Control of Nonprehensile Planar Rolling Manipulation: A Passivity-Based Approach

This paper presents a new procedure to design a control law using the classical interconnection and damping assignment technique within the passivity-based port-Hamiltonian framework. The sought goal is to reduce the complexity of solving the so-called matching equations. The proposed approach is applied to two case studies of planar rolling nonprehensile manipulation, namely, the ball-and-beam and the eccentric disk-on-disk. The performance of the resulting controllers is illustrated through both simulations and experimental results, showing the applicability of the design in a real setup

From 2D to 3D Mixed Reality Human-Robot Interface in Hazardous Robotic Interventions with the Use of Redundant Mobile Manipulator

Part de la conferència: ICINCO 2021: 18th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (juliol 2021)3D Mixed Reality (MR) Human-Robot Interfaces (HRI) show promise for robotic operators to complete tasks more quickly, safely and with less training. The objective of this study is to assess the use of 3D MR HRI environment in comparison with a standard 2D Graphical User Interface (GUI) in order to control a redundant mobile manipulator. The experimental data was taken during operation with a 9 DOF manipulator mounted in a robotized train, CERN Train Inspection Monorail (TIM), used for the Beam Loss Monitor robotic measurement task in a complex hazardous intervention scenario at CERN. The efficiency and workload of an operator were compared with the use of both types of interfaces with NASA TLX method. The usage of heart rate and Galvanic Skin Response parameters for operator condition and stress monitoring was tested. The results show that teleoperation with 3D MR HRI mitigates cognitive fatigue and stress by improving the operators understanding of both the robot’s pose and the surr ounding environment or scene

MiniCERNBot Educational Platform: Antimatter Factory Mock-up Missions for Problem-Solving STEM Learning

Mechatronics and robotics appeared particularly effective in students’ education, allowing them to create non-traditional solutions in STEM disciplines, which have a direct impact and interaction with the world surrounding them. This paper presents the current state of the MiniCERNBot Educational Robotic platform for high-school and university students. The robot provides a comprehensive educative system with tutorials and tasks tuned for different ages on 3D design, mechanical assembly, control, programming, planning, and operation. The system is inspired to existing robotic systems and typical robotic interventions performed at CERN, and includes an education mock-up that follows the example of a previous real operation performed in CERN’s Antimatter Factory. The paper describes the learning paths where the MiniCERNBot platform can be used by students, at different ages and disciplines. In addition, it describes the software and hardware architecture, presenting results on modularity and network performance during education exercises. In summary, the objective of the study is improving the way STEM educational and dissemination activities at CERN Robotics Lab are performed, as well as their possible synergies with other education institutions, such as High-Schools and Universities, improving the learning collaborative process and inspiring students interested in technical studies. To this end, a new educational robotic platform has been designed, inspired on real scientific operations, which allows the students practice multidisciplinary STEM skills in a collaborative problem-solving way, while increasing their motivation and comprehension of the research activities

Design of a dynamic mock-up bench for testing robotic interventions

[Abstract] When a robotic intervention is required in hazardous facilities (e.g. particle accelerators or nuclear plants), it is commonly not possible to test the operation on-site in advance - a considerable challenge since robotic interventions usually require specific tasks for each location -, precluding the team from demonstrating the feasibility of the operation. It becomes mandatory to develop a particular mock-up for each operation, unsuitable for reusing it in future missions. To solve this problem, a general dynamic mock-up bench was designed, allowing to centre the testing of all remote handled tasks and to choose the best set of robots to perform them

Design development and implementation of an irradiation station at the neutron time-of-flight facility at CERN

