© 2024 SURF
The RAAK Pro MARS4Earth project focuses on the question of whether it is possible to develop a prototype of a modular and autonomous aerial manipulator (drone + robot arm) that can physically interact with a realistic outdoor environment, and what possibilities this creates to several application domains. In essence, the aerial manipulator acts as "arms and hands in the air", which can be used for both active interaction (maintenance of offshore windturbine) and passive interaction (selective plant treatment and firefighting).
The modular aerial manipulator consists of four basic building blocks:
• Mission-specific interaction module(s);
• Intelligent surface exploration;
• Adaptive interaction control algorithm(s);
• Advanced on-board perception and decision module(s).
In the meantime the first version of the aforementioned modular building blocks have been designed and realized by various consortium partners. However, due to the various measure of the COVID 19, consortium partners and researchers were not able to carry out the integration of various modules to realize the complete system. Moreover, it was not possible to conduct thorough tests in the operational environment to evaluate the performance of the first prototype. This is a crucial step tp realize the aerial manipulator with the envisaged modularity and performance.
In this RAAK Impulse project, we will conduct integration of the first versions of the modules developed by the various consortium partners. Moreover, we will conduct thorough test in Emshave and Twente safety campus to investigate the functionality and performance of the developed integrated prototype. With this Impulse, we will be able to make up for the delay caused by the COVID -19 measures and conclude the project by realizing the original objectives of the MARS4Earth project.