Aerial Grasping: Modeling and Control of a Flying Hand

TL;DR

This paper introduces a control architecture for a flying hand system combining a UAV, robotic arm, and gripper to approach, grasp, and fly away with an object on a wall, validated through simulation and experiments.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated control strategy for a flying hand system, demonstrated through simulation and real-world experiments.

Findings

Successful approach and docking on the wall object

Effective grasping and transportation demonstrated

Control system validated in both simulation and physical tests

Abstract

In this paper, we present the design, simulation and experimental validation of a control architecture for a flying hand, i.e., a system made of an unmanned aerial vehicle, a robotic manipulator and a gripper, which is grasping an object fixed on a vertical wall. The goal of this work is to show that the overall control allows the flying hand to approach the wall, to dock on the object by means of the gripper, take the object and fly away. The control strategy has been implemented and validated in the simulated model and in experiments on the complete flying hand system.