An Aerial Manipulator for Perception-Driven Flower Targeting Toward Contactless Pollination in Vertical Farming

2026-05-07

AI Summary

Vertical farms lack natural pollinators, creating an urgent need for non-contact, precision pollination solutions. This work proposes an aerial manipulation platform integrating onboard RGB-D sensing, Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control, and PX4 flight stack, equipped with a lightweight two-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. It presents the first application of a perception-driven aerial manipulation framework to contactless pollination. The system achieves centimeter-level end-effector positioning accuracy in both MuJoCo simulations and real-world drone experiments, reliably performing flower detection, localization, and precise alignment. This approach offers a viable technical pathway toward autonomous pollination in vertical agriculture.

Abstract

The decline of natural pollinators has created a major challenge for crop production in controlled indoor agriculture, particularly in vertical farming environments where natural insect pollination is absent. This motivates the development of robotic systems capable of performing precise flower targeting tasks while minimizing physical interference with delicate floral structures. This paper presents an aerial manipulator platform for perception driven flower detection, localization, and approach in vertical farming environments. The proposed system integrates onboard RGBD based perception, model predictive path integral (MPPI) based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control on a PX4 platform, and a lightweight 2DoF manipulator for precise end effector positioning. The platform is evaluated in both MuJoCo simulation and UAV lab experiments using a flower targeting testbed. The experimental results demonstrate stable UAV flight, reliable flower localization, and centimeter level end effector positioning accuracy. In simulation, the proposed controller achieves consistent trajectory convergence and accurate target alignment. In the real world UAV lab environment, the integrated perception control manipulation framework enables stable flower targeted positioning and end effector alignment under constrained aerial operation. These results validate the proposed aerial manipulator as a robust robotic carrier and positioning framework for future contactless pollination systems. While the current study focuses on perception guided targeting and positioning, the developed platform provides a practical foundation for integrating advanced contactless end effectors, including acoustic based pollen manipulation modules, in future work.

Problem

• contactless pollination
• vertical farming
• aerial manipulator
• flower targeting
• perception-driven robotics

Innovation

• aerial manipulator
• perception-driven control
• contactless pollination
• MPPI control
• RGBD perception