@article {2022d-SanTogJimCorFra, title = {Indirect Force Control of a Cable-suspended Aerial Multi-Robot Manipulator}, journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters}, volume = {7}, year = {2022}, month = {07/2022}, pages = {6726-6733}, doi = {10.1109/LRA.2022.3176457}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2022d-SanTogJimCorFra.pdf , https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2022d-SanTogJimCorFra-video.mp4}, author = {Dario Sanalitro and Marco Tognon and Anotnio-Enrique Jimenez-Cano and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} } @article {2020b-SanSavTogCorFra, title = {Full-pose Manipulation Control of a Cable-suspended load with Multiple UAVs under Uncertainties}, journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters}, volume = {5}, year = {2020}, month = {04/2020}, pages = {2185-2191}, abstract = {In this work, we propose an uncertainty-aware controller for the Fly-Crane system, a statically rigid cable-suspended aerial manipulator using the minimum number of aerial robots and cables. The force closure property of the Fly- Crane makes it ideal for applications where high precision is required and external disturbances should be compensated. The proposed control requires the knowledge of the nominal values of a minimum number of uncertain kinematic parameters, thus simplifying the identification process and the controller implementation. We propose an optimization-based tuning method of the control gains that ensures stability despite parameter uncertainty and maximizes the H$\infty$ performance. The validity of the proposed framework is shown through real experiments.}, doi = {10.1109/LRA.2020.2969930}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2020b-SanSavTogCorFra.pdf , https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2020b-SanSavTogCorFra.mp4}, author = {Dario Sanalitro and Heitor J. Savino and Marco Tognon and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} } @conference {2020h-PetSanTogMilCorFra, title = {Inertial Estimation and Energy-Efficient Control of a Cable-suspended Load with a Team of UAVs}, booktitle = {2020 Int. Conf. on Unmanned Aircraft Systems}, year = {2020}, month = {07/2020}, address = {Athens, Greece}, abstract = {The Fly-Crane is a multi-robot aerial manipulator system composed of three aerial vehicles towed to a platform by means of six cables. This paper presents a method to estimate the mass and the position of the center of mass of a loaded platform (i.e. the Fly-Crane platform including a transported load). The precise knowledge of these parameters allows to sensibly minimize the total effort exerted during a full-pose manipulation task The estimation is based on the measure of the forces applied by the aerial vehicles to the platform in different static configurations. We demonstrate that only two different configurations are sufficient to estimate the inertial parameters. Far-from-ideal numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the estimation method. Once the parameters are estimated, we show the enhancement of the system performances by minimizing the total exerted effort. The validity of the proposed algorithm in non-ideal conditions is presented through simulations based on the Gazebo simulator.}, doi = {10.1109/ICUAS48674.2020.9213842}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2020h-PetSanTogMilCorFra.pdf}, author = {Antonio Petitti and Dario Sanalitro and Marco Tognon and A. Milella and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} } @article {2019i-RosTogCarSchCorFra, title = {Cooperative Aerial Load Transportation via Sampled Communication}, journal = {IEEE Control Systems Letters}, volume = {4}, year = {2019}, month = {06/2019}, pages = {277-282}, abstract = {In this work, we propose a feedback-based motion planner for a class of multi-agent manipulation systems with a sparse kinematics structure. In other words, the agents are coupled together only by the transported object. The goal is to steer the load into a desired configuration. We suppose that a global motion planner generates a sequence of desired configurations that satisfy constraints as obstacles and singularities avoidance. Then, a local planner receives these references and generates the desired agents velocities, which are converted into force inputs for the vehicles. We focus on the local planner design both in the case of continuously available measurements and when they are transmitted to the agents via sampled communication. For the latter problem, we propose two strategies. The first is the discretization of the continuous-time strategy that preserves stability and guarantees exponential convergence regardless of the sampling period. In this case, the planner gain is static and computed off-line. The second strategy requires to collect the measurements from all sensors and to solve online a set of differential equations at each sampling period. However, it has the advantage to provide doubly exponential convergence. Numerical simulations of these strategies are provided for the cooperative aerial manipulation of a cable-suspended load.