Dual-arm Mobile Robot Research Articles

Complete area-coverage path planner for surface cleaning in hospital settings using mobile dual-arm robot and GBNN with heuristics

Complete area-coverage path planners are essential for robots performing tasks like cleaning, inspection, and surveying. However, they often involve complex calculations, mapping, and determining movement directions, leading to high computational or processing overheads and the risk of deadlocks. This paper proposes an approach for cleaning, i.e., by linear wiping of generic and discontinuous surfaces in hospital settings using inhouse assembled mobile dual-arm (MDA) robotic system. The proposed framework introduces key features: (a) a less resource-intensive approach for MDA positioning and cleaning surface mapping, (b) Modified Glasius Bioinspired Neural Network through use of heuristics (GBNN+H) to optimize surface linear wiping while obstacle avoidance, and traversal across discontinuous surfaces. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are highlighted in simulation with GBNN+H significantly reduces the number of steps and flight time required for complete coverage compared to existing algorithms. The proposed framework is also experimentally demonstrated in a hospital setting, paving the way for improved automation in cleaning and disinfection tasks. Overall, this work presents a generic and versatile, applicable to various surface orientations and complexities.

Time and Energy Optimal Trajectory Planning of Wheeled Mobile Dual-Arm Robot Based on Tip-Over Stability Constraint

Trajectory planning and avoidance of tipping are the main keys to success in the mobile dual-arm manipulation, especially when the dual-arm or moving platform is running fast. The forces and moments between wheel-terrain and body-arm have been analyzed by kinematics and force analysis of a robot to define tip-over stability constraint. Then, an improved tip-over moment stability criterion for a wheeled mobile dual-arm robot is presented and defines tip-over stability constraint based on it. To improve the motion stability of the robot, this paper presents an optimal joint trajectory planning model based on time and energy. The quintic B-spline curve and an improved NSGA-II algorithm, which are time and energy, are applied to multi-objective optimization. The simulation results show that the motion stability of a robot is improved based on the tip-over stability constraint. This trajectory planning method based on the stability constraint can be applied to other mobile robots as well.

Whole-Body Control of an Autonomous Mobile Manipulator Using Model Predictive Control and Adaptive Fuzzy Technique

Whole-body control (WBC) has emerged as an important framework in manipulation for mobile manipulators. However, most existing WBC frameworks require known dynamics. Considering whole-body manipulation and optimization with unknown dynamics, this article presents the WBC of a nonholonomic mobile manipulator using model predictive control (MPC) and fuzzy logic system. First, by constructing a dynamics-based feedback linearized robotic multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) system, an MPC-based WBC strategy is proposed for mobile manipulator. Such a strategy can provide the optimal control inputs with the specified optimization index and constraints. Thereafter, a primal-dual neural network effectively addresses the constrained quadratic programming (QP) problem over a finite receding horizon brought by the MPC. Then, in order to convert the intermediate control signals into the optimal control torques that can be executed by actuators, an adaptive FLS is employed to approximate the unknown dynamics. The novel elements of the current design control approach refer to the dynamics-based feedback linearized robotic MIMO system and the combination of an MPC module with an adaptive fuzzy controller. Finally, the trajectory tracking experiments performed on a mobile dual-arm robot demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Development of a Visual Perception System on a Dual-Arm Mobile Robot for Human-Robot Interaction.

This paper presents the development of a visual-perception system on a dual-arm mobile robot for human-robot interaction. This visual system integrates three subsystems. Hand gesture recognition is utilized to trigger human-robot interaction. Engagement and intention of the participants are detected and quantified through a cognitive system. Visual servoing uses YOLO to identify the object to be tracked and hybrid, model-based tracking to follow the object's geometry. The proposed visual-perception system is implemented in the developed dual-arm mobile robot, and experiments are conducted to validate the proposed method's effects on human-robot interaction applications.

