This paper presents a control method for a cable-suspended aerial manipulator performing high-altitude contact tasks. The target tasks include polishing and wiping on planar and curved surfaces, in which the end-effector must maintain a desired contact force while the suspended aerial manipulator remains stable against contact-induced disturbances. The proposed framework consists of a winch-based attitude and altitude controller, a propulsion controller for horizontal position and yaw stabilization, and a task-space manipulator controller with admittance-based force regulation. The winch system regulates the roll, pitch, and altitude of the platform by adjusting the cable lengths. The propulsion system counteracts horizontal disturbances through damping control, position regulation, disturbance compensation, and constrained control allocation. The manipulator generates a reference end-effector trajectory from the contact-force error along the surface-normal direction and tracks this reference using closed-loop inverse kinematics. Simulation results for side-plane, bottom-plane, side-curved, and bottom-curved contact tasks demonstrate that the proposed method maintains the desired contact force while suppressing platform displacement during contact.
This paper presents a tiltable cable-suspended aerial manipulation (SAM) system designed to improve the utility of aerial manipulators in industrial settings. Although drone-robot arm systems have shown promise, suspended configurations encounter notable stability challenges, particularly during inclined operations. To tackle these challenges, we performed simulation-based analyses focusing on the system's kinematics, dynamic response, and thrust requirements under tilted conditions. We utilized Monte Carlo sampling and forward kinematics to assess the workspace and manipulability. The findings indicated that each propeller needs to generate over 32 N of thrust to maintain stable control. Additionally, simulation experiments showed that the system can uphold its attitude and execute end-effector motions effectively, even in the presence of disturbances. This study establishes a foundational verification step toward developing a physical SAM system capable of safe and robust operation in inclined scenarios.
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