A new parasitic, mixed-field, neutron-dominated irradiation station has been recently commissioned at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN). The station is installed within the neutron time-of-flight (n_TOF) facility, taking advantage of the secondary radiation produced by the neutron spallation target, with neutrons ranging from 0.025 eV to several hundreds of MeV. The new station allows radiation damage studies to be performed in irradiation conditions that are closer to the ones encountered during the operation of particle accelerators; the irradiation tests carried out in the station will be complementary to the standard tests on materials, usually performed with gamma sources. Samples will be exposed to neutron-dominated doses in the MGy range per year, with minimal impact on the n_TOF facility operation. The station has 24 irradiation positions, each hosting up to 100 cm3 of sample material. In view of its proximity to the n_TOF target, inside protective shielding, the irradiation station and its operating procedures have been carefully developed taking into account the safety of personnel and to avoid any unwanted impact on the operation of the n_TOF facility and experiments. Due to the residual radioactivity of the whole area around the n_TOF target and of the irradiated samples, access to the irradiation station is forbidden to human operators even when the n_TOF facility is not in operation. Robots are used for the remote installation and retrieval of the samples, and other optimizations of the handling procedures were developed in compliance with radiation protection regulations and the aim of minimizing doses to personnel. The sample containers were designed to be radiation tolerant, compatible with remote handling, and subject to detailed risk analysis and testing during their development. The whole life cycle of the irradiated materials, including their post-irradiation examinations and final disposal, was considered and optimized

Mechatronics design of a robotic systems

The same coordination aspects are the key-points of the last proposed method about comunication: now, the robotic device have to cooperate in order to manage the object in the desired way with a good sensitivity and this can be done exploiting the torque end force sensor of the new system. A general introduction underlining the need to make a robot autonomous or at least able to operate in unstructured scenarios to cope with human end other robotic device. Project of ultralight robot arm for aerial manipulation whit simulations and experiments. Proposed robot manipulator framework in order to exploit the interaction robot-robot, redundancy management for dexterity scopes. Simulations are presented to validate the proposed hardware. And exploit the problematic of the comunication and control of the multiple platform. Simulations are presented to validate the proposed approach

REMOTE - Robotics activities at CERN - Simulation and best practices for remote maintenance

Simulation and best practices for remote maintenance To decrease human exposure to hazards in hostile environments, Remote Handling (RH) tasks ― the action of using a mechatronic device to execute remote-controlled operations ― are needed. At CERN, the BE-CEM group is responsible for planning and safely performing RH operations for remote maintenance. Based on the feedbacks retrieved by the many remote robotic interventions done on the field during the last years, a code of practice framework for remote maintenance has been created to assist design engineers with guidelines to be followed for machine components design to ensure compatibility with remote interventions. Such best practises can be applied also outside CERN, indeed to any environment where robots must dynamically interact with a known and designable environment. This talk will present the status of these best practises and will highlight how they can be applied to new installations at CERN. Short bio Luca Rosario Buonocore Luca Rosario Buonocore received the MD in electronic engineering in 2015, with a master thesis in real-time visual servoing recognition and tracking of aerial robotic platforms.&nbsp;He received a PhD degree in Computer and Automation Engineering at the University of Naples Federico II in 2015. His main research interests are the mechatronic design of novel robotic solutions, like mobile robotic platforms and ultralight robotic arms for areal manipulation. In 2017, he started to work as a research fellow at CERN in the R&amp;D robotic division of BE developing robotic solutions for inspection and maintenance. Right now he is a staff member at CERN as a robotic engineer in charge of robotic and mechatronic design for intervention in harsh environments.</p

Omnidirectional Robotic Platform for Surveillance of Particle Accelerator Environments with Limited Space Areas

Intelligent robotic systems are becoming essential for inspections and measurements in harsh environments. This article presents the design of an omnidirectional robotic platform for tunnel inspection with spatial limitations. This robot was born from the need to automate the surveillance process of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), where there is remaining radiation. The accelerator is located within a tunnel that is divided by small doors of 400 × 200 mm dimensions, through which the robot has to cross. The designed robot brings a robotic arm, and the needed devices to carry out the inspection. Thanks to this design, the robot application may vary by replacing certain devices and tools. In addition, this paper presents the kinematic and dynamic control models for the robotic platform