This article presents the first real-world autonomous flight of a 5G-connected aerial robot controlled by an edge-offloaded controller, and aims to bridge the gap between controlled and factual setups. The robot operates within an active industrial subterranean mine, while the high-level controller is deployed in a nearby Kubernetes-based edge cluster. Communication between the robot and the edge is enabled via a 5G New Radio (NR) Standalone (SA) network. The chosen controller is a Model Predictive Controller (MPC), which generates control actions to allow the robot to navigate seamlessly through the mining environment. A human operator selects waypoints for the aerial robot, and the MPC generates smooth, collision-free paths for autonomous executions. The proposed 5G edge-based closed-loop system is evaluated in a real industrial setting and demonstrates the potential of edge-controlled robotic systems toward time-critical, safe and efficient future deployments.

翻译：本文展示了首次在真实环境中实现由边缘卸载控制器控制的5G连接空中机器人的自主飞行，旨在弥合受控环境与实际部署之间的差距。该机器人在正在运行的工业地下矿井中执行任务，而高级控制器部署在附近的基于Kubernetes的边缘集群中。机器人与边缘之间的通信通过5G新空口（NR）独立组网（SA）网络实现。所采用的控制器为模型预测控制器（MPC），其生成控制指令，使机器人能够在矿井环境中无缝导航。操作员为空中机器人设定航点，MPC生成平滑且无碰撞的路径以执行自主飞行。所提出的基于5G边缘的闭环系统已在真实工业环境中得到验证，展示了边缘控制的机器人系统在未来实现时间关键型、安全高效部署的潜力。