Toward the Sense of Touch in Snake Modular Robots for Search and Rescue Operations Juan González-Gómez, Javier Gonzalez-Quijano, Houxiang Zhang, Mohamed Abderrahim Thanks Prof. Matellan. I am going to start the presentation of my Dissertation which is about the Locomotion of Limbless Modular robots Robotics Lab Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Madrid (Spain) TAMS group University of Hamburg Hamburg (Germany) Dr. Juan González-Gómez. Workshop on Modular Robots. ICRA. May-3th-2010

Outline Sense of touch Mechanics Experiments Conclusions Introduction This presentation is divided into 7 parts. First I will introduce the Locomotion problem and the objectives of the dissertation. Second, I will explain the general classification for all the modular robots. Then I will present the central ideas of the dissertation: Locomotion of limbless robots in 1D, 2D and the locomotion of the minimal configurations. Then I will describe some experiments and we will see some videos and simulations. Finally, the conclusions and future work are summarized. A New Application of Modular Robot on Analysis of Caterpillar-like Locomotion

Urban Search and Rescue Operations (I) 1.- Introduction Urban Search and Rescue Operations (I) Environment: Unstructured terrain Chaotic Pieces of rumble Priority: to find survivals quickly Robot properties: Versatility Flexibility Adaptability A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Urban Search and Rescue Operations (II) 1.- Introduction Urban Search and Rescue Operations (II) Snakes modular robots are very good candidates for search and rescue operations Small section Flexible body Modular Robustness Versatile Low cost A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Urban Search and Rescue Operations (III) 1.- Introduction Urban Search and Rescue Operations (III) A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Capabilities needed (at least): Locomotion, climbing and grasping Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Touch rings Discrete touch rings vs continuous artificial skin 2.- Sense of touch Touch rings Discrete touch rings vs continuous artificial skin Easier to adapt to the different snake prototypes Distance d can be changed according to the requirements A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Touch strips Flexible capacitive strip Consist of three layers 2.- Sense of touch Touch strips Flexible capacitive strip Consist of three layers Electrodes in a flexible PCB layer The strip is bended to form a touch ring It fits snake robots with different cross section (circular, squared...) A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Modules Y1 modules family Cube-M family Joined together by screws 3.- Mechanics Modules Y1 modules family Cube-M family Joined together by screws A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Modular snakes prototypes 3.- Mechanics Modular snakes prototypes A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Touch strip experiments (I) A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Very early experiments Pith-pitch minimum modular robot Only the first touch strip layer Only three electrodes Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Touch strip experiments (II) First tests carried out with Freescale standard electrodes Substituted by our touch strip Freescale software is used to display the measures A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Modular grasping simulation 4.- Experiments Modular grasping simulation A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation Grasping of a cylinder using the OpenRave Modular robot Plug-in (developed by ourselves) Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Conclusions ...But still a lot of research have to be done Modular Snake robots are good candidates for being used in USAR Operations At least, locomotion, climbing and grasping capabilities are needed The sense of touch is key to achieving these capabilities Our idea is to use touch rings and touch strips The early experiments are promising.... A big challenge in robotics is the development of a very versatile mobile robot capable of moving on different terrains. As a first approach, the study of locomotion of the mobile robots can be divided into two big leves. The higher level involves the perception of the environment, planning trajectories, navigation and making decisions. The lower level is in charge of the control and coordination of the joints in order to move the robot a step in any direction. This Locomotion lower level is the scope of the dissertation ...But still a lot of research have to be done Toward the sense of touch in Snake modular robots for search and rescue operations

Towards the Sense of Touch in Snake Modular Robots for Search and Rescue Operations Juan González-Gómez, Javier Gonzalez-Quijano, Houxiang Zhang, Mohamed Abderrahim Thanks Prof. Matellan. I am going to start the presentation of my Dissertation which is about the Locomotion of Limbless Modular robots Robotics Lab Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Madrid (Spain) TAMS group University of Hamburg Hamburg (Germany) Dr. Juan González-Gómez. Workshop on Modular Robots. ICRA. May-3th-2010