Jimenez Cano, Antonio Enrique (Universidad de Sevilla), Heredia, Guillermo (University of Seville), Ollero, Anibal (Universidad de Sevilla)

Aerial Manipulator with a Compliant Arm for Bridge Inspection

Scheduled for presentation during the "UAS Applications - VI" (ThC4), Thursday, June 15, 2017, 16:40−17:00, Lummus Island

2017 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, June 13-16, 2017, Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL,

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 17, 2024

Abstract

This paper presents the design, development and testing of a 4-DoF aerial manipulator for bridge inspection, where the arm is placed at the upper part of the multirotor body. The manipulator joints are equipped with a compliant mechanism that allows the contact with the environment reducing the influence over the platform stability. The transmission mechanism consists of two pairs of springs and a potentiometer for measuring the angular deflection between the servo and the joint angular position, which allows the estimation of the contact forces. Experimental tests have been done with the aerial manipulator placing the end effector at different points in the lower part of a bridge girder, which is needed by bridge inspectors to measure girder’s deflections over time.