A Metaheuristic Optimization Approach to Solve Inverse Kinematics of Mobile Dual-Arm Robots

This work presents an approach to solving the inverse kinematics of mobile dual-arm robots based on metaheuristic optimization algorithms. First, a kinematic analysis of a mobile dual-arm robot is presented. Second, an objective function is formulated based on the forward kinematics equations. The kinematic analysis does not require using any Jacobian matrix nor its estimation; for this reason, the proposed approach does not suffer from singularities, which is a common problem with conventional inverse kinematics algorithms. Moreover, the proposed method solves cooperative manipulation tasks, especially in the case of coordinated manipulation. Simulation and real-world experiments were performed to verify the proposal’s effectiveness under coordinated inverse kinematics and trajectory tracking tasks. The experimental setup considered a mobile dual-arm system based on the KUKA® Youbot® robot. The solution of the inverse kinematics showed precise and accurate results. Although the proposed approach focuses on coordinated manipulation, it can be implemented to solve non-coordinated tasks.

BIT-DMR: A Humanoid Dual-Arm Mobile Robot for Complex Rescue Operations

Using robots to assist or even replace rescuers for searching and rescuing has always been a research hotspot. Robots that can carry out dexterous operations at the scene are of great significance to reduce the life threat of rescue workers. Aiming at the characteristics of narrow space and frequent physical interaction in rescue scene, a dual-arm mobile robot BIT-DMR composed of humanoid upper body and tracked mobile platform is developed in this letter. The main work is as follows: a) A high-performance lightweight and heavy payload human-machine cooperative manipulator is developed, which has a slender shape and a large flexible workspace, improving the operation ability of the robot in complex rescue environment. b) A highly integrated tracked mobile platform is developed, which can change a variety of forms leading to a high trafficability in complex terrain. The flexibility of BIT-DMR to carry out rescue operation is verified by a series of experiments like payload testing, mobile platform performance, obstacle removing, door opening and casualty rescuing. This letter provides technical reserves for robots to assist or replace human beings to carry out rescue operations at the scene.

Development of dual-arm mobile robot platform based on ROS

Background: With the increasing demand of mobile robots in warehousing, logistics and service fields, simple planar motion is difficult to meet the task requirements of complex environment. The combination of mobile robot and cooperative robot is helpful to improve the dexterity of robot movement and expand the application of robots. Methods: Aiming at the application requirements of dual-arm robots and mobile robots in practical applications, this paper designed the hardware of a platform, built a simulation platform based on ROS (Robot Operating System), and designed the actual software control framework. Finally, the feasibility of the platform design was verified by the coupling motion experiment of the two robots. Results: We have established a simulation of the dual-arm mobile platform in ROS, designed the actual software control framework, and verified the feasibility of the platform design through experiments. Conclusions: The mobile platform can meet a variety of application requirements and lay the foundation for subsequent development.

Action Planning Including Holding Pattern Selection for Organizing Office Chairs by a Dual-Arm Mobile Robot

Action Planning Including Holding Pattern Selection for Organizing Office Chairs by a Dual-Arm Mobile Robot

Online Dynamic Tip-Over Analysis for a Wheeled Mobile Dual-Arm Robot with an Improved Tip-Over Moment Stability Criterion

Tip-over stability analysis is critical for the success of mobile manipulation of the dual arm, especially in the cases that the dual arm or the mobile platform moves rapidly. Due to strong dynamics coupling between the dual arm and mobile platform, online evaluation of dynamic stability of the mobile dual-arm robot still remains challenging. This paper presents an improved tip-over moment stability criterion dealing with the dual arm and mobile platform interaction and proposes an algorithm for calculating the tip-over stability margin of the arm end in the workspace to analyze the dynamic stability of the wheeled mobile dual-arm robot. The simulations on a four-wheeled mobile dual-arm robot validate the correctness and feasibility of the proposed method.

A dual-arm mobile robot system performing assistive tasks operated via P300-based brain computer interface

