Control of an Aerial Manipulator using On-line Parameter Estimator for an Unknown Payload

TL;DR

This paper introduces an online parameter estimation and control method for an aerial manipulator carrying unknown payloads, enabling stable flight through adaptive estimation and passivity-based control, validated by simulations and experiments.

Contribution

It proposes a novel online estimation algorithm combined with passivity-based control for aerial manipulators handling unknown payloads.

Findings

Successful payload parameter estimation during flight.

The proposed control outperforms conventional adaptive sliding mode control.

Experimental validation confirms stable flight with unknown payloads.

Abstract

This paper presents an estimation and control algorithm for an aerial manipulator using a hexacopter with a 2-DOF robotic arm. The unknown parameters of a payload are estimated by an on-line estimator based on parametrization of the aerial manipulator dynamics. With the estimated mass information and the augmented passivity-based controller, the aerial manipulator can fly with the unknown object. Simulation for an aerial manipulator is performed to compare estimation performance between the proposed control algorithm and conventional adaptive sliding mode controller. Experimental results show a successful flight of a custom-made aerial manipulator while the unknown parameters related to an additional payload were estimated satisfactorily.