Manipulation of Elasto-Flexible Cables with Single or Multiple UAVs
Chiara Gabellieri, Lars Teeuwen, Yaolei Shen, Antonio Franchi
TL;DR
The paper addresses manipulating deformable, extensible cables with one or more UAVs by adopting a discretized elasto-flexible cable model composed of masses connected by springs. It establishes differential flatness for a broad class of tethered multi-UAV systems and identifies flat outputs as positions of selected cable points, supported by simulations. An experimental validation with two UAVs demonstrates the model's accuracy and a closed-loop, cable-output feedback controller robust to parameter uncertainties. The work advances planning and control for aerial manipulation of flexible cables, with practical implications for applications requiring precise cable shaping and dynamic reconfiguration.
Abstract
This work considers a large class of systems composed of multiple quadrotors manipulating deformable and extensible cables. The cable is described via a discretized representation, which decomposes it into linear springs interconnected through lumped-mass passive spherical joints. Sets of flat outputs are found for the systems. Numerical simulations support the findings by showing cable manipulation relying on flatness-based trajectories. Eventually, we present an experimental validation of the effectiveness of the proposed discretized cable model for a two-robot example. Moreover, a closed-loop controller based on the identified model and using cable-output feedback is experimentally tested.