Enabling Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) to use Tools in Complex Dynamic Environments
This project is led by the University of Canterbury, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Karl Stol, Bruce MacDonald, Salim Al-zubaidi, Nicholas Kay, Angus Lynch
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/drones) are revolutionising surveying and inspection tasks which once required manned aircraft, and are becoming a standard tool for a wide range of applications. However, one glaring omission is the ability to accurately use tools to perform precision tasks in high and hard-to-reach locations.
This research will design, build and demonstrate a compact UAV with precise six degrees-of-freedom positioning capability enabled by new control methods, airframe designs, aerodynamic models, and position estimation (visual odometry) in dynamically changing (windy) environments.
Dynamic Vertical Thrust Allocation Control for Heterogeneous Over-actuated Multirotor
Postdoctoral Research
Salim Al-zubaidi. Supervisor: Karl Stol
Homogeneous multirotor UAVs use constant vertical thrust allocation, as it allows all rotors to operate at the same speed, thereby achieving the same efficiency and responsiveness. However, with Heterogeneous UAVs that use different rotor sets such as Planetary Hex, this provides an opportunity to exploit the overactuated nature of the UAV to explore adjusting the hover-thrust distribution based on: Station-keeping criticality and Estimated external wrench.
Related:
Flight control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, drones) for Physical Interaction with the Environment
Doctoral Research
Xing Yan. Supervisor: Karl Stol
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), due to their high maneuverability, are increasingly expected to perform operations that require precision. This places higher demands on the robustness of UAV controllers and the accuracy of control. This project aims to design a high-order controller to achieve compliant interaction between a tool-equipped UAV and the environment during physical contact, thereby ensuring both the stability of the UAV and the precise manipulation of the tool. To address the uncertainties inherent in unstructured environments, the new controller must possess adaptive and self-learning capabilities.
Related:
Fully-Actuated UAV Control for Canopy Sampling
BE(Hons) Research
Jimin Ahn & Tianling Lu. Supervisor: Karl Stol
This Part 4 Project aims to design a system collecting physical samples of the branches at the top of a forest canopy. The research will involve a lightweight canopy sampling tool that is integrated on a fully-actuated UAV (2kg), a flight controller that is robust to forces from canopy sampling, a UAV platform that can carry necessary sensors and a companion computer for navigation. This is a cross-department project; software for autonomous navigation using onboard hardware will be developed by Ashwin Singh & Raiyan Khan in their Part 4 Project.
Related:
Towards Transient Wind Measurements from Fixed Wing Drones
This project was funded in 2025 by the Warwick and Judy Smith Engineering Endowment Fund
Nicholas Kay, Peter Richards (Hon. Associate Professor, University of Auckland), Amir Pirooz (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research), Dr Cesar Azorin-Molina (Spanish National Research Council)
In many terrains, it is impractical to establish traditional meteorological infrastructure, such as 10 m anemometer masts. Fixed-Wing UAVs have the range to reach these locations, and so may provide a solution. However, they are not the stationary reference point provided by ground-based measurements: their speed prevents measurement at a single point, and their motion distorts the data collected.
This research is investigating the challenges and distortion caused by the moving sensor array, and integrating this knowledge to develop an airborne meteorological system.
Fully-Actuated UAV Control for Canopy Sampling
BE(Hons) Research
Lachlan Dean & Stanley Tian. Supervisor: Nicholas Kay
Small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (FW-UAVs) are lightweight, low-cost, easy to deploy, and provide longer flight times than size-comparable quadcopters. However, their small size also makes them sensitive to turbulent wind conditions. Traditional wind tunnel testing methods hold the aircraft rigidly in place, preventing motion-induced damping of forces. Outdoors flight tests lack repeatability needed for controller development.
This project aims to develop a free-flight testing capability for FW-UAVs within the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at the Newmarket Campus. This will enable stable, zero-groundspeed flight, allowing the aircraft to ‘hover’ in place despite being a fixed-wing airframe.