1 Saferdrill: Control Architecture of a Walking and Climbing Robot Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop Giorgio PezzutoD’Appolonia Spa (Italy) Jeremi GancetSpace Applications Services N.V. (Belgium) Samir NabulsiIAI-CSIC (Spain)

2 RISE’08 Workshop SAFERDRILL is a EU funded project where cooperated the following partners... Roberto Zannini Consolidamento Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008 A few words of acknowledgment… SAFERDRILL is the evolution of EU Roboclimber project, developed also with the support of ESA TTP programme

Outline 1.Introduction and context of Saferdrill 2.Control architecture: big picture 3.Onboard control and gait strategies 4.Remote control 5.Conclusion and perspectives 3 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop

1. Introduction and context of Saferdrill Saferdrill motivations: Aim: cliffs consolidation Assets: – Reduces human exposition to danger – Reduces environmental impact – Reduces cost and time to perform operations (to be confirmed!) Saferdrill in a few numbers: 4 legs, 2 ropes walking & climbing robot 3 tons, car size 20 meters deep holes drilling 4 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop

2. Control architecture: big picture 5 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop Robotic Unit Remote Control Onboard Electric Panel Single Control Unit Navigation Engine/pumps Valves/sensors Wifi access point Ground Electric Panel Rucksack with power cells Control board Tablet-PC Wifi antenna Control panel Power generator TM/TC 380 V 220 V 12 V

3. Onboard control and gait strategies Control unit => starts / stops engines, pumps and hydraulic valves => read and format signal from sensors and video camera => implements a server for TM production and TC requests reception => PID control 6 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop

3. Onboard control and gait strategies Gait strategies => Walking gait: => Climbing gait: => Coordinated with ropes tensioning 7 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop Always at least 3 legs in contact with the ground Sometimes, 2 legs only in contact with the cliff

4. Remote control Remote control components: => Hard case => Control panel and electronics => Tablet-PC => Power cells (rucksack) Control board (RCU): => EEPROM based => 32 channels for digital OUT => 80 channels for digital IN => serial connection to the tablet-PC 8 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop

4. Remote control 9 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop Tablet-PC software:

4. Remote control Tablet-PC GUI prototype: 10 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop Moving modeDrilling mode

4. Remote control Tablet-PC commands and LED activation tuning: 11 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop Command edition LED activation edition

5. Conclusion and perspectives Conclusion => Remote monitoring and control approach offers a flexible way to define and tune control elements’ behaviors => First laboratory and field tests show a ~20% reduction in the time needed for operations, compared to non-robotic operations => Field tests confirmed the feasibility of remotely control and monitor the cliff consolidation process with Saferdrill 12 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop

5. Conclusions and perspectives Perspectives => Navigation module: 3D stereo bench development, integration and testing in progress => Geological interpretation module => Further pre-industrialization of the Saferdrill prototype is ongoing 13 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop

Thanks for your attention! 14 Benicassim, 7-8 January, 2008RISE’08 Workshop