Mobile Robotics Development and Validation Plarform Using Vortex

移动的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。计划建立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，能够解决结构化和非结构化环境中的移动的机器人开发任务。一个关键点将是车辆/地形相互作用的详细特性，并将其纳入建模环境。我们将比标准模拟环境更进一步。还将建立和实施分析工具和算法，以验证和表征移动的机器人的操作和设计。拟议的研究将产生方法来评估能源消耗，流动性，并衡量一个移动的平台在操作过程中的性能。这些将作为嵌入式模块实施，可向用户发送关于机动有效性和满足性能规格的信号。我们还将实施算法，例如悬架重新配置规划，这将允许用户执行详细的评估和移动的平台的机械设计的综合。我们打算解决的一个重要问题是建模和仿真的越野作业的移动的机器人有关的就地资源利用，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.