Abstract
This work introduces the G-Fly-Crane, a proof-of-concept aerial multi-robot system designed to demonstrate the advantage of using multiple aerial robots as a valuable tool for novel construction techniques, not requiring the use of heavy engines and costly infrastructures. We experimentally demonstrate its capability to perform pick-and-place and manipulation tasks in a construction scenario, with an increased payload capacity and dexterity compared to the single robot case. The system is composed of three aerial robots connected to a platform by three pairs of cables. The platform is equipped with a gripper, enabling the grasping of objects. The paper describes in detail the hardware and software architecture of our prototype and explains the implemented control methods. A shared control strategy incorporates the human operator in the control loop, thus increasing the overall system reliability when performing complex tasks. The paper also discusses the next steps required to bring this technology from indoor laboratory conditions to real-world applications.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bernard, M., Kondak, K., Maza, I., Ollero, A.: Autonomous transportation and deployment with aerial robots for search and rescue missions. J. Field Robot. 28(6), 914–931 (2011)
Bonyan Khamseh, H., Janabi-Sharifi, F., Abdessameud, A.: Aerial manipulation—a literature survey. Robot. Auton. Syst. 107, 221–235 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2018.06.012
Braithwaite, A., Alhinai, T., Haas-Heger, M., McFarlane, E., Kovač, M.: Tensile Web Construction and Perching with Nano Aerial Vehicles. Springer International Publishing, pp. 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51532-8_5 (2018)
Connelly, R., Guest, S. D.: Frameworks, tensegrities and symmetry: understanding stable structures. Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences (2015)
Erskine, J., Chriette, A., Caro, S.: Control and configuration planning of an aerial cable towed system. In: 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, pp. 6440–6446 (2019)
Foehn, P., Falanga, D., Kuppuswamy, N., Tedrake, R., Scaramuzza, D.: Fast trajectory optimization for agile quadrotor maneuvers with a cable-suspended payload. Robotics: Science and Systems 13. https://doi.org/10.15607/RSS.2017.XIII.030 (2017)
Franchi, A., Mallet, A.: Adaptive closed-loop speed control of BLDC motors with applications to multi-rotor aerial vehicles. In: 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Singapore, pp. 5203–5208 (2017)
Gassner, M., Cieslewski, T., Scaramuzza, D.: Dynamic collaboration without communication: Vision-based cable-suspended load transport with two quadrotors. In: 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Singapore, pp. 5196–5202 (2017)
Goessens, S., Mueller, C., Latteur, P.: Feasibility study for drone-based masonry construction of real-scale structures. Autom. Constr. 94, 458–480 (2018)
Ingrand, F., Lacroix, S., Lemai-Chenevier, S., Py, F.: Decisional autonomy of planetary rovers. Journal of Field Robotics 24(7), 559–580 (2007)
Klausen, K., Meissen, C., Fossen, T.I., Arcak, M., Johansen, T.A.: Cooperative control for multirotors transporting an unknown suspended load under environmental disturbances. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 28(2), 653–660 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2018.2876518
Lee, T.: Geometric control of quadrotor uavs transporting a cable-suspended rigid body. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 26(1), 255–264 (2017)
Lee, T., Leoky, M., McClamroch, N.H.: Geometric tracking control of a quadrotor UAV on SE(3). In: 49Th IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, pp 5420–5425, Atlanta, GA (2010)
Lindsey, Q., Mellinger, D., Kumar, V.: Construction with quadrotor teams. Auton. Robot. 33(3), 323–336 (2012)
Manubens, M., Devaurs, D., Ros, L., Cortés, J.: Motion planning for 6-D manipulation with aerial towed-cable systems. In: 2013 Robotics: Science and Systems. Berlin, Germany (2013)
Marina, H. D., Smeur, E.: Flexible collaborative transportation by a team of rotorcraft. In: 2019 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, pp. 1074–1080 (2019)
Masone, C., Bülthoff, H.H., Stegagno, P.: Cooperative transportation of a payload using quadrotors: A reconfigurable cable-driven parallel robot. In: 2016 IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 1623–1630 (2016)
Ollero, A., Tognon, M., Suarez, A., Lee, D. J., Franchi, A.: Past, present, and future of aerial robotic manipulators. IEEE Trans. Robot. 38(1), 626–645 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2021.3084395
Petitti, A., Sanalitro, D., Tognon, M., Milella, A., Cortés, J., Franchi, A.: Inertial estimation and energy-efficient control of a cable-suspended load with a team of UAVs. In: 2020 Int. Conf. on Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Athens, Greece (2020)
Sanalitro, D., Savino, H. J., Tognon, M., Cortés, J., Franchi, A.: Full-pose manipulation control of a cable-suspended load with multiple UAVs under uncertainties. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 5(2), 2185–2191 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2020.2969930
Six, D., Briot, S., Chriette, A., Martinet, P.: The kinematics, dynamics and control of a flying parallel robot with three quadrotors. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 3(1), 559–566 (2018)
Spurnỳ, V., Báča, T., Saska, M., Pěnička, R., Krajník, T., Thomas, J., Thakur, D., Loianno, G., Kumar, V.: Cooperative autonomous search, grasping, and delivering in a treasure hunt scenario by a team of unmanned aerial vehicles. J. Field Robot. 36(1), 125–148 (2019)
Sreenath, K., Kumar, V.: Dynamics, control and planning for cooperative manipulation of payloads suspended by cables from multiple quadrotor robots. In: Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems. Berlin, Germany. https://doi.org/10.15607/RSS.2013.IX.011 (2013)
Sreenath, K., Michael, N., Kumar, V.: Trajectory generation and control of a quadrotor with a cable-suspended load-a differentially-flat hybrid system. In: 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, pp. 4888–4895 (2013)
Tagliabue, A., Kamel, M., Verling, S., Siegwart, R., Nieto, J.: Collaborative transportation using MAVs via passive force control. In: 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Singapore, pp. 5766–5773 (2016)
Tang, S., Wüest, V., Kumar, V.: Aggressive flight with suspended payloads using vision-based control. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 3(2), 1152–1159 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2018.2793305
Tarapygin, P.P.: Utilization of helicopters in power construction. Hydrotech. Constr. 1(10), 927–933 (1967)
Tognon, M., Gabellieri, C., Pallottino, L., Franchi, A.: Aerial co-manipulation with cables: The role of internal force for equilibria, stability, and passivity. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Special Issue on Aerial Manipulation 3(3), 2577–2583 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2018.2803811
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Quentin Sable from the University of Twente for his contribution to the experimental platform and Anthony Mallet from LAAS-CNRS who collaborated to develop the software architecture.
Funding
This work has been partially funded by the Région Occitanie under contract 2018 003431 - ESR_PREMAT-000160, by the ANR project ANR-17-CE33-0007 ‘MuRoPhen’, and by the European Commission project H2020 AERIAL-CORE (EC 871479).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
A.E.J.C. and D.S.: Original draft preparation, hardware/software development and experimental tests. M.T.: writing - review and editing. A.F. and J.C.: Supervision, funding acquisition, writing - review and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This work has been partially funded by the Région Occitanie under contract 2018 003431 - ESR_PREMAT-000160, by the ANR project ANR-17-CE33-0007 ‘MuRoPhen’, and by the European Commission project H2020 AERIAL-CORE (EC 871479)
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Jiménez-Cano, A.E., Sanalitro, D., Tognon, M. et al. Precise Cable-Suspended Pick-and-Place with an Aerial Multi-robot System. J Intell Robot Syst 105, 68 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01668-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01668-3