A nonlinear force observer for quadrotors and application to physical interactive tasks

In order to properly control the physical interactive behavior of a flying vehicle, the information about the forces acting on the robot is very useful. Force/torque sensors can be exploited for measuring such information but their use increases the cost of the equipment, the weight to be carried by the robot and, consequently, it reduces the flying autonomy. Furthermore, a sensor can measure only the force/torque applied to the point it is mounted in. In order to overcome these limitations, in this paper we introduce a Lyapunov based nonlinear observer for estimating the external forces applied to a quadrotor. Furthermore, we show how to exploit the estimated force for shaping the interactive behavior of the quadrotor using Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity Based Controller (IDA-PBC). The results of the paper are validated by means of simulations.

[1]  Arjan van der Schaft,et al.  Interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control of port-controlled Hamiltonian systems , 2002, Autom..

[2]  Stefano Stramigioli,et al.  Control of Interactive Robotic Interfaces: A Port-Hamiltonian Approach (Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics) , 2007 .

[3]  Raffaello D'Andrea,et al.  Admittance control for physical human-quadrocopter interaction , 2013, 2013 European Control Conference (ECC).

[4]  Rogelio Lozano,et al.  Quad Rotorcraft Control: Vision-Based Hovering and Navigation , 2012 .

[5]  Septimiu E. Salcudean,et al.  Estimation of environment forces and rigid-body velocities using observers , 1994, Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[6]  Sungchul Kang,et al.  External force estimation using joint torque sensors for a robot manipulator , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[7]  Vincenzo Lippiello,et al.  Exploiting redundancy in Cartesian impedance control of UAVs equipped with a robotic arm , 2012, 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[8]  Guilherme V. Raffo,et al.  An integral predictive/nonlinear Hinfinity control structure for a quadrotor helicopter , 2010, Autom..

[9]  Reza Haghighi,et al.  Lyapunov-Based Nonlinear Disturbance Observer for Serial n-Link Robot Manipulators , 2009, J. Intell. Robotic Syst..

[10]  Peter J. Gawthrop,et al.  A nonlinear disturbance observer for robotic manipulators , 2000, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[11]  Dongjun Lee,et al.  Hybrid force/motion control and internal dynamics of quadrotors for tool operation , 2013, 2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[12]  Antonio Franchi,et al.  Turning a near-hovering controlled quadrotor into a 3D force effector , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

[13]  Dongjun Lee,et al.  MECHANICS AND CONTROL OF QUADROTORS FOR TOOL OPERATION , 2012 .

[14]  Xingzhi Zhan,et al.  Extremal Eigenvalues of Real Symmetric Matrices with Entries in an Interval , 2005, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl..

[15]  Gamini Dissanayake,et al.  Improved State Estimation in Quadrotor MAVs: A Novel Drift-Free Velocity Estimator , 2015, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.

[16]  Zheng Wang,et al.  Regulation control of underactuated mechanical systems based on a new matching equation of port-controlled hamiltonian systems , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[17]  Antonio Franchi,et al.  Reshaping the physical properties of a quadrotor through IDA-PBC and its application to aerial physical interaction , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).