Design of a rescue robot for search and mapping operation

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Izmir, 2006Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 65-66)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishx, 76 leavesThe aim of this thesis is to design a mobile robot for rescue operations after an earthquake. The robot is designed to locate injured victims and life triangle in debris, to create a map of the disaster area and to collect the necessary information needed by digging and support robots in order to the database center. This robot enables us to rescue the victim in the shortest time with minimum injury. This will let us risking the lives of the rescue teams much less as well as rescuing much more victim alive.Robot is designed with the longitudinal body design. Shock absorber system gives the damper effect against falls as well as adding advanced equilibrium properties while passing through a rough land. Driving mechanism is a tracked steering system.Front and back arm system is developed to provide high mobility while overtaking the obstacles.Secondly hovercraft type robot, which works with the cushion pressure principle, is designed as a rescue robot. It is thought that if the adequate height is supplied, the robot could manage to overcome obstacles.As a third design, ball robot, which could easily move uphill and has a capability to overrun obstacles, is studied.Jumping mechanism will be working by magnetic piston.In addition robot is equipped with the sensors so that it has capable of the navigation. In order to achieve feasible sensor systems, all electronic components are evaluated and the most effective sensors are chosen

A sensor-based personal navigation system and its application for incorporating humans into a human-robot team

In this thesis methods for the sensor-based localisation of human beings are studied. The thesis presents the theory, test results and a realisation of the methods, which is called PeNa. PeNa is further applied to incorporate a human into a human-robot team that performs a simulated search and rescue task. Human-robot teamwork provides the vision for this thesis. Furthermore, the PeLoTe project and its search and rescue task provided the primary motivation for the research. However, the major part of this work and contribution is on sensor-based personal navigation. The approaches studied for personal navigation systems are based on sensor-based dead reckoning, laser-based dead reckoning, and map-based localisation. Sensor-based dead reckoning is based on heading estimation using a compass and gyro and step length estimation. Two alternative step length estimation methods are presented, ultrasound-based and accelerometer-based. Two laser dead reckoning methods are presented; a pose correlation method and a combined angle histogram matcher with position correlation. Furthermore, there are three variations for map-based localisation based on the well-known Monte Carlo Localisation (MCL): topological MCL, scan-based MCL, and a combined MCL method. As a result of the research it can be stated that it is possible to build a personal navigation system that can localise a human being indoors using only self-contained sensors. The results also show that this can be achieved using various combinations of sensors and methods. Furthermore, the personal navigation system that was developed is used to incorporate a human being into a human-robot team performing a search and rescue task. The initial results show that the location information provides a basis for creating situational awareness for a spatially distributed team

Developing a person guidance module for hospital robots

This dissertation describes the design and implementation of the Person Guidance Module (PGM) that enables the IWARD (Intelligent Robot Swarm for attendance, Recognition, Cleaning and delivery) base robot to offer route guidance service to the patients or visitors inside the hospital arena. One of the common problems encountered in huge hospital buildings today is foreigners not being able to find their way around in the hospital. Although there are a variety of guide robots currently existing on the market and offering a wide range of guidance and related activities, they do not fit into the modular concept of the IWARD project. The PGM features a robust and foolproof non-hierarchical sensor fusion approach of an active RFID, stereovision and cricket mote sensor for guiding a patient to the X-ray room, or a visitor to a patient’s ward in every possible scenario in a complex, dynamic and crowded hospital environment. Moreover, the speed of the robot can be adjusted automatically according to the pace of the follower for physical comfort using this system. Furthermore, the module performs these tasks in any unconstructed environment solely from a robot’s onboard perceptual resources in order to limit the hardware installation costs and therefore the indoor setting support. Similar comprehensive solution in one single platform has remained elusive in existing literature. The finished module can be connected to any IWARD base robot using quick-change mechanical connections and standard electrical connections. The PGM module box is equipped with a Gumstix embedded computer for all module computing which is powered up automatically once the module box is inserted into the robot. In line with the general software architecture of the IWARD project, all software modules are developed as Orca2 components and cross-complied for Gumstix’s XScale processor. To support standardized communication between different software components, Internet Communications Engine (Ice) has been used as middleware. Additionally, plug-and-play capabilities have been developed and incorporated so that swarm system is aware at all times of which robot is equipped with PGM. Finally, in several field trials in hospital environments, the person guidance module has shown its suitability for a challenging real-world application as well as the necessary user acceptance

