Inspection of powerlines is a hard problem that requires humans to operate in remote locations and dangerous conditions. This paper proposes a quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with rolling-capable perching mechanisms and a depth-vision system for the purpose of autonomous power line inspection. The perching mechanism grips onto the power line, allowing the UAV to withstand external forces such as wind disturbances. Once engaged and applying the desired gripping force, the perching mechanism requires no power through the use of a ratcheting serial elastic transmission, allowing the UAV to perch indefinitely. The depth-vision system automates the perching and unperching procedures by estimating the position and pose of the UAV relative to the powerline. These measurements are sent to a local position controller that guides the UAV to and from the power line. Once perched, rollers in the fingers of the perching mechanism drive the UAV along the powerline, providing a close-up platform for inspection equipment. The proposed system was tested in an outdoor testing environment and shown to autonomously perch and unperch from a steel cable. The grippers force application was analysed and the UAVs powerless robust perch is demonstrated by total disconnect of power while perched. These results suggest that such a system could be a valuable tool for the upkeep of electricity networks.

Over the last decade, a plethora of soft robotic devices have been proposed for the execution of complex grasping and dexterous manipulation tasks. Tasks requiring such increased dexterity are typically executed using fully-actuated, rigid end-effectors equipped with sophisticated sensing and controlled with complex control laws. The new class of soft robotic devices offers an alternative to the traditional end-effectors and facilitates the development of robotic grasping and manipulation solutions that are lightweight, safe to interact with, affordable, and easy to use and control. Within the class of soft robotic grippers and hands, promising recent developments were made in ultra-affordable, even disposable mechanisms based on origami and kirigami structures. This paper proposes a new kirigami-inspired robotic gripper geometry employing compression-based actuation. The compression actuation fundamentally differentiates this new design class from previous kirigami grippers, resulting in more compact robotic grippers with superior grasping capabilities. In particular, we investigate how the shapes of the internal cuts of the kirigami geometries can affect the gripper performance in terms of force exertion and grasping capabilities. A series of experiments are conducted to understand better the working principles behind this new type of kirigami grippers and experimentally validate their efficacy in the execution of complex, everyday life tasks. Further demonstrations of the gripper's capabilities include the pick-and-placing of human hair, egg yolk, and even liquids.

Soft robotic devices have been popular in handling intricate grasping and dexterous manipulation tasks, serving as an alternative to conventional, rigid end-effectors. These devices are relatively simple, lightweight, and cost-effective. Recently, kirigami based structures have been used to create low-cost and disposable soft robotic grippers and hands. These grippers undergo a complex post-contact reconfiguration and conform to an object's shape and size during grasping. In this paper, we explore this new class of soft robotic grippers by utilising them for single-grasp object classification and grasping force estimation. We install simplistic sensors on both the gripper and the actuation system to estimate the state of the kirigami gripper, and the collected data features are employed to train Random Forest models for identifying the grasped object. The classifier trained exhibits a high accuracy of 98 % in discriminating objects of various shapes. When handling food items, the classifier achieves an accuracy of 94 %, while in classifying transparent objects, the classifier obtained again a high accuracy of 97 %. Finally, object-specific force estimation models are triggered based on the classification decision of the Random Forest model to estimate the grasping force exerted by the gripper. These positive outcomes demonstrate the kirigami based robotic gripper's potential for object classification in a variety of circumstances, particularly where vision systems are not available or not reliable.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have revolutionised various industries, such as agriculture, remote sensing, and infrastructure inspection. To explore new designs and improve UAV flight performance, roboticists are seeking inspiration from nature. In this paper, we present a bioinspired tailsitter UAV utilizing shape-morphing wings with aerofoil-shaped artificial feathers. The design of the UAV is inspired by the shape and motion of bird wings, which can change their shape and span to adapt to different flight conditions. The pigeon's wing skeletal structure serves as the basis for the design, and the wing was developed to be fully tendon-driven employing a single motor for each side. The wings can contract and extend, resulting in a contraction ratio of 49% of the extended wing span. In hovering flight mode, the wing contraction shows a 42% decrease in drag for improved wind disturbance rejection. Wind tunnel testing characterises the wing's aerodynamic performance, revealing significant deflection at high angles of attack due to the articulated skeletal structure. The wings demonstrate low power consumption, averaging only 5.1 W during morphing in experiments. Finally, we demonstrate the wing's robustness through outdoor flight experiments. The research findings provide insights into the potential of bioinspired designs for tailsitter UAVs and offer a promising avenue for future research in this field.

