Hybrid Kinematics Modelling for an Aerial Robot with Visual Controllable Fluid Ejection

Abstract

This paper studies the projection of high velocity fluid stream at a point target by modelling it (for precision) as an entity of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The `point-and-shoot' capability is homogeneous to a visual servo system in robotics. The proposed concept presents a hybrid kinematics modelling for an aerial platform when performing fluidic jetting. The hybrid kinematics studies the rigid and fluid modelling, essentially allowing the fluidic projectile to resemble an entity of the UAV. Alongside the kinematics model, is a visual compensator which describes how the system can employ Computer Vision (CV) techniques + Convolutional Neural Network (CNN); to accurately track the object in view and manipulate the nozzle control for an active closed-loop visual compensation. This paper also addresses how hybrid kinematics can be exploited for precision nozzle control. The results are evaluated through means of simulations and experiments with actual and synthetic data. This pipeline can be extended to almost any UAV with the similar concept. The prototype was deployed on a public sheltered link-way with staged debris.