A Novel Telescopic Aerial Manipulator for Installing and Grasping the Insulator Inspection Robot on Power Lines: Design, Control, and Experiment

Insulators on power lines require regular maintenance by operators in high-altitude hazardous environments, and the emergence of aerial manipulators provides an efficient and safe support for this scenario. In this study, a lightweight telescopic aerial manipulator system is developed, which can realize the installation and retrieval of insulator inspection robots on power lines. The aerial manipulator has three degrees of freedom, including two telescopic scissor mechanisms and one pitch rotation mechanism. Multiple types of cameras and sensors are specifically configured in the structure, and the total mass of the structure is 2.2 kg. Next, the kinematic model, dynamic model, and instantaneous contact force model of the designed aerial manipulator are derived. Then, the hybrid position/force control strategy of the aerial manipulator and the visual detection and estimation algorithm are designed to complete the operation or complete the task. Finally, the lifting external load test, grasp and installation operation test, as well as outdoor flight operation test are carried out. The test results not only quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the structural design and control design of the system but also verify that the aerial manipulator can complete the accurate automatic grasp and installation operation of the 3.6 kg target device in outdoor flight.