Development of a Vision-enabled Aerial Manipulator using a Parallel Robot

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel type of aerial manipulation. The system proposed utilizes an eye-in-hand type of parallel manipulator with a visual sensor system attached on the end-effector. The aerial parallel manipulator can maximize the advantages of the serial manipulator while minimizing the combined shortcomings. In order to enhance these advantages, we derive the loosely coupled end-effector dynamics and apply them in the host vehicle utilizing a simple control law. Furthermore, we propose a vision-enabled end-effector control architecture based on the inverse kinematics of the parallel robot. The system proposed is verified and validated by performing a flight test.