Robust Nonlinear Control of Aerial Manipulators

Author(s)

de Morais, Junio E. ; Cardoso, Daniel N. ; Raffo, Guilherme, V

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF CONTROL AUTOMATION AND ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS; v. 34, n. 1, p. 17-pg., 2022-10-16.

Abstract

This paper presents single-layer robust nonlinear controllers for the unmanned aerial manipulator (UAM) trajectory tracking problem. The multi-body dynamical modeling of an underactuated UAM is conducted from the perspective of its end-effector using the Euler-Lagrange formalism. Accordingly, two single-layer nonlinear controllers are designed based on the classic H-infinity and the novel W-infinity control approaches for robust trajectory tracking of the UAM end-effector. The nonlinear H-infinity and W-infinity controllers are implemented in a hardware-in-the-loop framework using a simulator developed on Gazebo and ROS platforms, based on the computer-aided design model of the UAM. The performance of the controllers is evaluated when executing tasks such as object grasping, extension and retraction of the manipulator arm, hovering, and tracking a time-varying trajectory, while the UAM is affected by disturbances as ground effect, environment wind, and parametric and structural uncertainties. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/50851-0 - INCT 2014: National Institute of Science and Technology for Cooperative Autonomous Systems Applied in Security and Environment
• Grantee: Marco Henrique Terra
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants