# Flying Vines: Design, Modeling, and Control of a Soft Aerial Robotic Arm

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20754 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20754/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 26 Mar 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [AI-Enabled Image-Based Hybrid Vision/Force Control of Tendon-Driven Aerial Continuum Manipulators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.18961/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Aerial robotic arms aim to enable inspection and environment interaction in otherwise hard-to-reach areas from the air. However, many aerial manipulators feature bulky or heavy robot manipulators mounted to large, high-payload aerial vehicles. Instead, we propose an aerial robotic arm with low mass and a small stowed configuration called a "flying vine". The flying vine consists of a small, maneuverable quadrotor equipped with a soft, growing, inflated beam as the arm. This soft robot arm is underactuated, and positioning of the end effector is achieved by controlling the coupled quadrotor-vine dynamics. In this work, we present the flying vine design and a modeling and control framework for tracking desired end effector trajectories. The dynamic model leverages data-driven modeling methods and introduces bilinear interpolation to account for time-varying dynamic parameters. We use trajectory optimization to plan quadrotor controls that produce desired end effector motions. Experimental results on a physical prototype demonstrate that our framework enables the flying vine to perform high-speed end effector tracking, laying a foundation for performing dynamic maneuvers with soft aerial manipulators.