DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n2z34tn6w
title: Agile and cooperative aerial manipulation of a cable-suspended load

description: 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 manipulate a heavy object is
 a scalable and promising solution. However, existing control algorithms
 for multi-lifting systems only enable low-speed and low-acceleration
 operations due to the complex dynamic coupling between quadrotors and the
 load, limiting their use in time-critical missions such as search and
 rescue. In this work, we present a solution to significantly
 enhance the agility of cable-suspended multi-lifting systems. Unlike
 traditional cascaded solutions, we introduce a trajectory-based framework
 that solves the whole-body kinodynamic motion planning problem online,
 accounting for the dynamic coupling effects and constraints between the
 quadrotors and the load. The planned trajectory is provided to the
 quadrotors as a reference in a receding-horizon fashion and is tracked by
 an onboard controller that observes and compensates for the cable
 tension. Real-world experiments demonstrate that our framework
 can achieve at least eight times greater acceleration than
 state-of-the-art methods to follow agile trajectories. Our method
 can even perform complex maneuvers such as flying through narrow passages
 at high speed. Additionally, it exhibits high robustness against
 load uncertainties and does not require adding any sensors to the load,
 demonstrating strong practicality. Here, we provide the raw data obtained
 in real-world experiments, including pose setpoint control, trajectory
 tracking of a fast reference, pose setpoint control and trajectory
 tracking while carrying a sloshing load, and obstacle avoidance.
description: # Agile and cooperative aerial manipulation of a cable-suspended load
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n2z34tn6w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n2z34tn6w) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset includes ROS bag files collected during the flight experiments. All ROS topics during the experiments are collected and recorded. The data set includes flights of * Trajectory tracking (Fast reference) * Trajectory tracking (Fast reference) with a sloshing load * Trajectory tracking (Fast reference) under reduced thrust limits * Trajectory tracking (Fast reference) under random-walk quadrotor state estimation errors * Setpoint tracking * Obstacle avoidance (Horizontal gap) * Obstacle avoidance (Vertical gap) ### Files and variables The relevant topics in the bag files are: * CPU time: /cpu_time * Cable states: /drone[x]/cable * Reference thrust: /drone[x]/ref_thrust * Quadrotor states: /falcon[x]/agiros_pilot/state * Quadrotor IMU data: /falcon[x]/imu * Load estimated states: /load/odometry * Load mocap measurements: /mocap/load/pose  #### File: trajectory_tracking_fast.bag #### File: trajectory_tracking_fast_limited_thrust.bag #### File: setpoint_tracking.bag **Description:** /drone1, /drone2, /drone3, are associated with namespace of /falcon4, /falcon6, /falcon3. #### File: trajectory_tracking_fast_sloshing_load.bag #### File: obstacle_flythrough_horizontal_gap.bag #### File: obstacle_flythrough_vertical_gap.bag **Description:** /drone1, /drone2, /drone3, are associated with namespace of /falcon4, /falcon2, /falcon3. #### File: trajectory_tracking_fast_quadrotor_state_estimation_error.bag **Description:** /drone1, /drone2, /drone3, are associated with namespace of /falcon4, /falcon2, /falcon3. The quadrotor state estimation error for drone[x] is recorded in the topic /falcon[x]/agirospilot/Logger/EKF/ ## Code/software To visualize the .bag file, the ros / ros2 needs to be installed, depending on the OS version. * Detailed installation guide of ros ([https://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Installation](https://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Installation)) * Detailed installation guide of ros2 ([https://docs.ros.org/en/foxy/index.html](https://docs.ros.org/en/foxy/index.html)) * Then, we recommend using plotjuggler ([https://github.com/facontidavide/PlotJuggler](https://github.com/facontidavide/PlotJuggler)) as the visualization tool of the bag file. * bag files can also be viewed with Foxglove Studio