Climbing and Walking Robots

2010·60.4 MB·English

by  Behnam Miripour

I
Climbing and Walking Robots

Climbing and Walking Robots
Edited by
Behnam Miripour
In-Tech
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First published March 2010
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Cover designed by Dino Smrekar
Climbing and Walking Robots,
Edited by Behnam Miripour
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-307-030-8
V
Preface
Nowadays robotics is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific researches. The shift
of robotics researches from manufacturing to services applications is clear. During the
last decades interest in studying climbing and walking robots has been increased. This
increasing interest has been in many areas that most important ones of them are: mechanics,
electronics, medical engineering, cybernetics, controls, and computers. Today’s climbing
and walking robots are a combination of manipulative, perceptive, communicative, and
cognitive abilities and they are capable of performing many tasks in industrial and non-
industrial environments. Surveillance, planetary exploration, emergence rescue operations,
reconnaissance, petrochemical applications, construction, entertainment, personal services,
intervention in severe environments, transportation, medical and etc are some applications
from a very diverse application fields of climbing and walking robots. By great progress in
this area of robotics it is anticipated that next generation climbing and walking robots will
enhance lives and will change the way the human works, thinks and makes decisions.
This book presents the state of the art achievments, recent developments, applications and
future challenges of climbing and walking robots. These are presented in 26 chapters by
authors throughtot the world. The book serves as a reference especially for the researchers
who are interested in mobile robots. It also is useful for industrial engineers and graduate
students in advanced study.
Editor
Behnam Miripour
VI
VII
Contents
Preface V
1. A Survey of Technologies and Applications for Climbing Robots Locomotion
and Adhesion 001
Manuel F. Silva and J. A. Tenreiro Machado
2. Mechanical Synthesis for Easy and Fast Operation in Climbing and Walking Robots 023
Antonio Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Angel G. Gonzalez-Rodriguez and Rafael Morales
3. A Wheel-based Stair-climbing Robot with a Hopping Mechanism 043
Koki Kikuchi, Naoki Bushida, Keisuke Sakaguchi, Yasuhiro Chiba, Hiroshi Otsuka,
Yusuke Saito, Masamitsu Hirano and Shunya Kobayashi
4. Motion Control of a Four-wheel-drive Omnidirectional Wheelchair with
High Step Climbing Capability 057
Masayoshi Wada
5. Stair Climbing Robots and High-grip Crawler 073
Kan Yoneda, Yusuke Ota and Shigeo Hirose
6. A Climbing-Flying Robot for Power Line Inspection 095
Jaka Katrašnik, Franjo Pernuš and Boštjan Likar
7. A Fuzzy Control Based Stair-Climbing Service Robot 111
Ming-Shyan Wang
8. Evolutionary Multi-Objective Optimization for Biped Walking of Humanoid Robot 127
Toshihiko Yanase and Hitoshi Iba
9. On Adjustable Stiffness Artificial Tendons in Bipedal Walking Energetics 141
Reza Ghorbani and Qiong Wu
10. Mathematical Modelling and Simulation of Combined Trajectory Paths of a
Seven Link Biped Robot 165
Ahmad Bagheri, Behnam Miripour-Fard and Peiman Naseradin Mousavi
11. Bipedal Walking Control based on the Assumption of the Point-contact:
Sagittal Motion Control and Stabilization 185
Tadayoshi Aoyama, Kosuke Sekiyama, Yasuhisa Hasegawa and Toshio Fukuda
VIII
