2020/07/29 by Heng Xie, Xie, Heng, Xinyu Cai +3
Computer Science · Engineering · #Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Robotic Path Planning Algorithms #Robotics (cs.RO) #Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2007.14880
openalex publication_date 2020/07/29 · openalex created_date 2020/08/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper addresses the problem of cooperative transport of a point mass hoisted by two aerial robots. Treating the robots as a leader and a follower, the follower stabilizes the system with respect to the leader using only feedback from its Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). This is accomplished by neglecting the acceleration of the leader, analyzing the system through the generalized coordinates or the cables' angles, and employing an observation model based on the IMU measurements. A lightweight estimator based on an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and a controller are derived to stabilize the robot-payload-robot system. The proposed methods are verified with extensive flight experiments, first with a single robot and then with two robots. The results show that the follower is capable of realizing the desired quasi-static trajectory using only its IMU measurements. The outcomes demonstrate promising progress towards the goal of autonomous cooperative transport of a suspended payload via small flying robots with minimal sensing and computational requirements.