Michele Guarnieri

Expliner - Robot for inspection of transmission lines

The inspection of high-voltage transmission lines is a dangerous and time-consuming job, that relies on especially trained workers operating tens of meters above the ground, and close to live lines with thousands of volts. This paper presents the development of a tele-operated robot designed for preventive maintenance of high-voltage lines. The robot was designed with mobility in mind, so that cable spacers, suspension clamps and other obstacles, which so far have prevented the use of robots for inspection of high-voltage lines, would not hamper the operation of the machine. After careful considerations on mobility, the robot was designed, and a prototype was built. Results of tests, performed on facilities reproducing real field conditions, are also presented in this paper.

Development of Helios VII: an arm-equipped tracked vehicle for search and rescue operations

In this research an arm-equipped vehicle for search and rescue operations is presented. The important features for tracked vehicles are introduced through an overview of the solutions so far developed. The concept and the motion capabilities of the new vehicle Helios VII are explained. Afterwards the first assembled prototype is validated by means of mechanical computer simulations and basic experiments on the real vehicle.

Expliner — From prototype towards a practical robot for inspection of high-voltage lines

Transmission of electricity depends on high-voltage lines, crossing thousands of kilometers in mountainous areas, deserts and forests. The preventive maintenance of these lines is of extreme importance. However, this requires the temporary interruption of transmission of energy, which is not always possible. In this paper, the authors present Expliner, a new concept to move on live transmission lines, negotiating obstacles and performing detailed inspection of the conductors, with reduced risks to the operators and no need to interrupt the transmission of electricity. This paper presents not only details of the concept, but also of its implementation and operational procedures that were developed for the use of a robot in such demanding conditions.

Helios VII : a new vehicle for disaster response-mechanical design and basic experiments

Crawler-type vehicles have a considerable importance for rescue operations and tasks performed on disaster-stricken areas. A great deal of research has already been performed on tracked vehicles. However, due to the variety of scenerios in which robots are employed, it is important to design vehicles with high terrain adaptability and that are capable to fulfill different tasks. After an overview of the merits of crawler-type vehicles, the important features of tracked vehicles are introduced and explained. The concept and the mechanical design of a new crawler-type vehicle for rescue operations, named Helios VII, are presented. It consists of two crawlers independently actuated and it is equipped with a manipulator. The novel gripper utilized as an end-effector for the arm is also introduced and tested. Basic experiments on the first assembled prototype are performed to verify the motion capabilities of the vehicle.

HELIOS system: A team of tracked robots for special urban search and rescue operations

Fire brigades and special agencies are often demanded to operate for search and aid of human lives in extremely dangerous scenarios. It is very important to first verify the safety of the environment and to obtain remotely a clear image of the scenario inside buildings or underground spaces. Several studies have been addressing the possibility of using robotic tools to carry out safe operations.

HELIOS IX tracked vehicle for urban search and rescue operations: Mechanical design and first tests

Fire brigades and special rescue agencies are often demanded to operate for search and aid of human lives in extremely dangerous scenarios. The use of robotic tools can make those operations safer for the operators and more efficient in terms of time and allocation of resources. This contribution describes the development of the newest tracked vehicle HELIOS IX. This mobile platform equipped with a manipulator represents the first stage of a Japanese national founded project. It aims to the development of a robotic system to be utilized in extreme environments such as rescue operations in heavily stricken urban areas. With respect to the previous prototypes the mechanical design and the system architecture is described. A new gripper is also introduced and tested together with few mobility experiments of the platform.

Expliner - Toward a Practical Robot for Inspection of High-Voltage Lines

Preventive maintenance of high-voltage transmission power lines is a dangerous task, but the obstacles mounted on the lines have so far prevented the automation of this task. Expliner aims to overcome such obstacles by controlling actively the position of its center of mass, thus changing its configuration as needed when moving on the power lines. This work presents the design of Expliner and results of field experiments performed with very high voltages to prove the effectiveness of the proposed concept.

HELIOS carrier: Tail-like mechanism and control algorithm for stable motion in unknown environments

Mobile platforms when negotiating steps and stairs should be able to control theirs posture in order to avoid sudden tilting or falls. In particular, when considering applications for search and rescue operations where users have a very limited time of operation, the motion on stairs should be automated as much as possible. In this way operators can concentrate on their tasks (i.e. search of survivors and/or exploration of dangerous environments) rather than having to focus on the stability of the vehicle. A simple but very effective mechanism called “tail” is introduced. The mechanical design and its control method is presented together with several tests and experiments carried out with a simple tracked vehicle in real environments.

HELIOS VIII search and rescue robot: Design of an adaptive gripper and system improvements

Robotics research can help search and rescue operations with developing practical mobile platforms and tools for urban and industrial disaster response. Crawled vehicles, because of their terrain adaptability, have a considerable importance for rescue operations and tasks performed in unstructured environments. In this contribution we present the newest version of HELIOS robot (HELIOS VIII). It consists of the same mechanical concept introduced with its predecessor. Nevertheless all the efficient motion capabilities of HELIOS concept were maintained and improved. In this paper we will focus a lot on the development of a new gripper for HELIOS vehicle. It consists of four fingers actuated by one actuator and they can adapt to the grasped object surface. Besides we introduce also a special docking mechanism utilized for the connection of the vehicle with auxiliary crawler units.

Improvement of the remote operability for the arm-equipped tracked vehicle HELIOS IX

This work presents the development of an arm-equipped tracked vehicle named HELIOS IX for search and rescue tasks in urban environments. HELIOS IX operator has to tele-operate several tasks such as opening of doors, negotiation of stairs and handling objects. However due to the complexity and kinematics of the system, these tasks are difficult to be carried out without some level of automation. This study proposes one of the shared autonomy type operator-supporting system for HELIOS IX. It is based on a laser range finder (LRF), finger-attached LED beam guiding systems and on a finger 3 axes force sensor interfaced by a novel reinforcing metal plate. Carrying out several experiments we could demonstrate that, tele-operation task can become easier by the introduction of the 3D space approaching assistance of the LRF, object grasping assistance of the LED beams attached on the fingers, and by the force following assistance of the force sensor attached to the wrist.