  Deformable linear objects (e.g., cables, ropes, and threads) commonly appear
in our everyday lives. However, perception of these objects and the study of
physical interaction with them is still a growing area. There have already been
successful methods to model and track deformable linear objects. However, the
number of methods that can automatically extract the initial conditions in
non-trivial situations for these methods has been limited, and they have been
introduced to the community only recently. On the other hand, while physical
interaction with these objects has been done with ground manipulators, there
have not been any studies on physical interaction and manipulation of the
deformable linear object with aerial robots.
  This workshop describes our recent work on detecting deformable linear
objects, which uses the segmentation output of the existing methods to provide
the initialization required by the tracking methods automatically. It works
with crossings and can fill the gaps and occlusions in the segmentation and
output the model desirable for physical interaction and simulation. Then we
present our work on using the method for tasks such as routing and manipulation
with the ground and aerial robots. We discuss our feasibility analysis on
extending the physical interaction with these objects to aerial manipulation
applications.
