Robotic Exploration of Surfaces to Measure Mechanical Properties

摘要

This paper presents an overview of ongoing research on surface exploration at the GRASP Lab. We are investigating the necessary components and modules that must be embedded into a robot for it to have the exploratory capabilities required to recover mechanical properties from a surface, given minimal a priori information. Eventually, this information will be used to enable a robot to stand and walk stably on a surface that is unknown and unconstrained. A robot in the agricultural environment will specially benefit from such capabilities since it will need to step and walk on soils with variable properties. The paper proposes a framework for the recovery of the attributes of interest, and describes the laboratory setup designed to test the framework. The design and implementation of exploratory procedures (ep's) to recover penetrability, material hardness and surface roughness by exploring the surface is also described.