Stone Mine Project

This project developed a cooperative robotic system with two major components: a rover (ground robot) and a drone (aerial robot). This system comprises a self-leveling landing platform on the rover-side so that the drone can take off and land on a leveled surface, even if the rover is located on a slope. A tether system that deliveries power to the drone from batteries located in the rover is also under development. The tether is used for drone localization and landing by using tether variables such as angles at both endpoints (drone and rover), tension, and length.  

Selected publications:

• R. Lima and G. A. S. Pereira, " A Multi-model Framework for Tether-based Drone Localization," Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 108, 2023.

• R. Lima, B. Martinez R. Jr., and  G. A. S. Pereira, " Continuous Vector Fields for Precise Cable-Guided Landing of Tethered UAVs," IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023.

• B. Martinez R. Jr., R. Lima, K. Samarakoon, J. Rathjen, J. N. Gross, and  G. A. S. Pereira, " Oxpecker: A Tethered UAV for Inspection of Stone-Mine Pillars,"  Drones, vol. 7, issue 2, pp. 73, 2023.