  Rapid aerial grasping through robots can lead to many applications that
utilize fast and dynamic picking and placing of objects. Rigid grippers
traditionally used in aerial manipulators require high precision and specific
object geometries for successful grasping. We propose RAPTOR, a quadcopter
platform combined with a custom Fin Ray gripper to enable more flexible
grasping of objects with different geometries, leveraging the properties of
soft materials to increase the contact surface between the gripper and the
objects. To reduce the communication latency, we present a new lightweight
middleware solution based on Fast DDS (Data Distribution Service) as an
alternative to ROS (Robot Operating System). We show that RAPTOR achieves an
average of 83% grasping efficacy in a real-world setting for four different
object geometries while moving at an average velocity of 1 m/s during grasping.
In a high-velocity setting, RAPTOR supports up to four times the payload
compared to previous works. Our results highlight the potential of aerial
drones in automated warehouses and other manipulation applications where speed,
swiftness, and robustness are essential while operating in hard-to-reach
places.
