Cooperative Aerial Manipulation

← All Research Areas

Overview

Cooperative aerial manipulation involves multiple UAVs working together to grasp, transport, or manipulate objects that a single UAV cannot handle alone. This requires tight coordination in both formation geometry and force application, presenting challenges in distributed control, geometric guidance, and real-time constraint satisfaction.

My research in this area combines formation control principles with geometric guidance laws to enable coordinated multi-UAV manipulation. The work addresses load sharing, cable-suspended transport, and cooperative grasping scenarios.

Key Contributions

  • Multi-UAV formation control strategies for cooperative load transport.

  • Geometric guidance principles applied to cooperative manipulation tasks.

  • Distributed coordination algorithms for cable-suspended payload transport.

  • Equivalent-agent guidance framework for cooperative transport of a rigid payload by two UAVs, with terminal feasibility conditions for delivery to stationary and maneuvering platforms.

  • Fixed-time sliding mode guidance validated via processor-in-the-loop implementation on a Raspberry Pi.

Equivalent-Agent Guidance for Cooperative UAV Payload Transportation

Saurabh Kumar, Shashi Ranjan Kumar, and Abhinav Sinha, Aerospace Science and Technology, 2026 (under review).

Video Abstract

Video abstract summarizing the equivalent-agent guidance framework and simulation results.

Stationary Platform

Full simulation dashboard.

3D trajectory — zoomed-in view.

Maneuvering Platform

Full simulation dashboard.

3D trajectory — zoomed-in view.

Relevant Publications

Journal Papers

  1. Saurabh Kumar, Shashi Ranjan Kumar, and Abhinav Sinha, Equivalent-Agent Guidance for Cooperative UAV Payload Transportation, Aerospace Science and Technology, 2026 (under review).