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A marsupial robot with strong practicability for coal mine rescue is presented with the discussion and analysis to the complicated
environment in the mine disaster and the existing robots for coal mine rescue. The marsupial robot mainly consists of a mother
robot and a baby robot. The mother robot carrying the baby robot comes into the mine well un...
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Context 1
... has been studying coal mine rescue robot for many years. At present, there are many universities, research organizations and companies developing coal mine rescue robot aiming at different usage. American DiscoverMiner Corporation has been devoted to developing relevant technology for abandoned mines rescue robot [1] and [4]. MinBot-XA shown in Fig. 2(a) is the prototype of rescue robot made by this company. But MinBot-XA is not capable of negotiating the structure of hard rock mines with wheels and tractors in deep explorations. Simply turning over on a side or sliding down shallow holes will render them inoperable. As wireless operation through hundreds of feet of rock is impossible ...
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... hundreds of feet of rock is impossible because of signal disruption, wire management of such robots does make the long-range control problem considerable but short range solution possible. To improve an ability of adapting to terrain, this company has developed a robot called MOLE (Mine Observational Locomotion Ex- perimenter), as shown in Fig. 2(b). MOLE's wheel is a cylinder. Its former and back section connected by vertical shaft and its above and underside section is symmetry, So it can not overturn and has a better adaptation to the terrain than MinBot-XA. Fig. 3(a) shows an Andros V-2 robot developed by America Mine Safety and Health Administration [5] and [6]. It can ...
Citations
... Los robots de tipo marsupial han sido desarrollados a lo largo de lasúltimas dos décadas, destacando una de sus principales ventajas como la optimización de energía para transportar uno o varios robots [7] por uno de mayores capacidades de carga y energéticas, así como la rapidez de transporte hacia una zona [23,43]. Algunos de los desarrollos más relevantes utilizan rampas para llevar robots con orugas [25,5], o ascensores para el levantamiento [44] 3. ...
La Robótica de Búsqueda y Rescate en las últimas décadas ha sido una línea de gran crecimiento, brindando apoyo a brigadas de primera línea en situaciones pos-desastre, aportando principalmente transmisión de información desde zonas de alto riesgo o asistiendo con equipos de primeros auxilios a víctimas. El presente artículo busca establecer una clasificación entre los diferentes tipos de colaboración que pueden generarse entre robots terrestres heterogéneos para tareas de búsqueda y rescate, basado en un criterio planteado según, su interacción física, por los autores. Para ello se han realizado diferentes pruebas mediante robots con diferentes sistemas de locomoción (orugas, patas) en entornos reales que han permitido validar el criterio planteado. Entre las principales situaciones abordadas se destaca el contacto físico directo (Marsupial - Rampa) e indirecto (cables) y sin contacto físico (percepción externa - feromonas) para entornos pos-desastre. De entre las principales ventajas de la robótica colaborativa, extraídas como conclusión en base a este estudio, destacan la capacidad de maximizar las áreas de búsqueda, accediendo a zonas elevadas, explorando cráteres/socavones o asistencia entre robot a través de zonas con oclusiones, de manera similar a como lo haría una brigada de intervención humana.
... However, development of low-weight, high-performance computers and solid-state lidars as well as progress in localization, mapping and learning algorithms allowed to integrate various degrees of autonomy into robotic systems. Many of the works focused on mobility over adverse terrain, e.g., the authors of [Zhao et al., 2008] proposed to use a marsupial setup consisting of a "mother" and "baby" robot, which is released to map hard-to-access areas. Domain transfer techniques such as generative adversarial networks (GANs) simplified transfer from the simulator to real platforms [Pecka et al., 2018a] allowing for autonomous control of flippers on skid-steer robots. ...
We present a field report of the CTU-CRAS-NORLAB team from the Subterranean Challenge (SubT) organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The contest seeks to advance technologies that would improve the safety and efficiency of search-andrescue operations in GPS-denied environments. During the contest rounds, teams of mobile robots have to find specific objects while operating in environments with limited radio communication, e.g., mining tunnels, underground stations or natural caverns. We present a heterogeneous exploration robotic system of the CTU-CRAS-NORLAB team, which achieved the third rank at the SubT Tunnel and Urban Circuit rounds and surpassed the performance of all other non-DARPA-funded teams. The field report describes the team’s hardware, sensors, algorithms and strategies, and discusses the lessons learned by participating at the DARPA SubT contest.
... Rapid robotic exploration of a wide-range of environments, such as for urban search and rescue [1], [2], [3] or marine monitoring [4], [5], [6], can be achieved by heterogeneous multi-robot systems called marsupial robots. These systems typically consist of a large and robust carrier robot (e.g., a ground vehicle or surface vessel) that transports smaller but agile passenger robot(s) (e.g., aerial or underwater robots) [7]. ...
Marsupial robot teams consist of carrier robots that transport and deploy multiple passenger robots, such as a team of ground robots that carry and deploy multiple aerial robots, to rapidly explore complex environments. We specifically address the problem of planning the deployment times and locations of the carrier robots to best meet the objectives of a mission while reasoning over uncertain future observations and rewards. While prior work proposed optimal, polynomial-time solutions to single-carrier robot systems, the multiple-carrier robot deployment problem is fundamentally harder as it requires addressing conflicts and dependencies between deployments of multiple passenger robots. We propose a centralized heuristic search algorithm for the multiple-carrier robot deployment problem that combines Monte Carlo Tree Search with a dynamic programming-based solution to the Sequential Stochastic Assignment Problem as a rollout action-selection policy. Our results with both procedurally-generated data and data drawn from the DARPA Subterranean Challenge Urban Circuit show the viability of our approach and substantial exploration performance improvements over alternative algorithms.