12. Simulated Regulator to Synthesize ZMP Manipulation and Foot Location for
Autonomous Control of Biped Robots 201
Tomomichi Sugihara
13. Nonlinear ¥ Control Applied to Biped Robots 213
Adriano A. G. Siqueira, Marco H. Terra and Leonardo Tubota
14. Method to Estimate the Basin of Attraction and Speed Switch Control for the
Underactuated Biped Robot 233
Yantao Tian, Limei Liu, Xiaoliang Huang, Jianfei Li and Zhen Sui
15. Zappa, a Compliant Quasi-Passive Biped Robot with a Tail and Elastic Knees 253
Félix Monasterio-Huelin, Álvaro Gutiérrez and Fernando J. Berenguer
16. Quadrupedal Gait Generation Based on Human Feeling for Animal Type Robot 265
Hidekazu Suzuki and Hitoshi Nishi
17. Gait Based Directional Bias Detection of Four-Legged Walking Robots 277
Wei-Chung Teng and Ding-Jie Huang
18. Locomotion analysis of hexapod robot 291
Xilun Ding, Zhiying Wang, Alberto Rovetta and J.M. Zhu
19. In situ self-reconfiguration of hexapod robot OSCAR using biologically inspired
approaches 311
Bojan Jakimovski and Erik Maehle
20. Softly Stable Walk Using Phased Compliance Control with Virtual Force for
Multi-Legged Walking Robot 333
Qingjiu Huang
21. Biohybrid Walking Microrobot with Self-assembled Cardiomyocytes 351
Jinseok Kim, Eui-Sung Yoon and Sukho Park
22. Theoretical and Experimental Study for Queueing System with Walking Distance 371
Daichi Yanagisawa, Yushi Suma, Akiyasu Tomoeda, Ayako Kimura, Kazumichi Ohtsuka
and Katsuhiro Nishinari
23. Intention-Based Walking Support for Paraplegia Patients with Robot Suit HAL 383
Kenta Suzuki, Gouji Mito, Hiroaki Kawamoto, Yasuhisa Hasegawa and Yoshiyuki Sankai
24. Development of Vision Based Person Following Module for Mobile Robots in
RT-Middleware 409
Hiroshi Takemura, Zentaro Nemote, Keita Ito and Hiroshi Mizoguchi
25. A-B Autonomy of A Shape-shifting Robot “AMOEBA-I” for USAR 425
Yuechao Wang, Jinguo Liu and Bin Li
26. The Rh-1 full-size humanoid robot: Control system design and Walking
pattern generation 445
Mario Arbulú, Dmitry Kaynov and Carlos Balaguer
A Survey of Technologies and Applications for Climbing Robots Locomotion and Adhesion 1
A Survey of Technologies and Applications for Climbing Robots
01
Locomotion and Adhesion
A Survey of Technologies and Applications for Manuel F. Silva and J. A. Tenreiro Machado
Climbing Robots Locomotion and Adhesion
ManuelF.SilvaandJ.A.TenreiroMachado
ISEP-InstitutoSuperiordeEngenhariadoPorto
Portugal
1. Introduction
Theinterestinthedevelopmentofclimbingrobotshasgrownrapidlyinthelastyears.Climb-
ingrobotsareusefuldevicesthatcanbeadoptedinavarietyofapplications,suchasmain-
tenanceandinspectionintheprocessandconstructionindustries. Thesesystemsaremainly
adoptedinplaceswheredirectaccessbyahumanoperatorisveryexpensive,becauseofthe
needforscaffolding,orverydangerous,duetothepresenceofanhostileenvironment. The
mainmotivationsaretoincreasetheoperationefficiency,byeliminatingthecostlyassembly
of scaffolding, or to protect human health and safety in hazardous tasks. Several climbing
robotshavealreadybeendeveloped,andotherareunderdevelopment,forapplicationsrang-
ingfromcleaningtoinspectionofdifficulttoreachconstructions.
Awallclimbingrobotshouldnotonlybelight, butalsohavelargepayload, sothatitmay
reduceexcessiveadhesionforcesandcarryinstrumentationsduringnavigation. Thesema-
chinesshouldbecapableoftravellingoverdifferenttypesofsurfaces,withdifferentinclina-
tions,suchasfloors,walls,orceilings,andtowalkbetweensuchsurfaces(Elliotetal.(2006);
Sattaretal.(2002)). Furthermore,theyshouldbeableofadaptingandreconfiguringforvari-
ousenvironmentconditionsandtobeself-contained.
