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Design, Integration and Control of a Manipulator in an Arm-on-Arm Setup
The goal of this project is to design and integrate a robot arm mounted at the tool of an excavator arm (shovel/gripper). The combination of a large excavator arm (powerful, but not precise) and an attached robot arm (small, very precise) can be used for various micro/macro manipulation tasks.
Future construction sites require machines to manipulate objects with superhuman power and precision. Long reach construction manipulators, such as Menzi Muck excavators, often provide the required power at the expense of accuracy. Here, we aim for a Macro-Micro manipulator to precisely control position and force, while providing additional tools at the point of interest.
The goal of this project is to mechanically design and integrate a small-scale robot arm attached to the end-effector tool of an excavator arm (shovel/gripper) that can be used for precise fine manipulation of smaller objects like cobblestones. This Macro-Micro architecture has a high potential due to the fact that power and reach (from the excavator arm) is combined with the precision and speed of the smaller arm. The robot arm will be composed of series elastic actuators and the already existing ANYpulator arm [1] can be used as a starting point. To control the arms there exists already a software framework that can be used to control both arms together as one manipulator. A first target application target, that can be used as showcase, is the laying of cobblestones from the shovel of the excavator.
[1] Carius, Jan, Martin Wermelinger, Balasubramanian Rajasekaran, Kai Holtmann, and Marco Hutter. "Deployment of an autonomous mobile manipulator at MBZIRC." Journal of Field Robotics 35, no. 8 (2018): 1342-1357.
Future construction sites require machines to manipulate objects with superhuman power and precision. Long reach construction manipulators, such as Menzi Muck excavators, often provide the required power at the expense of accuracy. Here, we aim for a Macro-Micro manipulator to precisely control position and force, while providing additional tools at the point of interest.
The goal of this project is to mechanically design and integrate a small-scale robot arm attached to the end-effector tool of an excavator arm (shovel/gripper) that can be used for precise fine manipulation of smaller objects like cobblestones. This Macro-Micro architecture has a high potential due to the fact that power and reach (from the excavator arm) is combined with the precision and speed of the smaller arm. The robot arm will be composed of series elastic actuators and the already existing ANYpulator arm [1] can be used as a starting point. To control the arms there exists already a software framework that can be used to control both arms together as one manipulator. A first target application target, that can be used as showcase, is the laying of cobblestones from the shovel of the excavator.
[1] Carius, Jan, Martin Wermelinger, Balasubramanian Rajasekaran, Kai Holtmann, and Marco Hutter. "Deployment of an autonomous mobile manipulator at MBZIRC." Journal of Field Robotics 35, no. 8 (2018): 1342-1357.
- Evaluation of mechanical requirements / load cases.
- Mechanical design of mounting and and links (CAD).
- Integration & commissioning.
- Control of small-scale arm and of Marco-Micro manipulator.
- Cobblestone laying (grasping, manipulation).
- Evaluation of mechanical requirements / load cases. - Mechanical design of mounting and and links (CAD). - Integration & commissioning. - Control of small-scale arm and of Marco-Micro manipulator. - Cobblestone laying (grasping, manipulation).
- Practical experience with CAD.
- Understanding of multi-body dynamics / modeling.
- Excellent programming knowledge in C++
- Practical experience with CAD. - Understanding of multi-body dynamics / modeling. - Excellent programming knowledge in C++
Please contact Martin Wermelinger martin.wermelinger@mavt.ethz.ch and Ryan Johns johns@arch.ethz.ch for any questions. Your application should include a brief motivational statement, your transcript of records and your CV.
Please contact Martin Wermelinger martin.wermelinger@mavt.ethz.ch and Ryan Johns johns@arch.ethz.ch for any questions. Your application should include a brief motivational statement, your transcript of records and your CV.