Mobile Robots Navigation

Mobile robots navigation includes different interrelated activities: (i) perception, as obtaining and interpreting sensory information; (ii) exploration, as the strategy that guides the robot to select the next direction to go; (iii) mapping, involving the construction of a spatial representation by using the sensory information perceived; (iv) localization, as the strategy to estimate the robot position within the spatial map; (v) path planning, as the strategy to find a path towards a goal location being optimal or not; and (vi) path execution, where motor actions are determined and adapted to environmental changes. The book addresses those activities by integrating results from the research work of several authors all over the world. Research cases are documented in 32 chapters organized within 7 categories next described

Third International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation for Space 1994

The Third International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation for Space (i-SAIRAS 94), held October 18-20, 1994, in Pasadena, California, was jointly sponsored by NASA, ESA, and Japan's National Space Development Agency, and was hosted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology. i-SAIRAS 94 featured presentations covering a variety of technical and programmatic topics, ranging from underlying basic technology to specific applications of artificial intelligence and robotics to space missions. i-SAIRAS 94 featured a special workshop on planning and scheduling and provided scientists, engineers, and managers with the opportunity to exchange theoretical ideas, practical results, and program plans in such areas as space mission control, space vehicle processing, data analysis, autonomous spacecraft, space robots and rovers, satellite servicing, and intelligent instruments

Mobile Robots

The objective of this book is to cover advances of mobile robotics and related technologies applied for multi robot systems' design and development. Design of control system is a complex issue, requiring the application of information technologies to link the robots into a single network. Human robot interface becomes a demanding task, especially when we try to use sophisticated methods for brain signal processing. Generated electrophysiological signals can be used to command different devices, such as cars, wheelchair or even video games. A number of developments in navigation and path planning, including parallel programming, can be observed. Cooperative path planning, formation control of multi robotic agents, communication and distance measurement between agents are shown. Training of the mobile robot operators is very difficult task also because of several factors related to different task execution. The presented improvement is related to environment model generation based on autonomous mobile robot observations

Proceedings of the NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics, volume 2

These proceedings contain papers presented at the NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics held in Pasadena, January 31 to February 2, 1989. The theme of the Conference was man-machine collaboration in space. The Conference provided a forum for researchers and engineers to exchange ideas on the research and development required for application of telerobotics technology to the space systems planned for the 1990s and beyond. The Conference: (1) provided a view of current NASA telerobotic research and development; (2) stimulated technical exchange on man-machine systems, manipulator control, machine sensing, machine intelligence, concurrent computation, and system architectures; and (3) identified important unsolved problems of current interest which can be dealt with by future research

Recent Advances in Multi Robot Systems

To design a team of robots which is able to perform given tasks is a great concern of many members of robotics community. There are many problems left to be solved in order to have the fully functional robot team. Robotics community is trying hard to solve such problems (navigation, task allocation, communication, adaptation, control, ...). This book represents the contributions of the top researchers in this field and will serve as a valuable tool for professionals in this interdisciplinary field. It is focused on the challenging issues of team architectures, vehicle learning and adaptation, heterogeneous group control and cooperation, task selection, dynamic autonomy, mixed initiative, and human and robot team interaction. The book consists of 16 chapters introducing both basic research and advanced developments. Topics covered include kinematics, dynamic analysis, accuracy, optimization design, modelling, simulation and control of multi robot systems