive Engineering
Eleonora Zeminiani, Aerospace Engineering

TEAM C
Davide Rizzo [Team controller], Space Engineering
Luca Natale, Automotive Engineering
Francesco Ricci, Mechanical Engineering
Alberto Torasso, Aerospace Engineering

Download the poster of the Project