Franchi-Aerial - Robotics - Group - KOM - Control For - UAVs-2020-2B

Aerial Robotics at
Univ. of Twente and LAAS-CNRS:

Recent Results and Perspectives
Antonio Franchi
Associate Professor
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/
LAAS
*A liated Researcher, LAAS-CNRS and CNRS Researcher ‘en detachment’ CNRS
Kick O Meeting Control for UAVs - Master Class @UT 2020-2B 

April 19th 2021
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Physical Aerial Robotics group
LAAS
CNRS
International Group: University of Twente + LAAS-CNRS

Postdocs: D. Bicego (UT), A. E. Jimenez-Cano (LAAS)
PhDs: Y. Abou Dorra (UT), A. A (UT), A. Coelho (UT), M. Hamandi
(LAAS), D. Sanalitro (LAAS), M. Jacquet (LAAS), G. Corsini (LAAS),
Engineers: Q. Sable (UT), H. Das (UT)
Visiting PhDs: G. Nava, M. Giurato, G. Silano, G. Michieletto, C.
Gabellieri, W. Walter, V. Arellano, E. Cataldi, Q. Delamare, …
Alumni: M. Tognon (now at ETH-Z), M. Ryll (now Prof. at TU-M), B.
Yüksel and N. Staub (now Volocopeter) H. Savino, M. Furci, H.
Tello-Chavez,…
Collaborators
A. Mallet (LAAS), J. Cortés (LAAS), d. Sidobre (LAAS), P. Robuffo
Giordano (CNRS), F. Pierri (U. Basilicata), M. Farina, M. Lovera
(Polytech Milan), R. Carli (U. Padua), D. Prattichizzo (UniSiena),
D. Lee (SNU), ….
Main funding sources and sponsors
04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 2

 

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Fully-Actuated Platforms
for Aerial Manipulation
04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr

 
Applications
LAAS
CNRS
Any physical operation in:
Tall infrastructures
(buildings, factories, bridges, airplanes, wind turbines,…)
Hardly accessible ground zones

(disaster areas, mountains, mines,…)

Use Case: AeRoArms H2020 (2015-2019)

LAAS
CNRS
Inspection of industrial pipes
• Crack Detection proximity sensors: need contact

• Weld inspection
• Corrosion detection
• Coating thickness
• Metal sorting
• Material properties

Inspection with Real EC Sensor

LAAS
CNRS
LAAS
CNRS

First Idea: Sensor Rigidly Attached
LAAS
CNRS

Controller + Experiment
LAAS
CNRS
wext
• Nonlinear Control for physical interaction pdq , ṗdq , p̈dq Position

uo = [uot 01⇥3]T
⌘ ⇤ IDA-PBC ui
Tracker
q, q̇
[Yüksel, Secchi,
Bülthoff, Franchi, Damping
y1(q̇q )
udi
Injection ues Energy qq
ICRA 2014 and v0 Shaping
ui
IJRR 2019]
Pre- u
External Compensation
Compens.
qq , q̇q
wext uo
The tip unavoidably swings

structural limitation (due to underactuation)
 
Normal platforms are ‘Singular’
LAAS
CNRS
Only one total thrust direction
Platforms with generic rotor con guration:
[Rajappa, Ryll, Bülthoff,

Franchi, ICRA 2015]
Several total thrust directions become possible

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Underactuated vs Fully Actuated
LAAS
CNRS

Aerial Impedance Shaping
LAAS
CNRS
Independent Position/Orientation Response

[Ryll, Muscio, Pierri, Cataldi, Antonelli, Caccavale, Bicego, Franchi, IJRR 2019]
Sliding+Pushing and Peg-in-Hole
LAAS
CNRS
Sliding &
Pushing Perpendicularly
with given force
[Ryll, Muscio, Pierri, Cataldi, Antonelli,
Caccavale, Franchi, ICRA 2017]
Peg in Hole
with torque-induced
orientation adaptation
[Ryll, Muscio, Pierri, Cataldi, Antonelli,
Caccavale, Bicego, Franchi, IJRR 2019]

 
 
 
 
Redundant Design for Extended Workspace
LAAS
CNRS

Kinodynamic Motion Planning
LAAS
CNRS
[Tognon, Cataldi, Tello Chavez, Antonelli, Cortés, Franchi, RA-L 2018]

Motion Controller accounting for Vibrations
LAAS
CNRS
Controller with Controller with

PD at End-Effector dislocated D-term
unstable, due to stable despite
vibrations/elasticity vibrations/elasticity
[Tognon, …, Franchi, RA-L 2019]

 
 
 
 

Full Inspection with Integrated EC Sensor

LAAS
CNRS
LAAS
CNRS
[Tognon, …, Franchi, RA-L 2019]

Current and Future Challenges

Challenges
LAAS
CNRS
• intrinsic instability
• air turbulences
• factors due to limited power and energy

‣ limited actuation
(10 times less accurate and weaker than grounded robots)
‣ limited sensing
‣ energetic-preference for underactuated designs
‣ need of light-weight designs:
structure exibility and vibrations
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Objectives in Aerial Physical Interaction