Uptonow,considerableresearchwasdevotedtothesemachinesandvarioustypesofexper-
imentalmodelswerealreadyproposed(accordingtoChenetal.(2006),over200prototypes
aimed at such applications had been developed in the world by the year 2006). However,
wehavetonoticethattheapplicationofclimbingrobotsisstilllimited. Apartfromacouple
successfulindustrializedproducts, mostareonlyprototypesandfewofthemcanbefound
incommonuseduetounsatisfactoryperformanceinon-sitetests(regardingaspectssuchas
theirspeed,costandreliability).Chenetal.(2006)presentthemaindesignproblemsaffecting
thesystemperformanceofclimbingrobotsandalsosuggestsolutionstotheseproblems.
Themajortwoissuesinthedesignofwallclimbingrobotsaretheirlocomotionandadhesion
methods.
Withrespecttothelocomotiontype,fourtypesareoftenconsidered:thecrawler,thewheeled,
theleggedandthepropulsionrobots. Althoughthecrawlertypeisabletomoverelatively
faster,itisnotadequatetobeappliedinroughenvironments. Ontheotherhand,thelegged
type easily copes with obstacles found in the environment, whereas generally its speed is
lowerandrequirescomplexcontrolsystems.
Regardingtheadhesiontothesurface,therobotsshouldbeabletoproduceasecuregripping
forceusingalight-weightmechanism. Theadhesionmethodisgenerallyclassifiedintofour
2 Climbing and Walking Robots
groups: suctionforce,magnetic,grippingtothesurfaceandthrustforcetype. Nevertheless, Finally, theirapplicationhasalsobeenproposedintheeducation(BellandBalkcom(2006);
recentlynewmethodsforassuringtheadhesion,basedinbiologicalfindings,wereproposed. Bernsetal.(2005))andhumancare(Balagueretal.(2005))areasandinthepreventionandfire
The vacuum type principle is light and easy to control though it presents the problem of fightingactions(Chenetal.(2006);Nishi(1991)).
supplyingcompressedair. Analternative, withcostsintermsofweight, istheadoptionof
avacuumpump. Themagnetictypeprincipleimpliesheavyactuatorsandisusedonlyfor 3. PrinciplesofLocomotion
ferromagnetic surfaces. The thrust force type robots make use of the forces developed by
Inthissectionareanalyzedthecharacteristicsofthefourmainlocomotiontechnologiesim-
thrusterstoadheretothesurfaces,butareusedinveryrestrictedandspecificapplications.
plementedinclimbingrobots,namelythecrawler,wheeled,leggedandpropulsiontypes.
Bearingthesefactsinmind,thischapterpresentsasurveyofdifferentapplicationsandtech-
nologiesadoptedfortheimplementationofclimbingrobotslocomotionandadhesiontosur-
3.1 LocomotionusingSlidingSegments(Crawling)
faces,focusingonthenewtechnologiesthatarerecentlybeingdevelopedtofulfilltheseob-
Withrespecttothelocomotiontype, thesimpleralternativesoftenmakeuseofslidingseg-
jectives. The chapter is organized as follows. Section two presents several applications of
ments, withsuctioncups(Backesetal.(1997);Cepolinaetal.(2004);Choietal.(2000);Elk-
climbing robots. Sections three and four present the main locomotion principles, and the
mann et al. (2002); Savall et al. (1999); Zhang et al. (2004); Zhu et al. (2003)) or permanent
main"conventional"technologiesforadheringtosurfaces,respectively.Sectionfivedescribes
magnets(Yanetal.(1999))thatgrabtosurfaces,inordertomove(Figure1).Themaindisad-
recentbiologicalinspiredtechnologiesforrobotadhesiontosurfaces. Sectionsixintroduces
vantageofthissolutionisthedifficultyincrossingcracksandobstacles.
severalnewarchitecturesforclimbingrobots.Finally,sectionsevenoutlinesthemainconclu-
sions.
