Precise Dynamic Modeling and Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Control for an Articulated Aerial Robot in Capturing Process

By carefully investigating the motion of birds of prey, it is seen that in addition to the legs, the claws and their gimbal dynamics play an important role in successful grasping of the specified target. Therefore, in order to achieve an avian-inspired robot, it is essential to consider these degrees of freedom. Having added these degrees of freedom, a precise dynamic analysis is needed to extract the auxiliary equations of motion by which the control design for such an under-actuated multiple-servo articulated flying vehicle system will be possible and in turn, servos’ signals are producible. In this respect, the aim of this study is presenting an extended model of a hunting quadrotor in planar motion and showing the significance of detailed kinetic analysis in designing a model-based controller for the system in pursuit phase. Given the high nonlinearity and dynamic coupling in this integrated system, along with the presence of intense uncertainties and atmospheric and impulsive disturbances, super-twisting sliding mode control (STSMC) is designed and its performance compared with SMC is evaluated through simulation based on some standard metrics.