A popular solution for connecting different components in modern electronics, such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, etc, is the use of flexible flat cables (FFC). Typically, it takes hours of repetition from a highly trained worker, or a high precision autonomous robot with specialised end effectors to reliably manage the installation of these cables. Human workers are prone to error, and cannot work endlessly without a break, while the robots often come with a significant expense, and require a substantial amount of time to program and reprogram. Additionally, the use of sophisticated sensing elements further increases the complexity of the required control system. As a result, the performance and robustness of such systems is far from sufficient, hindering their mass adoption. The manipulation of FFCs is also quite challenging. In this work, we focus on the robotic manipulation of a plethora of flexible cables, proposing a multi-modal gripper with locally-dexterous tips and active fingernails. The fingers of the gripper are equipped with: i) locally-dexterous fingertips that accommodate manipulation-capable degrees of freedom, ii) a combination of Nitinol-based active fingernails and suction cups that allow picking up and handling of cables that rest on flat surfaces, and iii) compliant finger-pads that conform to the object surface to increase grasping stability. The proposed robotic gripper is equipped with a camera and a perception system that allow for the execution of complex cable manipulation and assembly tasks in dynamic environments.

Grasping and manipulation are complex and demanding tasks, especially when executed in dynamic and unstructured environments. Typically, such tasks are executed by rigid articulated end-effectors, with a plethora of actuators that need sophisticated sensing and complex control laws to execute them efficiently. Soft robotics offers an alternative that allows for simplified execution of these demanding tasks, enabling the creation of robust, efficient, lightweight, and affordable solutions that are easy to control and operate. In this work, we introduce a new class of soft, kirigami-based robotic grippers, we study their post-contact behavior, and we investigate different cut patterns for their development. We follow an experimental approach in which several designs are proposed and employed in a series of grasping and force exertion tests to compare their capabilities and post-contact behavior. The results of such experiments indicate a clear relationship between degree of reconfiguration and grasping force, and provide key insights into the effect of the cut patterns in the performance of the designs. These findings are then used in the design process of an improved version of multi-layer, disposable kirigami grippers that are fabricated employing simple 3D printed layers and silicone rubber using the concept of Hybrid Deposition Manufacturing (HDM). A series of experimental results demonstrate that the proposed design and manufacturing methods can enable the creation of soft, kirigami-based grippers with superior grasping capabilities that can handle delicate, contaminated, and everyday life objects and can even be disposed off in an automated way (e.g., after handling hazardous materials, such as medical waste).

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAV) with Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) capabilities, such as quadrotors, have offered significant value to many research fields and markets. However, only recently, MAV began to be explored as systems capable of interacting with the environment, performing manipulation tasks, and participating in more versatility-demanding operations. Pursuing the goal of turning flying machines into more versatile instruments, many researchers have resorted to using tilting rotor mechanisms to create new aerial vehicle concepts. Nevertheless, most such new concepts are bulky and lack the required versatility, and are restricted to particular applications. In this work, we address these issues by proposing a novel coaxial, versatile, modular tilt-rotor UAV concept. The Omnirotor platform can apply its full thrust in any direction, regardless of the frame’s orientation where it is mounted. The platform does not have any limitations regarding rotation’s range. It can change its thrust direction continuously without needing to unwind back to a specific configuration. With the addition of control surfaces between the coaxial rotors, the Omnirotor is turned into a functional VTOL MAV with hovering capabilities that can be used as a ground vehicle, a UAV, and an all-terrain vehicle.

Small, lighter-than-air (LTA) robotic airship platforms offer an alternative to the more common, rotor-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). LTA vehicles are attractive due to their inherent safety, mobility, low power consumption, and extended flight times, making them suitable for operation in populated indoor environments. This paper explores the use of shared control strategies for teleoperation of miniature indoor robotic airships, paired with an autonomous landing and charging system. The teleoperation scheme passes the operator inputs to the airship actuators in a standardized manner, allowing for simple integration with various control input devices. Specifically, this work employs three different devices with distinctive user input mechanics. The autonomous landing system relies on ArUco markers and an on-board camera for state estimation. The developed docking station relies on a magnet-based winch mechanism that catches and pulls the airship to the appropriate position for charging. Finally, the shared control teleoperation framework is validated through a series of experiments involving user-guided indoor exploration and autonomous landing, with promising results.