DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTONOMOUS OMNIDIRECTIONAL HAZARDOUS MATERIALS HANDLING ROBOT

This paper describes the design and testing of an autonomous omnidirectional robot to be used for moving radioactive materials while minimizing human exposure. The robot, called the OmniMaxbot, uses the Robot Operating System (ROS) to allow the individual components to communicate as well as to control the movement. Details about the hardware and software used in the OmniMaxbot are explained. Test results are presented for the navigation system based on the ROS packages: Global Planner, Base Local Planner, and Adaptive Monte Carlo Localization (AMCL). The test results confirm that the OmniMaxbot is capable of autonomously navigating to a mock ash can, lifting it, navigating to a drop-off location, putting the mock ash can down, backing away until the forks are clear of the mock ash can, and navigating to a standby location. These actions can be performed in areas with both static and dynamic obstacles.