AN INTELLIGENT CONTROLLER FOR ENHANCED TELEROBOTICS

THE CONTROLLER DEVELOPED THROUGH THIS PROJECT WILL IMPLEMENT A "TASK INTELLIGENT" ARCHITECTURE FOR NUCLEAR SERVICE TELEROBOTS. TASK INTELLIGENT WORK SYSTEMS RECEIVE TACTICAL DIRECTIVES FROM HUMANS AND INTEGRATE SENSING, MODELING, PLANNING, AND REFLEXES TO ENHANCE TELOPERATION BY ALLOWING THE OPERATOR TO CONCENTRATE ON HIGH LEVEL MISSION OBJECTIVES. THE SYSTEM WILL EXPLOIT THE TECHNOLOGY OF ADVANCED ROBOTIC SYSTEMS, INCLUDING REAL-TIME CONTROL, DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING, MODELING OF THE ENVIRONMENT, AUTOMATIC PLANNING, AND ADVANCED OPERATOR INTERFACES. INTELLIGENT CONTROLLERS CAN INCREASE THE PRODUCTIVITY, OPERABILITY, AND SAFETY OF REMOTE WORK DEVICES IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS. TASKS PERFORMED BY THESE DEVICES INCLUDE INSPECTION OF TANKS, PIPES, AND VALVING; RETRIEVING OF SAMPLES; WASHDOWNS; APPLICATION OF COATINGS; AND CLEAN-UP OF SPILLS. EXECUTION OF SUCH TASKS REQUIRES PRECISE POSITIONING AND ORIENTATION OF TOOLS AND SENSORS RELATIVE TO SURFACES. BECAUSE INTELLIGENT CONTROLLERS CAN MANAGE THEDETAILS OF SUBTASKS SUCH AS COLLISION AVOIDANCE, TRAJECTORY FOLLOWING, FORCE LIMITING AND STATUS AND CHECKING, THE HUMAN OPERATOR'S ATTENTION CAN BE FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING MISSION GOALS. THE CONTROLLER WILL IMPLEMENT TWO LEVELS OF GENERALIZED ROBOTIC CONTROL ARCHITECTURE. THE LOWEST (REFLEXIVE) LEVEL GATHERS SENSOR DATA AND RESPONDS IMMEDIATELY TO CONTINGENCIES WITH MOTION CONTROL PARAMETERS. THE SECOND (TACTICAL) LEVEL MODELS SENSOR DATA TO DEFINE FEATURES OF THE ENVIRONMENT, AND UTILIZES PLANS FROM A HUMAN SUPERVISOR TO GENERATE FUNCTIONAL COMMANDS TO THE ROBOT FOR TASK EXECUTION.