Design of an Aerial Manipulator System Applied to Capture Missions

Abstract

This paper proposes the design of an aerial manipulator system for capture missions. A novel mechanical layout is designed. A 5-degree-of freedom manipulator and the battery are placed at the front and back part of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) respectively. This layout can expand the task space and minimize the shift of the center of mass. To improve the success rate of capture, inspired by the predation maneuver of birds, online trajectory generation law for capture mission is proposed. The aerial manipulator points towards its target during the flight. Experimental results show that the proposed aerial manipulator system can capture the target on a moving platform successfully.