HexaGripper: A Single-Actuator, Winch-Deployed Gripper for Autonomous Aerial Parcel Collection

Abstract:Autonomous aerial parcel collection remains constrained by package-transfer operations that require manual loading, landing, or dedicated ground infrastructure. This letter presents HexaGripper, a single-actuator, winch-deployed six-plate gripper for autonomous collection of cuboid parcels. The proposed mechanism provides synchronized grasping with a wide capture region and tolerance to positional misalignment during pickup. The system integrates vision-based alignment, range sensing, winch deployment, and state-based control to enable autonomous collection while maintaining UAV separation from the pickup surface. Experimental evaluation covered static grasping, capture-workspace assessment, and end-to-end outdoor aerial collection. Static experiments achieved 100% pickup success (15/15 trials) across three parcel geometries, while workspace experiments achieved successful pickup at all 28 tested positions up to a 150 mm radial offset. End-to-end outdoor aerial collection achieved an 80% success rate (4/5 trials). These results demonstrate the feasibility of mechanically synchronized, winch-deployed grasping for landing-free autonomous aerial parcel collection.

Robotics (cs.RO)

arXiv:2610.08259 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2610.08259v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.08259 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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