Quadrotor-Based Aerial Manipulator Robotics

Aerial manipulators are being increasingly used in many applications. This paper surveys several quadrotor-based aerial manipulators (QAM) that have been designed and reported in the literature. After a brief review of the history of the developments in aerial manipulator systems, it presents the main components of the QAM system and the various challenges faced by designers in terms of controller design, the various methods used and some actual control system implementations. Finally, the paper presents a complete design and hardware field experiment of an in-house-designed QAM system.