Challenges and Solutions for Autonomous Robotic Mobile Manipulation for Outdoor Sample Collection

In refinery, petrochemical, and chemical plants, process technicians collect uncontaminated samples to be analyzed in the quality control laboratory all time and all weather. This traditionally manual operation not only exposes the process technicians to hazardous chemicals, but also imposes an economical burden on the management. The recent development in mobile manipulation provides an opportunity to fully automate the operation of sample collection. This paper reviewed the various challenges in sample collection in terms of navigation of the mobile platform and manipulation of the robotic arm from four aspects, namely mobile robot positioning/attitude using global navigation satellite system (GNSS), vision-based navigation and visual servoing, robotic manipulation, mobile robot path planning and control. This paper further proposed solutions to these challenges and pointed the main direction of development in mobile manipulation

Centaur: NASA’s mobile humanoid designed for filed work

Abstract -NASA's future lunar and martian missions will require a suite of advanced robotic systems to complete tasks during precursor visits and to assist humans while present on the surface. The Centaur is a new mobile, dexterous manipulation system designed with this future role in mind. Centaur combines the sophisticated upper body dexterity of NASA's humanoid, Robonaut, with a rugged and versatile four-wheeled base. This combination allows for robotic use of human tools and interfaces in remote locations by incorporating design improvements to the existing Robonaut that target the challenges of planetary field work: rough terrain, a varied environment (temperature, dust, wind, etc.), and distance from human operators. An overview of Centaur's design is presented focusing on the features that serve to mitigate the above risks and allow the robot to perform human-like tasks in unstructured environments. The success of this design is also demonstrated by the results of a recent coordinated field demonstration in which Centaur, under both teleoperated and autonomous control, cooperated with other NASA robots

The coordinated control of space robot teams for the on-orbit construction of large flexible space structures

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-103).Teams of autonomous space robots are needed for future space missions such as the construction of large solar power stations and large space telescopes in earth orbit. This work focuses on the control of teams of robots performing construction tasks such as manipulation and assembly of large space structures. The control of the robot structure system is difficult. The space structures are flexible and there are significant dynamic interactions between the robots and the structures. Forces applied by the robots may excite undesirable vibrations in the structures. Furthermore, the changing configuration of the system results in the system dynamics being described by a set of non-linear partial differential equations. Limited sensing and actuation in space present additional challenges. The approach proposed here is to transform the system dynamics into a set of linear time-varying ordinary differential equations. The control of the high-frequency robots can be decoupled from the control of the low-frequency structures. This approach allows the robots to apply forces to the structures and control the dynamic interactions between the structures and the robots. The approach permits linear optimal control theory to be used. Simulation studies and experimental verification demonstrate the validity of the approach.by Peggy Boning.Ph.D

Metodología para el desarrollo de un manipulador móvil autónomo con características antropométricas

El desarrollo de esta tesis se enmarca en el proyecto MANFRED (MAN FRiEnDly mobile manipulator) desarrollado por el Grupo de Manipuladores Móviles del Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. El objetivo de este proyecto es la construcción de un robot manipulador móvil antropomórfico de servicios avanzado capaz de operar en entornos típicamente diseñados para humanos. Para lograr este objetivo la robustez, fiabilidad y seguridad, han sido requisitos fundamentales para que el robot pueda desarrollar su tarea de forma adecuada en entornos compartidos con seres humanos, sin necesidad de modificar el espacio de trabajo. En esta tesis se tratan especialmente los aspectos relacionados con el diseño mecánico de un brazo manipulador robótico de 6 grados de libertad conocido como UC3M-LWR-1, imprescindible para llevar a cabo las tareas de manipulación y colaboración con personas. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo el diseño y construcción de un brazo manipulador de baja inercia, pero con una capacidad de carga y alcance lo más parecido posible a los de un brazo humano. En la etapa de diseño ha sido necesario realizar un estudio antropométrico que permitiera establecer los parámetros de alcance así como los rangos articulares del brazo humano, de manera que pudieran ser imitados, en la medida de lo posible, por el diseño del manipulador objeto de esta tesis. Por otra parte, también se presenta el estudio realizado de los distintos materiales constructivos, así como de los componentes comerciales que se habrían de emplear en la construcción del brazo manipulador. De esta manera se pretendía lograr la mayor ligereza posible de la estructura, ya que este aspecto repercute directamente en la seguridad para los seres humanos que pudieran compartir el espacio de trabajo con el manipulador, disminuyendo la inercia en situaciones de choques accidentales. Además, un diseño ligero confiere al brazo manipulador una mayor versatilidad ya que le permite manipular objetos más pesados y por tanto amplía el número de tareas que puede realizar. Por otra parte, en la fase de diseño previa a la construcción del brazo manipulador, se han tenido en cuenta otros aspectos de gran relevancia cuando hablamos de diseñar un prototipo, cuyo último fin es que pueda llegar a ser algún día comercializado, como son el aspecto económico, en cuanto al coste de los elementos constitutivos del mismo, los procesos de mecanizado necesarios para la construcción de la estructura, así como el aspecto estético del diseño tratando en todo momento de que no resultase agresivo visualmente. Finalmente, se presentan los análisis, tanto cinemático como dinámico, junto con las simulaciones realizadas para una tarea concreta como es la apertura de una puerta. Estos análisis han permitido validar el diseño mecánico del brazo manipulador y al mismo tiempo detectar y corregir aquellos defectos del diseño, previamente a su construcción. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This thesis was developed within the framework of the MANFRED (MAN FRiEnDly mobile manipulator) Project by the Mobiles Manipulators Group of the Systems Engineering and Automation Department, in Carlos III of Madrid University. The aim of the project was to construct an advanced anthropomorphic mobile manipulator robot capable of operating within typical human environments. In order to achieve this goal; robustness, reliability and safety were the fundamental requirements in order that the robot could adequately develop the task in shared environments with human beings without the need to modify the work space. The thesis addresses specifically the points related to the mechanical design of a robotic manipulator arm that has 6 degrees of freedom known as LWR-UC3M-1, indispensable to carry out tasks of manipulation and collaboration with people. For this, the design and construction of a manipulator arm of low inertia has been carried out, but with a load capacity and reach resemble that of the human arm. During the design phase, it was necessary to perform an anthropomorphic study that allowed establishing the reach parameters likewise the articular ranges of the human arm joints. This was done in order that the human arm could be imitated, in so far as possible, for the manipulator design object of this thesis. A further study was performed on the different construction materials required, as well as of the commercial components that would be implemented and used during the construction of the arm manipulator. In this manner, the intention was to achieve maximum possible lightness of the structure, since this aspect results directly in the security of the human beings that could share and interact in the work space with the manipulator, diminishing the inertia of potential situations of accidental collisions. Besides, a light weight design will give the manipulator arm greater versatility allowing it to manipulate heavier objects and therefore increase the number of tasks that can be performed. On the other hand, during the prototype design phase prior to the manipulator arm construction, other key aspects of great relevance like economic issue (the constitutive component costs), machining process needs for structure construction and aesthetically pleasing design were considered with the end goal that one day it would be commercially viable to make and available. Finally, the cinematic and dynamic analysis, along with the simulations performed for a specific task (The opening of a door) will be presented. These analyses have in turn allowed the approval of the arm manipulator mechanical design and at the same time to detect and to correct those defects of the design, prior to its construction