ROBOTIC NAVIGATION WITHIN COMPLEX STRUCTURES

THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP THE TECHNOLOGIES OF SEMIAUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION FOR TELEOPERATED DEVICES, WHICH WOULD ALLOW FOR THE USE OF THIS FEATURE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROBOTIC DEVICES FOR APPLICATION IN NUCLEAR FACILITIES USING EXISTING SENSORY EQUIPMENT (THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING LASER SCANNER) IN A SUITABLE TEST ENVIRONMENT: A TERRAIN TESTBED. THE TESTED CONSISTS OF A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED GANTRY SYSTEM WITH FIVE DEGREES OF FREEDOM. MOUNTED ON THE GANTRY ROBOT IS THE IMAGING LASER SCANNER, WHICH CAN BE MOVED IN THREE DIRECTIONS OVER A SIMULATED TERRAIN. THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE GANTRY ROBOT AS THE ROBOTIC VEHICLE PERMITS A SHARPER FOCUS ON THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED, WHILE MAINTAINING APPLICABILITY TO A BROAD RANGE OF ROBOTIC VEHICLES. PORTIONS OF A NUCLEAR POWER FACILITY WILL BE MODELED IN THE TERRAIN TESTBED TO TEST THE NAVIGATION ALGORITHM. WALLS AND OBSTRUCTIONS SUCH AS PIPES AND MACHINERY WILL BE REPRESENTED USING LIGHTWEIGHT, INEXPENSIVE MATERIALS TO ALLOW MODEL RECONFIGURATION FOR MORE COMPREHENSIVE TESTING. NAVIGATION INSIDE OF COMPLEX STRUCTURES CAN BE BROKEN INTO TWO MAJOR TASKS: GLOBAL PATH PLANNING AND LOCAL SUBPATH FOLLOWING. HOWEVER, PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT WILL CONCENTRATE ON LOCAL SUBPATH FOLLOWING ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT. THE ALGORITHM WILL DETERMINE A POSITION TO COMMAND THE GANTRY ROBOT TO MOVE TO, WHICH WILL BE THE SUBPATH GOAL OR AN INTERMEDIATE POINT IF ANY OBSTACLES ARE SENSED THAT BLOCK THE PATH. THROUGH SENSORY INPUT FROM THE IMAGING LASER SCANNER, THE ALGORITHM WILL DETERMINE ALTERNATE ROUTES FOR THE ROBOT TO TRAVEL UNTIL THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION OR GOAL IS ACHIEVED.