Development of a model-based remote maintenance robot system. II. Environment measuring methods

For part I, see ibid., pp.1225-1230. The authors are developing a model-based remote maintenance robot system which autonomously carried out maintenance tasks in nuclear facilities, for example nuclear power plants and nuclear fusion reactors. Two measurements methods for the robot system are described: one is a laser range finder, and the other is a groping method for the target tasks of inserting a bolt and setting a nut. In the groping method, an arm with a bolt gropes on the flange surface, and a rapid change in the force signal is detected when the bolt tip comes across a hole. Position measurements are made by the joint angles in groping. Therefore, it has the same merit as direct teaching in industrial robots. The robot system has carried out inserting a bolt and setting a nut on a flange by using these methods.