arXiv subjects

Salua Hamaza

Publications and source records attributed to Salua Hamaza.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Whisker-based Tactile Flight for Tiny Drones

Tiny flying robots hold great potential for search-and-rescue, safety inspections, and environmental monitoring, but their small size and limited computational resources constrain onboard sensing capabilities. Inspired by animals such as rats and moles, which rely on lightweight whiskers to navigate and perceive their surroundings through touch, we present a 3.2-gram whisker-based tactile sensing apparatus that enables tiny drones to perceive and interact with their environment through gentle physical contact, even in complete darkness. The apparatus employs barometers at the base of each whisker to estimate contact depth, enabling obstacle localization while minimizing contact-induced destabilization. To compensate for sensor noise and drift during sustained contact, we develop a tactile depth estimation pipeline that achieves millimeter-scale depth estimation accuracy. Together, these innovations enable tiny drones to autonomously avoid obstacles, contour surfaces, and explore confined spaces, guided by onboard tactile sensing across both rigid and soft environments. Running entirely onboard a microcontroller with just 192 KB of memory, our system demonstrates autonomous tactile flight across various scenarios. This bio-inspired approach extends perception for mobile robots beyond vision, opening new possibilities for autonomous operations in visually degraded and GPS-denied environments.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

Tether-Inertial Localization for Planetary Drones

Recent developments in planetary exploration have shown the potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), such as the Ingenuity helicopter that provided valuable mapping data. However, limited payload capabilities constrain the flight times and compute available for localization, which restrict their applicability. By providing a tethered connection, issues such as battery and computational constraints are offloaded to the base rover. At the same time, the cable can be exploited for non-drifting localization. This work presents a novel Tether-Inertial Localization approach that uses tether length and angle measurements to estimate the UAV position relative to its base. The method combines a computationally efficient analytical catenary model with a Gaussian Process (GP) residual error compensation. This accounts for systematic sensor inaccuracies and model limitations. Experimental validation across circular, triangular, and figure-eight trajectories with tether lengths up to 4.5 m and a total flight time of 37 minutes demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Using only tether-based position estimates for feedback, the analytical catenary model achieves an average RMSE of 7.4 cm, which is further reduced to 5.2 cm through GP-based residual compensation, one order of magnitude better than the state-of-the-art. These results establish Tether-Inertial Localization as a practical alternative to vision- and GNSS-based localization for Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (TUAVs).

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

Patagium and tail morphology shape aerodynamic performance and control authority in gliding-mammal-inspired wings

Gliding mammals exhibit diverse patagium and tail/uropatagium morphologies that may influence aerodynamic performance and maneuverability. Here, we use computational fluid dynamics to isolate the aerodynamic effects of representative gliding-mammal-inspired morphologies under controlled flow conditions. Three patagium configurations were compared to evaluate the effects of membrane outline on lift generation, drag, stall behavior and pitching moment. Three tail/uropatagium configurations were further tested under baseline, symmetric-deflection and asymmetric-deflection conditions to assess their longitudinal and lateral control authority. The results show that a broader patagium configuration generated the highest lift and lift coefficient, whereas an intermediate patagium morphology showed a smoother post-stall response with lower drag. For the tail configurations, the colugo-like integrated uropatagium enhanced lift and pitch-control authority under symmetric deflection, while the flat-tail configuration produced stronger rolling and yawing responses under asymmetric deflection. These findings indicate that gliding-mammal-inspired morphologies produce distinct aerodynamic trade-offs rather than a single optimal design. The results provide insight into the functional diversity of gliding mammal morphology and offer design guidance for bioinspired morphing aerial robots.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2026

Omnidirectional Dual-Arm Aerial Manipulator with Proprioceptive Contact Localization for Landing on Slanted Roofs

Operating drones in urban environments often means they need to land on rooftops, which can have different geometries and surface irregularities. Accurately detecting roof inclination using conventional sensing methods, such as vision-based or acoustic techniques, can be unreliable, as measurement quality is strongly influenced by external factors including weather conditions and surface materials. To overcome these challenges, we propose a novel unmanned aerial manipulator morphology featuring a dual-arm aerial manipulator with an omnidirectional 3D workspace and extended reach. Building on this design, we develop a proprioceptive contact detection and contact localization strategy based on a momentum-based torque observer. This enables the UAM to infer the inclination of slanted surfaces blindly - through physical interaction - prior to touchdown. We validate the approach in flight experiments, demonstrating robust landings on surfaces with inclinations of up to 30.5 degrees and achieving an average surface inclination estimation error of 2.87 degrees over 9 experiments at different incline angles.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2025

A Tactile Feedback Approach to Path Recovery after High-Speed Impacts for Collision-Resilient Drones

Aerial robots are a well-established solution for exploration, monitoring, and inspection, thanks to their superior maneuverability and agility. However, in many environments, they risk crashing and sustaining damage after collisions. Traditional methods focus on avoiding obstacles entirely, but these approaches can be limiting, particularly in cluttered spaces or on weight-and compute-constrained platforms such as drones. This paper presents a novel approach to enhance drone robustness and autonomy by developing a path recovery and adjustment method for a high-speed collision-resilient aerial robot equipped with lightweight, distributed tactile sensors. The proposed system explicitly models collisions using pre-collision velocities, rates and tactile feedback to predict post-collision dynamics, improving state estimation accuracy. Additionally, we introduce a computationally efficient vector-field-based path representation that guarantees convergence to a user-specified path, while naturally avoiding known obstacles. Post-collision, contact point locations are incorporated into the vector field as a repulsive potential, enabling the drone to avoid obstacles while naturally returning to its path. The effectiveness of this method is validated through Monte Carlo simulations and demonstrated on a physical prototype, showing successful path following, collision recovery, and adjustment at speeds up to 3.7 m/s.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2017

Towards An Adaptive Compliant Aerial Manipulator for Contact-Based Interaction

As roles for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) continue to diversify, the ability to sense and interact closely with the environment becomes increasingly important. Within this paper we report on the initial flight tests of a novel adaptive compliant actuator which will allow a UAV to carry out such tasks as the "pick and placement" of remote sensors, structural testing and contact-based inspection. Three key results are discussed and presented; the ability to physically compensate impact forces or apply interaction forces by the UAV through the use of the active compliant manipulator; to be able to tailor these forces through tuning of the manipulator controller gains; and the ability to apply a rapid series of physical pulses in order to excite remotely placed sensors, e.g. vibration sensors. The paper describes the overall system requirements and system modelling considerations which have driven the concept through to flight testing. A series of over sixty flight tests have been used to generate initial results which clearly demonstrate the potential of this new type of compliant aerial actuator. Results are discussed in line with potential applications; and a series of future flight tests are described which will enable us to refine and characterise the overall system.

cs.RO↗