New Coaxial Drone Design Promises Better Control for Close-Range Tasks

Getting drones to work reliably in tight spaces next to walls, structures, or during physical tasks remains a stubborn engineering challenge. The tension between needing enough thrust to manipulate objects and having to counteract gravity simultaneously creates complex forces that make such operations difficult. Add rotor-generated turbulence pushing against nearby surfaces, and the system becomes even harder to control.

The Design Innovation#

Researchers have developed FLOAT Drone (FuLly-actuated cOaxial Aerial roboT), a new approach that tackles these problems through two structural improvements. The system uses a coaxial dual-rotor setup—two propellers stacked on the same axis—that keeps the overall size compact while preserving efficient hover capability. More distinctively, the team integrated aerodynamic control surfaces directly into a fully-actuated frame for the first time, which actively dampens disruptive lateral airflow during proximity work.

How Full Actuation Helps#

Traditional drones operate in an underactuated state, unable to independently control all six movement dimensions. The FLOAT Drone achieves six-degree-of-freedom force-torque decoupling, meaning it can command force and rotation in every direction at once. This eliminates the dynamic coupling that occurs when the propulsion system must juggle multiple competing tasks, and allows the platform to maintain stability even while interacting physically with its environment.

Testing and Control#

The team developed hierarchical controllers that let the drone operate in both fully-actuated and underactuated modes, adapting to different operational needs. Real-world experiments confirmed the system's practical capabilities in close-proximity scenarios where traditional designs would struggle.

The work represents a step forward in enabling aerial robots to perform dexterous, contact-based tasks near surfaces—a capability needed for inspection, maintenance, and manipulation applications in confined or sensitive environments.