We have already covered plenty of drones that can pick up and move objects around. Handling articulated objects is a more complex problem. A team of researchers have come up with a planning & control framework for aerial manipulation of articulated objects. This framework:
combines sampling-based predictive control to generate pose trajectories with an impedance controller for compliant behaviours, applied to a fully-actuated flying platform. The framework leverages a physics engine to simulate the dynamics of the platform and the environment in order to find optimal motions to execute manipulation tasks.
[researchers: M. Brunner, G. Rizzi, M. Studiger, R. Siegwart and M. Tognon – paper: IEEE]