Hybrid Impedance-Admittance Control with Multi-Link Aerial Robot for Contact-Rich Surface Sliding Task
2026-08-03 • Robotics
Robotics
AI summaryⓘ
The authors worked on flying robots that have multiple connected parts, which can change shape while flying. These robots need to slide along surfaces smoothly, even when the surface is uneven or unknown, which is tricky. To handle this, the authors combined two control methods: one that resists disturbances and another that adapts to surface changes. They used the robot's joints to adapt to the surface and the rotors to control the sliding motion separately, allowing the robot to slide steadily on unknown surfaces. Their experiments show the robot can slide smoothly and handle bumps well.
multi-link aerial robotaerial manipulationimpedance controladmittance controlforce-control strategiesjoint angle regulationrotor thrust modulationsurface slidingdisturbance robustnesscompliance
Authors
Zicheng Luo, Maolin Lei, Jinjie Li, Yicheng Chen, Zicen Xiong, Moju Zhao
Abstract
Multi-link aerial robots can actively deform their articulated structures during flight, giving them strong potential for aerial manipulation. However, they still face substantial challenges in contact-rich aerial manipulation tasks such as surface sliding, which requires both disturbance robustness and compliance to uncertain surface geometry. Force-control strategies such as impedance and admittance control are commonly employed to address these requirements. Although impedance control can provide disturbance-resistant interaction and admittance control can offer compliant adaptation, their opposite force--motion causalities prevent their simultaneous implementation when applied through the same actuation source, such as the rotor thrusts used by conventional aerial robots. To overcome this limitation, we propose a hybrid impedance--admittance control strategy for a multi-link aerial robot. The articulated morphology enables a functional separation of force and motion regulation across joint and rotor actuation sources. In this framework, admittance behavior is generated through joint angle regulation to enhance adaptive interaction, while impedance behavior is achieved by modulating rotor thrust to regulate the sliding motion. This structural coordination allows the robot to leverage the complementary strengths of both control paradigms. As a result, the multi-link aerial robot achieves resilient and adaptive surface sliding. Experimental results demonstrate robust and compliant sliding performance on unknown surfaces.