Design and Experiments with a Low-Cost Single-Motor Modular Aquatic Robot

We present a novel design for a low-cost robotic boat powered by a single actuator, useful for both modular and swarming applications. The boat uses the conservation of angular momentum and passive flippers to convert the motion of a single motor into an adjustable paddling motion for propulsion and steering. We develop design criteria for modularity and swarming and present a prototype implementing these criteria. We identify significant mechanical sensitivities with the presented design, theorize about the cause of the sensitivities, and present an improved design for future work.Comment: Accepted to the International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR 2020). 8 page

Path planning for automatic recharging system for steep-slope vineyard robots

Develop cost-effective ground robots for crop monitoring in steep slope vineyards is a complex challenge. The terrain presents harsh conditions for mobile robots and most of the time there is no one available to give support to the robots. So, a fully autonomous steep-slope robot requires a robust automatic recharging system. This work proposes a multilevel system that monitors a vineyard robot autonomy, to plan off-line the trajectory to the nearest recharging point and dock the robot on that recharging point considering visual tags. The proposed system called VineRecharge was developed to be deployed into a cost-effective robot with low computational power. Besides, this paper benchmarks several visual tags and detectors and integrates the best one into the VineRecharge system.This work is financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation - COMPETE 2020 Programme within project “POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006961”, and by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) as part of project UID/EEA/50014/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Efficient Modelling Methodology for Reconfigurable Underwater Robots

This paper considers the challenge of applying reconfigurable robots in an underwater environment. The main result presented is the development of a model for a system comprised of N, possibly heterogeneous, robots dynamically connected to each other and moving with 6 Degrees of Freedom (DOF). This paper presents an application of the Udwadia-Kalaba Equation for modelling the Reconfigurable Underwater Robots. The constraints developed to enforce the rigid connection between robots in the system is derived through restrictions on relative distances and orientations. To avoid singularities in the orientation and, thereby, allow the robots to undertake any relative configuration the attitude is represented in Euler parameter

Validation of multi-body modelling methodology for reconfigurable underwater robots

This paper investigates the problem of employing reconfigurable robots in an underwater setting. The main results presented is the experimental validation of a modelling methodology for a system consisting of N dynamically connected robots with heterogeneous dynamics. Two distinct types of experiments are performed, a series of hydrostatic free-decay tests and a series of open-loop trajectory tests. The results are compared to a simulation based on the modelling methodology. The modelling methodology shows promising results for usage with systems composed of reconfigurable underwater modules. The purpose of the model is to enable design of control strategies for cooperative reconfigurable underwater systems

A Pocket Sized Foldable Quadcopter for Situational Awareness and Reconnaissance

Flying robots are rapidly becoming an essential tool in search and rescue missions because they can rapidly gather information from inaccessible or unsafe locations, thus increasing safety and rapidity of interventions. With this aim, we present a pocket sized foldable quadcopter equipped with a camera. The drone is a portable and rugged “flying-eye” that aims to extend or move the field of view of the rescuer for situational awareness and safe reconnaissance. The quadcopter can be packaged for transportation by folding its arms and it self-deploys in a glimpse before usage. Its compliant foldable arms make it rugged, reducing the risk of failure after collisions. The drone is remotely operated and it can stream sound, thermal and visual images in real time to rescuers. The prototype of the foldable quadcopter is experimentally characterized and assessed in preliminary field tests