LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping

Nicolai Iversen; Oscar Bowen Schofield; Emad Ebeid

doi:10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591

LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping

Nicolai Iversen^*, Oscar Bowen Schofield, Emad Ebeid

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Reaching and performing operations on overhead power line cables is challenging and mainly carried out by helicopters or foot patrol. This paper proposes a light-weight and low-cost drone platform for detecting overhead cables to autonomously grasp them through an integrated soft gripper. The cable detection system utilizes a pair of solid-state LiDARs with differing field-of-views and a small onboard companion computer to detect 38mm cables while maintaining accurate alignment to perform grasping. A full drone airframe with a soft gripper has been designed, analyzed and manufactured to serve this work. A set of algorithms and software tools have been developed to accomplish an autonomous drone mission to reach a cable. The overall drone system (LOCATOR) has been tested and validated in simulation and verified in an outdoor setup that reflects the real power line infrastructure.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR),
Editors	Lino Marques, Majid Khonji, Jorge Dias
Publisher	IEEE
Publication date	2020
Pages	205-212
ISBN (Electronic)	978-0-7381-1123-0
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591
Publication status	Published - 2020
Event	2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR) - Online, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Duration: 4. Nov 2020 → 6. Nov 2020

Conference

Conference	2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)
Location	Online
Country/Territory	United Arab Emirates
City	Abu Dhabi
Period	04/11/2020 → 06/11/2020

Keywords

Mechanisms
Manipulation
Embedded Control
Mechatronics
Aerial Robotics

Documents & Links

10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591

LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft GraspingAccepted manuscript, 5.77 MB

Invited panellist speaker at the 2020 IEEE-RAS International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)
Iversen, N. (Guest lecturer)
5. Nov 2020
Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations

File

2 Finished

EU H2020: Drones4Safety
Ebeid, E. S. M. (Coordinator), Lindberg, A. (Project manager), Malle, N. H. (PhD student) & Nyboe, F. F. (PhD student)
01/06/2020 → 31/05/2023
Project: EU
IFD: Drones4Energy
Ebeid, E. S. M. (Coordinator), Lindberg, A. (Project manager), Iversen, N. (Project participant) & Schofield, O. B. (Project participant)
01/12/2018 → 30/11/2021
Project: Research

Cite this

@inproceedings{7e6daa258e244babb54ffa947b62942f,

title = "LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping",

abstract = "Reaching and performing operations on overhead power line cables is challenging and mainly carried out by helicopters or foot patrol. This paper proposes a light-weight and low-cost drone platform for detecting overhead cables to autonomously grasp them through an integrated soft gripper. The cable detection system utilizes a pair of solid-state LiDARs with differing field-of-views and a small onboard companion computer to detect 38mm cables while maintaining accurate alignment to perform grasping. A full drone airframe with a soft gripper has been designed, analyzed and manufactured to serve this work. A set of algorithms and software tools have been developed to accomplish an autonomous drone mission to reach a cable. The overall drone system (LOCATOR) has been tested and validated in simulation and verified in an outdoor setup that reflects the real power line infrastructure.",

keywords = "Mechanisms, Manipulation, Embedded Control, Mechatronics, Aerial Robotics",

author = "Nicolai Iversen and Schofield, {Oscar Bowen} and Emad Ebeid",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591",

language = "English",

pages = "205--212",

editor = "Lino Marques and Majid Khonji and Jorge Dias",

booktitle = "2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR),",

publisher = "IEEE",

address = "United States",

note = "2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR) ; Conference date: 04-11-2020 Through 06-11-2020",

}

Iversen, N, Schofield, OB & Ebeid, E 2020, LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping. in L Marques, M Khonji & J Dias (eds), 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR),. IEEE, pp. 205-212, 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 04/11/2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591

LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping. / Iversen, Nicolai; Schofield, Oscar Bowen ; Ebeid, Emad.
2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR),. ed. / Lino Marques; Majid Khonji; Jorge Dias. IEEE, 2020. p. 205-212.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping

AU - Iversen, Nicolai

AU - Schofield, Oscar Bowen

AU - Ebeid, Emad

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Reaching and performing operations on overhead power line cables is challenging and mainly carried out by helicopters or foot patrol. This paper proposes a light-weight and low-cost drone platform for detecting overhead cables to autonomously grasp them through an integrated soft gripper. The cable detection system utilizes a pair of solid-state LiDARs with differing field-of-views and a small onboard companion computer to detect 38mm cables while maintaining accurate alignment to perform grasping. A full drone airframe with a soft gripper has been designed, analyzed and manufactured to serve this work. A set of algorithms and software tools have been developed to accomplish an autonomous drone mission to reach a cable. The overall drone system (LOCATOR) has been tested and validated in simulation and verified in an outdoor setup that reflects the real power line infrastructure.

AB - Reaching and performing operations on overhead power line cables is challenging and mainly carried out by helicopters or foot patrol. This paper proposes a light-weight and low-cost drone platform for detecting overhead cables to autonomously grasp them through an integrated soft gripper. The cable detection system utilizes a pair of solid-state LiDARs with differing field-of-views and a small onboard companion computer to detect 38mm cables while maintaining accurate alignment to perform grasping. A full drone airframe with a soft gripper has been designed, analyzed and manufactured to serve this work. A set of algorithms and software tools have been developed to accomplish an autonomous drone mission to reach a cable. The overall drone system (LOCATOR) has been tested and validated in simulation and verified in an outdoor setup that reflects the real power line infrastructure.

KW - Mechanisms

KW - Manipulation

KW - Embedded Control

KW - Mechatronics

KW - Aerial Robotics

U2 - 10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591

DO - 10.1109/SSRR50563.2020.9292591

M3 - Article in proceedings

SP - 205

EP - 212

BT - 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR),

A2 - Marques, Lino

A2 - Khonji, Majid

A2 - Dias, Jorge

PB - IEEE

T2 - 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)

Y2 - 4 November 2020 through 6 November 2020

ER -

LOCATOR - Lightweight and Low-Cost Autonomous Drone System for Overhead Cable Detection and Soft Grasping

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Documents & Links

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Related activities

Invited panellist speaker at the 2020 IEEE-RAS International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)

Related projects

EU H2020: Drones4Safety

IFD: Drones4Energy

Cite this