@inproceedings{,

title = {H-ModQuad: Modular Multi-Rotors with 4, 5, and 6 Controllable DOF},

author = {Jiawei Xu and Diego S. D’Antonio and David Saldaña},

url = {https://youtu.be/olKYuWPWxHo

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.04048.pdf},

doi = {10.1109/ICRA48506.2021.9561016},

isbn = {978-1-7281-9077-8},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-10-18},

urldate = {2021-10-18},

booktitle = {2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},

abstract = {Traditional aerial vehicles are usually custom-designed for specific tasks. Although they offer an efficient solution, they are not always able to adapt to changes in the task specification, e.g., increasing the payload. This applies to quadrotors, having a maximum payload and only four controllable degrees of freedom, limiting their adaptability to the task’s variations. We propose a versatile modular robotic system that can increase its payload and degrees of freedom by assembling heterogeneous modules; we call it H-ModQuad. It consists of cuboid modules propelled by quadrotors with tilted propellers that can generate forces in different directions. By connecting different types of modules, an H-ModQuad can increase its controllable degrees of freedom from 4 to 5 and 6. We model the general structure and propose three controllers, one for each number of controllable degrees of freedom. We extend the concept of the actuation ellipsoid to find the best reference orientation that can maximize the performance of the structure. Our approach is validated with experiments using actual robots, showing the independence of the translation and orientation of a structure.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{nokey,

title = {Non-Prehensile Manipulation of Cuboid Objects Using a Catenary Robot},

author = {Gustavo A. Cardona and Diego S. D’Antonio and Cristian-Ioan Vasile and David Saldaña},

url = {https://youtu.be/Ou6DPlXPE7A},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-08-13},

urldate = {2021-08-13},

abstract = {Transporting objects using quadrotors with cables has been widely studied in the literature. However, most of those approaches assume that the cables are previously attached to the load by human intervention. In tasks where multiple objects need to be moved, the efficiency of the robotic system is constrained by the requirement of manual labor. Our approach uses a non-stretchable cable connected to two quadrotors, which we call the catenary robot, that fully automates the transportation task. Using the cable, we can roll and drag the cuboid object (box) on planar surfaces. Depending on the surface type, we choose the proper action, dragging for low friction, and rolling for high friction. Therefore, the transportation process does not require any human intervention as we use the cable to interact with the box without requiring fastening. We validate our control design in simulation and with actual robots, where we show them rolling and dragging boxes to track desired trajectories.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{9571068,

title = {Adaptive Control for Cooperative Aerial Transportation Using Catenary Robots},

author = {Gustavo A. Cardona and Diego S. D’Antonio and Rafael Fierro and David Saldaña},

url = {https://youtu.be/MeEGL_PUBx4},

doi = {10.1109/AIRPHARO52252.2021.9571068},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

urldate = {2021-01-01},

booktitle = {2021 Aerial Robotic Systems Physically Interacting with the Environment (AIRPHARO)},

pages = {1-8},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{finding2021gabrich,

title = {Finding Structure Configurations for Flying Modular Robots},

author = {Bruno Gabrich and David Saldaña and Mark Yim},

doi = {10.1109/IROS51168.2021.9636086},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

urldate = {2021-01-01},

booktitle = {2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},

pages = {6970-6976},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}