control of an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a robotic arm

206 Pages·2017·29.72 MB·English

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
DIPARTIMENTO DI ELETTRONICA, INFORMAZIONE E BIOINGEGNERIA
DOCTORAL PROGRAMME IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
CONTROL OF AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE
EQUIPPED WITH A ROBOTIC ARM
DoctoralDissertationof:
RobertoRossi
Supervisor:
Prof. PaoloRocco
Tutor:
Prof. LucaBascetta
TheChairoftheDoctoralProgram:
Prof. AndreaBonarini
Year2016–CycleXXIX

Amiopadre,miamadre,miasorella,
eaMireia.

Thegoodlifeisoneinspiredbylove
andguidedbyknowledge
B.Russell

Acknowledgments
M
Y sincere gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor Pro-
fessor Paolo Rocco, for his precious scientific advice and human
support. His professional scrupulousness, wisdom and helpful-
ness have been a fundamental example for me. Moreover, his encouraging
andreassuringattitude,togetherwithhisconfidenceonmeasapersonand
aresearcher,representedagreatsupporttome.
I would also to thank Professor Luca Bascetta and Professor Andrea
Zanchettinfortheirfruitfulcollaborationandmentoring.
I am thankful to Professor Juan Andrade Cetto and Angel Santamaria
Navarro, for giving me the opportunity of developing part of my research
in the laboratory of the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial in
Barcelona, where I experienced a beneficial exchange of knowledges and
skills.
I would like to acknowledge Professor Lorenzo Marconi and Professor
Fabrizio Caccavale for reviewing my PhD thesis and for their constructive
comments and suggestions. Their inputs have been essential to add value
tothefinalizedversionofthisthesis.
I would like to thank the friends and PhD fellows of the robotic office,
Nicola, Giovanni, Matteo Roger, Matteo Peris and Davide, and of the En-
vironmental group, Andrea, Francesca, Simona and all the others, for the
stimulatingandinterestingdiscussionsandthehyggetimetogether.
IwishtoacknowledgetheMasterstudentsIsupervised,andinparticular
Luca, Alberto, Mattia, Stefano, Giulio, Dario and Mirko, for the valuable
contribution provided to my research. In addition, I want to thank Vasco
5
forhisprecioushelp,whosolvedalonglistofproblemsIcopedwith.
My PhD is not entirely confined in the contents of this thesis and of my
research papers. It is made by the challenges I tackled, by the experiences
Ilived,andmostofall,bythepeopleImet,whoenrichedmeasaperson.
My deepest gratitude goes to these persons, to my friends and, espe-
cially,totheoneswhomadethisjourneypossibleanddelightful,myfamily
andMireia.
Abstract
R
OBOTS ability to autonomously move in the terrain, underwater and
aerialdomainsopenedalargenumberofnewapplicationsinindus-
try, service robotics and search and rescue activities. In particular,
the impressive growth of aerial robotics during the last decade paved the
way to the birth and subsequent development of the new research field of
aerialmanipulation. Theimprovementofpayloadcapacityanddexterityof
aerial vehicles, in conjunction with advances in the design of light-weight
arms,enabledtheconceptionofflyingrobotsequippedwitharticulatedma-
nipulators. Although first demonstrations of aerial manipulation activities
are promising, this research field is still characterized by low maturity, and
several open research challenges in the areas of perception, control and
planningrequirefurtherinvestigation.
The present thesis aims at increasing the degree of autonomy and im-
proving the control performance of an aerial robot composed of a quadro-
tor equipped with a robotic manipulator underneath. To this end, a sta-
bility control strategy which tackles the coupling dynamics of the under-
actuated flying base with the robotic arm is developed. Moreover, the in-
trinsic kinematic redundancy of the system is exploited with two different
optimization-based trajectory generation methods, in order to accomplish
prescribed tasks while satisfying given constraints. Finally, contributions
in the fields of the state estimation of the aerial systems and the control of
interactionwiththeexternalenvironmentareprovided.
I