525 research outputs found
Modified serpentine motion of the snake robot
The frequent occurrence of earthquake in New Zealand drives the research on snake robot for search and rescue operation because of its elongated body shape and locomotion mimicry of the biological snake. Both features are in favour of moving the snake robot through the earthquake disaster area. To facilitate the robot control and information gathering, it is usually required to install a camera on the snake robot head so that the video images of the disaster area can be send back to the human operator. This thesis presents the simulation of a snake robot performing serpentine motion. A camera is attached on the snake robot head to obtain the video image along the line of sight. A remote controller is incorporated to control the advancement based on the video images. This simulation reveals that the video images from the camera oscillate seriously because the camera on the snake robot head follows serpenoid curve during the locomotion. As a result, both robot control and information gathering are affected. A solution is proposed to stabilize the snake robot head and its camera by introducing a correction at the joint between the robot head and its body. This correction aligns the camera sight direction with the moving direction of the snake robot to yield satisfactory video images. Finally, an actual snake robot is implemented with a wireless camera installed on the head to show the effect of correction. Experiments are conducted to control the advancement of snake robot remotely just based on the video images obtained from the camera. This greatly improves the performance of the snake robot
Design study of an earthquake rescue robot
This thesis describes the design of a brush robot for earthquake rescue and for traversing pipes with varied cross sectional shape. Earthquake rescue is a very dangerous, difficult and challenging task, in which emergency services rescue people who are trapped in man-made structures, such as collapsed buildings after an earthquake. The building collapse may have been caused by natural or man-made events. This technology is also applicable to tunnel collapse and land slips. The focus of this work is finding the location of victims and provision of primary life support and communications. To illustrate the concept of the robot, the thesis first discusses the current development of rescue robots and pipe robots. Then the thesis focuses on the description of a brush based pipe robot, developed by the University of Durham, which would be used as the basis of an earthquake rescue robot. The concept of the robot was illustrated and compared with other current rescue robots and pipe robots. After outlining the advantages of this robot concept, a robot body shape change theory was proposed and theoretical simulations were used to verily the practicality of the robot shape change theory. The thesis also illustrates the design of the working principle and design of a robot sensor, which was subsequently used in the robot shape change experiments. The robot body shape change experiments and the experimental results are described and discussed. The experimental results illustrate the robot concept and support the robot body shape change theory. Chapter 6 focuses on the brush unit traction investigation, bristle theory and mathematical model. Furthermore, the bristle theory and mathematical model were used to explain the variation of traction force in the traction experiments
The OmniTread OT-4 serpentine robotâdesign and performance
Serpentine robots are slender, multi-segmented vehicles designed to provide greater mobility than conventional mobile robots. Serpentine robots are ideally suited for urban search and rescue, military intelligence gathering, and inspection tasks in hazardous or inaccessible environments. One such serpentine robot, developed at the University of Michigan, is the âOmniTread OT-4.â The OT-4 comprises seven segments, which are linked to each other by six joints. The OT-4 can climb over obstacles that are much higher than the robot itself, propel itself inside pipes of different diameters, and traverse difficult terrain, such as rocks or the rubble of a collapsed structure. The foremost and unique design characteristic of the OT-4 is the use of pneumatic bellows to actuate the joints. The pneumatic bellows allow the simultaneous control of position and stiffness for each joint. Controllable stiffness is important in serpentine robots, which require stiff joints to cross gaps and compliant joints to conform to rough terrain for effective propulsion. Another unique feature of the OmniTread design is the coverage of all four sides of each segment with drive tracks. This design makes the robot indifferent to rollovers, which are bound to happen when the slender bodies of serpentine robots travel over rugged terrain. This paper describes the OmniTread concept and some of its technical features in some detail. In the Experiment Results Section, photographs of successful obstacle traverses illustrate the abilities of the OT-4. Š 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/56171/1/20196_ftp.pd
An Overview of Legged Robots
The objective of this paper is to present the evolution and the state-of-theart in the area of legged locomotion systems. In a first phase different possibilities for mobile robots are discussed, namely the case of artificial legged locomotion systems, while emphasizing their advantages and limitations. In a second phase an historical overview of the evolution of these systems is presented, bearing in mind several particular cases often considered as milestones on the technological and scientific progress. After this historical timeline, some of the present day systems are examined and their performance is analyzed. In a third phase are pointed out the major areas for research and development that are presently being followed in the construction of legged robots. Finally, some of the problems still unsolved, that remain defying robotics research, are also addressed.N/
A study towards the potentials of robotic technologies to decrease risk to personnelâs safety in Statnett
Background of the project
Health, safety and the environment (HSE) is Statnett´s nr.1 priority and Statnett has a zero vision towards accidents. Unfortunately, Statnett and their entrepreneurs experience accidents each year. With an increasing activity level towards 2020, it is natural to estimate that the number of accidents will increase in line with the activity. It can therefore be interesting to study new technologies with high potential to reduce risk, if it is rapidly implemented.
