A dexterous and compliant aerial continuum manipulator for cluttered and constrained environments.

ABSTRACT: Aerial manipulators can manipulate objects while flying, allowing them to perform tasks in dangerous or inaccessible areas. Advanced aerial manipulation systems are often based on rigid-link mechanisms, but the balance between dexterity and payload capacity limits their broader application. Combining unmanned aerial vehicles with continuum manipulators emerges as a solution to this trade-off, but these systems face challenges with large actuation systems and unstable control. To address these challenges, we propose Aerial Elephant Trunk, an aerial continuum manipulator inspired by the elephant trunk, featuring a small-scale quadrotor and a dexterous, compliant tendon-driven continuum arm for versatile operation in both indoor and outdoor settings. We develop state estimation for the quadro

SUBMITTER: Peng R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11751315 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature