Mark Costello is the William R.T. Oakes School Chair of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Machine Mobility. Costello most recently completed an assignment at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where he served as a program manager in the Tactical Technology Office. Costello works in the areas of dynamics, control, and design, and his research focuses on the development of innovative flight mechanics and controls technologies for a variety of flight vehicles, including rotorcraft, projectiles, parafoils, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
One aspect of Costello’s research focuses on actively controlling the aircraft and landing-surface interface. For example, his research team is investigating the use of robotic landing gear using both dynamic simulation and experimental laboratory testing. “Robotic landing gear could expand the available landing areas for drones to deliver packages, including safely landing on the roofs of delivery trucks,” Costello offers. “Robotic landing gear could also be used to help improve the reliability of
safe landing of air taxis under a variety of inclement weather scenarios.”
More information on the Center for Advanced Machine Mobility may be found here.
To check out a video featuring robotic landing gear being developed at Georgia Tech, click here .