Aerial Picking and Delivery of Magnetic Objects with MAVs
This addresses the challenge of precise object manipulation for MAVs in delivery scenarios, but it is incremental as it builds on existing gripper and control methods.
The paper tackled the problem of autonomous delivery of goods with Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) when object properties are unknown, by developing an integrated system using an electro-permanent magnetic gripper and algorithms, achieving successful grasping of stationary and moving objects with varying shapes and weights.
Autonomous delivery of goods using a MAV is a difficult problem, as it poses high demand on the MAV's control, perception and manipulation capabilities. This problem is especially challenging if the exact shape, location and configuration of the objects are unknown. In this paper, we report our findings during the development and evaluation of a fully integrated system that is energy efficient and enables MAVs to pick up and deliver objects with partly ferrous surface of varying shapes and weights. This is achieved by using a novel combination of an electro-permanent magnetic gripper with a passively compliant structure and integration with detection, control and servo positioning algorithms. The system's ability to grasp stationary and moving objects was tested, as well as its ability to cope with different shapes of the object and external disturbances. We show that such a system can be successfully deployed in scenarios where an object with partly ferrous parts needs to be gripped and placed in a predetermined location.