Abstract
This paper presents an anthropomorphic, compliant and lightweight dual arm manipulator designed and developed for aerial manipulation applications with multi-rotor platforms. Each arm provides four degrees of freedom in a human-like kinematic configuration for end effector positioning: shoulder pitch, roll and yaw, and elbow pitch. The dual arm, weighting 1.3 kg in total, employs smart servo actuators and a customized and carefully designed aluminum frame structure manufactured by laser cut. The proposed design reduces the manufacturing cost as no computer numerical control machined part is used. Mechanical joint compliance is provided in all the joints, introducing a compact spring-lever transmission mechanism between the servo shaft and the links, integrating a potentiometer for measuring the deflection of the joints. The servo actuators are partially or fully isolated against impacts and overloads thanks to the flange bearings attached to the frame structure that support the rotation of the links and the deflection of the joints. This simple mechanism increases the robustness of the arms and safety in the physical interactions between the aerial robot and the environment. The developed manipulator has been validated through different experiments in fixed base test-bench and in outdoor flight tests.
Highlights
Aerial manipulation proposes the development of flying robots equipped with one or more [1] robotic arms capable to perform certain operations in workspaces out of the reach for humans
Two approaches can be identified in the development of aerial manipulation robots: 1) integrating a conventional robotic arm designed for ground applications, or 2), designing a specific manipulator intended to aerial platform
The first approach is followed in [2] and [7], where a 7 degrees of freedom (DOF’s) industrial manipulator is integrated in a helicopter with high payload capacity, or in [4], where a quadrotor is equipped with a 7-DOF robotic arm commercially available
Summary
Aerial manipulation proposes the development of flying robots equipped with one or more [1] robotic arms capable to perform certain operations in workspaces out of the reach for humans. This technology is intended to simplify and reduce the costs associated to inspection and maintenance tasks that are typical in a wide variety of scenarios in the industry. The first approach is followed in [2] and [7], where a 7 degrees of freedom (DOF’s) industrial manipulator is integrated in a helicopter with high payload capacity, or in [4], where a quadrotor is equipped with a 7-DOF robotic arm commercially available. Aerial manipulators have been applied in a wide variety of applications, including valve turning with quadrotors [13], visual servoing [14], contact based inspection [15], or grasping [16], [17]
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