Articulated magnet-bearing legs for UAV landing on curved surfaces

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for landing and perching on a curved ferromagnetic surface, the UAV including a single detachment motor and a plurality of articulated legs, each articulated leg comprising:

• a main body attaching the articulated leg to the UAV;
• a magnet configured to magnetically attach to the curved ferromagnetic surface;
• a magnetic foot for housing the magnet and configured to magnetically articulate towards and attach to the curved ferromagnetic surface using the magnet in a perpendicular orientation with respect to the curved ferromagnetic surface in response to the UAV approaching the curved ferromagnetic surface in order to land the UAV on the curved ferromagnetic surface and for the UAV to perch on the curved ferromagnetic surface after the landing, the magnetic foot being further configured to remain magnetically attached to the curved ferromagnetic surface while the UAV is perched on the curved ferromagnetic surface;
• and
• a passive articulation joint coupling the main body to the magnetic foot and configured to passively articulate the magnetic foot with two degrees of freedom with respect to the curved ferromagnetic surface,
• wherein the single detachment motor of the UAV is configured to detach the magnetic feet of all of the articulated legs from the curved ferromagnetic surface by tipping the magnetic feet away from the curved ferromagnetic surface.

An automated method of landing and perching an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on a curved ferromagnetic surface, the UAV including a plurality of articulated legs, each articulated leg having a main body attaching the articulated leg to the UAV, the method comprising:

• approaching the curved ferromagnetic surface with the UAV;
• magnetically articulating a magnetic foot of each articulated leg towards the approached curved ferromagnetic surface in order to orient a magnet of the magnetic foot perpendicularly with respect to the curved ferromagnetic surface, comprising passively articulating the magnetic foot with two degrees of freedom with respect to the curved ferromagnetic surface using a passive articulation joint of the articulated leg coupling the main body to the magnetic foot;
• landing the UAV on the curved ferromagnetic surface by magnetically attaching each magnetic foot to the curved ferromagnetic surface using the perpendicularly oriented magnet of the magnetic foot;
• perching the UAV on the curved ferromagnetic surface after the landing by having each magnetic foot remain magnetically attached to the curved ferromagnetic surface;
• and
• magnetically detaching the magnetic foot of each articulated leg from the curved ferromagnetic surface using a detachment motor of the articulated leg to tip the magnetic foot away from the curved ferromagnetic surface.

An automated method of landing and perching an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on a curved ferromagnetic surface, the UAV including a single detachment motor and a plurality of articulated legs, each articulated leg having a main body attaching the articulated leg to the UAV, the method comprising:

• approaching the curved ferromagnetic surface with the UAV;
• magnetically articulating a magnetic foot of each articulated leg towards the approached curved ferromagnetic surface in order to orient a magnet of the magnetic foot perpendicularly with respect to the curved ferromagnetic surface, comprising passively articulating the magnetic foot with two degrees of freedom with respect to the curved ferromagnetic surface using a passive articulation joint of the articulated leg coupling the main body to the magnetic foot;
• landing the UAV on the curved ferromagnetic surface by magnetically attaching each magnetic foot to the curved ferromagnetic surface using the perpendicularly oriented magnet of the magnetic foot;
• perching the UAV on the curved ferromagnetic surface after the landing by having each magnetic foot remain magnetically attached to the curved ferromagnetic surface;
• and
• magnetically detaching the magnetic feet of all of the articulated legs from the curved ferromagnetic surface using the single detachment motor of the UAV to tip the magnetic feet away from the curved ferromagnetic surface.