Fundamentals of Robot Technology : An Introduction to Industrial Robots, Teleoperators and Robot Vehicles

Methods of contro1151 Mechanical master-slave telemanipulators 151 Powered telemanipulators 152 Servo control of unilateral telemanipulators 152 Bilateral servo manipulators 155 Special characteristics of teleoperators 158 Design criteria for teleoperators 159 Vehicles and transporters 160 Applications of teleoperators 161 Remote handling of radioactive materials 161 Remote handling of explosive and toxic materials 161 Telemanipulation of heavy objects 163 Underwater teleoperation 163 Teleoperation in space and planetary exploration 164 Telemanipulators for the disabled 164 Computer assisted teleoperation 166 Bibliographic notes 170 Chapter 9: Mobile robots 171 Introduction 171 Land surface robots 171 Arrangements of wheels and tracks 171 Unusual wheel and track arrangements 172 Navigation for land vehicles 174 Teleoperation 174 Dead reckoning 175 Inertial navigation 175 Tracking from a fixed base; beacons 175 Satellite navigation 175 Map matching 175 Wall following 176 Route planning 176 Control and communication 176 Sensors for mobile robots 177 Body orientation and angular rates 1 77 Body position, speed and acceleration 177 Terrain scanning 178 Types and applications of mobile robots 179 Education and research 179 Remote handling 183 Military mobile robots 183 Fire-fighting and rescue 187 Construction 188 Mining 188 Planetary exploration 188 Legged robots 188 Comparison of legs and wheels 189 Leg number and arrangement 189 Leg number 189 Leg disposition 190 Relative leg length 190 Leg construction 190 Control 191 Climbing robots 195 Robot submersibles 196 Uses of submersible robots 199 Robots in air and space 201 Space 202 Bibliographic notes 204 Chapter 10: Automated guided vehicles 205

1: Introduction.- Definitions of ‘robot’ and ‘robotics’.- Other definitions in robotics.- Connections between robotics and some related subjects.- Artificial intelligence.- Flexible manufacturing systems, factory automation, computer-aided manufacturing.- Bibliographic notes.- 2: Geometric configurations for robots.- The distinction between arms and vehicles.- Structural elements of manipulators.- Degrees of freedom and number of joints.- Types of joint.- Construction of joints.- Parallel linkages.- Constrained linkages.- Distributed manipulators.- Robot transporters and workpiece positioners.- Arm configuations.- Cartesian.- Polar.- Cylindrical.- Horizontally jointed arms.- Vertically jointed or anthropomorphic arms.- Other arm designs.- Tension structures.- Wrists.- Direct drive to each axis.- Gear drives.- Compliance in wrists.- End effectors (grippers, tools and hands).- Two-jaw grippers.- Special purpose mechanical grippers.- Vaccum and magnetic grippers.- Tools.- Tool and gripper changing.- Anthropomorphic and other adaptive hands.- Two dimensional adaptive grippers.- Anthropomorphic hands.- Bibliographic notes.- 3: Operation, programming and control of industrial robots.- Types of industrial robot and their methods of operation.- Pick and place manipulators.- Point to point robots.- Continuous path robots.- Methods of teaching and programming.- Programming pick and place robots.- Walk-through teaching or pendant teaching.- Walk-through teaching with path control.- Lead-through teaching or physical arm leading.- Off-line programming.- The implications of sensing for robot control.- Types of controller and program memory.- Analysis and control.- Formulating the kinematic equations.- Solving the kinematic equations.- The Jacobian formulation.- The ‘forward’ and ‘inverse’ problems of dynamics.- Specifying trajectories.- Servo control of actuators.- Programming languages for industrial robots.- Bibliographic notes.- 4: Actuators for robots.- Pneumatic actuation.- Pneumatic valves.- Hydraulic actuation.- Hydraulic valves.- Hydrostatic circuits.- Hydraulic pumps and associated equipment.- Electric actuation.- Direct current servomotors.- Alternating current servomotors (brushless direct current servomotors).- Stepper motors.- Other electromechanical actuators.- Mechanical transmission methods.- Inertia reduction.- Speed reduction.- Rotary/rectilinear motion conversion.- Differentials and parallelogram linkages.- Bibliographic notes.- 5: Sensing for robots.- Joint angle.- Potentiometers.- Resolvers and synchros.- Incremental and absolute encoders (usually optical).- Joint angular velocity.- Rectilinear position.- Force and torque.- Strain gauges.- Piezoelectric force transducers.- Proximity sensing and range measurement.- Touch sensing.- Resistance-based touch sensors.- Inductance and capacitance.- Piezoelectric transducers.- Thermal touch sensing.- Optical methods of touch sensing.- Slip.- Vision.- Vision hardware 98 Television cameras.- Illuminator.- Framestore.