SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I program will develop a novel hybrid adaptive controller for intelligent control of mobile robotic arms. This technique will couple adaptive position control techniques with force control of the end-effector to enable mobile robotic arms to carry out complex tasks requiring close interaction with the environment. A candidate hybrid adaptive control scheme is designed which has dual adaptive mechanisms, one for the position control subsystem, and another for the force control subsystem. The presence of an adaptation mechanism for both the position and the force loop will allow the robot to handle a range of tasks in semi-structured and unstructured environments. Analytical and simulation studies are carried out to evaluate the stability, robustness, and performance of the proposed scheme. The feasibility of the proposed control strategy will be evaluated for possible experimental prototype development and commercialization during Phase II. Commercially, there are a lot potential opportunities for growth for high-end robotic systems capable of performing complex tasks for a range of applications which require a degree of dexterity and accuracy not currently available in mobile robotic systems. These applications include remote-controlled bomb-handling, clean-up of contaminated environments, handling of hazardous materials, and remote servicing of spacecraft

Keywords:
hybrid controls adaptive controls mobile robotic arms

This proposal is for the development of an unmanned forklift system providing capabilities ranging from teleoperated control to semi-autonomous control of multiple forklifts. This proposal extends the capability of an existing Army fielded Skytrak forklift converted for teleoperated control developed under phase I. We will extend the tele-operated capability first to semi-autonomous control of a single fork-lift using a single operator, then extending the control to multiple forklifts simultaneously from a single operator. Our application focus will be on loading and unloading pallets to and from ISO containers in a typical Army storage depot, rail head, air head or ocean port. The primary innovation proposed is the development of an intelligent robotic vehicle control system that can take high level graphical input from a user plan and perform useful material handling operations robustly. This necessitates sensor based reactive control combined with a graphically represented task based plan embodied in the control software, resulting in intelligent behavior of the system and an ability to adapt to variations in the environment, payload, and mission.

Benefits:
Benefits include force multiplication, force conservation, and automated information gathering leading to improve material handling efficiency.

Keywords:
autonomous forklift teleoperate material robotic unmanned intellignet automated