SBIR Phase II: Stable Manipulation via Hovering Drone for Electric Utility Maintenance and Component Installations

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the replacement of high-risk, high-cost helicopter and bucket truck operations for electric utility maintenance with a scalable drone-based solution. This project enables a drone to install and remove these sensors from energized lines, cutting the cost and risk of servicing fielded grid hardware. Sensor-equipped lines can carry 20% more electricity over 90% of the time, expanding grid capacity without new construction. The same drone technology enables preemptive power shutoffs informed by real-time line data, reducing wildfire ignition risk. This work advances the scientific understanding of how aerial robots stably interact with physical infrastructure. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project advances the engineering of a robust, commercially deployable drone system capable of performing stable physical manipulation tasks on energized aerial power line cables. The Phase I research demonstrated the first stable, intentional contact between a hovering drone and an aerial cable using a force-sensing robotic payload arm and a passivity-based flight controller that compensates for contact-induced forces. This Phase II addresses the remaining technical barriers to commercial deployment through three objectives: (1) design and validate a commercially viable robotic manipulator arm with full force and torque sensing, electrostatic discharge hardening for high-voltage environments, and sufficient gripper strength to remove spring-clamped devices from lines; (2) develop and validate an impedance-based contact control system, supported by high-fidelity power line simulation and neural network feedback linearization, that maintains stable contact across the full range of commercial conductor tensions and wind conditions; and (3) demonstrate removal of a line-clamped sensor from a fielded transmission. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.