Mobile Robotics Development and Validation Plarform Using Vortex

移动机器人系统在生产系统、地球和行星探索以及个人机器人等许多领域发挥着越来越重要的作用。该项目旨在开发一个移动机器人软件平台，特别关注非结构化环境的设计和操作。规划了一个能够在线和离线应用的模拟环境。我们将开发一个全面的动态建模框架，能够在结构化和非结构化环境中解决移动机器人开发任务。一个关键点将是车辆/地形相互作用的详细特征及其在建模环境中的结合。我们将比通常的标准模拟环境走得更远。还将建立和实施分析工具和算法，以验证和表征移动机器人的操作和设计。拟议的研究将产生评估能量消耗的方法，移动性，以及在操作期间移动平台性能特征的措施。这些将作为嵌入式模块实现，可以向用户发送有关操作有效性和性能规格满意度的信号。我们还将实现算法，例如悬架重新配置规划，这将允许用户对移动平台的机械设计进行详细的评估和综合。我们打算解决的一个重要问题是与原位资源利用相关的移动机器人的越野操作建模和仿真，例如挖掘和钻探。我们将研究详细的离线模型和简化的在线表示。

Mobile robotic systems play an increasingly important role in many areas such as production systems, terrestrial and planetary exploration, and personal robotics. This project aims at the development of a mobile-robotics software platform with a particular focus on design for and operations on unstructured environments. A simulation environment that will be capable of online and off-line applications is planned. We will develop a comprehensive dynamics-modelling framework capable of addressing mobile robotics development tasks in both structured and unstructured environments. A key point will be the detailed characterization of vehicle/terrain interactions and their incorporation in the modelling environment. We will go further than a standard simulation environment normally does. Analysis tools and algorithms will also be established and implemented to validate and characterize operations and designs of mobile robots. The proposed research will produce methods to evaluate energy expenditure, mobility, and measures that characterize the performance of a mobile platform during operation. These will be implemented as embedded modules that can send signals to the user on the validity of manoeuvres and the satisfaction of performance specifications. We will also implement algorithms, e.g. for suspension reconfiguration planning, which will allow the user to perform a detailed evaluation and synthesis of mechanical designs for mobile platforms. An important issue we intend to address is the modelling and simulation of off-road operations of mobile robots related to in-situ resource utilization, such as excavation and drilling. We will investigate both detailed off-line models and simplified online representations.