A motion planning methodology for rhombic-like vehicles for ITER remote handling operations

Path optimization for rhombic-like vehicles: An approach based on rigid body dynamics

“…The novel method proposed in this paper disregards line guidance approaches as the ones proposed in [1] with the resulting optimized path defining an independent reference for each vehicle wheel. Loosely following the elastic bands concept proposed by Quinlan and Khatib in [15], this method, by considering each vehicle pose as a rigid body, enables the path deformation to explicitly consider the vehicle geometry and exploit the rhombic vehicle nature, issues considered here as unattended on similar studies.…”

“…Post optimization techniques are also employed to improve path quality and support a posteriori tracking phases, [10]. The motion planning problem for the CPRHS rhombic vehicle was first addressed in [1] by a planning methodology, which granted the generation of feasible and optimized trajectories in agreement with the above specified criteria. The inbuilt path optimization module followed closely the elastic bands approach proposed in [15].…”

Optimized trajectories of the transfer cask system in ITER

“…By specifying the TCS velocity along the path, the optimized trajectory is obtained. To meet these conditions a motion planning methodology was developed and implemented, [3]. It is achieved in four main steps, as displayed in Figure 2: 1) generation of a 2D map of the environment from its 3D model, 2) evaluation of a geometric path, 3) path optimization, and 4) building a trajectory from the optimized path.…”

“…A manoeuvre requires splitting the path in two sub-paths with the constraint that the final pose of the first sub-path is the initial pose of the next sub-path. By taking advantage of the TCS kinematic configuration, the algorithm in [3], was improved to incorporate one or multiple manoeuvres. In case n manoeuvres are required, the path is divided in n + 1 sub-paths and the path optimization is applied to each.…”

“…Different approaches were studied and a motion planning framework was developed [3]. In this paper the main results of the study are presented and discussed.…”