A Tread/Limb/Serpentine Hybrid Robot: Toward Hypermobility in Deconstructed Environments

According to the Red Cross, an average of over 600 disasters and 100,000 associated deaths occur annually throughout the world. This frequency of disasters strains an already overburdened disaster response effort. In the first 48 hours of a rescue operation, it is estimated that a responder will get less than three hours of continuous sleep as they need to work at full force to set up the operation and begin work in the field. This leads to sleep deprivation during the most critical time for search and rescue of victims. Therefore, robots are greatly needed as a force multiplier in USAR response to reduce some of the burden and workload placed on the human rescue workers to make for a more efficient and effective response

Design of a Biomimetic Mechanical Leg and Accompanying Sensor System for Terrain Detection

Autonomous robots are useful in a wide range of applications. However, finding a balance between speed and stability in an autonomous robot can be difficult. The goal of this project was to design a biomimetically-inspired robotic leg and accompanying sensor system for detecting terrain; the mechanical leg and sensor system designs in combination are intended to enable a quadruped robot to move quickly while maintaining its stability. In order to accomplish this goal, a leg was designed based on the leg of a cheetah and the team performed a variety of mechanical analyses on it. Additionally, the output from a force sensor landing on hard and muddy surfaces was collected and algorithms for determining which of the two surfaces the robot was walking on were developed

Mechanical Description of a Hyper-Redundant Robot Joint Mechanism Used for a Design of a Biomimetic Robotic Fish

A biologically inspired robot in the form of fish (mackerel) model using rubber (as the biomimetic material) for its hyper-redundant joint is presented in this paper. Computerized simulation of the most critical part of the model (the peduncle) shows that the rubber joints will be able to take up the stress that will be created. Furthermore, the frequency-induced softening of the rubber used was found to be critical if the joints are going to oscillate at frequency above 25 Hz. The robotic fish was able to attain a speed of 0.985 m/s while the tail beats at a maximum of 1.7 Hz when tested inside water. Furthermore, a minimum turning radius of 0.8 m (approximately 2 times the fish body length) was achieved

Two Gait Walking Mobile Robot with Teleoperation Over a Wireless Network

The robot provides a platform for individuals with limited mobility to navigate urban terrain. The system should have minimal impact on its environment, be very stable during movement, and be easily integrate wireless network systems. Minimal impact on the environment, was achieved using a hexapedal robot using a triangular paired-leg design. The hexapod was given two separate gaits, one for normal walking and one for negotiating stairs. This allowed the center of gravity to remain low while normally walking. The teleoperation was conducted over a wireless internet connection using a central dial home server. The robot was to designed to each criteria successfully. During the project, future additions were considered, making the robot a good platform for future projects

WALRUS Rover Expansion

The WALRUS rover is a capable search and discovery platform aid in disaster relief. It utilizes actuated pods, onboard cameras, and aquatic mobility to provide responders with the information they need. The goal of this project is to enhance the WALRUS rover, by improving the situational awareness of the users. We utilized 3D mapping to present the environment in a natural way. We fabricated a new water resistant mast, to provide a superior view point. Finally, we implemented obstacle avoidance to allow the user to focus on the task at hand, instead of the obstacles. This document outlines the requirements and design to implement these features

WALRUS Rover MQP

Search and discovery rovers have evolved to play an essential part in disaster relief and humanitarian aid. With features such as supervised autonomy, high-definition vision systems, and enhanced mobility, the goal of this project is to create an amphibious rover to aid in search and discovery. Such a rover would not only give relief teams more information about the situation at hand, but also eliminate the danger of sending search parties into harsh and high-risk environments. The addition of water mobility allows teams to deploy the WALRUS Rover after disasters such as tsunamis or hurricanes. The end result of this project is a fully functional prototype of an amphibious rover guided by our design requirements

Vision based leader-follower formation control for mobile robots

Creating systems with multiple autonomous vehicles places severe demands on the design of control schemes. Robot formation control plays a vital role in coordinating robots. As the number of members in a system rise, the complexity of each member increases. There is a proportional increase in the quantity and complexity of onboard sensing, control and computation. This thesis investigates the control of a group of mobile robots consisting of a leader and several followers to maintain a desired geometric formation --Abstract, page iii

Hardware, Software, and Low-Level Control Scheme Development for a Real-Time Autonomous Rover

The objective of this research is to develop a low-cost autonomous rover platform for experiments in autonomous navigation. This thesis describes the design, development, and testing of an autonomous rover platform, based on the commercial, off-the-shelf Tamiya TXT-1 radio controlled vehicle. This vehicle is outfitted with an onboard computer based on the Mini-ITX architecture and an array of sensors for localization and obstacle avoidance, and programmed with Matlab/SimulinkRTM Real-Time Workshop (RTW) utilizing the Linux Real-Time Application Interface (RTAI) operating system.;First, a kinematic model is developed and verified for the rover. Then a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback controller is developed for translational and rotational velocity regulation. Finally, a hybrid navigation controller is developed combining a potential field controller and an obstacle avoidance controller for waypoint tracking.;Experiments are performed to verify the functionality of the kinematic model and the PID velocity controller, and to demonstrate the capabilities of the hybrid navigation controller. These experiments prove that the rover is capable of successfully navigating in an unknown indoor environment. Suggestions for future research include the integration of additional sensors for localization and creation of multiple platforms for autonomous coordination experiments