LAAS
CNRS
Objective Solutions under Investigation
Fast/Accelerated Stability despite Saturations

Motion Accuracy in Fast Maneuvers
Ef ciency by Design
Endurance
Exploit Contact
Land/Take-off Anywhere
Beyond ‘Simple’ Tasks
Manipulation of Large Objects
Physical Interaction Hard-to-destabilize Designs

with Humans Accurate Force Control

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Fast/Accelerated Motion

Stability with Input Saturations
LAAS
CNRS
Task: keep horizontal orientation with accelerated left-right motion
• Inverse Dynamics
unaware of saturations
‣ instability when impossible
to track of both orientation
and translation exactly
[Rajappa, Ryll, Bülthoff, Franchi, ICRA 2015]
• Geometric control
saturation-aware
‣ high priority on
translation tracking
‣ low priority on
orientation tracking
[Franchi, Carli, Bicego Ryll, T-RO 2018]
 
 

 
 
 
 

Nonlinear MPC
LAAS
CNRS
Direct NMPC control loop

(no inner loop)
Control loop: 300 Hz
Input: propeller force rates
# states: up to 18
[Bicego, Mazzetto, Carli, Farina, Franchi, JIRS 2020]

 
Nonlinear MPC
LAAS
CNRS
Quadrotor Tilt-Hex

Nonlinear MPC
LAAS
CNRS

Nonlinear MPC with Perception Constraints
LAAS
CNRS
[Jacquet & Franchi, IEEE RAL 2020]

Accuracy in Fast Maneuvers
LAAS
CNRS
Protocentric = rst joints at the CoM of the rst body

EE-position are at outputs
no compensation
static compensation
whole-body control
[Tognon, Yüksel, Buondonno,
Whole Body Control for fast manipulation Franchi, IROS 2016]
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Endurance

Energy-e cient Designs
LAAS
CNRS
Collinear design Tilted design

+ energy ef cient - energy inef cient
- underactuated + fully actuated & more robust
Convertible Design: FAST-Hex

+ online trade-off of
ef ciency and
full actuation
+ only one
servomotor more
[Ryll, Bicego, Franchi,

IROS 2016] [Ryll, Bicego, Giurato, Lovera, Franchi, IEEE T-Mech 2021]
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E ciency Exploiting Contact
LAAS
CNRS
Aerial Locomotion
Monkey-Rotor concept
Optimal Control Problem
[Delamare, Robuffo Giordano, Franchi, IEEE RA-L 2018]

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Beyond ‘Standard’ Tasks

Landing on/Take-o from Sloped Surfaces
LAAS
CNRS
Tethered landing on slopes [Tognon, Testa, Rossi

Franchi, IROS 2016]
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LAAS
CNRS
Help ground manipulators handling long/large objects
Kuka Innovation Award 2017

nalist,
[IEEE RAM 2018]
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LAAS
CNRS
From single manned aerial system to cooperative UAVs
Fly-crane System
[Manubens et. al 2013]
Robust Control of the The FlyCrane
LAAS
CNRS
(a) (b) (c)
[Sanalitro, Savino, Tognon, Cortes, Franchi RA-L 2020]

Robust Control of the The FlyCrane
LAAS
CNRS
[Sanalitro, Savino, Tognon, Cortes, Franchi RA-L 2020]

Aerial Manipulation with the FlyCrane
LAAS
CNRS
[Jimenez-Cano, Sanalitro, Tognon2, Franchi, Cortes, under review]

Physical Interaction with Humans

Next level: Co-working with Humans
• collaborating physically with humans in the eld
• task-level autonomous (only high-level supervision)
• tele-operated at the task level

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Flying Coworker
Flying Coworker
help humans working
at elevated places
• Aerial-CORE H2020
8 M€ - 2020-2023
+ partners
• Flying Co-Worker ANR (France)

0.7 M€ - 2019-2022

 
 
Main axes for Aerial-Human Co-working
LAAS
CNRS
• Safety: Designs that are harder to destabilize
• Energy: Energy e cient designs
• Performance: Accurate force control
• Ergonomics: Usability and human-side comfort

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Designs that are ‘Hard-to-destabilize’

LAAS
[Tognon & Franchi, RA-L 2018]

CNRS
Omnidirectionality with
1
xR xdR
2
yR d
yR
[m]
[m]
Unidirectional Propellers
0.5 1
0 0
4
zR zRd 500 ?R ?dR
3 0
[m]
-500
[/ ]
2
-1000
1
-1500
0
150 1000 optimized
z
d d
100
3R 3R AR AR
z
50 design
[/ ]
[/ ]
500
0
z
-50
0 x y y x
1000 x
w1 w2 w3 w4 w5 w6 w7
1000
non-optimized
y
[Hz]
[Hz]
z
500
z
500
design
optimized design
z
0 0
0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120
Time [s] Time [s]
x y y x
x
y

 
 
Designs that are ‘Hard-to-destabilize’
LAAS
CNRS
Omnidirectionality with
Unidirectional Propellers
(Preliminary tests)
[Hamandi, Sawant Tognon &
Franchi, ICUAS 2020]
standard hovering
generic inclination hovering upside down hovering

