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1 – 10 of 505Mingdong Tang, Youlin Gu, Yunjian Zhang and Shigang Wang
The purpose of this paper is to present a dual manipulator system for aloft hot-line assembly tasks of connection fittings in 110-kv intelligent substation, which is significant…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a dual manipulator system for aloft hot-line assembly tasks of connection fittings in 110-kv intelligent substation, which is significant to the research on hot-line working robots.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper addresses the challenges of the task and presents a dual manipulator system which can overcome these challenges to realize the robotic assembly of connection fittings in narrow space without impacting the safe distance of both phase to phase and phase to ground. Two manipulators share a same global reference coordinate. The mission of Manipulator 1 is to position the fixed part of connection fittings and screw the bolts on it. Visual computing provides the approximately position for the end-effector of Manipulator 2, after which The Manipulator 2 carries the removable part of connection fittings to this position. Then, the assembly task could be completed with the posture of the Manipulator 2 adjusted following the guidance by force-position control.
Findings
The dual manipulator system can position the target under different illumination conditions and complete fast assembly of connect fittings in 110-kV substation. No strong arc discharge or surface erosion phenomenon has been observed.
Practical implications
This dual manipulator system will be particularly useful for the hot-line assembly of connection fittings in 110-kv intelligent substation, as well as some assembly tasks where uncertain target position and complex contact surface such as cylindrical hole is involved.
Originality/value
This study presents a dual manipulator system used by a field robot working in 110-kv intelligent substation. The system is able to achieve the connection fittings assembly task under energized simulation experimental system. Unlike other peg-in-hole assembly strategy, it does not require high stability of manipulator or plane contact surface around the hole.
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Shigeru Aomura, Muneo Harada, Toshihiro Nagatomo, Satoshi Yanagihara and Mitsuo Tachibana
The aim of this paper is to describe how to make a co‐operative motion plan for a dual manipulator system to measure the radioactivity of wastes produced in decommissioning a…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to describe how to make a co‐operative motion plan for a dual manipulator system to measure the radioactivity of wastes produced in decommissioning a nuclear power plant.
Design/methodology/approach
The system consists of two tasks: the main task generates the path of the measuring operation and the subtask maintains a good working position by co‐operative motion of the two manipulators.
Findings
A dual manipulator system requires an effective indicator of the current working position for the realisation of flexible co‐operative motion. Extended manipulability, which takes the motion limit of each joint angle into consideration, is shown to be an effective indicator.
Originality/value
Extended manipulability, which shows the motion possible from the current configuration, is offered as an improvement on conventional manipulability.
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Giuseppe Gillini, Paolo Di Lillo, Filippo Arrichiello, Daniele Di Vito, Alessandro Marino, Gianluca Antonelli and Stefano Chiaverini
In 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…
Abstract
Purpose
In 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/approach
The 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.
Findings
The 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/value
The 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.
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Ruhizan Liza Ahmad Shauri and Kenzo Nonami
The purpose of this paper is to propose an assembly robot that exhibits specific human‐like skills, with minimal structural cost and a number of external sensors.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose an assembly robot that exhibits specific human‐like skills, with minimal structural cost and a number of external sensors.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have employed vision processing using multiple cameras to determine targets and postures and propose strategies to determine the pose of a target and to prevent collisions between the fingers and obstacles in an environment with mixed objects. Furthermore, a dynamic trajectory planner integrates the vision and force sensors of the robot hand for the assigned task.
Findings
The authors obtained satisfactory experimental results for autonomous real‐time grasping and screwing. The results verified the capability of the robot for handling small objects.
Research limitations/implications
More effective robotic manipulation requires a higher degree of target orientation data, which will be a future study of this research.
Practical implications
Practicality has been established through results, indicating the capability of the robot to implement human‐like skilled manipulation of small objects. This can potentially reduce the high labor cost associated with the small‐scale manufacture of custom‐made products.
Originality/value
Screwing of nuts of minimum M2 size (diameter, 4.6 mm) and M8‐M10 bolts (head diameter, 15‐19.6 mm; length, 50‐80 mm) by cooperating two seven‐link arm manipulators and three‐fingered hands shows the robot's capability to manipulate small objects.
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Grant Rudd, Liam Daly and Filip Cuckov
This paper aims to present an intuitive control system for robotic manipulators that pairs a Leap Motion, a low-cost optical tracking and gesture recognition device, with the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an intuitive control system for robotic manipulators that pairs a Leap Motion, a low-cost optical tracking and gesture recognition device, with the ability to record and replay trajectories and operation to create an intuitive method of controlling and programming a robotic manipulator. This system was designed to be extensible and includes modules and methods for obstacle detection and dynamic trajectory modification for obstacle avoidance.