Goals
There were three goals with this thesis. The first was to identify robotic technologies, available now or within a five-year period with potential for use in Statnett. The second goal was to identify dangerous operations performed by Statnett or Statnett´s entrepreneurs. The third goal was to provide a recommendation of which robotic technologies that can both execute the identified operations and reduce the risks of the operations.
General information about the thesis
This report was made as a master thesis at the end of a five-year study towards a Master's Degree in science at Norwegian University of Life Science(NMBU). The study was performed between January and May 2016, and represent 30 ECTS. The thesis is written under collaboration between Statnett and NMBU.
Method
This thesis is based on literature study, interviews, observations and data analysis.
Results
The main outcome was the following:
⢠There are many types of robotic technologies with different abilities and potential for implementation in Statnett and Statnett´s entrepreneurs, all with a high level of technology readiness(TRL) or already in use. There are however limitations with every type of robotic technologies, e.g. many of the line suspended robotic devices have problems crossing suspension towers and there is actually only one that is supposedly able to cross dead-end towers.
⢠There is no doubt that Statnett and their entrepreneurs perform dangerous operations. Many high risk operations are identified, but there are still reasons to believe that even more could be found. All of the identified operations contain different factors of risk. Some of the risk factors have led to tragic accidents ending with death or severe illness. The biggest identified risk factors are working with helicopter and working at height.
⢠There are several robotic technologies with the possibility to both perform and reduce the risk of some of the dangerous operations identified in this thesis.
Recommendation for further work
Based on the robotic technology with the highest potential to both execute operations and reduce the operations risks, eleven technologies are recommended for further research and development towards permanent implementation in specific operations.Bakgrunn for prosjektet
Helse, miljø og sikkerhet (HMS) er Statnetts topp prioritet. Statnett har en visjon om null
ulykker, men opplever ulykker hvert ür sammen med sine entreprenører. Frem mot 2020 er
det planlagt økt aktivitet og det er derfor naturlig ü anta at antall ulykker vil øke i takt med
aktiviteten. Det kan derfor vĂŚre interessant ĂĽ se pĂĽ ny teknologis mulighet til ĂĽ redusere
risiko, hvis det kan implementeres raskt.
MĂĽl:
Oppgaven har tre mül. Det første er ü identifisere robotteknologi tilgjengelig i dag eller innen
en femĂĽrs periode med potensial for bruk i Statnett. MĂĽl nummer to er ĂĽ identifisere farlige
operasjoner utført av Statnett eller deres entreprenører. Det siste mület er ü gi en anbefaling av
hvilken robotteknologi som har størst mulighet til ü büde utføre operasjonene samtidig som
den kan redusere operasjonens risiko.
Generell informasjon om oppgaven
Oppgaven er skrevet som en masteroppgave i siste semester av et femĂĽrig masterstudie pĂĽ
Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet (NMBU). Oppgaven representerer 30
studiepoeng og er skrevet som et samarbeid mellom Statnett og NMBU.
