12 accepted papers
Electric arc noise around energized power lines corrupts drone LiDAR measurements, accumulating in occupancy grids and producing spurious obstacles that degrade navigation reliability. Existing filters designed for environmental clutter such as snow, dust, and rain fail to consistently reject these
Electric arc noise around energized power lines corrupts drone LiDAR measurements, accumulating in occupancy grids and producing spurious obstacles that degrade navigation reliability. Existing filters designed for environmental clutter such as snow, dust, and rain fail to consistently reject these …
The problem of autonomous navigation for UAV inspection remains challenging as it requires effectively navigating in close proximity to obstacles, while accounting for dynamic risk factors such as weather conditions, communication reliability, and battery autonomy. This paper introduces the MOAR pat…
Small multirotors are not capable of landing in complex situations, such as on inclined surfaces, in wind gusts or at high impact velocities. This paper explores the use of lightweight friction shock absorbers, combined with rapid thrust reversal, to increase the landing envelope of a quadrotor. The
Suspended payload requires bidirectional thrust actuation to control their motion. Such systems, like the small suspended aerial cliff sampling system considered in this letter, require strong bidirectional actuators capable of fine positioning and fast disturbance rejection to fight wind gusts. Thi
This letter presents the first method for autonomous exploration of unknown cavities in three dimensions (3D) that focuses on minimizing the distance traveled and the length of tether unwound. Considering that the tether entanglements are little influenced by the global path, our approach employs a
To extend the mission duration of smaller unmanned aerial vehicles, this letter presents a solar recharge approach that uses lakes as landing, charging, and standby areas. The Sherbrooke University Water-Air VEhicle (SUWAVE) is a small aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing on water. A sec
Conventional multirotors are unable to land on inclined surfaces without specialized suspensions and adhesion devices. With the development of a bidirectional rotor, landing maneuvers could benefit from rapid thrust reversal, which would increase the landing envelope without involving the addition o
We present improvements to Sherbrooke's multimodal autonomous drone (S-MAD), a microspine-based perching fixed-wing UAV that enables thrust-assisted climbing along vertical surfaces. Aircraft models are used to predict the performance of various aerial climb regimes and to design a controller for wa
Exoskeletons are increasingly interesting for human assistance applications ranging from rehabilitation to force enhancement. However, today's exoskeletons are relatively slow and lack the mechanical transparency required to complete several daily tasks, mainly due to their bulky and non-back-drivab
With the goal of extending unmanned aerial vehicles mission duration, a solar recharge strategy is envisioned with lakes as preferred charging and standby areas. The Sherbrooke University Water-Air VEhicle (SUWAVE) concept developed is able to takeoff and land vertically on water. The physical proto
Rotary-Wing Air Vehicles (RW-UAVs), also referred to as drones, have gained in popularity over the last few years. Intrusions over secured areas have become common and authorities are actively looking for solutions to detect and localize undesired drones. The sound generated by the propellers of the…