Aerial Pruning Using a Multirotor Flying Robot with a Wire-Suspended Reciprocating Saw

Abstract

We have developed a flying robot that hangs a reciprocating saw from a multi-rotor UAV with a wire. In this study, we propose a method of pruning a branch at a place away from the UAV as a work point and experiments aimed at verifying the possibility of pruning work and improving cutting speed and stability. In the experiment, some wood was cut with no force applied and with ducted fans pressed against the object to be cut. In order to measure force and vibration, we attached a force sensor to the fixed UAV and conducted the experiment. We confirmed that the proposed method can be applied to the actual flying robot and succeeded in significantly reducing the cutting time by pressing against the cutting target through experiments.