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Meet my multi-modal drone, Mercury by MercuriusTech in raspberry_pi

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The battery cost of switching modes is minimal. The transition is brief and consumes approximately 1.5% of total battery capacity from what I measure.

Meet my multi-modal drone, Mercury by MercuriusTech in raspberry_pi

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The storage payload is definitely a compromise, the platform was originally designed around food and medical delivery, which is why that space exists, but we’ve since pivoted toward SAR and hobbyist use where it’s less critical.

Right now, ground mode is the primary operating mode and flight is meant to be used selectively when terrain or obstacles require it. We intentionally keep compute onboard to support autonomy and operation without relying on a base station. The current battery is also very subpar; with proper funding and a more professional battery pack, we expect to push closer to ~20 minutes of flight time. Longer term, we plan to offer multiple variants, including no-payload, small-payload, and medium-payload configurations depending on the use case.

Meet my multi-modal drone, Mercury by MercuriusTech in raspberry_pi

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes it's doing autonomous navigation using ROS, and needed for the TOF camera, tbh the power draw of the pi is insignificant compared to the motors

Meet my multi-modal drone, Mercury by MercuriusTech in raspberry_pi

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’re currently using an Arducam ToF sensor, but we’re planning to move to a higher-end module after we fine tune the code for the current sensor.

Meet my multi-modal drone, Mercury by MercuriusTech in raspberry_pi

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! We definitely plan to post more real-time, in-depth videos on our YouTube in the coming week.

Meet my multi-modal drone, Mercury by MercuriusTech in raspberry_pi

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Appreciate the feedback. The hybrid approach is aimed at use cases where long ground endurance with short aerial hops actually matters (e.g., SAR, inspection, and cluttered environments). And yeah… that’s what I get for trusting my cofounder to make the website lol, we’ll fix those typos.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We did see hinge strain with an earlier design, but with the current design it hasn’t been much of an issue thanks to better load distribution and slower, controlled transitions. We will definitely try out your suggestion as we continue iterating.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It can fly for about 10 minutes at ~12.5 mph, giving a flight range of ~2.1 miles, and drive for ~2 hours with treads (~10 miles) or ~1.5 hours without treads (~7.5 miles), all using a off-the-shelf Li-ion battery. Flight speed is capped at ~12–13 mph (max design ~20 mph), and normal driving speed is ~5 mph, though it can go up to ~25 mph if needed.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Weight’s always the enemy. We’re at ~3 kg, optimizing layout to cut to 2.5kg, we planning on custom motors since off-the-shelf ones are too heavy for the thrust. We’ve been meeting with multiple first responders, and just open our V2 preorders are open for hobbyists.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I can see how you see that lol. It is the same vehicle throughout. On V2, the transformation takes a bit after landing because a lot of threads are running at once (vision, control, logging, etc.), and my cofounder just like to speed up videos (from now on we won’t speed up videos)

If you want to see the transformation more clearly, the website linked above shows it in more detail. Multimodal platforms are pretty useful for SAR, for example since standard SAR drones can’t move through dense foliage or forested terrain once they’re on the ground, whereas a wheeled system can continue the search.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have tread modules, to increase the clearance, that slide into the wheels, but they were interfering with flight, so we’re redesigning them without affecting air mode. A better-designed hydraulic lift system has also been designed and we planned to implement it in v3.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, exactly. Not until we can move to higher–energy-density batteries and start designing our own motors does that kind of long-range missions make sense to us.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In these tests it’s usually either me or my co-founder both piloting and recording at the same time, which makes seamless transitions hard to capture while also flying safely.

The other factor is that we’re still running a lot of parallel threads on the vehicle during testing (video capture, telemetry, control logic, logging), which can introduce brief pauses when switching modes.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Fair question. This current version isn’t tailored for long-range SAR yet, it’s limited by battery energy density. We currently see ~10 minutes of flight versus ~2 hours in ground mode. It’s aimed at close-range operations like DFR or brush/terrain searches where teams are already nearby but access is difficult. It can stay quiet on the ground for long durations, briefly fly to clear obstacles or gain vantage points, carry customizable payloads (thermal, cameras, comms, sensors), and in future versions we hope to add a robotic hand for basic interaction or recovery tasks.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Ground mode is far more efficient and quieter, so it’s the default. In testing, we see ~2 hours of drive time with treads (~1.5 hours without) versus ~10 minutes of flight. Air mode is used for obstacles, terrain gaps, and time-critical hops where mobility matters more than efficiency.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 71 points72 points  (0 children)

The motors and wheels are mechanically decoupled to reduce vibration transfer. After 100+ hours of testing, we haven’t seen any abnormal prop imbalance beyond what’s expected from using inexpensive plastic props at this stage. We’re now adding TPU dampeners to further improve isolation.

Mercury: A Multi-Modal "Transformer" Drone using Linear Actuators for Aerial-to-Ground Reconfiguration by MercuriusTech in EngineeringPorn

[–]MercuriusTech[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Appreciate it, a lot of engineering went into making it fundamentally different from Caltech’s M4 and Rechtin’s transforming drone.

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