SPINNER is a tri-rotor UAV that uses continuous self-rotation to expand the field of view of its sensors without adding extra hardware.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
A Self-Rotating Tri-Rotor UAV for Field of View Expansion and Autonomous Flight
arXiv · 2603.28581
The Takeaway
By mechanically spinning and using specialized control frameworks to handle the resulting nonlinearity, it achieves full FOV coverage for LiDAR and cameras, drastically improving perception in complex environments.
From the abstract
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) perception relies on onboard sensors like cameras and LiDAR, which are limited by the narrow field of view (FoV). We present Self-Perception INertial Navigation Enabled Rotorcraft (SPINNER), a self-rotating tri-rotor UAV for the FoV expansion and autonomous flight. Without adding extra sensors or energy consumption, SPINNER significantly expands the FoV of onboard camera and LiDAR sensors through continuous spin motion, thereby enhancing environmental perception e