Design and Control of Professional Service Robots for Exploration and Inspection in Hazardous Environments
Z. Kovačić1, G. Vasiljević1, D. Miklić1, M. Orsag1 and M. Cukon2
1University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Department of Control and Computer Engineering, Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Control Systems (LARICS), Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
2MAJESTIC ELEKTRONIKA INOVACIJE d.o.o. Cokuni 4, Cokuni, Croatia
Corresponding author: zdenko.kovacic@fer.hr
The significance of professional service robotics has been growing rapidly, evolving to some very successful commercial products (robotic vacuum cleaners, surveillance robots etc.). According to the official strategic research agenda (SRA) for robotics in Europe, large breakthroughs are expected in the areas of security, space & undersea missions, medical diagnosis, therapy, rehabilitation, and household robots).
The laboratory the authors come from has collaborated with industry on several R&D professional service robotics projects. This ranges from the study of wireless remote control for all-terrain humanitarian demining mobile robots and fire-fighting mobile robots (ground vehicles), design (construction) and control of an all-terrain mobile robot equipped for exploration tasks in life-threatening missions, control of an all-terrain mobile robot for hydrodynamic treatment of concrete and metal surfaces, and finally, supervisory control of multiple autonomous laser guided vehicles (LGV) operating in the mixed factory zone (production + packaging + storage) as a vital part of automated factory warehouses.
The experience says that control of each professional service robot has been specific, starting from pure remote control up to full autonomy, depending largely on the purpose of a particular robot. This involves robot awareness of complex environments, learning and adaptation, as well as integration of common safety rules that turn robots into safe objects (subjects) within the working environment.
Keywords: Professional service robots; robot control; exploration robots; hydro-demolition robots; inspection robots; life-threatening missions; safety.
References:
[1] Vasiljević, G.; Petric, F.; Kovačić Z., Multi-layer Mapping-based Autonomous Forklift Localization in an Industrial Environment, Proceedings of the 22nd Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, 1134-1139, Palermo, Italy, 2014.[2] Kovačić, Z.; Cukon, M.; Brkić, K.; Vasiljević, G.; Mutka, A.; Miklić, D.; Vuglec, F.; Rajković, I., Design and Control of a Four-Flipper Tracked Exploration & Inspection Robot, Proceedings of the 21st Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, 7-12, Chania, Greece, 2013.
[3] Kovačić, Z.; Balać, B.; Flegarić, S.; Brkić, K.; Orsag, M. Light-weight Mobile Robot for Hydrodynamic Treatment of Concrete and Metal Surfaces“, The 1st International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry CARPI 2010, Montreal, Canada, 2010.