Designs that Can Recover from Failures
LAAS
CNRS
[Hamandi, Baskaya, Bronz, & Franchi, under submission]

collaboration with ENAC, Toulouse
 
Accurate Force Control
LAAS
CNRS
• Direct force measurements (iCub F/T sensor from IIT)

• Optimization-based control, multi-task and constraints (QP)
[Nava, Sablé, Tognon, Pucci, Franchi RA-L 2019]

New Prototype (Univ. Twente - LAAS)

LAAS
CNRS

Preliminary Experiments at Univ. Twente
LAAS
CNRS

Preliminary Experiments at Univ. Twente
LAAS
CNRS

Conclusions

Conclusions
LAAS
CNRS
Solutions under
Objective Our Maturity
Investigation
Fast/Accelerated Stability despite Saturations prelim. lab exp.

Motion Accuracy in Fast Maneuvers prelim. lab exp.
Ef ciency by Design prelim. lab exp.

Endurance
Exploit Contact simulations
Beyond ‘Simple’ Land/Take-off Anywhere mature lab exp.

Tasks Manipulation of Large Objects prelim. lab exp.
Interaction with Hard-to-destabilize Designs simulations

Humans Accurate Force Control prelim. lab exp.

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Suggested readings
LAAS
CNRS
• Hamandi, Usai, Sablé, Staub, Tognon, Franchi (under submission)

“Survey on Aerial Multirotor Design: a Taxonomy Based on Input Allocation”
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02433405
• Davide Bicego, Jacopo Mazzetto, Ruggero Carli, Marcello Farina, Antonio Franchi
Nonlinear Model Predictive Control with Actuator Constraints for Multi-Rotor Aerial
Vehicles https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.08183
• Nava G, Sablé Q, Tognon M, Pucci D, Franchi A. Direct Force Feedback Control
and Online Multi-task Optimization for Aerial Manipulators. IEEE Robotics and
Automation Letters. 2020;5(2):331-338
• Tognon M, Tello Gasparin E, Sablé Q, Bicego D, Mallet A, et al.. A Truly
Redundant Aerial Manipulator System with Application to Push-And-Slide
Inspection in Industrial Plants. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
2019;4(2):1846-1851
• Ryll M, Muscio G, Pierri F, Cataldi E, Antonelli G, Caccavale F, et al.. 6D Interaction
Control with Aerial Robots: The Flying End-Effector Paradigm. The International
Journal of Robotics Research. 2019;38(9):1045-1062.

 
 
 
Thanks — Questions?

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Aerial Robotics at

Univ. of Twente and LAAS-CNRS:

University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

Kick O Meeting Control for UAVs - Master Class @UT 2020-2B

International Group: University of Twente + LAAS-CNRS

Main funding sources and sponsors

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 2

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr

Any physical operation in:

Hardly accessible ground zones

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 4

Use Case: AeRoArms H2020 (2015-2019)

Inspection of industrial pipes

• Crack Detection proximity sensors: need contact

Inspection with Real EC Sensor

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 6

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 7

• Nonlinear Control for physical interaction pdq , ṗdq , p̈dq Position

The tip unavoidably swings

Only one total thrust direction

Platforms with generic rotor con guration:

[Rajappa, Ryll, Bülthoff,

Several total thrust directions become possible

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 10

Independent Position/Orientation Response

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 12

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 13

[Tognon, Cataldi, Tello Chavez, Antonelli, Cortés, Franchi, RA-L 2018]

Controller with Controller with

[Tognon, …, Franchi, RA-L 2019]

Full Inspection with Integrated EC Sensor

[Tognon, …, Franchi, RA-L 2019]

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr

• factors due to limited power and energy

Objectives in Aerial Physical Interaction

Objective Solutions under Investigation

Fast/Accelerated Stability despite Saturations

Physical Interaction Hard-to-destabilize Designs

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr 19

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr

Task: keep horizontal orientation with accelerated left-right motion

Direct NMPC control loop

[Bicego, Mazzetto, Carli, Farina, Franchi, JIRS 2020]

[Bicego, Mazzetto, Carli, Farina, Franchi, JIRS 2020]

[Jacquet & Franchi, IEEE RAL 2020]

Protocentric = rst joints at the CoM of the rst body

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr

Collinear design Tilted design

Convertible Design: FAST-Hex

[Ryll, Bicego, Franchi,

Optimal Control Problem

[Delamare, Robuffo Giordano, Franchi, IEEE RA-L 2018]

Beyond ‘Standard’ Tasks

04.2021 Antonio Franchi | University of Twente — https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/ — contact: a.franchi@utwente.fr

Tethered landing on slopes [Tognon, Testa, Rossi

Help ground manipulators handling long/large objects

Kuka Innovation Award 2017

Manipulation of Large Objects

From single manned aerial system to cooperative UAVs

(a) (b) (c)

[Sanalitro, Savino, Tognon, Cortes, Franchi RA-L 2020]

[Sanalitro, Savino, Tognon, Cortes, Franchi RA-L 2020]

Kick O Meeting Control for UAVs - Master Class @UT 2020-2B 