Trajectory Planning for Sensors and Payloads Moving Through Mixed and Uncertain Media
Camilo Ordonez, David Jay, Christian Hubicki
Abstract
Heterogeneous robotic systems in the field often encounter bodies of water with unknown traversability properties. One approach to measuring depth, current, soil composition, etc. is via an in situ underwater sensor being dragged by cable attached to a maneuvering airborne multicopter - which entails a novel motion planning and control problem with mixed resistive media. In this work we propose a framework to plan trajectories for future characterization sensors and payloads moving through mixed (air-water) media while considering uncertainty in the depth of the underwater ground surface. The methodology is applied to example underactuated systems with suspended payloads of increasing levels of complexity, including a cable robot and 4- and 8-DOF multicopter systems. Simulation studies employing trajectory optimization indicate that under certain payload configurations and task constraints, there are maneuvers in which it is more efficient to drag the payloads through water than through air. The paper also includes preliminary experiments with a testbed cable robot platform.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{icra2022_trajectoryplanni,
title = {Trajectory Planning for Sensors and Payloads Moving Through Mixed and Uncertain Media},
author = {Camilo Ordonez and David Jay and Christian Hubicki},
booktitle = {ICRA 2022},
year = {2022}
}