Cooperative Load Transportation with Quadrotors using Adaptive RISE Control

The problem of transporting cable-suspended payloads using two quadrotors is analyzed in this work. The system kinematics are treated using a virtual structure formation controller, which generates the acceleration references commanded to the aerial vehicles. The disturbances caused by the payload are treated as unmodeled disturbances and a novel robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) controller is proposed, guaranteeing the asymptotic convergence of the tracking errors. A model reference adaptive control is also incorporated into the RISE controller, combining the advantages of adaptive and robust control. The proposal is validated by numerous experiments using two quadrotors to transport a bar-shaped payload in adverse conditions. The results allow the conclusion that the proposed system is capable of performing transportation and orientation tasks with the payload, subject to translational accelerations up to 3.5 m/s $$^2$$ .