Path and Trajectory Planning of a Tethered UAV-UGV Marsupial Robotic System

This letter addresses the problem of trajectory planning in a marsupial robotic system consisting of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) linked to an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) through a non-taut tether with controllable length. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method that addresses t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Martínez Rozas, Simón Ernesto, Alejo, David, Caballero Benítez, Fernando, Merino Cabañas, Luis
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/148999
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/148999
https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2023.3301292
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Autonomous aerial vehicles
Trajectory
Planning
Trajectory planning
Navigation
Three-dimensional displays
Stability analysis
Descripción
Sumario:This letter addresses the problem of trajectory planning in a marsupial robotic system consisting of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) linked to an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) through a non-taut tether with controllable length. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method that addresses the trajectory planning of a marsupial UGV-UAV with a non-taut tether. The objective is to determine a synchronized collision-free trajectory for the three marsupial system agents: UAV, UGV, and tether. First, we present a path planning solution based on optimal Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT*) with novel sampling and steering techniques to speed-up the computation. This algorithm is able to obtain collision-free paths for the UAV and the UGV, taking into account the 3D environment and the tether. Then, the letter presents a trajectory planner based on non-linear least squares. The optimizer takes into account aspects not considered in the path planning, like temporal constraints of the motion imposed by limits on the velocities and accelerations of the robots, or raising the tether's clearance. Simulated and field test results demonstrate that the approach generates obstacle-free, smooth, and feasible trajectories for the marsupial system.