Taylor, J., Yau, W.-Y., Sartoretti, G., & Camci, E. (2024). To Land or Not to Land? Digital Twin Approach for Safe Landing of Multirotors on Complex Terrain. TENCON 2024 - 2024 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), 1895–1898. https://doi.org/10.1109/tencon61640.2024.10902902
Abstract:
Simulation has become a powerful tool in robotics, enabling safe and rapid testing of robots prior to deployment. It also holds great potential to aid in real-time decision-making by emulating the surroundings on-the-fly using onboard perception modules. In this work, we introduce a simulation-based decision-making framework for the safe autonomous landing of a multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over difficult terrains. Our framework consists of first obtaining a terrain model using onboard sensors. It then assesses a range of possible landing configurations using a digital twin of the UAV in a high-fidelity physics-based simulation with PX4 firmware running in-the-loop. Finally, it identifies the safest simulated landing configuration and uses this to perform the landing in the real world. We validate our framework over complex, previously unseen terrains with a real multirotor. Our framework matches human-level judgment on how best to land on multiple instances of complex terrain and perform safe landings in real-world tests. This can be seen at https://youtu.be/G3nzaBFDHBY. These results show the potential of our approach for aerial robotics applications involving physical interaction.
License type:
Publisher Copyright
Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research - Robotics - Horizontal Technology Coordinating Office
Grant Reference no. : C211518001
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research - Robotics - Horizontal Technology Coordinating Office
Grant Reference no. : C221518005