20 citations · 37 across the 22 of their papers we have counts for
25 papers
Aerodynamic Promptness of Tilting-Propeller Multirotors
Antonio Franchi
This work develops a geometric theory of aerodynamic promptness for multirotor platforms whose propeller directions depend on a smooth orientation-mechanism configuration. The actu…
Nested Power Models for Multirotor Propulsion: From Aerodynamic Drag to Electrical Losses
Antonio Franchi, Aaron Saini, Ahmed Ali +1
Speed-only aerodynamic power models for multirotor propulsion cannot represent acceleration-dependent effects. This work develops a nested sequence of propulsion-power models that…
Aerial Non-Stop Trajectories Preserving the Equilibrium of Loads Suspended by Variable-Length Cables
Antonio Franchi, Alberto Landi, Chiara Gabellieri
This work studies equilibrium-preserving non-stop trajectories of aerial carriers connected to rigid loads by variable-length cables. Internal-force motions vary the cable directio…
Exact Thrust-Reversal Limits of Bidirectional Propellers under Bounded Motor Inputs
Ahmed Ali, Chiara Gabellieri, Antonio Franchi
Bidirectional propellers are often treated as signed thrust sources, but their thrust is a signed-quadratic function of rotor speed.Thus, thrust reversal necessarily occurs through…
A Morphing-Designed Hexarotor Prototype combining Practical Resilience and Efficiency
Murat Bronz, Mahmoud Hamandi, Elgiz Baskaya +2
This work demonstrates experimentally the existence of a hexarotor prototype, termed Opti-Hexa, that simultaneously achieves practical resilience to single-propeller failures and e…
Aerial Manipulation: Contact, Medium Coupling, and the Geometry of Readiness
Antonio Franchi
Aerial robots are increasingly moving from remote observation toward physical interaction with objects, surfaces, structures, loads, and surrounding flows. This review argues that…
Lie Group Formulation of Recursive Dynamics Algorithms of Higher Order for Floating-Base Robots
Ahmed Ali, Chiara Gabellieri, Antonio Franchi
In this paper, we describe procedures for computing higher-order time derivatives of the Lie-group Newton-Euler, Articulated-Body Inertia, and hybrid dynamics algorithms for floati…
Variable Aerodynamic Damping Actuation via Co-Contraction: A Structural Analogy with Variable Stiffness Actuation
Antonio Franchi
This work identifies a passive aerodynamic damping effect induced by co-contraction in antagonistic redundant propulsion. Complementing prior work on aerodynamic promptness, which…
Sensitivity-Based Tube NMPC for Cooperative Aerial Structures Under Parametric Uncertainty
Giuseppe Silano, Quentin Sablé, Marco Tognon +2
This paper presents a sensitivity-based tube Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) framework for cooperative aerial chains under bounded parametric uncertainty. We consider a p…
Global Geometry of Orthogonal Foliations of Signed-Quadratic Systems
Antonio Franchi
This work formalizes the differential topology of redundancy resolution for systems governed by signed-quadratic actuation maps. By analyzing the minimally redundant case, the glob…
The Geometry of Coordinated Trajectories for Non-stop Flying Carriers Holding a Cable-Suspended Load
Pieter van Goor, Chiara Gabellieri, Antonio Franchi
This work considers the problem of using multiple aerial carriers to hold a cable-suspended load while remaining in periodic motion at all times. Using a novel differential geometr…
Input Dexterity and Output Negotiation in Feedback-Linearizable Nonlinear Systems
Mirko Mizzoni, Pieter van Goor, Barbara Bazzana +1
We introduce a task-relative taxonomy of actuator inputs for nonlinear systems within the input-output feedback-linearization framework. Given a flat output specifying the task, in…
Drag-Aware Aerodynamic Manipulability for Torque-Limited Redundant Multirotors: Aerodynamic Promptness based on the Symmetric Acceleration Capacity
Antonio Franchi
Aerodynamic promptness quantifies how rotor-speed variations generate multirotor wrench variations, but its Euclidean formulation assigns the same local cost to a given rotor accel…
Communications-Aware NMPC for Multi-Rotor Aerial Relay Networks Under Jamming Interference
Giuseppe Silano, Daniel Bonilla Licea, Davide Liuzza +2
Multi-Rotor Aerial Vehicles (MRAVs) are increasingly used in communication-dependent missions where connectivity loss directly compromises task execution. Existing anti-jamming str…
Nonlinear Predictive Control of the Continuum and Hybrid Dynamics of a Suspended Deformable Cable for Aerial Pick and Place
Antonio Rapuano, Yaolei Shen, Federico Califano +2
This paper presents a framework for aerial manipulation of an extensible cable that combines a high-fidelity model based on partial differential equations (PDEs) with a reduced-ord…
Geometric Inverse Flight Dynamics on SO(3) and Application to Tethered Fixed-Wing Aircraft
Antonio Franchi, Chiara Gabellieri
We present a robotics-oriented, coordinate-free formulation of inverse flight dynamics for fixed-wing aircraft on SO(3). Translational force balance is written in the world frame a…
Muscle Coactivation in the Sky: Geometry and Pareto Optimality of Energy vs. Aerodynamic Promptness and Multirotors as Variable Stiffness Actuators
Antonio Franchi
In robotics and biomechanics, trading metabolic cost for kinematic readiness is a well-established principle. This paper formalizes this concept for aerial multirotors through the…
The PenduMAV: A Six-Input Omnidirectional MAV without Internal Forces - Design, Dynamics, and SE(3) Control
Ahmed Ali, Quentin Sablé, Chiara Gabellieri +1
We introduce the PenduMAV, an exactly actuated (6-input) omnidirectional multirotor that structurally eliminates internal forces at equilibria. The vehicle features one actively-ti…
Trajectory control of a suspended load with non-stopping flying carriers
Sofia Girardello, Giulia Michieletto, Angelo Cenedese +2
This work presents the first closed-loop control framework for cooperative payload transportation with non-stopping flying carriers. The proposed method includes a feedback wrench-…
Manipulation of Elasto-Flexible Cables with Single or Multiple UAVs
Chiara Gabellieri, Lars Teeuwen, Yaolei Shen +1
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,…
Cyclic Nullspace Coordination: Perpetual Flight of Aerial Carriers for Static Suspension
Chiara Gabellieri, Yaolei Shen, Martina Paolucci +1
This work demonstrates that the non-stop flights of three or more carriers are compatible with holding a constant pose of a cable-suspended load. It also presents an algorithm for…
Agile and Cooperative Aerial Manipulation of a Cable-Suspended Load
Sihao Sun, Xuerui Wang, Dario Sanalitro +3
Quadrotors can carry slung loads to hard-to-reach locations at high speed. Since a single quadrotor has limited payload capacities, using a team of quadrotors to collaboratively ma…
A Control Theoretic Study on Omnidirectional MAVs with Minimum Number of Actuators and No Internal Forces at Any Orientation
Ahmed Ali, Chiara Gabellieri, Antonio Franchi
We propose a new multirotor aerial vehicle class of designs composed of a multi-body structure in which a main body is connected by passive joints to links equipped with propellers…
Aerial Robots Carrying Flexible Cables: Dynamic Shape Optimal Control via Spectral Method Model
Yaolei Shen, Antonio Franchi, Chiara Gabellieri
In this work, we present a model-based optimal boundary control design for an aerial robotic system composed of a quadrotor carrying a flexible cable. The whole system is modeled b…