Constrained Design Optimization of a Long-Reach Dual-Arm Aerial Manipulator for Maintenance Tasks

Motivated by the convenience of improving the performance of long-reach aerial manipulators in the realization of maintenance tasks on high-voltage power lines, this paper proposes a constrained design optimization method for dual-arm aerial manipulators intended to reduce the weight while increasing the workspace of the robot. This configuration, in which the arms are separated from the aerial platform through a long reach link similar to a pendulum, improves safety in the interaction with human workers, reduces the electromagnetic interference of high voltage power lines on the electronics, as well as the aerodynamic downwash effect due to the propellers. However, the long-reach link introduces undesired vibrations on the manipulator due to its flexibility, so its length imposes a trade-off between the safety of operation as a positive side-effect and vibration as a negative one. Therefore, the cost function in the optimization problem also accounts for this factor, limiting the vibration to a fixed predefined value. A recent optimization approach is used here to minimize the cost function and solve the problem, verified by particle swarm optimization as a basis to confirm the correctness of the obtained data.