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e-Article

ESO-Based Robust and High-Precision Tracking Control for Aerial Manipulation
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering IEEE Trans. Automat. Sci. Eng. Automation Science and Engineering, IEEE Transactions on. 21(2):2139-2155 Apr, 2024
Subject
Robotics and Control Systems
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Quadrotors
Manipulator dynamics
Couplings
Robots
End effectors
Task analysis
Trajectory
Aerial manipulator
Delta arm
extended state observer
aerial weaving
Language
ISSN
1545-5955
1558-3783
Abstract
This paper studies the tracking control problem of an aerial manipulator that consists of a quadcopter flying base and a Delta robotic arm. We propose a novel control approach that consists of extended state observers (ESOs) for dynamic coupling estimation, ESO-based flight controllers, and a cooperative trajectory planner. Compared to the state-of-the-art approaches, the proposed one has some attractive features. First, it requires much less measurement information as opposed to the full-body control approaches and hence can be implemented conveniently and efficiently in practice. Second, while the existing approaches estimate the coupling effect based on precise models, the proposed ESOs can do that based on much less information about the system model. The proposed approach is verified by four experiments on a real aerial manipulation platform. The experimental results show that the average tracking error can reach 1 cm by the proposed approach as opposed to 10 cm by the PX4 baseline controller. Although force control is not considered specifically in the approach, the system can complete aerial weaving tasks thanks to the ESOs in the presence of drag forces applied to the end-effector during manipulation.Note to Practitioners—Aerial manipulators have received increasing research attention in recent years due to their wide range of applications. In this paper, we particularly focus on the high-precision and robust control of aerial manipulators. We propose a novel control approach that consists of extended state observers (ESOs) for dynamic coupling estimation, ESO-based flight controllers, and a cooperative trajectory planner. Four experiments on a real aerial manipulation platform demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. In future research, we will address the control problem when the aerial manipulator contacts the environment.