PurposeIn the past decade, more than 700 million people are affected by some kind of disability or handicap. In this context, the research interest in assistive robotics is growing up. For people with mobility impairments, daily life operations, as dressing or feeding, require the assistance of dedicated people; thus, the use of devices providing independent mobility can have a large impact on improving their life quality. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a robotic system aimed at assisting people with this kind of severe motion disabilities by providing a certain level of autonomy.Design/methodology/approachThe system is based on a hierarchical architecture where, at the top level, the user generates simple and high-level commands by resorting to a graphical user interface operated via a P300-based brain computer interface. These commands are ultimately converted into joint and Cartesian space tasks for the robotic system that are then handled by the robot motion control algorithm resorting to a set-based task priority inverse kinematic strategy. The overall architecture is realized by integrating control and perception software modules developed in the robots and systems environment with the BCI2000 framework, used to operate the brain–computer interfaces (BCI) device.FindingsThe effectiveness of the proposed architecture is validated through experiments where a user generates commands, via an Emotiv Epoc+ BCI, to perform assistive tasks that are executed by a Kinova MOVO robot, i.e. an omnidirectional mobile robotic platform equipped with two lightweight seven degrees of freedoms manipulators.Originality/valueThe P300 paradigm has been successfully integrated with a control architecture that allows us to command a complex robotic system to perform daily life operations. The user defines high-level commands via the BCI, letting all the low-level tasks, for example, safety-related tasks, to be handled by the system in a completely autonomous manner.

Cooperative Manipulation for a Mobile Dual-Arm Robot Using Sequences of Dynamic Movement Primitives

In order to extend promising robot applications in human daily lives, robots need to perform dextrous manipulation tasks, particularly for a mobile dual-arm robot. This paper propose a novel control strategy, which consists of a first trial process and a learning phase, to enable a mobile dual-arm robot to complete a grasp-and-place task which can be decomposed into movement sequences, such as reaching, grasping, and cooperative manipulation of a grasped object. Under the guidance of vision system, the robot with physical constraints successfully fulfills the task by tracking trajectories generated by redundancy resolution online using a neural-dynamic optimization. Then a reinforcement learning algorithm called the policy improvement with path integrals for sequences of dynamic movement primitives is applied to learn and adjust the recorded trajectories. Experimental results of the developed mobile dual-arm robot verified that the proposed strategy is able to successfully and optimally complete a grasp-and-place task.

A mobile dual-arm manipulation robot system for stocking and disposing of items in a convenience store by using universal vacuum grippers for grasping items

ABSTRACTA mobile dual-arm robot with universal vacuum grippers (UVG) for performing stocking and disposing tasks was developed. The robot grasps items in the tasks by using UVGs whose surface adapts to the various shapes of the items. A selection algorithm that determines whether the robot should use one or both manipulators to arrange an item was also developed. A ‘reachable-grasp pose’ is defined as a pose in which the robot’s UVG can easily place an item with a target attitude if it grasps the item. By using the selection algorithm, the robot re-grasps the item by adopting the reachable-grasp pose if the two manipulators do not collide when one is in the current grasp pose and the other is in the reachable-grasp pose. The robot system won the third prize of the Future Convenience Store Challenge 2018. In experiments on stocking and disposing tasks, the robot system achieved success rates of 100% for the stocking task and 80% for the disposing task. We believe that the results of this study will help researchers to develop a robot system for not only the stocking and disposing tasks but also other tasks in convenience stores (like customer interaction).

Optimal crossing and control of mobile dual-arm robot through tension towers by using fuzzy and Newton barrier method

The methodology of manual high-voltage transmission-line inspection is a time-consuming process, and also it involves high risk. The safe and efficient methodology of autonomous robotic inspection is needed to avoid these kinds of problems involved in the manual inspection. One of the challenging steps in the development of power transmission-line inspection robot is the design of a mechanism for crossing tension towers through the jumper cables and also avoiding obstacles in the transmission lines with minimum consumption of energy. Positioning of the robot in the transmission line and crossing the jumper cable are also difficult. This paper tries to find a feasible solution for these challenging issues. A novel design of the robot mechanism, positioning of dual arm for intelligent crossing and trajectory planning of arm based on minimum energy are presented. Optimum goal position for holding is determined using fuzzy logic. Ten degrees of freedom dual arm of the inspection robot is used for transferring a gripper hook to the goal position in the jumper cable through an optimum cubic trajectory for transferring whole robot from straight cable to jumper cable. Optimum energy trajectory is determined using primal dual interior-point method. This paper also presents the design of proportional–integral–derivative controller with genetic algorithm tuning for crossing from straight transmission line to jumper cable. Simulation study of robot motion through straight transmission line and jumper cable is also presented using ADAMS.

