Engineering Creativity Award: Sensor-Based Robotics and Autonomous Mobile Platforms

该研究项目涉及基于传感器的机器人和移动平台，并尽可能多地将这些系统的设计灵活性内置于这些系统的设计中。该项目涉及三个主要领域：动态平衡平台，冗余机械手（机器人手臂）和通用末端执行器（机器人手）。基座将由四条独立的腿支撑，每条腿都装有传感器，用于测量腿的位置、每个关节施加的力以及相对于地面的滑动。平台将有位置传感器，以确保它保持合理的水平和平衡（包括机械手移动）。机器人手臂将有八个自由度，并有能力在底部和上臂伸展。目的是使末端执行器尽可能通用，然而，模仿人手是过于复杂的。至少，机器人手将有两个相对的手指，允许操作许多物体，并且比五个手指的设备更容易控制。手必须包含各种传感器来测量施加的力、滑动和物体变形。

This research project deals with sensor-based robotics and mobile platforms with as much flexibility built into the design of these systems as possible. The project involves three major areas: a dynamically balanced platform, a redundant manipulator (robot arm), and a general purpose end effector (robot hand). The base will be balanced on four independent legs each of these will be equipped with sensors to measure leg position, force exerted at each joint, and slipping relative to the ground. The platform will have position sensors to ensure that it remains reasonably level and balanced (including manipulator shifts). The robot arm will have eight degrees of freedom and have the ability to extend at the base and at the upper arm. The intent is to make the end effector as general as possible, however, imitating the human hand is excessively complex. As a minimum, the robot hand will have two opposable fingers which allows for manipulation of many objects and is easier to control than a five-fingered device. The hand must include a variety of sensors to measure applied force, slip, and object deformation.