- Preprocessor.- General purpose computer.- Types of computer vision.- Two-dimensional vision with isolated objects and a binary image.- Stasticial pattern recognition.- Two-dimensional vision with isolated objects and a grey scale image.- Touching or overlapping objects.- Two-dimensional inspection.- Two-dimensional line tracking.- Three-dimensional vision: isolated objects.- Single image (monocular vision).- Stereo vision.- Structured illumination.- Range imaging.- Three-dimensional vision applied to a heap of parts.- Three-dimensional scene analysis for mobile robots.- Non-visual sensing in welding and other processes.- Bibliographic notes.- 6: Performance specifications of industrial robots.- Geometric configuration; number of axes.- Positioning accuracy and repeatability.- Accuracy.- Repeatability.- Test methods for accuracy and repeatability.- Angular accuracy and repeatability.- Speed.- Speed and acceleration accuracy.- Spatial specifications: working volume, swept area, reach.- Payload (maximum load capacity).- Control-related specifications.- Memory capacity.- Program structure.- Advanced features.- Vibration.- Miscellaneous specifications.- Bibliographic notes.- 7: Applications of industrial robots.- Machine loading.- Pallet loading and unloading.- Investment casting.- Spot welding.- Arc welding.- Spraying (paint, enamel, epoxy resin and other coatings).- Fettling (grinding, chiselling); polishing.- Cutting.- Inspection.- Training and education; hobby robots.- Robots in assembly.- Types of robot for assembly.- Grippers.- Compliance.- Design for assembly.- numbers and types.- Component design for mechanical handling.- Design of the assembly process.- New applications for industrial robots.- Extension of existing methods to new applications.- More sensing.- Artificial intelligence.- Handling difficult workpieces.- Integration of industrial robots into the workplace.- Tracking.- Work cell configurations.- Transport of components and assemblies.- Feeders for assembly robots.- Control and communication.- Bibliographic notes.- 8: Teleoperated arms.- Methods of control.- Mechanical master-slave telemanipulators.- Powered telemanipulators.- Servo control of unilateral telemanipulators.- Bilateral servo manipulators.- Special characteristics of teleoperators.- Design criteria for teleoperators.- Vehicles and transporters.- Applications of teleoperators.- Remote handling of radioactive materials.- Remote handling of explosive and toxic materials.- Telemanipulation of heavy objects.- Underwater teleoperation.- Teleoperation in space and planetary exploration.- Telemanipulators for the disabled.- Computer assisted teleoperation.- Bibliographic notes.- 9: Mobile robots.- Land surface robots.- Arrangements of wheels and tracks.- Unusual wheel and track arrangements.- Navigation for land vehicles.- Teleoperation.- Dead reckoning.- Inertial navigation.- Tracking from a fixed base; beacons.- Satellite navigation 175 Map matching.- Wall following.- Route planning.- Control and communication.- Sensors for mobile robots.- Body orientation and angular rates.- Body position, speed and acceleration.- Terrain scanning.- Types and applications of mobile robots.- Education and research.- Remote handling.- Military mobile robots.- Fire-fighting and rescue.- Construction.- Mining.- Planetary exploration.- Legged robots.- Comparison of legs and wheels.- Leg number and arrangement.- Leg number.- Leg disposition.- Relative leg length.- Leg construction.- Control.- Climbing robots.- Robot submersibles.- Uses of submersible robots.- Robots in air and space.- Space.- Bibliographic notes.- 10: Automated guided vehicles.- Automated guided vehicle technology.- Power, steering and guidance.- Route programming.- Route planning.- Loading and unloading.- Safety; vehicle separation.- Miscellaneous features.- Automated guided vehicles with mechanical and optical guidance.- Free ranging automated guided vehicles.- Bibliographic notes.- 11: Robotics and artificial intelligence.- Vision.- Voice communication.- Planning.- Discrete step planning.- Route planning.- Modelling.- Adaptive control.- Error monitoring and recovery.- Autonomy and intelligence in robots.- Expert systems in robotics.- Bibliographic notes.- 12: Economic and social aspects of robotics.- Reasons for installing robots.- Economic costs and benefits of installing industrial robots.- Safety benefits of using robots.- Prevention of mechanical damage.- Avoidance of robot-generated fires and pollution.- Protection of robots from adverse environments.- Acceptability of industrial robots by the workforce.- Employment.- Other social issues of robotics.- Social issues.- Military robotics.- Police and security uses of mobile robots.- Teleoperators.- Medical uses of robots.- Bibliographic notes.- References and Bibliography.