A Truly Redundant Aerial Manipulator System with Application to Push-And-Slide Inspection in Industrial Plants

TitleA Truly Redundant Aerial Manipulator System with Application to Push-And-Slide Inspection in Industrial Plants
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsTognon, M, Tello Chavez, H, Gasparin, E, Sablé, Q, Bicego, D, Mallet, A, Lany, M, Santi, G, Revaz, B, Cortés, J, Franchi, A
JournalIEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Volume4
Issue2
Pagination1846-1851
Date Published04/2019
Abstract

We present the design, motion planning and control of an aerial manipulator for non-trivial physical interaction tasks, such as pushing while sliding on curved surfaces – a task which is motivated by the increasing interest in autonomous non-destructive tests for industrial plants. The proposed aerial manipulator consists of a multidirectional-thrust aerial vehicle – to enhance physical interaction capabilities – endowed with a 2-DoFs lightweight arm – to enlarge its workspace. This combination makes it a truly-redundant manipulator going beyond standard aerial manipulators based on collinear multi- rotor platforms. The controller is based on a PID method with a ‘displaced’ positional part that ensures asymptotic stability despite the arm elasticity. A kinodynamic task-constrained and control-aware global motion planner is used. Experiments show that the proposed aerial manipulator system, equipped with an Eddy Current probe, is able to scan a metallic pipe sliding the sensor over its surface and preserving the contact. From the measures, a weld on the pipe is successfully detected and mapped.

DOI10.1109/LRA.2019.2895880
Citation Key2019e-TogTelGasSabBicMalLanSanRevCorFra
AttachmentSize
PDF icon preprint-pdf4.39 MB
File video23.61 MB

Taxonomy upgrade extras: