Hermies-III: A step toward autonomous mobility, manipulation and perception

Abstract

SUMMARYHERMIES-III is an autonomous robot comprised of a seven degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator designed for human scale tasks, a laser range finder, a sonar array, an omnidirectional wheel-driven chassis, multiple cameras, and a dual computer system containing a 16-node hypercube expandable to 128 nodes. The current experimental program involves performance of human-scale tasks (e.g., valve manipulation, use of tools), integration of a dexterous manipulator and platform motion in geometrically complex environments, and effective use of multiple cooperating robots (HERMIES-IIB and HERMIES-III). The environment in which the robots operate has been designed to include multiple valves, pipes, meters, obstacles on the floor, valves occluded from view, and multiple paths of differing navigation complexity. The ongoing research program supports the development of autonomous capability for HERMIES-IIB and III to perform complex navigation and manipulation under time constraints, while dealing with imprecise sensory information.

Derivation of three closed loop kinematic velocity models using normalized quaternion feedback for an autonomous redundant manipulator with application to inverse kinematics

“…4. In this case the algorithm resolves the redundancy based on feedback measurements of sensors, e.g., the encoder sensors of the motors of the CESARm research manipulator [21,36,37,38]. A comparison of the performance of the input relegation control using eq.…”

Input relegation control for gross motion of a kinematically redundant manipulator

“…E:raraple 1: The problem is to control the Cartesian translational :and rotational motions of the end effector of the CESARm research manipulator [6,10,11,12] , operating in a three-dimensional workspace, as shown in Fig. 2.…”

“…Upon calculating II(q) and 2(q), e and 4 are obtained usings Eqs. (11)and (12), respectively, when it is desired to minimize…”

Input relegation control for gross motion of a kinematically redundant manipulator

“…It is assumed that the serial-link manipulator has a single redundant DOF(N = M . 1), e.g., the CESARm research manipulator in its most general configuration with M -6 and N = 7 [6,10,11,12]. Thus e is a scalar and B(q) is an N-dimensional row vector.…”

“…In this appendix the (3 x 4) Jacobian matrix which transforms the joint velocities of the lower four joints of the CESARm research manipulator [6,10,11,12] to obtain the Cartesian translational velocities of the centerpoint of the wrist is specified. Let jim denote the element located at the intersection of the lth row and rnth column of J(q).…”