24 research outputs found

    Analyzing energy-efficient configurations in hexapod robots for demining applications

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    Purpose – Reducing energy consumption in walking robots is an issue of great importance in field applications such as humanitarian demining so as to increase mission time for a given power supply. The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of improving energy efficiency in statically stable walking machines by comparing two leg, insect and mammal, configurations on the hexapod robotic platform SILO6. Design/methodology/approach – Dynamic simulation of this hexapod is used to develop a set of rules that optimize energy expenditure in both configurations. Later, through a theoretical analysis of energy consumption and experimental measurements in the real platform SILO6, a configuration is chosen. Findings – It is widely accepted that the mammal configuration in statically stable walking machines is better for supporting high loads, while the insect configuration is considered to be better for improving mobility. However, taking into account the leg dynamics and not only the body weight, different results are obtained. In a mammal configuration, supporting body weight accounts for 5 per cent of power consumption while leg dynamics accounts for 31 per cent. Originality/value – As this paper demonstrates, the energy expended when the robot walks along a straight and horizontal line is the same for both insect and mammal configurations, while power consumption during crab walking in an insect configuration exceeds power consumption in the mammal configuration

    SILO6: A six-legged robot for humanitarian de-mining tasks

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    Detection and removal of antipersonnel landmines in infested fields is an important worldwide problem. Around 100 million landmines have been deployed over the last two decades, and demining will take several more decades, even if no more mines were deployed in future. A high mine-clearance rate can only be accomplished by using new technologies such as improved sensors, efficient manipulators and mobile robots. This paper presents some basic ideas on the configuration and controller of a mobile system for detecting and locating antipersonnel landmines in an efficient and effective way. The whole system has been configured to work in a semi-autonomous mode with a view also to robot mobility and energy efficiency. The paper outlines the main features of the overall system and focuses on some aspects of the controller.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant CICYT DPI2001-1595.Peer reviewe

    DYLEMA: Using walking robots for landmine detection and location

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    Detection and removal of antipersonnel landmines is an important worldwide concern. A huge number of landmines has been deployed over the last twenty years, and demining will take several more decades, even if no more mines were deployed in future. An adequate mineclearance rate can only be achieved by using new technologies such as improved sensors, efficient manipulators and mobile robots. This paper presents some basic ideas on the configuration of a mobile system for detecting and locating antipersonnel landmines efficiently and effectively. The paper describes the main features of the overall system, which consists of a sensor head that can detect certain landmine types, a manipulator to move the sensor head over large areas, a locating system based on a global-positioning system, a remote supervisor computer and a legged robot used as the subsystems’ carrier. The whole system has been configured to work in a semi-autonomous mode with a view also to robot mobility and energy efficiency.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant CICYT DPI2001-1595 and DPI2004-05824.Peer reviewe

    Trends in the control of hexapod robots: a survey

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    The static stability of hexapods motivates their design for tasks in which stable locomotion is required, such as navigation across complex environments. This task is of high interest due to the possibility of replacing human beings in exploration, surveillance and rescue missions. For this application, the control system must adapt the actuation of the limbs according to their surroundings to ensure that the hexapod does not tumble during locomotion. The most traditional approach considers their limbs as robotic manipulators and relies on mechanical models to actuate them. However, the increasing interest in model-free models for the control of these systems has led to the design of novel solutions. Through a systematic literature review, this paper intends to overview the trends in this field of research and determine in which stage the design of autonomous and adaptable controllers for hexapods is.The first author received funding through a doctoral scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (Grant No. SFRH/BD/145818/2019), with funds from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the European Social Fund through the Programa Operacional Regional Norte. This work has been supported by the FCT national funds, under the national support to R&D units grant, through the reference project UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020

    State of the Art Review on Mobile Robots and Manipulators for Humanitarian Demining

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    Robotics solutions properly sized with suitable modularized structure and well adapted to local conditions of dangerous unstructured areas can greatly improve the safety of personnel as well as the work efficiency, productivity and flexibility. In this sense, mobile systems equipped with manipulators for detecting and locating antipersonnel landmines are considered of most importance towards autonomous/semi-autonomous mine location in a proficient, reliable, safer and effective way. This paper reviews the most relevant literature and previous research activity regarding mobile robots and manipulators for humanitarian demining.Robotics solutions properly sized with suitable modularized structure and well adapted to local conditions of dangerous unstructured areas can greatly improve the safety of personnel as well as the work efficiency, productivity and flexibility. In this sense, mobile systems equipped with manipulators for detecting and locating antipersonnel landmines are considered of most importance towards autonomous/semi-autonomous mine location in a proficient, reliable, safer and effective way. This paper reviews the most relevant literature and previous research activity regarding mobile robots and manipulators for humanitarian demining

    An Overview of Legged Robots

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    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/

    Robots for Humanitarian Demining

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    More than 100,000,000 anti-personnel mines have been laid in deferent part of the world by terrorists or government forces. The mines are cheapest weapon, built to make horrible injuries, affecting active people, with major falls-off into economic growth. Therefore, after or during a war demining is a big technological problem which needs to address by the governments. All demining activities can be classified mainly in two different ways, military demining and humanitarian demining. Main objective of military demining is to make a quick safe path for troops and may be 80% clearing is enough for them. On the other hand, humanitarian demining target is to clear 100% to ensure the use of lands by people who are not involved in the conflicts for their day-to-day activities including farming. Mainly humanitarian demining has two tasks: detection and removal. Still the use of robots is questionable in this regard. Mainly robots work well for clean and reliable tasks. When the price to performance ratio is too high, they are academic toys. This chapter presents the overview of the available robotic technologies with a depth comparison between them by considering the appropriateness to the local context
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