Kinematics and Statics of Cooperative Multi-Robot Aerial Manipulation With Cables

This paper addresses the forward and inverse kinematics of payloads carried by aerial robots. We address the cases with one, two, and three aerial robots and derive the kinematics and conditions for stable static equilibrium. For the case with one or two robots, we can establish the maximum number of equilibrium positions. The three-robot case is seen to be much harder primarily because of the non-negative tension constraints. We restrict the set of possible solutions to the forward and inverse problems by considering the equations of static equilibrium and kinematic constraints. Analytic and numeric methods to determine equilibrium configurations and stability are presented.