Force Polytope-Based Cant-Angle Selection for Tilting Hexarotor UAVs

2026-04-07

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenge of tilt-angle selection for tilt-rotor hexacopter UAVs during physical interaction tasks by proposing a lightweight control framework. The approach leverages an offline-constructed zero-moment force polytope lookup table to enable real-time selection of optimal tilt angles for desired control forces, integrated with a geometric full-pose controller to achieve efficient and smooth interaction. By introducing, for the first time, the combination of force polytopes and a lookup-table mechanism into online tilt-angle decision-making, the method significantly reduces computational overhead while enhancing both pose-tracking accuracy and motion smoothness. Monte Carlo and Simscape simulations, along with wall-detection experiments, demonstrate that the proposed strategy outperforms baseline approaches in computational efficiency and tracking performance, while exhibiting strong practical feasibility for real-world interactive tasks.

Abstract

From a maneuverability perspective, the main advantage of tilting multirotor UAVs lies in the dynamic variability of the feasible executable wrench, which represents a key asset for physical interaction tasks. Accordingly, cant-angle selection should be optimized to ensure high performance while avoiding abrupt variations and preserving real-world feasibility. In this context, this work proposes a lightweight control framework for star-shaped interdependent cant-tilting hexarotor UAVs performing interaction tasks. The method uses an offline-computed look-up table of zero-moment force polytopes to identify feasible cant angles for a desired control force and select the optimal one by balancing efficiency and smoothness. The framework is integrated with a geometric full-pose controller and validated through Monte Carlo simulations in MATLAB/Simulink and compared against a baseline strategy. The results show a significant reduction in computation time, together with improved pose-tracking performance and competitive actuation efficiency. A final physics-based simulation of a complete wall inspection task in Simscape further confirms the feasibility of the proposed strategy in interacting scenarios.

Problem

• tilting hexarotor UAV
• cant-angle selection
• force polytope
• maneuverability
• physical interaction tasks

Innovation

• force polytope
• cant-angle selection
• tilting hexarotor UAV
• zero-moment wrench
• lightweight control framework