Maintenance Robot Research Articles

2P1-H07 配電作業ロボットのための作業対象物の認識 : HAAR-likeパターンを用いた方法(作業をするロボット)

Power distribution line maintenance robot, Haar-like, Vision, Recognition

Construction robotics

First construction robots had been designed in the beginning seventies in order to increase the quality in prefabrication of modular homes in Japan and the late 70ies planning started for use of robots in construction sites. In the 80ies the first construction robots appeared on sites and in the 90ies integrated automated building construction sites had been developped and implemented about 20 times. Furthermore maintenance robots for cleaning and inspection of buildings, infrastructure and real estate and safety robots guarding buildings had been developped. In the first decade of this century humanoid construction robots had been tested. In the future service robots will be a big market in the built envrironment.

Tele‐operated climbing and mobile service robots for remote inspection and maintenance in nuclear industry

Purpose – Aims to report on the various types of tele‐operated mobile service robots for remote inspection and maintenance, especially in the field of nuclear industry.Design/methodology/approach – Describes nuclear electric robot operator (NERO), Sizewell A duct inspection equipment (SADIE), Robug‐IIs (all leg‐based) and Roboslave (wheel‐based).Findings – That these robots can handle a significant portion of inspection and maintenance tasks in a typical nuclear plant, though, given that they are primarily tailor‐made, they are still too expensive for ordinary industries.Originality/value – As the interests of health and safety and paramount, this study sees the use of such robots expanding and diversifying, irrespective of cost.

Ｒｏｂｏｔ‐Ｓｕｐｐｏｒｔｅｄ Ｃｏｏｐｅｒａｔｉｖｅ Ｗｏｒｋの提案―実空間視野共有型コラボレーションシステムＳＣＯＰＥを用いた遠隔作業支援―

To create a more efficient environment in which to perform remote maintenance, the authors propose a novel collaboration concept, called robot-supported cooperative work (RSCW) . In RSCW a maintenance robot assists a cooperation work between an on-site human worker and another skilled human operator at a remote support center. By emphasizing the intentions of the remote supporter through robot functions that cannot be imitated by humans, RSCW can provide effective support for the on-site worker. In the present study, as the first manifestation of RSCW, featuring the projection capability of a maintenance robot, a prototype remote-collaboration system named SCOPE (sight collaboration by projection effect) was developed. This system consists of a projector unit with a camera, a multiple control unit (MCU) for video/voice communications, and PCs connected via a network. It has three key functions: creating a shared field of view between a remote supporter and an on-site worker, keeping metainformation related to objects in real space, and projecting meta-information onto the objects. The effectiveness of these functions was evaluated by experiments on two fundamental tasks—“comprehending a target object”and“transmission of instruction details”—involved in a typical maintenance operation. The experimental results show that each function is effective in shortening the time taken to perform the maintenance operation.

Development of Globular Mobile Robot with Vision System for Monitoring Inside of Piping

Piping is used for various places in our life and industries. Recently, since the needs of robots for inspection and maintenance of piping are increasing, mobile robots have been developed in various research institutions. However, a large number of conventional robots were used for piping with larger diameter more than 200 mm, and robots for piping with smaller diameter less than 100 mm are not seen. Furthermore, these robots could not move through any elbow joint and T-joint with right angle or small radius curvature. Accordingly, development of a mobile robot in piping with smaller diameter and various joints, which can apply directly to any pipes laid under ground, in wall, in narrow space and so on, is tried. In particular, in this study, a globular mobile robot with new moving mechanisms and moving algorithms that can move through piping with diammeter about 100 mm is developed. Besides, the robot has vision system, and it can monitor the inside of the piping and detect shape of joint and direction of bend automatically. Finally, the effectiveness of the mobile robot system is verified by moving experiments in piping.

Intelligible Seminar on Fusion Reactors― (10) Remote Maintenance Robot for In-Vessel Components-Advanced robot technology for handling of large-heavy components with high posisioning accuracy

Intelligible Seminar on Fusion Reactors― (10) Remote Maintenance Robot for In-Vessel Components-Advanced robot technology for handling of large-heavy components with high posisioning accuracy

1A1-S-029 配電作業ロボット概念設計用CGシミュレータの開発2 : 開閉器取付作業(作業をするロボット1,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

1A1-S-029 配電作業ロボット概念設計用CGシミュレータの開発2 : 開閉器取付作業(作業をするロボット1,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

2A1-N-069 PCベースロボットコントローラの改良 : 配電作業ロボットCGシミュレータを例に(RTミドルウェアとオープンシステム1,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

2A1-N-069 PCベースロボットコントローラの改良 : 配電作業ロボットCGシミュレータを例に(RTミドルウェアとオープンシステム1,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

