Railway crossing with adjustable pulling force as function of loading

In this paper presents the concept of controlling the pulling force as a function of loading of railway crossing that was modelled as a discrete-continuous system. Two elements figure are described as continuous systems: elastomer support and pull-strings. Tension in pull-strings is adjusted in relation with railway crossing loading

Underwater robotic system for reservoir maintenance

In this paper a description and practical implementation of the developed prototype of an underwater hybrid robot is presented. The solution is based on the guidelines of Cracow waterworks (Municipal Waterworks and Sewer Enterprise, MPWiK S.A.). The prototype of the hybrid robot consists of a crawler robot and a ROV. Robots’ design, mathematical models of kinematics and dynamics of the crawler robot, ROV’s vision system architecture with image processing methods for surface crack detection and robot position and attitude estimation are investigated and examined. Results obtained from experimental validation of the developed prototype are presented and discussed. Finally, the paper establishes future research directions

Kinematics Modeling of the Amigobot Robot

In this article authors presenting problems connected with the kinematics modeling based on Denavit-Hartenberg notation for a wheeled mobile robot. The possibility of sending data between Maple T M and Matlab T M has been discussed. Simulations of the kinematics parameters have been made and the results are shown

Real-Time 3D Mapping in Isolated Industrial Terrain with Use of Mobile Robotic Vehicle

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a dual process responsible for the ability of a robotic vehicle to build a map of its surroundings and estimate its position on that map. This paper presents the novel concept of creating a 3D map based on the adaptive Monte-Carlo location (AMCL) and the extended Kalman filter (EKF). This approach is intended for inspection or rescue operations in a closed or isolated area where there is a risk to humans. The proposed solution uses particle filters together with data from on-board sensors to estimate the local position of the robot. Its global position is determined through the Rao–Blackwellized technique. The developed system was implemented on a wheeled mobile robot equipped with a sensing system consisting of a laser scanner (LIDAR) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and was tested in the real conditions of an underground mine. One of the contributions of this work is to propose a low-complexity and low-cost solution to real-time 3D-map creation. The conducted experimental trials confirmed that the performance of the three-dimensional mapping was characterized by high accuracy and usefulness for recognition and inspection tasks in an unknown industrial environment

The Precise Odometry Navigation for the Group of Robots

The idea of the project is to trace the robot position and orientation and precise it by the implementation of the advanced algorithms based on triangulation and trilateration methods. Precise navigation is a difficult task since the odometry sensors used in this context are subject to systematic and random errors. The former ones result from inaccuracies in the mechanical construction of the vehicles, e.g. the wheel diameters can be unequal or the nominal direction of the wheels is different from real

Real-Time 3D Mapping in Isolated Industrial Terrain with Use of Mobile Robotic Vehicle

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a dual process responsible for the ability of a robotic vehicle to build a map of its surroundings and estimate its position on that map. This paper presents the novel concept of creating a 3D map based on the adaptive Monte-Carlo location (AMCL) and the extended Kalman filter (EKF). This approach is intended for inspection or rescue operations in a closed or isolated area where there is a risk to humans. The proposed solution uses particle filters together with data from on-board sensors to estimate the local position of the robot. Its global position is determined through the Rao–Blackwellized technique. The developed system was implemented on a wheeled mobile robot equipped with a sensing system consisting of a laser scanner (LIDAR) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and was tested in the real conditions of an underground mine. One of the contributions of this work is to propose a low-complexity and low-cost solution to real-time 3D-map creation. The conducted experimental trials confirmed that the performance of the three-dimensional mapping was characterized by high accuracy and usefulness for recognition and inspection tasks in an unknown industrial environment

Design, Modelling and Laboratory Testing of a Pipe Inspection Robot

Praca przedstawia projekt mobilnego gąsienicowego robota inspekcyjnego ze zmienną konfiguracją układu napędowego. Robot jest stworzony do inspekcji okrągłych oraz kwadratowych rur i kanałów o orientacji pionowej oraz poziomej. W artykule opisany został proces wirtualnego prototypowania, podczas którego zwrócono uwagę na przystosowanie pozycji gąsienic do środowiska, w którym pracować będzie robot. Przedstawiono model matematyczny kinematyki robota oraz symulacje ruchu układu napędowego. Wynikiem prac była produkcja prototypu, który został przetestowany w rurach o średnicy przekraczającej 210 mm, co udokumentowano w artykule. Przeprowadzone zostały również testy zużycia energii przez robota podczas przejazdów w trzech podstawowych konfiguracjach

Feasibility Study of Low Mass and Low Energy Consumption Drilling Devices for Future Space (Mining Surveying) Missions

The global climate crisis forces the search for new ecological sources of energy and mining methods. Space mining can solve those problems, but, first, wide geological surveying space missions using drilling methods are necessary. Additionally, drilling methods will be important in geological, life searching, geoengineering, and many other studies of extraterrestrial objects. Space is becoming a new area of possible drilling applications. Designing future space drilling missions requires adapting drilling technologies, not only to the conditions of the space environment, but also to the economic and technological realities of the space industry. The possibility of constructing low mass coring devices with energy consumption below 100 W was investigated in this paper. Minimization of energy consumption and mass of a coring is essential for the device to be used in space missions, when lander instruments supplied by low power electric battery are expected to work reliably and the launch cost (depending of mass) at an economically acceptable level. Some similar devices investigated for the future space missions are known from papers listed in the references. To answer whether or not it is possible to build such devices, the authors performed initial drillability tests. The obtained results are presented in this paper