Flying Robot Arm
The University of Twente is working on autonomous drones interacting mechanically with the environment. A result of the former AIRobots project is a demonstrator for a flying robot arm for grabbing things.
Getting into Contact
A drone could also be used to press a contact sensor onto a surface. This could be used to inspect wind turbine towers and blades, concrete or steel elements of bridges or chimneys.
This video headed “Aerial Contact-based Inspection Path Planning and Control” by Kostas Alexis is an example from the project Aeroworks. It shows a contact-based inspection with an autonomously flying drone.
