-- Aerial robotic arms aim to enable inspection and environment interaction in otherwise hard-to-reach areas from the air . However, many aerial manipulators feature bulky or heavy robot manipulators mounted to large, high-payload aerial vehicles. Instead, we propose an aerial robotic arm with low mass and a small stowed configuration called a "flying vine". The flying vine consists of a small, maneuverable quadrotor equipped with a soft, growing, inflated beam as the arm. This soft robot arm is underactuated, and positioning of the end effector is achieved by controlling the coupled quadrotor-vine dynamics. In this work, we present the flying vine design and a modeling and control framework for tracking desired end effector trajectories. The dynamic model leverages data-driven modeling methods and introduces bilinear interpolation to account for time-varying dynamic parameters. We use trajectory optimization to plan quadrotor controls that produce desired end effector motions. Experimental results on a physical prototype demonstrate that our framework enables the flying vine to perform high-speed end effector tracking, laying a foundation for performing dynamic maneuvers with soft aerial manipulators. Aerial vehicles are well-suited for accessing hard-to-reach areas from the air, and augmenting these vehicles with robotic arms can broaden the areas they can access for inspection and enable new types of environment interaction. A straightforward approach to realizing aerial robotic arms is to mount traditional robot arms onto aerial vehicles, such as a serial or delta manipulator [1]-[3].

Abstract-- Pneumatic actuation benefits soft robotics by facilitating compliance, enabling large volume change, and concentrating actuator weight away from the end-effector. We present phloSAR, a portable high-flow pressure supply and regulator to enable untethered operation of large pneumatic soft robots. The prototype is integrated with an aerial vehicle and actuates a soft "vine" Control" includes the valves and Venturi pump, "Pneumatics" includes the reservoir and pneumatic connections, "Structure" includes the chassis and mounting hardware, and "Drone Integration" includes the vine robot and The phloSAR mass is 0.84 kg. However, pneumatic soft robots high-flow pneumatic components for high-speed pressure (PSRs) require a method for pressure generation and regulation, regulation of large volumes, and it integrates a refillable and many of these robots rely on pneumatic tubing high-pressure air reservoir that enables untethered operation that tethers them to heavy air compressors [1]. However, these untethered and Venturi vacuum generation, enabling untethered solutions are intended for PSRs with smaller volumes or lowflow operation of large-volume pneumatic soft robots. While untethered pneumatic solutions 2) Models, verification, and guidelines that aid in the exist for larger PSRs [11], [12], this comes at the cost design of future phloSARs for custom applications. of added size and weight, limiting their suitability in PSR 3) Implementation of a physical phloSAR prototype and a applications with stringent payload limits (e.g., soft aerial demonstration on a mobile soft robot.

Shape change enables new capabilities for robots. One class of robots capable of dramatic shape change is soft growing "vine" robots. These robots usually feature global actuation methods for bending that limit them to simple, constant-curvature shapes. Achieving more complex "multi-bend" configurations has also been explored but requires choosing the desired configuration ahead of time, exploiting contact with the environment to maintain previous bends, or using pneumatic actuation for shape locking. In this paper, we present a novel design that enables passive, on-demand shape locking. Our design leverages a passive tip mount to apply hook-and-loop fasteners that hold bends without any pneumatic or electrical input. We characterize the robot's kinematics and ability to hold locked bends. We also experimentally evaluate the effect of hook-and-loop fasteners on beam and joint stiffness. Finally, we demonstrate our proof-of-concept prototype in 2D. Our passive shape locking design is a step towards easily reconfigurable robots that are lightweight, low-cost, and low-power.