Development of a mobile manipulator for industrial/mining applications

该项目的主要目标是为Admetal工程公司开发一种用于工业/采矿应用的移动机械手（UGV，无人地面车辆及其机械手）。其中一个应用是寒冷天气下的机器人现场焊接，该项目的重点是开发UGV导航和机械手运动的软件，以执行其任务。此外，将现有焊接系统与商用UGV集成是该项目的硬件重点。由于农村地区焊工的高工资和在极寒条件下有限的工作时间，寒冷天气下的现场焊接是一项具有挑战性和昂贵的任务。自主多传感器导航软件将在室内/室外设置和崎岖地形的模拟环境中开发和测试。软件将开发准确和均匀的机器人焊接。将集成激光焊缝跟踪装置来检测焊缝位置。本项目的里程碑是：1。选择购买适合室内外导航的UGV，如Hunter-2；2. 开发/采购适合移动平台#1操作的焊接机械手，如Han E05/E10；3. 集成UGV（#1）和焊接机械手（#2）开发焊接移动平台；4. 开发用于UGV导航和机械手执行任务的软件；5. 导航软件鲁棒性的实验室测试6. 模拟低温条件下焊接平台性能的实验室测试7. 通过对机械手与手工焊接的比较，考察焊接质量；8. 写论文/报告。移动焊接平台将在实验室环境中设计、制造和测试。测试成功后，该平台将用于工业/采矿应用。研究结果将发表在技术期刊上，并在技术会议上提出。本项目完成后，将实现对粗糙设置和地形的精密工业机器人焊接。这个项目的重点是工业/采矿应用，因为它们对加拿大经济很重要。

The main objective of this project is to develop a mobile manipulator (a UGV, unmanned ground vehicle, and its manipulator) for industrial/mining applications for Admetal Engineering Corp. One application is robotics field welding in cold weather, and the focus of this project is on developing software for navigation of the UGV and manipulator motion for performing its task. Also, integration of an existing weld system with a commercially available UGV is the hardware focus of this project. Field welding in cold weather is a challenging and expensive task due to welders' high salary in rural areas and limited working time in extreme cold. Autonomous multi-sensor navigation software will be developed and tested in a simulated environment for indoor/outdoor settings and rough terrain. Software will be developed for accurate and uniform robotics welding. A laser seam tracking device will be integrated to detect weld seam location. The milestones for this project are: 1. Select and purchase a UGV suitable for indoor/outdoor navigation, such as Hunter-2; 2. Develop/purchase a welding manipulator suitable for operation on mobile platform #1, such as Han E05/E10; 3. Develop a welding mobile platform by integrating UGV (#1) and welding manipulator (#2); 4. Develop software for navigation of the UGV and the manipulator for performing its task; 5. Lab testing of performance of the navigation software for robustness; 6. Lab testing of performance of the welding platform in simulated cold conditions; 7. Investigate weld quality by comparing manipulator versus manual welding; 8. Writing papers/reports. The mobile welding platform will be designed, fabricated, and tested in a laboratory setting. Upon successful testing, the platform will be used in industrial/mining applications. The results will be published in technical journals and presented in technical conferences. Upon completion of this project, precision industrial robotic welding will be achieved for rough settings and terrain. The focus of this project will be on industrial/mining applications because of their importance for the Canadian economy.