Our robots
Aerial Platform: the Tilt-Hex
The UAV selected for the challenge is our fully actuated hexarotor: the Tilt-Hex. Full actuation gives the Tilt-Hex an advantage over standard platforms with co-linear propellers in performing tasks that require full pose manipulation, e.g., the pick & place operation required by the challenge.
The platform is characterized by a mass of 2.264 [Kg], a diameter of 1.10 [m], and a height (including lander) of 0.33 [m].
The platform is equipped with six MK3638 Brushless DC motors, each with 12 inch propellers, along with their electronic speed controllers (ESC) BL-CTRL 2.0 from Mikrokopter www.mikrokopter.de. The firmware running on the speed controllers is an in-house developed software (tk3-mikrokopter), implementing a closed-loop speed controller which increases the overall precision of the platform.
Related papers:
- Franchi A, Carli R, Bicego D, Ryll M. "Full-Pose Tracking Control for Aerial Robotic Systems with Laterally-Bounded Input Force". IEEE Trans. on Robotics. 2018.
- Ryll M, Muscio G, Pierri F, Cataldi E, Antonelli G, Caccavale F, et al.. 6D "Physical Interaction with a Fully Actuated Aerial Robot". In 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation. Singapore; 2017.
- Franchi A, Mallet A. "Adaptive Closed-loop Speed Control of BLDC Motors with Applications to Multi-rotor Aerial Vehicles". In 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation. Singapore; 2017.
Ground Platform
The ground platform is based on the Segway RMP 440 with four skid steering wheels. Its volume is 1.4 [m] x 0.85 [m] x 1.20 [m]. The robot is a strong and reliable platform used in our lab since many years. The computing unit of the mobile platform is an Advantech ARK-3440F fanless embedded PC, with an i7 processor. We shall equip the ground robot with a Lightweight Robot 4 (LWR4) Kuka arm