Drones Project

The research focuses on enabling UAVs to use precision tools in dynamic outdoor environments. The project is investigating drones which can be used around hazardous structures such as power pylons or in the construction and forestry industries. Specifically, we are targeting tree pruning and sampling for forestry and arboriculture, power line testing, and construction tasks. We are producing state-of-the-art aerodynamic models for UAVs, creating novel fully-actuated airframe designs and control algorithms to allow drones to use contact based tools without the need for heavy gimbal/robot arm attachments. We have also developed advanced computer vision algoirithms to allow the drone to perform these tasks more accurately than a human pilot. Trees that grow too close to power lines pose a risk to both the power lines and humans. Current methods of pruning these trees can be slow, expensive and dangerous. A tree pruning drone would allow these trees to be pruned in a faster, safer, cheaper way. We are working on an advanced pilot assist system for UAVs, to enable drones to perform complex physical interaction tasks such as tree pruning and joint testing for transmission line conductors. We are proposing an advanced pilot assist algorithm that enables a human pilot to do the things that humans are good at, like decision making, and watching for if anything has gone wrong while letting our advanced computer vision and control algorithms do the things that human pilots struggle with like controlling the drones exact position.