... However, development of low-weight, high-performance computers and solidstate lidars as well as progress in localization, mapping and learning algorithms allowed to integrate various degrees of autonomy into robotic systems. Many of the works focused on mobility over adverse terrain, e.g., the authors of [Zhao et al., 2008] proposed to use a marsupial setup consisting of a "mother" and "baby" robot, which is released to map hard-to-access areas. Domain transfer techniques such as GANs simplified transfer from the simulator to real platforms [Pecka et al., 2018a] allowing for autonomous control of flippers on skidsteer robots. ...
We present a field report of CTU-CRAS-NORLAB team from the Subterranean Challenge (SubT) organised by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The contest seeks to advance technologies that would improve the safety and efficiency of search-and-rescue operations in GPS-denied environments. During the contest rounds, teams of mobile robots have to find specific objects while operating in environments with limited radio communication, e.g. mining tunnels, underground stations or natural caverns. We present a heterogeneous exploration robotic system of the CTU-CRAS-NORLAB team, which achieved the third rank at the SubT Tunnel and Urban Circuit rounds and surpassed the performance of all other non-DARPA-funded teams. The field report describes the team's hardware, sensors, algorithms and strategies, and discusses the lessons learned by participating at the DARPA SubT contest.
... The Ratler robot was designed by the Sandia National Laboratory and the MSHA in the United States. As shown in Fig. 8 (b) [52], this robot was equipped with an infrared camera and gas inspection sensors, which can be used for coal mine environment detection. Moreover, it was remote-controlled, with a distance of approximately 76 m. ...
Rescue work after a coal mine accident is fraught with challenges and dangers. Considering the safety of rescue workers and the urgency of a rescue mission, it is necessary to use coal mine rescue robots to perform the tasks of environmental detection and rescue. As a key part of the robot sensing system, a visual sensor can provide much information about a scene. Among vision sensor types, binocular vision has the advantages of being noncontact and passive, and it is the key technology for a robot to acquire obstacle information and reconstruct a three-dimensional scene. Therefore, coal mine rescue robots based on binocular vision have become a popular research topic in the field of mine safety. First, the research status of camera calibration and stereo vision matching for binocular vision is systematically introduced in this paper. Second, the latest research progress on coal mine rescue robots based on binocular vision is reviewed from the perspective of technological applications and development. Finally, the technical challenges and future development trends of binocular vision in coal mine rescue robots are described.
... Since then, new sensors like 3D lidars, high-dynamic range cameras, as well as better localisation and mapping algorithms have emerged leading to new solutions to the problem. For example [37] propose to use a marsupial setup consisting of a "mother" and "baby" robot, which is released to map hard-to-access areas. The authors of [19] investigated the performance of different mapping strategies using a fast 3D laser scanner. ...
The Subterranean Challenge (SubT) is a contest organised by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The contest reflects the requirement of increasing safety and efficiency of underground search-and-rescue missions. In the SubT challenge, teams of mobile robots have to detect, localise and report positions of specific objects in an underground environment. This paper provides a description of the multi-robot heterogeneous exploration system of our CTU-CRAS team, which scored third place in the Tunnel Circuit round, surpassing the performance of all other non-DARPA-funded competitors. In addition to the description of the platforms, algorithms and strategies used, we also discuss the lessons-learned by participating at such contest.
... Nowadays they have become irreplaceable in much of the heavy machinery used in civil engineering. Their application in robotics is mainly focused on military purposes or hazardous environments (Trevelyan et al. 2008; Zhao et al. 2008; Welch and Edmonds 1993), for inaccessible place explorations and in platforms/chairs for handicapped people (Lawn et al. 2001; Hirose et al. 1992). Tracked robots are differentially driven vehicles that allow turning with lower radius of curvature. ...
Humans have always been fascinated with the concept of artificial life and the construction of machines that look and behave like people. As the field of robotics evolves, it demands continuous development of successful systems with high-performance characteristics for practical applications.
Advanced Mechanics in Robotic Systems illustrates original and ambitious mechanical designs and techniques for developing new robot prototypes with successful mechanical operational skills. Case studies are focused on projects in mechatronics that have high growth expectations:
humanoid robots,
robotics hands,
mobile robots,
parallel manipulators, and
human-centred robots.
A good control strategy requires good mechanical design, so a chapter has also been devoted to the description of suitable methods for control architecture design.
Readers of Advanced Mechanics in Robotic Systems will discover novel designs for relevant applications in robotic fields, that will be of particular interest to academic and industry-based researchers.
It is essential to provide disaster relief assistance after coal mine explosions. Often, it is life‐threatening for rescuers to enter an accident scene blindly; therefore, a coal mine rescue robot (CMRR) has been developed. However, the application of the CMRR has not proven satisfactory after decades of development. To solve this problem, we summarize the reasons for this disappointing state and address the technical challenges of the CMRR. Based on these reasons and the associated technical challenges, two generations of tracked robots have been developed. The China University of Mining Technology‐V (CUMT‐V) (A) robot was first developed and its walking system, body support system, communication system, environmental awareness system, and control system are described in detail. A performance test was performed on the CUMT‐V (A) robot and some problems were encountered. To address these problems, we designed the CUMT‐V (B) robot. The field test was conducted in Shanxi province, China, in August 2016. The application results show that the robot has good adaptability to complex terrain and high reliability in terms of environmental awareness and data transmission. In conclusion, the robot is nearing practical applications.
