A Bio-Inspired Manipulator with Claw Prototype for Winged Aerial Robots: Benchmark for Design and Control
Robotics, Vision and Control Laboratory at the Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos s.n., 41092 Sevilla, Spain
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Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(18), 6516; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186516
Received: 4 August 2020
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Revised: 8 September 2020
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Accepted: 17 September 2020
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Published: 18 September 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Robotics and Automation)
Nature exhibits many examples of birds, insects and flying mammals with flapping wings and limbs offering some functionalities. Although in robotics, there are some examples of flying robots with wings, it has not been yet a goal to add to them some manipulation-like capabilities, similar to ones that are exhibited on birds. The flying robot (ornithopter) that we propose improves the existent aerial manipulators based on multirotor platforms in terms of longer flight duration of missions and safety in proximity to humans. Moreover, the manipulation capabilities allows them to perch in inaccessible places and perform some tasks with the body perched. This work presents a first prototype of lightweight manipulator to be mounted to an ornithopter and a new control methodology to balance them while they are perched and following a desired path with the end effector imitating their beaks. This allows for several possible applications, such as contact inspection following a path with an ultrasonic sensor mounted in the end effector. The manipulator prototype imitates birds with two-link legs and a body link with an actuated limb, where the links are all active except for the first passive one with a grabbing mechanism in its base, imitating a claw. Unlike standard manipulators, the lightweight requirement limits the frame size and makes it necessary to use micro motors. Successful experimental results with this prototype are reported.
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Keywords:
winged animals with the body perched; underactuated mechanical systems; lightweight manipulator; trajectory tracking control
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MDPI and ACS Style
Feliu-Talegon, D.; Acosta, J.Á.; Suarez, A.; Ollero, A. A Bio-Inspired Manipulator with Claw Prototype for Winged Aerial Robots: Benchmark for Design and Control. Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 6516. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186516
AMA Style
Feliu-Talegon D, Acosta JÁ, Suarez A, Ollero A. A Bio-Inspired Manipulator with Claw Prototype for Winged Aerial Robots: Benchmark for Design and Control. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10(18):6516. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186516
Chicago/Turabian StyleFeliu-Talegon, Daniel, José Á. Acosta, Alejandro Suarez, and Anibal Ollero. 2020. "A Bio-Inspired Manipulator with Claw Prototype for Winged Aerial Robots: Benchmark for Design and Control" Applied Sciences 10, no. 18: 6516. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186516
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