Mechanical Design of a 6-DOF Aerial Manipulator for assembling bar structures using UAVs

The aim of this paper is to show a methodology to perform the mechanical design of a 6-DOF lightweight manipulator for assembling bar structures using a rotary-wing UAV. The architecture of the aerial manipulator is based on a comprehensive performance analysis, a manipulability study of the different options and a previous evaluation of the required motorization. The manipulator design consists of a base attached to the UAV landing gear, a robotic arm that supports 6-DOF, and a gripper-style end effector specifically developed for grasping bars as a result of this study. An analytical expression of the manipulator kinematic model is obtained.