Tilt-rotor aerial robots are more dynamic and versatile than fixed-rotor platforms, since the thrust vector and body orientation are decoupled. However, the coordination of servos and propellers (the allocation problem) is not trivial, especially accounting for overactuation and actuator dynamics. We incrementally build and present three novel allocation methods for tilt-rotor aerial robots, comparing them to state-of-the-art methods on a real system performing dynamic maneuvers. We extend the state-of-the-art geometric allocation into a differential allocation, which uses the platform's redundancy and does not suffer from singularities. We expand it by incorporating actuator dynamics and propeller power dynamics. These allow us to model dynamic propeller acceleration limits, bringing two main advantages: balancing propeller speed without the need for nullspace goals and allowing the platform to selectively turn off propellers during flight, opening the door to new manipulation possibilities. We also use actuator dynamics and limits to normalize the allocation problem, making it easier to tune and allowing it to track 70% faster trajectories than a geometric allocation.

Drilling, grinding, and setting anchors on vertical walls are fundamental processes in everyday construction work. Manually doing these works is error-prone, potentially dangerous, and elaborate at height. Today, heavy mobile ground robots can perform automatic power tool work. However, aerial vehicles could be deployed in untraversable environments and reach inaccessible places. Existing drone designs do not provide the large forces, payload, and high precision required for using power tools. This work presents the first aerial robot design to perform versatile manipulation tasks on vertical concrete walls with continuous forces of up to 150 N. The platform combines a quadrotor with active suction cups for perching on walls and a lightweight, tiltable linear tool table. This combination minimizes weight using the propulsion system for flying, surface alignment, and feed during manipulation and allows precise positioning of the power tool. We evaluate our design in a concrete drilling application - a challenging construction process that requires high forces, accuracy, and precision. In 30 trials, our design can accurately pinpoint a target position despite perching imprecision. Nine visually guided drilling experiments demonstrate a drilling precision of 6 mm without further automation. Aside from drilling, we also demonstrate the versatility of the design by setting an anchor into concrete.

Bilateral teleoperation offers an intriguing solution towards shared autonomy with aerial vehicles in contact-based inspection and manipulation tasks. Omnidirectional aerial robots allow for full pose operations, making them particularly attractive in such tasks. Naturally, the question arises whether standard bilateral teleoperation methodologies are suitable for use with these vehicles. In this work, a fully decoupled 6DoF bilateral teleoperation framework for aerial physical interaction is designed and tested for the first time. The method is based on the well established rate control, recentering and interaction force feedback policy. However, practical experiments evince the difficulty of performing de-coupled motions in a single axis only. As such, this work shows that the trivial extension of standard methods is insufficient for omnidirectional teleoperation, due to the operator's physical inability to properly decouple all input DoFs. This suggests that further studies on enhanced haptic feedback are necessary.