DRAGON is a University of Tokyo research robot that can reconfigure its four-link body while airborne. Its joints change the body’s outline, while gimbaled pairs of rotors redirect thrust to help control the robot during the transformation. The design is intended to support flight through constrained spaces, but the published work reports preliminary experiments—not a consumer drone or a field-ready rescue robot.
What is the DRAGON robot?
DRAGON was developed by the University of Tokyo’s JSK Lab. In the 2018 IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters paper, its name expands to “dual-rotor-embedded multilink robot with multi-degree-of-freedom aerial transformation.” The four-link prototype combines a chain-like body with rotor units that can change the direction of their thrust.
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The paper’s authors are Moju Zhao, Tomoki Anzai, Fan Shi, Xiangyu Chen, Kei Okada, and Masayuki Inaba. The University of Tokyo lab’s publication record lists the work and notes a Best Paper Award on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles at ICRA 2018.
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How does DRAGON change shape while flying?
Four linked sections reconfigure the body
The prototype has four links connected through powered joints. A contemporaneous 2018 report describes four modules connected by battery-powered hinged joints. Moving those joints changes the robot’s overall configuration; it is not simply a conventional drone with a fixed, flat rotor layout.
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Gimbaled rotors redirect thrust
Each link uses a dual-rotor gimbal module, an original two-degree-of-freedom force-vectoring mechanism. Rather than relying only on fixed rotor directions, the gimbals let the robot redirect the thrust produced by the paired rotors. The controller coordinates thrust-force control with rotor-gimbal control as the links move.
This coordination matters because a changing body shape also changes how forces act on the vehicle. The paper describes control of the robot’s full pose around the multilink center of gravity. Its force-vectoring design is intended to support translational and rotational stability while hovering and during large aerial transformations.
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Can DRAGON fit through tight spaces?
Changing its outline is meant to help DRAGON navigate constrained aerial environments, including openings that a fixed-geometry vehicle might not suit. The concept is relevant where the shape of a passage is uncertain, but the available published findings establish preliminary aerial transformation experiments—not a general guarantee that DRAGON can pass through any particular gap. No opening dimensions or universal clearance figure are established here.
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What has been demonstrated, and what remains a proposal?
The IEEE paper presents the four-link design and preliminary experiments demonstrating the feasibility of its aerial transformation and control approach. That is meaningful proof of concept, but it does not establish routine deployment in rescue operations or object handling.
The 2018 report proposed collapsed-building search and rescue as a possible future application, including a later design with more modules and grippers. Those are envisioned directions, not capabilities demonstrated by the four-link prototype. DRAGON is a research project; the cited material does not identify a consumer model, retail kit, or exact replica.
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How long can the reported prototype fly?
Futurism’s contemporaneous 2018 report said the prototype could stay airborne for about three minutes. Treat that as a reported figure for that prototype, not a standardized endurance test or a current specification for a product. The cited IEEE paper and lab record do not establish a comparable endurance figure.
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