Tactile Odometry in Aerial Physical Interaction

Aerial robots are well-established technologies in environments characterized by reliable GNSS signals and favorable conditions for navigation based on cameras or LiDARs. However, their robustness is significantly challenged whenever ambient lighting is insufficient, GNSS signals are blocked, and range measurements are corrupted, for example, in underground, dark, or foggy environments. There, conventional navigation methods solely based on computer vision are very limited. This work proposes a completely novel approach to Aerial Tactile Odometry for pose estimation of aerial robots exploiting contact to precisely determine the system’s pose. By employing a compliant end-effector design with onboard tactile information by means of a trackball, we infer the complete UAV’s pose with respect to the environment, and the path traveled during contact. Through a large set of experiments, the proposed method shows centimeter-level accuracy for various relative orientations between the environment and the robot as well as for different trajectories. Akin to conventional dead-reckoning odometry methods in wheeled robotics, this method provides a valuable additional source of pose estimation, increasing the robustness of aerial robots – especially aerial manipulators – in the real world.