}, doi = {10.1109/LCSYS.2019.2924413}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2019i-RosTogCarSchCorFra.pdf}, author = {Enrica Rossi and Marco Tognon and Ruggero Carli and Luca Schenato and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} } @article {2019e-TogTelGasSabBicMalLanSanRevCorFra, title = {A Truly Redundant Aerial Manipulator System with Application to Push-And-Slide Inspection in Industrial Plants}, journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters}, volume = {4}, year = {2019}, month = {04/2019}, pages = {1846-1851}, 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 {\textendash} 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 {\textendash} to enhance physical interaction capabilities {\textendash} endowed with a 2-DoFs lightweight arm {\textendash} 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 {\textquoteleft}displaced{\textquoteright} 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.}, doi = {10.1109/LRA.2019.2895880}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2019e-TogTelGasSabBicMalLanSanRevCorFra-preprint.pdf , https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2019e-TogTelGasSabBicMalLanSanRevCorFra.mp4}, author = {Marco Tognon and Hermes Tello Chavez and Enrico Gasparin and Quentin Sabl{\'e} and Davide Bicego and Anthony Mallet and Marc Lany and Gilles Santi and Bernard Revaz and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} } @article {2018m-OllHerFraAntKonSanVigSanTruBalAndRod, title = {The AEROARMS Project: Aerial Robots with Advanced Manipulation Capabilities for Inspection and Maintenance}, journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Special Issue on Floating-base (Aerial and Underwater) Manipulation}, volume = {25}, year = {2018}, month = {12/2018}, pages = {12-23}, abstract = {This paper summarizes new aerial robotic manipu- lation technologies and methods, required for outdoor industrial inspection and maintenance, developed in the AEROARMS project. It presents aerial robotic manipulators with dual arms and multi-directional thrusters. It deals with the control systems, including the control of the interaction forces and the compliance, the teleoperation, which uses passivity to tackle the trade- off between stability and performance, perception methods for localization, mapping and inspection, and planning methods, including a new control-aware approach for aerial manipulation. Finally, it describes a novel industrial platform with multi- directional thrusters and a new arm design to increase the robustness in industrial contact inspections. The lessons learned in the application to outdoor aerial manipulation for inspection and maintenance are pointed out.}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2018m-OllHerFraAntKonSanVigSanTruBalAndRod-preprint_3.pdf}, author = {Anibal Ollero and Guillermo Heredia and Antonio Franchi and Gianluca Antonelli and Konstantin Kondak and Alberto Sanfeliu and Antidio Viguria and Jose R. Martinez-de Dios and Francesco Pierri and Juan Cort{\'e}s and A. Santamaria-Navarro and Miguel A. Trujillo and Ribin Balachandran and Juan Andrade-Cetto and Angel Rodriguez} } @article {2018i-TogCatTelAntCorFra, title = {Control-Aware Motion Planning for Task-Constrained Aerial Manipulation}, journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Special Issue on Aerial Manipulation}, volume = {3}, year = {2018}, note = {Also selected for presentation at the 2018 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane , Australia}, month = {02/2018}, pages = {2478-2484}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2018i-TogCatTelAntCorFra-preprint.pdf , https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2018i-TogCatTelAntCorFra.mp4}, author = {Marco Tognon and Elisabetta Cataldi and Hermes Tello Chavez and Gianluca Antonelli and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} } @conference {2017m-SolFurCorFra, title = {Multi-Robot Path Planning with Maintenance of Generalized Connectivity}, booktitle = {The 1st Int. Symp. on Multi-Robot and Multi-Agent Systems}, year = {2017}, month = {12/2017}, address = {Los Angeles, CA}, abstract = { This paper addresses the problem of generating a path for a fleet of robots navigating in a cluttered environment, while maintaining the so called generalized connectivity. The main challenge in the management of a group of robots is to ensure the coordination between them, taking into account limitations in communication range and sensors, possible obstacles, inter-robot avoidance and other constraints. The Generalized Connectivity Maintenance (GCM) theory already provides a way to represent and consider the aforementioned constraints, but previous works only find solutions via locally-steering functions that do not provide global and optimal solutions. In this work, we merge the GCM theory with randomized path- planning approaches, and local path optimization techniques to derive a tool that can provide global, good-quality paths. The proposed approach has been intensively tested and verified by mean of numerical simulations.}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2017m-SolFurCorFra-preprint.pdf}, author = {Yoann Solana and Michele Furci and Juan Cort{\'e}s and Antonio Franchi} }