Agile load transportation : Safe and efficient load manipulation with aerial robots

Abstract:

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become promising mobile platforms capable of navigating semi-autonomously or autonomously in uncertain environments. One specific type of aerial vehicle, the quadrotor, has the capability of not only taking off and landing in rough or inaccessible areas but also carrying more weight than other aerial platforms due to its four propellers. An adaptive controller considering changes in the center of gravity (CoG) and an optimal trajectory generation based on dynamic programming for swing-free maneuvering is proposed for the quadrator to perform agile and safe load transportation. The proposed adaptive controller enables a quadrotor to perform agile maneuvers while reconfiguring in real time whenever a change in CoG occurs. Moreover, the control algorithm shows robustness with respect to the external disturbance forces and torques exerted by a suspended load while dynamic changes in the quadrotor CoG occur. If swing-free motion is required, the dynamic programming approach is a viable solution to tackle this issue.

Año de publicación:

2012

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus