Experimental Validation of Load Attitude Estimation Using Computer Vision and IMU-Based Approaches for Slung-Load Aerial Robots

Shlok Panchal, Barbie Sharma, Yash Dadheech, Darshil Shah, Ayush Agnihotri, Kalash Jain, Parth S. Thakar, Anilkumar Markana

2025

Abstract

With the rise of the drone industry, there has been a surge in demand for its applications. One such critical application is using drones to transport suspended cargo, which requires minimal swing of the load. To achieve this, designing a robust control strategy plays a vital role. Such systems while in operation have critical issue of maintaining stability due to the interacting multi-body dynamics. Furthermore, a quadrotor with a slung load showcases coupled underactuated dynamics that complicates the control design problem. To effectively execute control implementation for such systems accurate feedback of load attitude becomes essential. For that matter, this study proposes two different approaches to determine the load attitude, namely, the computer vision (CV) based method using ArUco markers and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) based approach. The study investigates the real-time feasibility of these approaches through their response frequencies and tracking accuracies by comparing the experimental plots with their simulation counterpart, considering that as an ideal scenario. We also provide the implementation algorithms for both the methods proposed here. Finally, we conclude the findings by throwing light on their suitability to various slung load scenarios with variable swing angle ranges, also dwelling into the steady state behaviour comparisons in both the cases.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Panchal S., Sharma B., Dadheech Y., Shah D., Agnihotri A., Jain K., Thakar P. and Markana A. (2025). Experimental Validation of Load Attitude Estimation Using Computer Vision and IMU-Based Approaches for Slung-Load Aerial Robots. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 2: ICINCO; ISBN 978-989-758-770-2, SciTePress, pages 371-377. DOI: 10.5220/0013784700003982

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icinco25,
author={Shlok Panchal and Barbie Sharma and Yash Dadheech and Darshil Shah and Ayush Agnihotri and Kalash Jain and Parth Thakar and Anilkumar Markana},
title={Experimental Validation of Load Attitude Estimation Using Computer Vision and IMU-Based Approaches for Slung-Load Aerial Robots},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 2: ICINCO},
year={2025},
pages={371-377},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013784700003982},
isbn={978-989-758-770-2},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 2: ICINCO
TI - Experimental Validation of Load Attitude Estimation Using Computer Vision and IMU-Based Approaches for Slung-Load Aerial Robots
SN - 978-989-758-770-2
AU - Panchal S.
AU - Sharma B.
AU - Dadheech Y.
AU - Shah D.
AU - Agnihotri A.
AU - Jain K.
AU - Thakar P.
AU - Markana A.
PY - 2025
SP - 371
EP - 377
DO - 10.5220/0013784700003982
PB - SciTePress