Aerial Manipulator

Aerial manipulators combine quadrotors with robotic arms for inspection, manipulation, transportation, and contact-rich interaction in hard-to-reach environments.

Accurate trajectory tracking is challenging because the arm motion and grasped payload introduce strong dynamic coupling, changing inertia, and external disturbances during flight.

This project develops an adaptive whole-body control framework with real-time MPC-based trajectory tracking for aerial manipulation. We designed and built a customized prototype, implemented simulation software for controller evaluation, and validated the system through initial grasping and flight tests.