Flexible Mobile Robot Research Articles

An augmented reality software suite enabling seamless human robot interaction

ABSTRACT This paper presents an Augmented Reality software suite aiming at supporting the operator’s interaction with flexible mobile robot workers. The developed AR suite, integrated with the shopfloor’s Digital Twin, provides the operators’ a) virtual interfaces to easily program the mobile robots b) information on the process and the production status, c) safety awareness by superimposing the active safety zones around the robots and d) instructions for recovering the system from unexpected events. The application’s purpose is to simplify and accelerate the industrial manufacturing process by introducing an easy and intuitive way of interaction with the hardware, without requiring special programming skills or long training from the human operators. The proposed software is developed for the Microsoft’s HoloLens Mixed Reality Headset 2, integrated with Robotic Operation System (ROS), and it has been tested in a case study inspired from the automotive industry.

Hermetically-Sealed Flexible Mobile Robot “MOLOOP” for Narrow Terrain Exploration

Conventional mobile robots typically use a wheel or crawler mechanism for locomotion. However, these robots often get stuck in narrow spaces. To mitigate this issue, we propose an innovative flexible mobile robot named “MOLOOP” in this study. The proposed robot has double-looped and hermetically-sealed structure and all ground-contact-area moves to the same direction. Three synchronized flexible crawlers generate the driving force within the robot body. The crawler, named “HS crawler,” comprises of loop-connected flexible bags. The entire body of the robot is flexible; therefore, the robot can pass through narrow terrains with adaptive shape changes. However, in terms of power and size, performance improvement is necessary for the practical use of the robot. This paper describes the improvement of HS crawler performance, which directly affects the driving force, traveling speed, and size of the robot. For the purpose of high input pressure, this study reinforced the flexible bags of the crawler using fibrous materials. This reinforcement realizes the power-up and downsizing of the flexible bags. The new crawler achieves a performance of 3.43 Nm torque and 39.0 mm/s traveling speed, compared to a torque of 0.23 Nm and traveling speed of 3.0 mm/s of the previous crawler. Additionally, the width of the new MOLOOP changed to 270 mm from 420 mm because of the downsized crawler. Furthermore, a dedicated mechanical valve was developed. This valve achieves a flow rate of 2.39 L/min as compared to 0.92 L/min of a commercially available solenoid valve. Moreover, the traveling speed of MOLOOP increased from 3.0 mm/s to 9.0 mm/s. The prototype robot successfully passed through a narrow terrain with a minimum width of 200 mm (robot width: 270 mm).

Enabling Flexibility in Manufacturing by Integrating Shopfloor and Process Perception for Mobile Robot Workers

Robotic flexibility in industry is becoming more and more relevant nowadays, especially with the rise of the Industry 4.0 concept. This paper presents a smart execution control framework for enabling the autonomous operation of flexible mobile robot workers. These robot resources are able to autonomously navigate the shopfloor, undertaking multiple operations while acting as assistants to human operators. To enable this autonomous behavior, the proposed framework integrates robot perception functions for the real-time shopfloor and process understanding while orchestrating the process execution. A Digital World Model is deployed synthesizing the sensor data coming from multiple 2D and 3D sensors from the shopfloor. This model is consumed for the perception functions enabling the real-time shopfloor and process perception by the robot workers. This smart control system has been applied and validated in a case study from the automotive sector.

Development of flexible mobile robot with connectable multiple sections

Development of flexible mobile robot with connectable multiple sections

Evaluation of flexible automation for small batch production

Traditionally it has been difficult to use automation in small batch production with high variation in volumes and high mix of products. However, this is changing as there exist new types of flexible automation. The purpose of this paper is to understand the requirements on enterprises to use automation in small batch production, and evaluate flexible automation technologies suitable for small batch production. The study is based on literature reviews and interviews. Identified requirements are for example to change between manual access and automation, and easy programming. The results show that a flexible mobile robot automation may fulfill a majority of the identified requirements.

水力学的骨格を利用した繊毛アクチュエータ駆動型柔軟移動ロボット

This study proposes a new flexible mobile robot which is driven by ciliary actuator using fluid power. The proposed robot is capable of adaptive body shape change according to terrains. Moreover, the terrain will not be damaged because the ciliary actuators are flexible. This paper describes the components and performance of the proposed robot. The robot body has active DOFs of body width and direction. The prototype robot successfully climbed a vertical composite pipe which combines 160 mm and 200 mm in diameter. This robot also performed wireless climbing of a vertical pipe.