Metode
Oppgaven er basert pĂĽ litteratur, intervjuer, observasjoner og analyse av innsamlet data.
Resultat
Hovedresultatene var som følger:
⢠Det er identifisert mange typer robotteknologi med forskjellige anvendelser og potensial
for implementering hos Statnett og Statnetts entreprenører. Alle teknologiene var langt i
utviklingen, høy âtechnology readiness levelâ (TRL), eller var allerede i bruk. Det var like
vell utfordringer med alle teknologiene, som f.eks. at fĂĽ âline suspended robotic devicesâ
kan krysse bĂŚremaster og at det faktisk bare er en som skal klare ĂĽ krysse ankermaster.
⢠Det er ingen tvil om at Statnett og deres entreprenører utfører farlige operasjoner. Det er
identifisert mange høy risiko operasjoner, men det er fortsatt grunn til ü tro at enda flere
kan identifiseres ved et grundigere studium. Alle operasjonene inneholder forskjellige
risikofaktorer og noen av risikofaktorene har ført til tragiske ulykker som har endt med
død eller alvorlige skader. De største risikofaktorene er identifisert som bruk av helikopter
og arbeid i høyden.
⢠Det er identifisert flere robotteknologier med potensial for ü büde kunne utføre og
redusere risikoen til noen av de identifiserte operasjonene.
Anbefaling for videre arbeid
Basert pü den robotteknologien med høyest potensial for ü bade utføre og redusere risikoen til
noen av de identifiserte operasjonene er elleve teknologier anbefalt for videre arbeid.M-M
Climbing and Walking Robots
With the advancement of technology, new exciting approaches enable us to render mobile robotic systems more versatile, robust and cost-efficient. Some researchers combine climbing and walking techniques with a modular approach, a reconfigurable approach, or a swarm approach to realize novel prototypes as flexible mobile robotic platforms featuring all necessary locomotion capabilities. The purpose of this book is to provide an overview of the latest wide-range achievements in climbing and walking robotic technology to researchers, scientists, and engineers throughout the world. Different aspects including control simulation, locomotion realization, methodology, and system integration are presented from the scientific and from the technical point of view. This book consists of two main parts, one dealing with walking robots, the second with climbing robots. The content is also grouped by theoretical research and applicative realization. Every chapter offers a considerable amount of interesting and useful information
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A methodology to enhance Urban Reconnaissance UGV requirements through simulation
Regarding to the increasing complexity of military systems, the development of initial system requirements matching with the user expectations, the architectural constraints and the technical standards is critical for the final performance and the global cost of the system. Computer simulation offers an efficient, fast and cheap way to evaluate, and even enhance, some of these user requirements at the earliest steps of the design process.
Based on the example of a Reconnaissance Unmanned Ground Vehicle concept issued from the UK MOD, this research proposes a methodology to enhance and validate military systemsâ requirements through a suite of appropriate simulation tools.
The modelling approach proposed consists of three successive phases, each phase providing new insights used to complete and refine the initial user requirements captured in a Requirements Management tool (Doors) database:
- The validation of the operational requirements, of which the aims are to simulate the specified capabilities of the UGV in a realistic scenario and to generate insights about new possible capabilities,
- The modelling of the UGVâs environment in a standard architecture framework (DoDAF) in order to identify all the assets of the system of system and its functional breakdown,
- The behavioural modelling of the vetronics (Vehicle Electronics) architecture, leading to identify the most appropriate architectural and technological standards to support the UGV functionalities.
While existing tools and methodologies were identified to support the systemâs environment and the behavioural models, a Computer Aided War Gaming (CAWG) tool was developed to implement the modelling of the operational capabilities. The qualitative and quantitative results obtained on a reconnaissance scenario tool were used to improve the initial UGV requirements. The CAWG itself got positive feedbacks after a demonstration to the UK MOD
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