Design and Control of Robot Arms and Actuators for Greater Applicability, Safety and Sustainability

今天的机器人手臂要么太不安全，要么太弱，无法用于许多应用。由于传感器和软件永远不会100%可靠，因此机器人手臂必须在本质上安全，然后才能与工厂中的人一起工作或合作（而不是目前将机器人手臂隔离在安全围栏后面的做法），并且在它们可以帮助非制造应用中的人之前，例如辅助生活。本质安全的机器人手臂即使在传感器或软件故障时也不会造成伤害。一种方法可以通过严格限制手臂的速度和力输出来实现。然而，这将使手臂在许多应用中过于低效和/或虚弱。更好的方法是机械设计其组件，以防止在手臂与人碰撞时发生有害的冲击力。从长远来看，这项研究计划将有助于创造本质安全的机器人手臂，帮助许多加拿大人过上更好的生活。例如，它们将把工人从危险和枯燥的工作中解放出来，使他们能够从事更有趣和更有成就感的任务，或者帮助他们更有效地完成任务。在家里，配备安全机械臂的移动的机器人将协助老年人或残疾人。在接下来的五年里，我们将致力于：设计由气动或混合动力电动执行器驱动的安全机器人手臂的方法;建立一个原型安全机器人手臂;并创建几个不同的软件程序来控制安全机器人手臂执行任务，如抓取和放下家用或工业物体，同时避免撞到附近的人。该软件还将减少这些机器人手臂的能源使用，使其更具可持续性。两个博士未来五年内将培养10名学生、2名硕士生和5名本科生。除了研究技能，所有的研究生和本科生将获得先进的机器人和自动化硬件和软件的实践经验，这将大大有利于他们在加拿大工业或学术界的未来职业生涯。

Today's robot arms are either too unsafe or too weak to be useful for many applications. Since sensors and software will never be 100% reliable, robot arms must be made intrinsically safe before they can work alongside or cooperatively with people in factories (rather than the current practice of isolating robot arms behind safety fences), and before they can help people in non-manufacturing applications, such as assisted living. A robot arm that is intrinsically safe will not cause injuries even when sensors or software fails. One way this can be accomplished by severely limiting the speed and force output of the arm. However, this will make the arm too unproductive and/or weak for many applications. A better approach is to mechanically design its components to prevent harmful impact forces from occurring if the arm collides with a person. In the long-term, this research program will help to enable the creation of intrinsically safe robot arms that will help many Canadians to have better lives. For example, they will free workers from dangerous and dull jobs, allowing them to pursue more interesting and fulfilling tasks, or help them to finish their tasks more efficiently. At home, mobile robots equipped with safe robot arms will assist the elderly or disabled. In the next five years we will be working on: methods for designing safe robot arms that are powered by either pneumatic or hybrid pneumatic-electric actuators; building a prototype safe robot arm; and creating several different software programs for controlling safe robot arms to perform tasks such as grasping and dropping off household or industrial objects, while simultaneously avoiding bumping into nearby people. The software will also reduce the energy usage of these robots arms, making them more sustainable. Two Ph.D. students, two Master's students and five undergraduate students will be trained during the next five years. In addition to research skills, all of the graduate and undergraduate students will get hands-on experience with advanced robotics and automation hardware and software that will greatly benefit them in their future careers in Canadian industry or academia.