2A1-N-106 配電作業ロボットのグリッパーの開発 : PIC・H8を用いたインターフェイスの開発(触覚と力覚4,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

2A1-N-106 配電作業ロボットのグリッパーの開発 : PIC・H8を用いたインターフェイスの開発(触覚と力覚4,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

DEVELOPMENT OF TELE-ROBOTIC INTERFACE SYSTEM FOR THE HOT-LINE MAINTENANCE

This paper describes the development of the tele-robotic interface for a hot-line maintenance robot system. One of the main issues in designing human-robot interface is to plan the control procedure for each part of the robotic system. Another issue is that the actual degree of freedom (DOF) in the hot-line maintenance robot system is much greater than that of available control devices such as joysticks and gloves in the remote-cabin. To design and test the interface, a virtual simulator which includes the virtual hot-line maintenance robot system and the environment is developed in the 3D environment using CAD data. It is assumed that the control operation is done in the remote cabin and the overall work processes are observed using the main-camera with 2 DOFs. Two joysticks, two data gloves, one pedal, and a Head Mounted Display (HMD) with tracker sensor were used as input devices. Designed human-interface system is operated using high-level control commands which are intuitive and easy to understand without any special training.

활선 작업을 위한 원격 조종 인터페이스 개발

This paper describes the development of tele-robotic interface for the hot-line maintenance robot system. One of main issues in designing human-robot interface for the hot-line maintenance robot system is to plan the control procedure for each part of the robotic system. Another issue is that the actual degree of freedom (DOF) in the hot-line maintenance robot system is much greater than that of available control devices such as joysticks and gloves in the remote-cabin. For this purpose, a virtual simulator, which includes the virtual hot-line maintenance robot system and the environment, is developed in the 3D environment using CAD data. It is assumed that the control operation is done in the remote cabin and the overall work process is observed using the main-camera with 2 DOFs. For the input device, two joysticks, one pedal, two data gloves, and a Head Mounted Display (HMD) with tracker sensor were used. The interface is developed for each control mode. Designed human-interface system is operated using high-level control commands which are intuitive and easy to understand without any special training.

Design of a robust force control system for an automatic live-line maintenance robot using a force disturbance observer

Uninterrupted power supply has become indispensable during the maintenance task of high-voltage live lines as a result of today's highly information-oriented society and increasing demand of electric utilities. This maintenance task has the risk of electric shock and needs skilled workers. Therefore it is necessary to realize an autonomous robot system using an electrohydraulic manipulator because hydraulic manipulators have the advantage of electric insulation and high power/mass density. Meanwhile an electrohydraulic manipulator using hydraulic actuators has many non-linear elements, and its parameter fluctuations are greater than those of an electrically driven manipulator. Therefore it is relatively difficult to realize not only stable contact work but also accurate force control for the autonomous assembly tasks using hydraulic manipulators. In this paper, the robust force control of an automatic live-line maintenance robot used in the real maintenance task of an active electric line is examined in detail. A nominal model for the system is obtained from experimental frequency responses of the system, and the deviation of the manipulator system from the nominal model is derived by a multiplicative uncertainty. Robust force disturbance observer is designed using this information in an H∞ framework and implemented on two different set-ups. Experimental results show that highly robust force tracking by the automatic live-line maintenance robot could be achieved even if the stiffness of environment and the shape of wall change.

Design of a robust force control system for an automatic live-line maintenance robot using a force disturbance observer

Uninterrupted power supply has become indispensable during the maintenance task of high-voltage live lines as a result of today's highly information-oriented society and increasing demand of electric utilities. This maintenance task has the risk of electric shock and needs skilled workers. Therefore it is necessary to realize an autonomous robot system using an electrohydraulic manipulator because hydraulic manipulators have the advantage of electric insulation and high power/mass density. Meanwhile an electrohydraulic manipulator using hydraulic actuators has many non-linear elements, and its parameter fluctuations are greater than those of an electrically driven manipulator. Therefore it is relatively difficult to realize not only stable contact work but also accurate force control for the autonomous assembly tasks using hydraulic manipulators. In this paper, the robust force control of an automatic live-line maintenance robot used in the real maintenance task of an active electric line is examined in detail. A nominal model for the system is obtained from experimental frequency responses of the system, and the deviation of the manipulator system from the nominal model is derived by a multiplicative uncertainty. Robust force disturbance observer is designed using this information in an H∞ framework and implemented on two different set-ups. Experimental results show that highly robust force tracking by the automatic live-line maintenance robot could be achieved even if the stiffness of environment and the shape of wall change.