3P1-W09 粉粒体を用いた柔軟変形移動機械の回転移動の実現(フレキシブルロボット・メカニズム)

Flexible mobile robot aims at moving by carrying out modification elasticity of the outer shell. If realizable, various work can be performed for ambient environment and the purpose. The problem of the previous researches are large output loss, small load capacity, external power supply and etc. These problems are caused by difficult keeping to the shape of these shells. This paper is new concept robot "Paramecium" which is flexible mobile robot, and mechanical design of it. It is flexible mobile robot with granular material without an expansion element.

2A1-P03 粉粒体を用いた柔軟変形移動機械の研究 : 実験機の試作と移動方式の検討(特殊移動ロボット(1))

Flexible mobile robot aims at moving by carrying out modification elasticity of the outer shell. If realizable, various work can be performed for ambient environment and the purpose. The problem of the previous researches are large output loss, small load capacity, external power supply and etc. These problems are caused by difficult keeping to the shape of these shells. This paper is new concept robot "Paramecium" which is flexible mobile robot, and mechanical design of it. It is flexible mobile robot with granular material without an expansion element

CoroWare CoroBot gains momentum within research and development community Academic and commercial buyers opt for affordable and flexible mobile robots

CoroWare CoroBot gains momentum within research and development community Academic and commercial buyers opt for affordable and flexible mobile robots

Trajectory Tracking Control of a Flexible Mobile Robot using Disturbance Observer

This paper describes trajectory tracking control for a flexible mobile robot using a disturbance observer. The robot consists of a wheeled mobile mechanism and a flexible structure of four flexible beams and a work table. Trajectory tracking control is compound control of a disturbance observer and feedforward compensation two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) controller. The feedforward compensation 2DOF controller consists of a feedforward controller and a state feedback controller. Experimental and numerical simulation results confirmed that trajectory tracking control of the robot work table is possible with trajectory control using the disturbance observer.

Trajectory Tracking Control of a Flexible Mobile Robot using Disturbance Observer.

In this paper, a trajectory tracking control method for a flexible wheeled-type mobile robot is described. The flexible mobile robot consists of a wheeled-type mobile mechanism and a flexible structure. The flexible structure consists of four flexible beams and a bench. The mobile distance is measured by an encoder. and a laser sensor is utilized to measure the flexural displacement of the flexible structure. Then. the trajectory tracking control system is constructed with the disturbance observer and the feedforward compensation type two-degree-of-freedom control method. Furthermore, the experimental results confirm that the trajectory tracking control of the bench of the flexible mobile robot can be performed successfully by the present control method.

A study on a flexible mobile robot with versatile shape control based on multiple link-wheel mechanism. 2nd report Joint load distribution control method for attitude control subjected to shape constraints given to a moving module.

Based on a previous paper, an attitude control method of the Vroid is dealt with here, under some conditions, so that some of the modules should satisfy the constraints for the robotic shape and attitude, since it is sometimes required that mobile robots must carry something and/or liquid containers in a restricted moving mode. The assumptions are that (i) the Vroid has six degrees-of-freedom, including the freedoms of the rotational joint of the first link and the moving wheels, which were not treated in the previous paper ; (ii) the central link must be kept in the horizontal position as a constraint, which yields five degrees-of-freedom in Vroid ; (iii) Vroid moves along a slope. The problem is formulated as a linear programming problem minimizing the total applied moments at joints, subjected to constraints. Then the proposed control method gives a solutions for the control sequence of the Vroid for various terrains.

A study on a flexible mobile robot with versatile shape control based on multiple link-wheel mechanism (1st report, Fundamental mechanism and motion of Vroid I and its joint load distribution control method with the redundancy consideration)

A study on a flexible mobile robot with versatile shape control based on multiple link-wheel mechanism (1st report, Fundamental mechanism and motion of Vroid I and its joint load distribution control method with the redundancy consideration)

A Study on a Flexible Mobile Robot with Versatile Shape Control Based on Multiple Link-wheel Mechanism : 1st Report, Fundamental Mechanism and Motion of Vroid 1 and Its Joint Load Distribution Control Method Consideration the Redundancy

Etude d'un robot mobile a geometrie variable; la commande des modifications de la forme est basee sur des mecanismes multiples qui relient les roues. Mecanisme de base et mouvements du robot Vroid I. Methode de controle de la distribution des efforts sur les articulations tenant compte de la redondance