2. ClimbingRobotsApplications
Climbingrobotsaremainlyadoptedinplaceswheredirectaccessbyahumanoperatorisvery
expensive,becauseoftheneedforscaffolding,orverydangerous,duetothepresenceofan
hostileenvironment.
Inthelastdecadesdifferentapplicationshavebeenenvisionedfortheserobots,mainlyinthe
areas of cleaning, technical inspection, maintenance or breakdown diagnosis in dangerous
environments,orintheoutsideoftallbuildingsandhumanmadeconstructions.
Severalclimbingrobotshavealreadybeendevelopedforthefollowingapplicationareas:
Fig.1.ROBICENIIIclimbingrobot(Savalletal.(1999))
• Inspection: bridges(Balagueretal.(2005);RobertT.PackandKawamura(1997)),nu-
clearpowerplants(Savalletal.(1999);Yanetal.(1999)),pipelines(Parketal.(2003)),
windturbines(Rodriguezetal.(2008)),solarpowerplants(Azaiz(2008)),forscanning 3.2 LocomotionusingWheels
theexternalandinternalsurfacesofgasoroiltanks(LongoandMuscato(2004b);Park Asecondformoflocomotionistoadoptwheels(GaoandKikuchi(2004);LongoandMuscato
et al. (2003); Sattar et al. (2002); Yan et al. (1999)), offshore platforms (Balaguer et al. (2004b); Park et al. (2003); Sánchez et al. (2006); Yan et al. (1999)) (Figure 2). These robots
(2005)),andcontainerships(Mondaletal.(2002)); canachievehighvelocities. However,someofthewheeledrobotsthatusethesuctionforce
• Testing: performing non-destructive tests in industrial structures (Choi et al. (2000); foradhesiontothesurface,needtomaintainanairgapbetweenthesurfacewheretheyare
Kang et al. (2003)), floating production storage oil tanks (Sattar et al. (2008; 2006)), movingoverandtherobotbase. Thistechniquemaycreateproblemseitherwiththelossof
planes (Backes et al. (1997); Chen et al. (2005); Robert T. Pack and Kawamura (1997)) pressure, orwiththefrictionwiththesurface, namelyiftheairgapistoosmall, orifsome
andships(Armadaetal.(2005);RobertT.PackandKawamura(1997);Sánchezetal. materialisusedtopreventtheairleak(Hiroseetal.(1991)).
(2006));
3.3 LocomotionusingLegs
• Civilconstruction:civilconstructionrepairandmaintenance(Balagueretal.(2005));
Athirdformoflocomotionconsistsintheadoptionoflegs.Leggedclimbingrobots,equipped
• Cleaning:cleaningoperationsinsky-scrapers(DerricheandKouiss(2002);Elkmannet withsuctioncups,ormagneticdevicesonthefeet,havethedisadvantageoflowspeedandre-
al.(2002);GaoandKikuchi(2004);Yanetal.(1999);Zhangetal.(2004);Zhuetal.(2003)), quirecomplexcontrolsystems,butallowthecreationofastrongandstableadhesionforceto
forcleaningthewallsandceilingsofrestaurants,communitykitchensandfoodprepa- thesurface.Thesemachinesalsohavetheadvantageofeasilycopingwithobstaclesorcracks
rationindustrialenvironments(Cepolinaetal.(2004))andcleaningshiphulls(Fernán- foundintheenvironment(Hiroseetal.(1991)). Structureshavingfromtwouptoeightlegs
dezetal.(2002)); arepredominantforthedevelopmentofthesetasks.Theadoptionofalargernumberoflimbs
suppliesredundantsupportand,frequently,raisesthepayloadcapacityandsafety.Thesead-
• Transport:forthetransportofloadsinsidebuildings(Minoretal.(2000));
vantagesareachievedatthecostofincreasedcontrolcomplexity(regardinglegcoordination),
• Security: forreconnaissanceinurbanenvironments(Elliotetal.(2006);Tummalaetal.
sizeandweight. Therefore,whensizeandefficiencyarecritical,astructurewithminimum
(2002))andinanti-terroristactivities(Lietal.(2007)).