Mechanism For Perching On Smooth Surfaces Using Aerial Impacts

For many applications the battery life is the limiting factor for a UAV. Perching on the environment extends the operating time of the drone, which can be useful in applications such as surveillance (temporary security measures) and maintenance, and can provide additional stability for precise manipulation and reparation tasks. However, on smooth surfaces, such as glass or the surface of the blades of a wind-turbine, perching is challenging, as the surface should not be damaged. This video shows an experiment in which a drone perches on a smooth surface. A drone is presented with a manipulator that consists of three beams in a triangle structure, with a vacuum-cup on the end of the middle beam.The drone impacts the environment, which ensures sufficient vacuum in the vacuum-cup and a proper perch. Then the drone can be turned off. After a small period the drone is enabled again and takes off. Note that the procedure is performed by a person using an user-interface, while the drone is controlled with position and orientation controllers. Note that this work is an application based on the knowledge gained from the work “Compliant Aerial Manipulators: Developing the New Generation of Aerial Robotic Workers”. The work has been extended to automate the perch and actively maintain the vacuum-level in the perched state in the work “Autonomous And Sustained Perching On Smooth Surfaces”.