A modified impedance control for physical interaction of UAVs

This paper proposes a modified impedance control strategy for a generic robotic system that can interact with an unknown environment or can be moved by a human. The controller makes use of a virtual mass, coupled to the robotic system, which allows for stable interaction. The focus is mainly on unmanned aerial vehicles that are required to get into contact with the environment to perform a specific task on it and that can be shifted by humans. The control architecture is validated both in simulations, on a 1-dimensional benchmark, and in experiments on a real quadrotor flying vehicle.