Control of an Aerial Manipulator using On-line Parameter Estimator for an Unknown Payload
This work addresses the challenge of aerial manipulation with unknown payloads, which is incremental as it builds on existing control methods for specific robotics applications.
The paper tackled the problem of controlling an aerial manipulator with an unknown payload by developing an on-line parameter estimator and an augmented passivity-based controller, resulting in successful flight in simulations and experiments with satisfactory parameter estimation.
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.