Command and Telemetry Latency Effects on Operator Performance during International Space Station Robotic Operations

International Space Station operations require onboard crewmembers to perform numerous robotic assembly, maintenance, and inspection activities. Ground-based control of the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), in particular the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), has been identified as one potential solution to alleviate disproportionate robotic maintenance and inspection timelines that potentially exceed crew availability and duty times. Challenges to operator performance and safety of ground-based control of these manipulators include significant data and telemetry latency. Recent trends of transmissions between the International Space Station and NASA's Mission Control Center have determined the round-trip time delay can range from 6-8 seconds. The purpose of this study was to examine operator performance when subjects performed representative dexterous robotic tasks with anticipated command and telemetry time delays. Results from this study may determine whether augmentations to existing operator tools and procedures are required in order to manually control the SPDM from ground-based workstations.

Robotic Monitoring of Power Systems

Monitoring of electric power systems in real time for reliability, aging status, and presence of incipient faults requires distributed and centralized processing of large amounts of data from distributed sensor networks. To solve this task, cohesive multidisciplinary efforts are needed from such fields as sensing, signal processing, control, communications, optimization theory, and, more recently, robotics. This review paper focuses on one trend of power system monitoring, namely, mobile monitoring. The developments in robotic maintenance for power systems indicate significant potential of this technological approach. Authors discuss integration of several important relevant sensor technologies that are used to monitor power systems, including acoustic sensing, fringing electric field sensing, and infrared sensing.

配電作業ロボット概念設計用CGシミュレータの開発(作業をするロボット)

配電作業ロボット概念設計用CGシミュレータの開発(作業をするロボット)

Robot control strategy for in-orbit assembly of a micro satellite

We have developed novel heuristic control strategies for fitting parts with almost no clearance and also dealing with flexible objects using visual and force feedback. We have applied these control strategies for micro satellite assembly tasks of a ground research model of an in-orbit maintenance robot system. For the in-orbit maintenance system, micro satellites should be modularized as much as possible. The in-orbit maintenance system needs to assemble the modularized parts into micro satellites. We have developed a ground research model including a two-armed robotic platform and modularized micro satellite models. To assemble a micro satellite model, two problems arise: one is to engage two parts into a tight fit and the other is to handle flexible parts. We use a heuristic approach to solve the first problem — to grope one part to find the entrance of engagement of the other and to wobble this part to make a tight fit. For the second problem, visual measurement of the parts is used to position the end-effector of a robot arm and also active limp control is extensively used to adjust any misalignment that arises from the visual measurement error. With the combination of the heuristic, visual and active limp control, the system can successfully assemble a micro satellite.

Internet-based robotics and remote systems in hazardous environments: review and projections

Robotic systems are used to perform maintenance functions in hazardous environments usually with the fundamental objective of reducing, or eliminating, human worker exposure to dangers. An obvious thought is how might Internet capabilities be used in such operations. This paper considers this general idea in terms of current research accomplishments, and the practical needs, constraints and concepts that are associated with the notion of using the Internet to reduce costs and enhance overall performance in robotic maintenance in hazardous environments.

Sensory Limitations of the International Space Station's Robotic Maintenance Systems

The tele-operated Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) will be used on the International Space Station to exchange failed orbital replaceable units (ORUs) for functional ones. Use of the SPDM will help reduce the burden on astronauts to perform these external maintenance tasks. Limited sensing capability on the SPDM, however, in combination with complex ORU worksites make the exchange of ORUs challenging tele-robotically. Position and force information constitute the primary sensor feedback to the operator. The operator also has limited camera views with which to monitor and direct the task. This paper describes the tele-sensing capabilities of the robotic maintenance system and proposes design concepts to supplement these capabilities.

Design of the Intersector Welding Robot for vacuum vessel assembly and maintenance

Next Step Fusion Devices require on-site (field weld) joining of sectors of the thick-walled vacuum vessel for structural and vacuum integrity. EFDA (European Fusion Development Agreement) is supporting an R&D programme to investigate processes for assembly of the vacuum vessel and to carry out cutting, re-welding and inspection for remote sector replacement, forming part of the overall VV/blanket research effort. In order to direct the process end-effectors along the field joint zone, a track-mounted Intersector Welding Robot (IWR) on a mock-up of a region of the vacuum vessel has been designed and is described in this paper. A rail-mounted hexapod type robot offers six axes of motion over a limited work envelope with high payload to robot weight ratio. A solution to the production of reduced pressure local vacuum is the installation of short, lightweight segments bolted to each other and the vessel wall. The various process heads can be mounted using end-effectors of special design. To minimise the supply and interface problems for the IWR prototype, its motion control and electronic systems will be embedded locally. A laser scan with camera forms the on-line seam tracking capability to compensate for rail and seam deviations.