Dynamic modelling and control of a cubic flying blimp using external motion capture

Abstract

This article presents results on the dynamic modelling of a cubic flying robot referred to as the Tryphon. Four identical prototypes of the Tryphon are currently available, in addition to numerous earlier prototypes. They are used for artistic performances in museums, art galleries or theatres. Unique in the airship realm, the Tryphons are difficult to control because of the limited knowledge of their behaviour. Hence, the development of a dynamic model has the potential to significantly improve the control performances. In this article, a previously proposed model is shown to adapt to the experimental data obtained from a motion capture system. Experiments with this system also lead to a simple closed-loop control of the blimp. From the data sets, a more accurate nonlinear auto-regressive with exogenous input model is developed. Furthermore, controllability issues and applications are also discussed.