Aerial Manipulation: A Literature Review

Aerial manipulation aims at combining the versatil- ity and the agility of some aerial platforms with the manipulation capabilities of robotic arms. This letter tries to collect the results reached by the research community so far within the field of aerial manipulation, especially from the technological and control point of view. A brief literature review of general aerial robotics and space manipulation is carried out as well

Modelling and control of mechatronic and robotic systems

3noopenopenGasparetto A.; Seriani S.; Scalera L.Gasparetto, A.; Seriani, S.; Scalera, L

Image-Based Visual-Impedance Control of a Dual-Arm Aerial Manipulator

Three new image-based visual-impedance control laws are proposed in this paper allowing physical interaction of a dual-arm unmanned aerial manipulator equipped with a camera and a force/torque sensor. Namely, two first-order impedance behaviours are designed based on the transpose and the inverse of the system Jacobian matrix, respectively, while a second-order impedance behaviour is carried out as well. Visual information is employed both to coordinate the camera motion in an eye- in-hand configuration with the assigned task executed by the other robot arm, and to define the elastic wrench component of the proposed hybrid impedance equations directly in the image plane

A review of aerial manipulation of small-scale rotorcraft unmanned robotic systems

Small-scale rotorcraft unmanned robotic systems (SRURSs) are a kind of unmanned rotorcraft with manipulating devices. This review aims to provide an overview on aerial manipulation of SRURSs nowadays and promote relative research in the future. In the past decade, aerial manipulation of SRURSs has attracted the interest of researchers globally. This paper provides a literature review of the last 10 years (2008–2017) on SRURSs, and details achievements and challenges. Firstly, the definition, current state, development, classification, and challenges of SRURSs are introduced. Then, related papers are organized into two topical categories: mechanical structure design, and modeling and control. Following this, research groups involved in SRURS research and their major achievements are summarized and classified in the form of tables. The research groups are introduced in detail from seven parts. Finally, trends and challenges are compiled and presented to serve as a resource for researchers interested in aerial manipulation of SRURSs. The problem, trends, and challenges are described from three aspects. Conclusions of the paper are presented, and the future of SRURSs is discussed to enable further research interests

Design of Ad Hoc Wireless Mesh Networks Formed by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Advanced Mechanical Automation

Ad hoc wireless mesh networks formed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with wireless transceivers (access points (APs)) are increasingly being touted as being able to provide a flexible "on-the-fly" communications infrastructure that can collect and transmit sensor data from sensors in remote, wilderness, or disaster-hit areas. Recent advances in the mechanical automation of UAVs have resulted in separable APs and replaceable batteries that can be carried by UAVs and placed at arbitrary locations in the field. These advanced mechanized UAV mesh networks pose interesting questions in terms of the design of the network architecture and the optimal UAV scheduling algorithms. This paper studies a range of network architectures that depend on the mechanized automation (AP separation and battery replacement) capabilities of UAVs and proposes heuristic UAV scheduling algorithms for each network architecture, which are benchmarked against optimal designs.Comment: 12 page

New Trends in the Control of Robots and Mechatronic Systems

In recent years, research into the control of robotic and mechatronic systems has led to a wide variety of advanced paradigms and techniques, which have been extensively analysed and discussed in the scientific literature [...

Robotic Fire Extinguisher Mounted to an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Tato práce obsahuje návrh a realizaci robotického hasícího systému upevněného na autonomní dron. Hasící systém je schopný směřovat paprsek vody do určené pozice ohně, která je detekována pomocí senzorů. Manipulátor se dvěma stupni volnosti je patřičně nastavován na základě výpočtu inverzní kinematické úlohy a voda je vypouštěna jen v okamžiku splnění podmínek dosahu. Celou dobu byl také kladen důraz na celkovou nosnost dronu a tedy i celkovou hmotnost hasícího systému včetně nádrže naplněné vodou. Nejprve byl tedy navržen hardware, potom byly provedeny matematické výpočty, které byly následně implementovány do řídícího programu. Veškeré simulace byly provedeny v prostředí Matlab. Během reálného testování bylo ověřeno, že hasící systém je funkční.This thesis contains design a realisation of a robotic fire extinguisher mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle. The fire extinguisher system is able to direct water stream into the fire location detected by sensors. The two degrees of freedom manipulator is based on inverse kinematics enumeration, and the water pump turns on only if the set range condition is fulfilled. During this project's development, the maximal weight of the drone, as well as the maximal weight of the fire extinguisher system with full water storage, had to be taken into account. First, the suitable hardware was developed, then the mathematical enumeration was performed and implemented into the control program. The simulations in this project were performed in Matlab. The functionality of the fire extinguisher system was verified in real-life experiments

Toward Long-Endurance Flight- Tamkang’s Aspect of Micro Ornithopters

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A 79.7g Manipulator Prototype for E-Flap Robot: A Plucking-Leaf Application

The manipulation capabilities of flapping-wing flying robots (FWFRs) is a problem barely studied. This is a direct consequence of the load-carrying capacity limitation of the flapping-wing robots. Ornithopters will improve the existent multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) since they could perform longer missions and offer a safe interaction in proximity to humans. This technology also opens the possibility to perch in some trees and perform tasks such as obtaining samples from nature, enabling biologists to collect samples in remote places, or assisting people in rescue missions by carrying medicines or first-aid kits. This paper presents a very lightweight manipulator (79.7g) prototype to be mounted on an ornithopter. The distribution of the mass on the flapping-wing robot is sensitive and an extra lumped mass far from the center-of-mass (CoM) of the robot deteriorates the flight stability. A configuration was proposed to avoid changing the CoM. Flight experiments show that adding the arm to the robot only moved the CoM 6mm and the performance of the flight with the manipulator has been satisfactory. Plucking leaf is chosen as an application to the designed system and several experimental tests confirmed successful sampling of leaves by the prototype

Development of a Versatile Modular Platform for Aerial Manipulators

The scope of this chapter is the development of an aerial manipulator platform using an octarotor drone with an attached manipulator. An on-board spherical camera provides visual information for the drone’s surroundings, while a Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera system is used to track targets. A powerful computer with a GPU offers significant on-board computational power for the visual servoing of the aerial manipulator system. This vision system, along with the Inertial Management Unit based controller provides exemplary guidance in confined and outdoor spaces. Coupled with the manipulator’s force sensing capabilities the system can interact with the environment. This aerial manipulation system is modular as far as attaching various payloads depending on the application (i.e., environmental sensing, facade cleaning and others, aerial netting for evader-drone geofencing, and others). Experimental studies using a motion capture system are offered to validate the system’s efficiency