Design/methodology/approach
The presented control architecture, while portable to any robotic platform, was designed to actuate a six degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator of our own design. From the data collected by the Leap Motion, the manipulator was controlled by mapping the position and orientation of the human hand to values in the joint space of the robot. Additional recording and playback functionality was implemented to allow for the robot to repeat the desired tasks once the task had been demonstrated and recorded.
Findings
Experiments were conducted on our custom-built robotic manipulator by first using a simulation model to characterize and quantify the robot’s tracking of the Leap Motion generated trajectory. Tests were conducted in the Gazebo simulation software in conjunction with Robot Operating System, where results were collected by recording both the real-time input from the Leap Motion sensor, and the corresponding pose data. The results of these experiments show that the goal of accurate and real-time control of the robot was achieved and validated our methods of transcribing, recording and repeating six degree-of-freedom trajectories from the Leap Motion camera.
Originality/value
As robots evolve in complexity, the methods of programming them need to evolve to become more intuitive. Humans instinctively teach by demonstrating the task to a given subject, who then observes the various poses and tries to replicate the motions. This work aims to integrate the natural human teaching methods into robotics programming through an intuitive, demonstration-based programming method.
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This paper aims to present a novel lightweight distribution grid operating robot system with focus on lightweight and multi-functionality, aiming for autonomous and live-line…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a novel lightweight distribution grid operating robot system with focus on lightweight and multi-functionality, aiming for autonomous and live-line maintenance operations.
Design/methodology/approach
A ground-up redesign of the dual-arm robotic system with 12-DoF is applied for substantial weight reduction; a dual-mode operating control framework is proposed, with vision-guided autonomous operation embedded with real-time manual teleoperation controlling both manipulators simultaneously; a quick-swap tooling system is developed to conduct multi-functional operation tasks. A prototype robotic system is constructed and validated in a series of operational experiments in an emulated environment both indoors and outdoors.
Findings
The overall weight of the system is successfully brought down to under 150 kg, making it suitable for the majority of vehicle-mounted aerial work platforms, and it can be flexibly and quickly deployed in population dense areas with narrow streets. The system equips with two dexterous robotic manipulators and up to six interchangeable tools, and a vision system for AI-based autonomous operations. A quick-change tooling system ensures the robot to change tools on-the-go without human intervention.
Originality/value
The resulting dual-arm robotic live-line operation system robotic system could be compact and lightweight enough to be deployed on a wide range of available aerial working platforms with high mobility and efficiency. The robot could both conduct routine operation tasks fully autonomously without human direct operation and be manually operated when required. The quick-swap tooling system enables lightweight and durable interchangeability of multiple end-effector tools, enabling future expansion of operating capabilities across different tasks and operating scenarios.
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Jeffrey D. Will, Kevin L. Moore and Ian K. Lynn
Mobile manipulators offer great capability, but their teleoperation is often an overwhelming task for humans due to the many degrees‐of‐freedom of control available from both the…
Abstract
Purpose
Mobile manipulators offer great capability, but their teleoperation is often an overwhelming task for humans due to the many degrees‐of‐freedom of control available from both the mobile platform and the associated manipulator. The purpose of this paper is to address the question of how these controls should be mapped to the robotic mobile platform and its manipulator for “optimal teleoperation”, for the special case of an omnidirectional mobile platform and two joint (with wrist) planar manipulator.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors summarize the results of a study to optimize the teleoperation interface for a two‐link planar manipulator with a wrist that was mounted on an omni‐directional mobile platform.
Findings
The research comprised a carefully‐controlled study using 33 human subjects in seven different treatments of possible control interfaces.
Research limitations/implications
Users performed movement and manipulation tasks, and their performance was measured on several scales.
Practical implications
Based on this study, the authors present guidelines for optimizing mobile manipulator control interfaces and motivate future research using the method of controlled multi‐user trials.
Social implications
This research has the potential to guide the improvement of interfaces for mobile robots in military, service, and security applications.
Originality/value
The value of this research extends to optimizing remote control schemes to relieve operator fatigue and optimize interface design.
