Rubble Wrestling Robot

What I’ll Be Talking About• Background• Objective: Design

– Main Power– Tethered– Power Plant– Supplemental Power– Mobility– Physical Shape– Manipulation– Controls– Sensors– Determining Location

Background

• What is Urban Search and Rescue?

• Who is involved with USAR?

• What do they do?

Objective

• Develop design of robot– Teleoperated– For use in USAR– Capable of performing

• Victim location, aid• Rubble clearing• Shoring

Main Power

Tethered or Free?

• With Umbilical: Easier communication, power transmission

• Without Umbilical: Greater mobility

Power Plant

• Batteries: Low power density

• HC engine: Emissions, hazardous

• Monopropellant (H2O2, etc.): Good compromise

Hydrogen Peroxide, H2O2

• Advantages– Emits H2O and O2

– Power density• Disadvantages

– 1/3 energy of HC– Requires 90%+

concentration– Still developing robot

actuators

Chemo-Hydraulic Actuator

• Vanderbilt University• 200 lbs through a 4-

inch stroke• Hydrogen peroxide• Hydroxyl ammonium

nitrate

• Improvements?

Supplemental Power

• Required for supporting electronics– Sensors, logic, valve control, etc.– Lights, cameras, communication

• Batteries– Lithium ion– Nimh– Ni-Cad– Lead acid

Mobility

Mobility Overview

Hyper-Redundant

• Howie Choset, Carnegie Melon

Snake

• UC Berkeley

Cockroach

• Biomimetic Robot• Rhex

– UC Berkeley– McGill University– U of Michigan

• Open-loop Control

RHex

• Simple• Open-loop Control• Can Navigate

Unstructured Terrain• High Level Operation

Tracked Motion

Combined Solution

• A hybrid between the snake and cockroach

• Can slither through low clearance

• Has simple high-speed mobility in the open

• Can navigate unstructured terrain

Physical Shape

• Segmented• Combined

– Snake– Roach

Rubble Manipulation• Grippers on

Collapsible Arms

Controls

• Individual?• Manual

– Gross motor control– Fine

• Pedal

• Voice

Manipulator DOF

• Position:– 3 DOF

• Orientation:– 3 DOF

• Gripper– 1 DOF

• Height– 1 DOF

Haptic Interface

• Each arm has 6+1DOF

• Phantom from Sensable Technologies, Inc.

• Adapt a hand control

Driving

• Two DOF

• Foot pedal

• Analog or digital

Visual Feedback

• 2.4 GHz transceiver

• VR helmet

• PIP

• Augmented Reality

• Hemispherical lens

Hands Free Options

Voice Recognition

• PC based– High quality– CPU intensive

• Stand alone (Sensory Inc.)– Emerging

Sensors

• Variety– Explosive– Toxic chemical– O2

– CO2

– Temp, sound, etc.• Diminutive

Determining Location

• GPS• Beacons• Dead reckoning

Conclusion

Questions?

Extra Slides

• LCD screen for video• MEMS tilt sensor• Magnetic compass

Dragan-Flyer

Manipulator

Group Control