Manipulation of Elasto-Flexible Cables with Single or Multiple UAVs

This work considers a large class of systems composed of multiple quadrotors manipulating deformable and extensible cables. The cable is described via a discretized representation, which decomposes it into linear springs interconnected through lumped-mass passive spherical joints. Sets of flat outputs are found for the systems. Numerical simulations support the findings by showing cable manipulation relying on flatness-based trajectories. Eventually, we present an experimental validation of the effectiveness of the proposed discretized cable model for a two-robot example. Moreover, a closed-loop controller based on the identified model and using cable-output feedback is experimentally tested.

@article{gabellieri2025_2503.04304,
  title={ Manipulation of Elasto-Flexible Cables with Single or Multiple UAVs },
  author={ Chiara Gabellieri and Lars Teeuwen and Yaolei Shen and Antonio Franchi },
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.04304},
  year={ 2025 }
}