This paper presents the design, modeling, and experimental validation of CapsuleBot, a compact hybrid aerial-ground vehicle designed for long-term covert reconnaissance. CapsuleBot combines the manoeuvrability of bicopter in the air with the energy efficiency and noise reduction of ground vehicles on the ground. To accomplish this, a structure named actuated-wheel-rotor has been designed, utilizing a sole motor for both the unilateral rotor tilting in the bicopter configuration and the wheel movement in ground mode. CapsuleBot comes equipped with two of these structures, enabling it to attain hybrid aerial-ground propulsion with just four motors. Importantly, the decoupling of motion modes is achieved without the need for additional drivers, enhancing the versatility and robustness of the system. Furthermore, we have designed the full dynamics and control for aerial and ground locomotion based on the bicopter model and the two-wheeled self-balancing vehicle model. The performance of CapsuleBot has been validated through experiments. The results demonstrate that CapsuleBot produces 40.53% less noise in ground mode and consumes 99.35% less energy, highlighting its potential for long-term covert reconnaissance applications.

翻译：本文介绍了CapsuleBot的设计、建模与实验验证。CapsuleBot是一种紧凑型空地混合运载器，专为长期隐蔽侦察任务而设计。该机器人兼具双旋翼飞行器在空中机动性以及地面车辆在能量效率和降噪方面的优势。为实现这一目标，我们设计了一种名为"驱动轮-旋翼"的结构，其仅需单个电机即可同时完成双旋翼构型中的单侧旋翼倾转动作与地面模式下的轮式运动。CapsuleBot配备两个此类结构，仅使用四个电机即可实现空地混合推进。重要的是，运动模式的解耦无需额外驱动装置，从而提升了系统的通用性与鲁棒性。此外，我们基于双旋翼模型和两轮自平衡车模型，分别设计了空中与地面运动的完整动力学模型及控制系统。通过实验验证了CapsuleBot的性能。结果表明，CapsuleBot在地面模式下噪声降低40.53%，能耗减少99.35%，展现了其在长期隐蔽侦察应用中的巨大潜力。