Dexterous Aerial Robots—Mobile Manipulation Using Unmanned Aerial Systems

In this paper, we present selected benchmark aerial manipulation tasks using an aerial vehicle endowed with multi-degree of freedom manipulators. The proposed tasks analyze environmental coupling and are broken into three general categories: momentary, loose, and strong coupling. A classical control structure is derived, tuned, and verified through experiments, conducted for benchmarking purposes to include pick-and-place, insertion, and valve-turning tasks. Although other nonlinear controllers may prove more effective, the classical control approach has been selected in order to analyze contact stability and provide benchmark results for future reference. An analysis of system stability is conducted and implemented into the controller. A vision-based high-level controller fuses motion tracking data in order to provide control of both the aircraft and the manipulators, allowing the system to become coupled to the environment and perform the required operation. We present recent results validating our framework using the proposed aircraft-arm system.