Aerial Manipulation Using Multirotor UAV: A Review from the Aspect of Operating Space and Force

Aerial manipulation: physical interaction with the environment by using a robotic manipulator attached to the airframe of an aerial robot. In the future one can expect that aerial manipulation will greatly extend the range of possible applications for mobile robotics, especially multirotor UAVs. This can range from inspection and maintenance of previously hard to reach pieces of infrastructure, to search and rescue applications. What kind of manipulator is attached to what position of the airframe is a key point in accomplishing the aerial robot’s function and in the past, various aerial manipulation solutions have been proposed. This review paper gives an overview of the literature on aerial manipulation that have been proposed so far and classifies them by configuration of the workspace and function.