The experimental validation of a new quadrotor-manipulator is tackled in this paper. In this system, a two-DOF robotic arm is attached to the bottom center of a quadcopter. The arm is designed with a certain topology such that its end-effector can follow a six-DOF desired trajectory which makes our proposed system superior over the others. It can track an arbitrary six-DOF trajectory in the task space with minimum possible actuators. To test the proposed system feasibility, a quadrotor is selected with high enough payload, then an identification experiment is carried out to estimate its parameters. The mathematical model of the whole system is built. An indoor measurement and state estimation schemes are designed and implemented to get the accurate pose of the platform. A motion control system is designed based on a nonlinear PID technique. A realistic simulation framework is built in MATLAB/SIMULINK. Furthermore, a showcase scenario is carried out by real-time tests. Results show the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed system in achieving the position holding and transferring an object to a certain target pose.
Keywords: Aerial manipulation; Identification; PID with gravity compensation; Position holding; Six-DOF positioning system.
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