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Qiang Liu, Shicai Shi, Minghe Jin, Shaowei Fan and Hong Liu
This study aims to design a controller which can improve the end-effector low-frequency chattering resulting from the measurement noise and the time delay in the on-orbit tasks…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to design a controller which can improve the end-effector low-frequency chattering resulting from the measurement noise and the time delay in the on-orbit tasks. The rendezvous point will move along the rendezvous ring owing to the error of the camera, and the manipulators’ collision need be avoided. In addition, owing to the dynamics coupling, the manipulators’ motion will disturb the spacecraft, and the low tracking accuracy of the end-effector needs to be improved.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a minimum disturbance controller based on the synchronous and adaptive acceleration planning to improve the tracking error and the disturbance energy. The synchronous and adaptive acceleration planning method plans the optimal rendezvous point and designs synchronous approaching method and provides an estimation method of the rendezvous point acceleration. A minimum disturbance controller is designed based on the energy conservation to optimize the disturbance resulting from the manipulator’s motion.
Findings
The acceleration planning method avoids the collision of two end-effectors and reduces the error caused by the low-frequency chattering. The minimum disturbance controller minimizes the disturbance energy of the manipulators’ motion transferred to the spacecraft. Experiment results show that the proposed method improves the low-frequency chattering, and the average position tracking error reduces by 30%, and disturbance energy reduces by 30% at least. In addition, it has good performances in the synchronous motion and adaptive tracking.
Originality/value
Given the immeasurability of the target satellite acceleration in space, this paper proposes an estimation method of the acceleration. This paper proposes a synchronous and adaptive acceleration planning method. In addition, the rendezvous points are optimized to avoid the two end-effectors collisions. By the energy conservation, the minimum disturbance controller is designed to ensure a satisfying tracking error and reduce the disturbance energy resulting from the manipulators’ motion.
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Wei Jiang, An Zhang, Gongping Wu, Lianqing Yu, Hong Jun Li, Lizhen Du and Wei Chen
To improve the operational efficiency and intelligence of live operation robots in dynamic-unstructured operation environments, this paper aims to propose a fuzzy logic-based…
Abstract
Purpose
To improve the operational efficiency and intelligence of live operation robots in dynamic-unstructured operation environments, this paper aims to propose a fuzzy logic-based method for the autonomous search and visual localization control of a manipulator end effector applied to a drainage plate bolt on a high-voltage transmission line. The proposed approach is based on a four-way video image information output from a dual-operation manipulator.
Design/methodology/approach
First, based on the structural characteristics of the drainage line, an autonomous search method for the drainage plate bolt and a mapping relationship between the autonomous search control parameters and the relative posture of the operation manipulator-drainage line are proposed. The posture control parameters of the dual manipulators can then be obtained, and a two-dimensional fuzzy controller is designed with the posture offset distance and the posture offset angle as its input signals. This enables the localization control of the bolt and nut alignment to be realized through a visual process.
Findings
The proposed fuzzy control algorithm is used for bolt location control, and its performance is compared with that of the conventional approach. The simulation results indicate that the fuzzy control algorithm greatly improves the localization accuracy and operational efficiency of live operation robots.
Originality/value
Field operation experiments on actual transmission lines verify that the fuzzy control-based visual localization control of the robot manipulator has great engineering practicality. Therefore, the proposed method further improves operational intelligence compared with conventional algorithms.
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Yu Yan, Wei Jiang, Dehua Zou, Wusheng Quan, Hong Jun Li, YunFei Lei and Zhan fan Zhou
In the long-term network operation, the power distribution network will be subjected to the effects of ultra-high voltage, strong electromagnetic interference and harsh natural…
Abstract
Purpose
In the long-term network operation, the power distribution network will be subjected to the effects of ultra-high voltage, strong electromagnetic interference and harsh natural environment on the power system, which will lead to the occurrence of different faults in the distribution network and directly affect the normal operation of the power grid.
Design/methodology/approach
The purpose of this study is to solve the problems of labor intensity, high risk and low efficiency of distribution network manual maintenance operation, this paper proposed a new configuration of the live working robot for distribution network maintenance, the robot is equipped with dual working arms through the mobile platform, which can realize the coordination movement, the autonomous reorganization and replacement of the end tools, respectively, so as the robot power distribution maintenance function such as stripping, trimming, wiring and the operation control problem of the distribution network-robot with small arms and in small operation space can be realized.
Findings
To effective elimination or reduce the adverse effects of the internal forces in the closed chain between the working object and manipulator under the typical task of the 10 kV distribution network, this paper has established the robot coordinated control dynamics model in the closed-chain between the dual-working object and proposed the dynamic distribution method of closed-chain internal force and the effectiveness has been proved by simulation experiments and 10 kV field operation.
Originality/value
The force-position hybrid control can realize the mutual compensation of force and position so as to effectively reduce the internal force in the closed chain. Finally, the engineering practicality of the method is verified by field operation experiment, the effective implementation of this control method greatly improves the robot working efficiency and the operation reliability, the promotion and application of the control method have great theoretical and practical value and maintenance management system, so as to achieve automation of electric.
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