Parallel 2-DoF manipulator for wall-cleaning applications

Abstract The walls of high-rise buildings are cleaned manually several times per year. The cleaning work is difficult and extremely dangerous for human workers, and there are several ongoing studies to automate this work by robotic solutions. To achieve successful cleaning performance, the cleaning operation must adapt to the environmental conditions. In this study, we design and assemble a manipulator for use in wall-cleaning applications. From the design requirements identified by investigating a high-rise building in Korea, we determine the two important degrees of freedom (DOF) and design a parallel mechanism to achieve motion. With the parallel configuration, the design parameters are optimized based on a dynamic index to achieve high cleaning performance on a scaffold. A prototype is assembled, and the cleaning performance is verified on a test bench. A field test with the developed manipulator will be performed in the near future.

[1]  E. Gambao,et al.  Control System for a Semi-automatic Façade Cleaning Robot , 2006 .

[2]  Qi Hao,et al.  GA-based dynamic manipulability optimization of a 2-DOF planar parallel manipulator , 2010, 2010 IEEE Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics.

[3]  Chang-Soo Han,et al.  Vertical motion control of building façade maintenance robot with built-in guide rail , 2015 .

[4]  Oussama Khatib,et al.  The dynamic capability equations: a new tool for analyzing robotic manipulator performance , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[5]  H. Harry Asada,et al.  Dynamic analysis and design of robot manipulators using inertia ellipsoids , 1984, ICRA.

[6]  Wu Jun,et al.  Workspace and dynamic performance evaluation of the parallel manipulators in a spray-painting equipment , 2017 .

[7]  Manuel A. Armada,et al.  Climbing cleaning robot for vertical surfaces , 2009, Ind. Robot.

[8]  Jun Wu,et al.  Mechatronics modeling and vibration analysis of a 2-DOF parallel manipulator in a 5-DOF hybrid machine tool , 2018 .

[9]  Jun Wu,et al.  Dynamics and control of a planar 3-DOF parallel manipulator with actuation redundancy , 2009 .

[10]  Xin-Jun Liu,et al.  On the optimal kinematic design of the PRRRP 2-DoF parallel mechanism , 2006 .

[11]  Jianwei Zhang,et al.  A series of pneumatic glass-wall cleaning robots for high-rise buildings , 2007, Ind. Robot.

[12]  Zheng Xie,et al.  GA\SQP optimization for the dimensional synthesis of a delta mechanism based haptic device design , 2018, Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing.

[13]  Hwa Soo Kim,et al.  Design and Force-Tracking Impedance Control of a 2-DOF Wall-Cleaning Manipulator Using Disturbance Observer and Sliding Mode Control , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

[14]  Liping Wang,et al.  A Measure for Evaluation of Maximum Acceleration of Redundant and Nonredundant Parallel Manipulators , 2016 .

[15]  Tsuneo Yoshikawa,et al.  Dynamic manipulability of robot manipulators , 1985, Proceedings. 1985 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[16]  Xin-Jun Liu,et al.  Kinematics and Closed Optimal Design of a Kind of PRRRP Parallel Manipulator , 2007 .

[17]  John J. Craig,et al.  Introduction to Robotics Mechanics and Control , 1986 .

[18]  Shigeo Hirose,et al.  SkyScraper-I: Tethered whole windows cleaning robot , 2010, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[19]  Oussama Khatib,et al.  Optimization of the inertial and acceleration characteristics of manipulators , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[20]  Taegyun Kim,et al.  Development of a wall-climbing platform with modularized wall-cleaning units , 2017 .

[21]  Norbert Elkmann,et al.  SIRIUSc — Facade Cleaning Robot for a High-Rise Building in Munich, Germany , 2005 .