Abstract.
This paper presents design and manufacturing
procedure of a tele-operative rescue robot. First, the general task to
be performed by such a robot is defined, and variant kinematic
mechanisms to form the basic structure of the robot will be
discussed. Choosing an appropriate mechanism, geometric
dimensions, and mass properties will be detailed to develop a
dynamics model for the system. Next, the strength of each component
is analyzed to finalize its shape. To complete the design procedure,
Patran/Nastran was used to apply the finite element method for
strength analysis of complicated parts. Also, ADAMS was used to
model the mechanisms, where 3D sketch of each component of the
robot was generated by means of Solidworks, and several sets of
equations governing the dimensions of system were solved using
Matlab. Finally, the components are fabricated and assembled
together with controlling hardware. Two main processors are used
within the control system of the robot. The operator's PC as the
master processor and the laptop installed on the robot as the slave
processor. The performance of the system was demonstrated in
Rescue robot league of RoboCup 2005 in Osaka (Japan) and
achieved the 2nd best design award.
Index Terms - Robotics - Tele-operative - Locomotion -
Mechanisms.
I. INTRODUCTION.
Mobile robots whether autonomous or tele-operative play
an important role in different fields of human life. Mobile
robots are mainly operated for investigating areas in which
human health is endangered. Police robots, fire fighter robots
and rescue robots are examples of such application. Mobile
robots are also used for assisting human forces for doing
repeated works such as moving heavy boxes within a defined
path in a factory or providing the patients with appropriate
medicine on time in a hospital. Earthquake is a natural
incident, which threatens human life. Aftershocks occurring a
while after the main earthquake cause secondary collapses and
take victims from the search and rescue personnel. In order to
minimize the risks for rescuers, while increasing victim
survival rates, fielding teams of collaborative robots is a good
alternative. The mission for the robots and their operators
would be to find victims, determine their situation, and then
report back their findings based on a map of the building, [1].
These will immediately be given to human rescue teams
preparing to extract all victims that are found. Further
expectations of rescue robots such as being able to
autonomously negotiate compromised and collapsed structures
and provide structural shoring, find victims and ascertain their
conditions, deliver sustenance and communications to victims,
and emplace sensors (acoustic, thermal, seismic,...) are active
research fields. Nevertheless, the basic capability of rescue
robots should be their maneuverability in destructed areas
which thoroughly depends on their locomotion system and
their dimensions. Various rescue robots have been designed
and manufactured. For instance, an autonomous Urban
Reconnaissance Robot, in the size of 20 Kg, was developed by
a research group from University of Southern California, [2].
PolyBot is an example of modular reconfigurable robots,
which is a rather small and economic prototype, [3]. CEDRA
is also a rescue robot with the ability to adjust its locomotion
system with the terrain on which it performs, [4].
This paper presents an illustrative description of the
Resquake project at KNTU. Innovative mechanisms and
software-based steps of the design procedure are highlighted
here. First, the most successful projects in terms of their
mechanical structure and locomotion capabilities, regardless of
their autonomy and the sensors mounted on them, are studied
and concluded to develop new special mechanisms to enhance
the maneuverability of a mobile robot while trying to keep its
dimensions relevant to the environment in which it performs.
After selecting suitable mechanisms, dimensions and
parameters of the system are defined. The system dynamics is
discussed and the sequence of stress analysis for each member
of the mechanism is addressed in order to finalize its shape and
to select suitable material for its fabrication. The last phase of
the project was to manufacture the parts and assemble the
system. Electronic devices and control system of the robot is
described in the last section. Resquake is a robot with great
capabilities in climbing obstacles in destructed areas, which
was participated in Rescue robot league of RoboCup 2005 in
Osaka (Japan) and achieved the 2nd best design award.


Download full report
http://googleurl?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ve...OS2006.pdf&ei=DZ8vTsb_KY_ZiAKypuEr&usg=AFQjCNGnbbrkGEjiwvan2pCqSkofaLg9vw&sig2=1IFxvtYJ-OI7g8JP0MT-qQ