Comparative study on the redundancy of mobile single- and dual-arm robots

A whole resolved motion rate control algorithm designed for mobile dual-arm redundant robots is presented in this article. Based on this algorithm, the end-effector movements of the dual arms of the mobile dual-arm redundant robot can be decomposed into the movements of the two driving wheels of the differential driving platform and the movements of the dual-arm each joint of this robot harmoniously. The influence of the redundancies of the single- and dual-arm robots on the operation based on the fixed- and differential-driving platforms, which are then based on the whole resolved motion rate control algorithm, is studied after building their motion models. Some comparisons are made to show the advantages of this algorithm on the entire modeling of the complicated robotic system and the influences of the redundancy. First, the comparison of the simulation results between the fixed single-arm robot and the mobile single-arm robot is presented. Second, a comparison of the simulation results between the mobile single-arm robot and the mobile dual-arm robots is shown. Compared with the mobile single-arm robot and the fixed dual-arm robot based on this algorithm, the mobile dual-arm robot has more redundancy and can simultaneously track and operate different objects. Moreover, the mobile dual-arm redundant robot has better smoothness, more flexibility, larger operational space, and more harmonious cooperation between the two arms and the differential driving platform during the entire mobile operational process.

Global Localization Using Dead-Reckoning and Kinect Sensors for Robots with Omnidirectional Mecanum Wheels

This paper presents a low-cost global pose localization method using least-squares method and extended Kalman filter (EKF) for an anthropomorphous dual-arm mobile robot (ADAMR) driven by omnidirectional Mecanum wheels in indoor environments. This method is developed by fusing measurements from the KINECT sensor and four encoders mounted on the omnidirectional Mecanum wheels. The KINECT sensor is used to recognize landmarks in the working environments of the robot, and then obtain the azimuth angles and distances between these landmarks and the robot. Based on these measured information, a static global pose initialization algorithm using least-squares method is applied to estimate both unknown start-up position and orientation of the robot. Once the initial pose has been roughly determined, an EKF approach is proposed to fuse the odometric measurements from the four encoders and the azimuth angles and distances from the KINECT sensor to corresponding landmarks. Simulations are conducted to show performance of the proposed method. Experimental results are used to illustrate that the proposed method provides accurate static estimation of both unknown initial poses of the robot.

Multi-objective Planning of Continuous Trajectory Taskfor an Omni-directional Mobile Dual-Arm Robot Based on Product Arbitration

Multi-objective Planning of Continuous Trajectory Taskfor an Omni-directional Mobile Dual-Arm Robot Based on Product Arbitration

Local Path Planning for Dual-Arm Mobile Robot Shuttling within Truss

A new local path planning method for dual-arm mobile robot shuttling within the truss is presented. Like the probabilistic roadmaps method, this method proceeds in two stages: preprocessing stage and path planning stage. In preprocessing stage, the workspace is divided into a set of non-overlapping cubical cells. The nodes in the free workspace are stored in a matrix. In path planning stage, three query strategies are adopted to search the path from start point to goal point. Take use of vertex query strategy, the smooth path can be acquired in a fraction of a second. The algorithm is simple, and is applicable to any static environment with convex obstacles.

Obstacle Avoidance Criteria Based Motion Planning for Dual-arm Mobile Robot Moving within Truss

Obstacle Avoidance Criteria Based Motion Planning for Dual-arm Mobile Robot Moving within Truss

Local Path Planning for Dual-Arm Mobile Robot Shuttling within Truss

Local Path Planning for Dual-Arm Mobile Robot Shuttling within Truss

Analysis of a dual-arm mobile robot dynamics and balance compensation

The kinematic and dynamic behaviours of a robot manipulator on an elastic catenary cable were investigated. The dynamic equations of the robot and the cable were derived based on the Newton-Euler principle and Hamilton principle respectively. The recursive formulations describing the nonlinear and coupling dynamics relationship between the robot and the cable were presented. Based on the rigid-flexible coupling model proposed in this paper, a dynamic compensation technique with complementary control strategy was discussed which was implemented to adjust the posture of the robot and restrain the vibration that arise the flexible characteristics of the cable. The simulation and experiment results shown in this paper validate the effectiveness of the dynamic compensation.