Related papers: A Modular Continuum Manipulator for Aerial Manipul…
This article introduces a safe control strategy for application of forces to an external object using a dexterous robotic arm mounted on an unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A hybrid force-motion controller has been developed for this purpose.…
Multirotor aerial robots excel at maneuvering in three-dimensional space, and recent advances enable nimble navigation in cluttered and confined environments, especially for small airframes. By contrast, platforms built for high-altitude…
Rigid grippers used in existing aerial manipulators require precise positioning to achieve successful grasps and transmit large contact forces that may destabilize the drone. This limits the speed during grasping and prevents "dynamic…
Moving a module in a modular robot is a very complex and error-prone process. Unlike in swarm, in the modular robots we are targeting, the moving module must keep the connection to, at least, one other module. In order to miniaturize each…
Aerial manipulators are composed of an aerial multi-rotor that is equipped with a 6-DOF servo robot arm. To achieve precise position and attitude control during the arm's motion, it is critical for the system to have high performance…
How to endow aerial robots with the ability to operate in close proximity remains an open problem. The core challenges lie in the propulsion system's dual-task requirement: generating manipulation forces while simultaneously counteracting…
In this paper, we present a novel passive single Degree-of-Freedom (DoF) manipulator design and its integration on an autonomous drone to capture a moving target. The end-effector is designed to be passive, to disengage the moving target…
Aerial manipulators are increasingly used in contact-based industrial applications, where tasks like drilling and pushing require platforms to exert significant forces in multiple directions. To enhance force generation capabilities,…
This paper presents a robust neural control design for a three-drone slung payload transportation system to track a reference path under external disturbances. The control contraction metric (CCM) is used to generate a neural exponentially…
Robotic systems operating in unstructured environments require the ability to switch between compliant and rigid states to perform diverse tasks such as adaptive grasping, high-force manipulation, shape holding, and navigation in…
Aerial manipulation has gained interest in completing high-altitude tasks that are challenging for human workers, such as contact inspection and defect detection, etc. Previous research has focused on maintaining static contact points or…
The control problem of a multi-copter swarm, mechanically coupled through a modular lattice structure of connecting rods, is considered in this article. The system's structural elasticity is considered in deriving the system's dynamics. The…
Air ducts are integral to modern buildings but are challenging to access for inspection. Small quadrotor drones offer a potential solution, as they can navigate both horizontal and vertical sections and smoothly fly over debris. However,…
Traditional aerial vehicles have limitations in their capabilities due to actuator constraints, such as motor saturation. The hardware components and their arrangement are designed to satisfy specific requirements and are difficult to…
We present a novel general model that unifies the kinematics of constant curvature and constant twist continuum manipulators. Combining this kinematics with energy-based physics, we derive a linear mapping from actuator configuration to…
This paper presents a novel, modular, cable-driven soft robotic arm featuring multi-segment reconfigurability. The proposed architecture enables a stackable system with independent segment control, allowing scalable adaptation to diverse…
Expressive motion planning for Aerial Manipulators (AMs) is essential for tackling complex manipulation tasks, yet achieving coupled trajectory planning adaptive to various tasks remains challenging, especially for those requiring…
The physical interaction of aerial robots with their environment has countless potential applications and is an emerging area with many open challenges. Fully-actuated multirotors have been introduced to tackle some of these challenges.…
Cargo drones are designed to carry payloads with predefined shape, size, and/or mass. This lack of flexibility requires a fleet of diverse drones tailored to specific cargo dimensions. Here we propose a new reconfigurable drone based on a…
Aerial manipulation for safe physical interaction with their environments is gaining significant momentum in robotics research. In this paper, we present a disturbance-observer-based safety-critical control for a fully actuated aerial…