A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments
Abstract Aerial manipulators can manipulate objects while flying, allowing them to perform tasks in dangerous or inaccessible areas. Advanced aerial manipulation systems are often based on rigid-link mechanisms, but the balance between dexterity and payload capacity limits their broader application....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55157-2 |
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| author | Rui Peng Yu Wang Minghao Lu Peng Lu |
| author_facet | Rui Peng Yu Wang Minghao Lu Peng Lu |
| author_sort | Rui Peng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Aerial manipulators can manipulate objects while flying, allowing them to perform tasks in dangerous or inaccessible areas. Advanced aerial manipulation systems are often based on rigid-link mechanisms, but the balance between dexterity and payload capacity limits their broader application. Combining unmanned aerial vehicles with continuum manipulators emerges as a solution to this trade-off, but these systems face challenges with large actuation systems and unstable control. To address these challenges, we propose Aerial Elephant Trunk, an aerial continuum manipulator inspired by the elephant trunk, featuring a small-scale quadrotor and a dexterous, compliant tendon-driven continuum arm for versatile operation in both indoor and outdoor settings. We develop state estimation for the quadrotor using an Extended Kalman Filter, shape estimation for the continuum arm based on piecewise constant curvature, and whole-body motion planning using minimum jerk principles. Through comprehensive fundamental verifications, we demonstrate that our system can adapt to various constrained environments, such as navigating through narrow holes, tubes, or crevices, and can handle a range of objects, including slender, deformable, irregular, or heavy items. Our system can potentially be deployed in challenging conditions, such as pipeline maintenance or electricity line inspection at high altitudes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9d79240694ba443ea6d12b9285a903da |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-9d79240694ba443ea6d12b9285a903da2025-01-26T12:41:57ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111910.1038/s41467-024-55157-2A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environmentsRui Peng0Yu Wang1Minghao Lu2Peng Lu3Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong KongDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong KongDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong KongDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong KongAbstract Aerial manipulators can manipulate objects while flying, allowing them to perform tasks in dangerous or inaccessible areas. Advanced aerial manipulation systems are often based on rigid-link mechanisms, but the balance between dexterity and payload capacity limits their broader application. Combining unmanned aerial vehicles with continuum manipulators emerges as a solution to this trade-off, but these systems face challenges with large actuation systems and unstable control. To address these challenges, we propose Aerial Elephant Trunk, an aerial continuum manipulator inspired by the elephant trunk, featuring a small-scale quadrotor and a dexterous, compliant tendon-driven continuum arm for versatile operation in both indoor and outdoor settings. We develop state estimation for the quadrotor using an Extended Kalman Filter, shape estimation for the continuum arm based on piecewise constant curvature, and whole-body motion planning using minimum jerk principles. Through comprehensive fundamental verifications, we demonstrate that our system can adapt to various constrained environments, such as navigating through narrow holes, tubes, or crevices, and can handle a range of objects, including slender, deformable, irregular, or heavy items. Our system can potentially be deployed in challenging conditions, such as pipeline maintenance or electricity line inspection at high altitudes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55157-2 |
| spellingShingle | Rui Peng Yu Wang Minghao Lu Peng Lu A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments Nature Communications |
| title | A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments |
| title_full | A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments |
| title_fullStr | A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments |
| title_short | A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments |
| title_sort | dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55157-2 |
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