Quadrocopters Throwing and Catching an Inverted Pendulum 103
derGoldstein writes "We've seen some very impressive aerobatics performed by quadrocopters before, but this is getting ridiculous. Robohub points to the latest advancement from the Flying Machine Arena, which developed algorithms that allow quadrocopters to juggle an inverted pendulum. One of the researchers working on it said, 'We started off with some back-of-the-envelope calculations, wondering whether it would even be physically possible to throw and catch a pendulum. This told us that achieving this maneuver would really push the dynamic capabilities of the system. As it turned out, it is probably the most challenging task we've had our quadrocopters do. With significantly less than one second to measure the pendulum flight and get the catching vehicle in place, it's the combination of mathematical models with real-time trajectory generation, optimal control, and learning from previous iterations that allowed us to implement this.'"
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why is it called an inverted pendulum? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why is it called an inverted pendulum? (Score:5, Informative)
On the other hand, if they said they were throwing and catching a stick, I'd assume they were simply catching it. The balancing the unstable system with their control laws would not be assumed. Hope this helps.
Re:Fantastic! (Score:2, Informative)
At one point in the film there is a cloud of ???. Is this the staff being ground up due to an apparent miss?
The end of the staff has a small balloon on it, filled with powder -- see explanation further down the linked page. Sounds like a small hacky-sack with a rubber (grippy) surface. They call this a "damper" and one popped open.
Adding my compliments to the rest -- very cool demonstration of control theory.