What will come first, the flying cart or the flying car?

Good news!

"... a flying cart, called the Palletrone (pallet+drone), designed for human-robot interaction-based aerial cargo transportation. ...

The Palletrone will try to keep its roll and pitch at zero, to make sure that there’s a flat and stable platform for your preciouses, even if you don’t load those preciouses onto the drone evenly. Once loaded up, the drone relies on you to tell it where to go and what to do, using its IMU to respond to the slightest touch and translating those forces into control over the Palletrone’s horizontal, vertical, and yaw trajectories. ..."

"... Of course, one downside of this approach is the noise generated by the drone. Another is the relatively low load capacity of the current setup, which comes in at 2.93 kg (6.5 lb) – that's not going to be enough to haul a family's weekly shop in mid-air, or help warehouse workers efficiently move stuff around. Then there's the limited flight time afforded by onboard batteries to consider. ..."

From the abstract:

"This letter presents a new cargo transportation solution based on physical human-robot interaction utilizing a novel fully-actuated multirotor platform called Palletrone. The platform is designed with a spacious upper flat surface for easy cargo loading, complemented by a rear-mounted handle reminiscent of a shopping cart. Flight trajectory control is achieved by a human operator gripping the handle and applying three-dimensional forces and torques while maintaining a stable cargo transport with zero roll and pitch attitude throughout the flight. To facilitate physical human-robot interaction, we employ an admittance control technique. Instead of relying on complex force estimation methods, like in most admittance control implementations, we introduce a simple yet effective estimation technique based on a disturbance observer robust control algorithm. We conducted an analysis of the flight stability and performance in response to changes in system mass resulting from arbitrary cargo loading. Ultimately, we demonstrate that individuals can effectively control the system trajectory by applying appropriate interactive forces and torques. Furthermore, we showcase the performance of the system through various experimental scenarios."

Palletrone: The Flying Cart for Aerial Cargo Transportation - IEEE Spectrum "The Palletrone is a robotic hovercart for moving stuff anywhere"

Palletrone flying cart lifts cargo off the ground for snag-free operation

The Palletrone Cart: Human-Robot Interaction-Based Aerial Cargo Transportation (no public access)

The Palletrone responds to your touch and can carry cargo across any terrain.