Design of an inherently fully dynamically balanced aerial manipulator with omnidirectional workspace

Design of an inherently fully dynamically balanced aerial manipulator with omnidirectional workspace

Bom, Alexander (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)

van der Wijk, V. (mentor)
Hamaza, S. (mentor)
Herder, J.L. (graduation committee)
Goosen, J.F.L. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Mechanical Engineering | Mechatronic System Design (MSD)

2024-02-27

Drones are increasingly used nowadays, primarily for visual inspection tasks facilitated by onboard cameras. The field of aerial manipulation tries to expand the capabilities of drones by attaching a manipulator, enabling physical interaction. Unfortunately, the usability of aerial manipulators is hindered by disturbances resulting from the movements of the manipulator. These disturbances, including reaction forces and a shifting centre of mass, not only affect manipulation accuracy but also pose safety risks by potentially destabilizing the drone. In this thesis, a design is presented that addresses this challenge by leveraging the theory of dynamic balance.
A new design approach of making a manipulator fly, instead of the common approach of mounting a manipulator arm to a drone was used. This new approach avoids interference with the drone's components, allowing to focus on the design of the manipulator arm. Furthermore, it made it possible to create a manipulator which can manipulate above, to the side and underneath itself. This makes the presented manipulator arm more versatile than common aerial manipulators whose workspace is mostly located only above or below the drone. The kinematics, workspace and balance conditions of the manipulator arm are presented. Furthermore, the design's workspace is optimised while the mass of the manipulator is minimized in a bilevel optimisation. Finally, the design is validated both by simulation and measurements performed with the built prototype.
The design presented is the first inherently fully dynamically balanced manipulator with omnidirectional workspace which can be used for aerial manipulation.

Inherent Dynamic Balance
Full Dynamic Balance
Aerial Manipulation
Mechanism Design
Bilevel Optimisation
Manipulator
UAM

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9a295d44-1e95-4911-a4a2-4a96c498fe79

Student theses

master thesis

© 2024 Alexander Bom