Compliant Aerial Manipulators: Toward a New Generation of Aerial Robotic Workers

Abstract

This paper focuses on the problem of handling impacts by means of an aerial manipulator and proposes a solution that combines the control of the aerial manipulator's end-effector position with an innovative manipulation system consisting of both active and passive joints. The approach aims at limiting the influence of impacts on the controlled attitude dynamics in order to allow the aerial manipulator to remain stable during and after impact. The developed concept is intended to convert kinetic energy into potential energy, which is permanently stored into elastic bands by means of a directional locking mechanism. The proposed approach has been validated through experiments, in comparison with a rigid manipulator. The results show that, compared with the case of a rigid manipulator, the proposed approach and the developed mechanical system achieve stable impact absorption without bouncing away from the interacting environment.

The AEROARMS Project: Aerial Robots with Advanced Manipulation Capabilities for Inspection and Maintenance

“…1(c)). Taking into account that collisions and impacts can severely affect stability of the aerial manipulators, and compliance has been found to be very useful [7], a dual arm aerial manipulator with compliant joints [16] has been developed and tested outdoor ( Fig. 1(d)).…”

“…Later on, new indoor aerial manipulators were presented and demonstrated for applications such as drawer opening [6]. Compliance was studied in [7]. The transportation of bars with two quadrotors was presented in [8].…”

Development of SAM: cable-Suspended Aerial Manipulator

“…In [7], slung-load transportation and deployment by single and multiple UAVs were demonstrated. Mechanisms that enable compliance interaction with the environment were shown in [8], [9]. *Patent pending.…”

Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for the Stabilization of a Wheeled Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on a Pipe

“…779411). 1 landing of the WUAV on the pipe may be inaccurate (not exactly on the top), and because during the navigation on the pipe some disturbances may affect the motion, it is necessary to continually stabilize the vehicle against gravity, avoiding the slippage of the wheels. To this end, once the WUAV has landed on the pipe, its propellers can be tilted providing a lateral thrust that can help in case the torques of the wheels saturate.…”