Autonomous transportation and deployment with aerial robots for search and rescue missions

Abstract

It is generally accepted that systems composed of multiple aerial robots with autonomous cooperation capabilities can assist responders in many search and rescue (SAR) scenarios.In most of the previous research work, the aerial robots are mainly considered as platforms for environmental sensing and have not been used to assist victims. In this paper, outdoors field experiments of transportation and accurate deployment of loads, with single/multiple autonomous aerial vehicles are presented. This is a novel feature that opens the possibility to use aerial robots to assist victims during the rescue phase operations. cooperative sensing, using several different sensor types. The system supports several forms of cooperative actuation as well, ranging from the cooperative deployment of small sensors/objects to the coupled transportation of slung loads.Within this paper the complete system is described, outlining the used hardware and software framework, as well as the used approaches for modeling and control. Additionally, the results of several flight field experiments are presented, including the description of the worldwide first successful autonomous load transportation experiment, using three coupled small size helicopters (conducted in December 2007). During these experiments strong steady winds and wind gusts were present. Various solutions and lessons learned from the design and operation of the system are also provided.

Motion Planning for 6-D Manipulation with Aerial Towed-cable Systems

“…Algorithm 3: refinementControl (T , q near , q rand ) input : the extension step-size δ the refinement ratio ρ output: true if refinement is not too high, and false otherwise 1 if distance(qnear, q rand ) < δ 2 and nbRefinementNodes(T ) > ρ · nbNodes(T ) then 3 return False 4 return True reached by the tree, as a side effect. The objective of the refinementControl function (shown in Algorithm 3) is to limit this refinement and facilitate the tree expansion toward unexplored regions.…”

“…They have proved to be very useful in various contexts, such as supply delivery missions and rescue operations [3], as well as environmental monitoring and surveillance [18]. One such system has even been successful as a safe soft-landing device for a rover on the martian surface [17], for instance.…”

Search and Rescue Operations with an Unmanned Helicopter

“…(2013) reported a second place finish in the competition. Bernard et al (2011) examined the use of several small helicopters working in tandem to assist victims. The primary justification for using multiple helicopters was that economically, the cost of one helicopter with a given load capacity is typically more than the cost of two smaller helicopters which could equal and perhaps exceed the given load capacity when operating in tandem.…”

“…The primary justification for using multiple helicopters was that economically, the cost of one helicopter with a given load capacity is typically more than the cost of two smaller helicopters which could equal and perhaps exceed the given load capacity when operating in tandem. Bernard et al (2011) reported success in autonomously guiding three helicopters to transport a 4 kg load, and believed that this was the first time that autonomously guided helicopters had accomplished such a feat. A second experiment involved transporting a wireless camera on the roof of a building that was treated as it were burning.…”

Distributed Approach for Coverage and Patrolling Missions with a Team of Heterogeneous Aerial Robots under Communication Constraints

“…Missions, such as area coverage, may be repetitive or dangerous and as such can be solved in a more efficient and safe way using a controlled fleet of UAVs, as is highlighted in Bernard et al (2011); .…”