Multi-modal modularity of mobile robots

与人类和动物相比，机器人在机动性和可操作性方面存在重大障碍。大自然提供了这种能力，并使其适应不同的环境(陆地、水和空气)。这项拟议的工作旨在显着提高机器人在自然无结构和动态变化的陆地环境中的移动性和可操作性。 安装了手臂的移动平台与环境之间的相互作用是平台在非结构化地形上的移动性和同一环境中未知对象的手臂可操纵性的关键因素。建议的工作集中在一种新的移动机器人设计范式上。假设平台在非结构化地形上的机动性和未知对象(手臂安装在移动平台上)的可操作性可以通过提供平台牵引力和操纵的多模式模块化以及悬浮性、柔顺性和后驱性来增强。 多模式模块化是融合几种模块化操作手段的概念。在站台情况下，车轮、轨道和支撑臂(每个都是一个模块)将集成在同一个平台上，以允许互换(多模式)，以便使平台牵引力适应不同的地形。平台牵引力还将包括一种新型的悬架机构，具有合规性和后驱性，以降低平台与环境接触的影响。合规性和后驱性都可以作为被动或主动特征提供。同样的方法也将用于手臂的操纵性。 在拟议的工作中，将首先开发系统概念，然后在商业机器人上设计和实现。将对原型进行广泛的实验，以收集支持或不支持原始假设的数据。

Compared to human beings and animals, robots have major handicaps in terms of mobility and manipulability. Nature has provided and adapted much of this capability to various environments terrestrial, water, and air). The proposed work aims to significantly improve the technology of robot mobility and manipulability in naturally unstructured and dynamically changing terrestrial environments. Interaction between the mobile platform, with an arm mounted on it, and the environment is a key factor in platform mobility over unstructured terrains and arm manipulability of unknown objects in the same environment. The proposed work is focused on a new design paradigm of mobile robots. The hypothesis is that mobility (of the platform) over unstructured terrains, and manipulability of unknown objects (with the arm mounted on the mobile platform) can be enhanced by providing multi-modal modularity of platform traction and manipulation, as well as suspension, compliance, and back-drivability. Multi-modal modularity is the concept of fusing several modular means of operation. In the platform case, wheels, tracks, and bracing arms, each being a module, will be integrated on the same platform to allow inter-changeability (multi-modality) in order to adapt the platform traction to various terrains. The platform traction will also include a novel suspension mechanism with compliance and back-drivability to lower the impact of platform's contact with the environment. Both, compliance and back-drivability can be provided as passive or active features. The same approach will be used for the arm manipulability. In the proposed work the system concept will developed first, and then designed and implemented on a commercial robot. Extensive experiments will be performed with the prototype to gather data that would support, or not, the original hypothesis.