Autonomous drone navigation for the delivery of objects between locations

Abstract

The work developed is a proof-of-concept that aims to address the potential of autonomous drone navigation within the transportation industry. The approach taken heavily considered key limitations brought forward by scholarly sources. After investigation, a solution that could possibly overcome these limitations for autonomous object pick-up and drop off was conceptualised. Autonomous navigation between two points was also developed, as a means of proving that navigation and delivery are possible without the need for human intervention. The pick-up and drop off method required to be devoid of human involvement. Following research into published material, the object pick-up and drop off apparatus was actualised. The development consisted of a housing that contained a magnet vice and struts. The magnet within the housing slid down on launch, bringing the magnet into contact with the item to be transported. Upon landing, side struts pushed the magnet upwards, forcing it to disconnect from the object being transported, effectively performing object drop off. The host machine is provided with start and destination coordinates through the utilisation of a user interface. This allowed for flight parameters to be passed to the host machine for instruction set creation. The generated instruction set subsequently allowed the drone to carry out autonomous navigation. Communication between the host machine and the drone is limited to a short range, due to the system being developed on a small scale. Any other notable limitations may be attributed to the experimental capacity of this work, being a proof-of-concept for autonomous navigation with object pick-up and drop off.