{"ID":2831756,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.07680","arxiv_id":"2512.07680","title":"AMBER: A tether-deployable gripping crawler with compliant microspines for canopy manipulation","abstract":"This paper presents an aerially deployable crawler designed for adaptive locomotion and manipulation within tree canopies. The system combines compliant microspine-based tracks, a dual-track rotary gripper, and an elastic tail, enabling secure attachment and stable traversal across branches of varying curvature and inclination. Experiments demonstrate reliable gripping up to 90$^\\circ$ body roll and inclination, while effective climbing on branches inclined up to 67.5$^\\circ$, achieving a maximum speed of 0.55 body lengths per second on horizontal branches. The compliant tracks allow yaw steering of up to 10$^\\circ$, enhancing maneuverability on irregular surfaces. Power measurements show efficient operation with a dimensionless cost of transport over an order of magnitude lower than typical hovering power consumption in aerial robots. The crawler provides a robust, low-power platform for environmental sampling and in-canopy sensing. The aerial deployment is demonstrated at a conceptual and feasibility level, while full drone-crawler integration is left as future work.","short_abstract":"This paper presents an aerially deployable crawler designed for adaptive locomotion and manipulation within tree canopies. The system combines compliant microspine-based tracks, a dual-track rotary gripper, and an elastic tail, enabling secure attachment and stable traversal across branches of varying curvature and inc...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.07680","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.07680v3","authors":"[\"P. A. Wigner\",\"L. Romanello\",\"A. Hammad\",\"P. H. Nguyen\",\"T. Lan\",\"S. F. Armanini\",\"B. B. Kocer\",\"M. Kovac\"]","published":"2025-12-08T16:17:56Z","proceeding":"cs.RO","tasks":"[\"cs.RO\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}