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Iterative Autonomous Excavation

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Field and Service Robotics

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 92))

Abstract

This paper introduces a Cartesian impedance control framework in which reaction forces exceeding control authority directly reshape bucket motion during successive excavation passes. This novel approach to excavation results in an iterative process that does not require explicit prediction of terrain forces. This is in contrast to most excavation control approaches that are based on the generation, tracking and re-planning of single-pass tasks where the performance is limited by the accuracy of the prediction. In this view, a final trench profile is achieved iteratively, provided that the forces generated by the excavator are capable of removing some minimum amount of soil, maintaining convergence towards the goal. Field experiments show that a disturbance compensated controller is able to maintain convergence, and that a 2-DOF feedforward controller based on free motion inverse dynamics may not converge due to limited feedback gains.

S. P. N. Singh is now at the The University of Queensland.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Forward simulation is used in [16] to pre-cache feedforward commands because it allows the inclusion of soil-tool interaction models in the simulator. Since this work does not make use of a soil-tool model, computation of the inverse dynamics of the arm only is more efficient for obtaining the same required free motion actions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Pak Hung (Victor) Chan for his support with the experimental platform and Javier Martinez and Seong Ho Lee for their assistance during experiments. This work was supported by the Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics funded in part by the New South Wales State Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Field Robotics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Guilherme J. Maeda, David C. Rye & Surya P. N. Singh

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  1. Guilherme J. Maeda
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  2. David C. Rye
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  3. Surya P. N. Singh
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Correspondence to Guilherme J. Maeda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Kazuya Yoshida

  2. Tohoku University Graduate School of Information Sciences, Sendai, Japan

    Satoshi Tadokoro

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Maeda, G.J., Rye, D.C., Singh, S.P.N. (2014). Iterative Autonomous Excavation. In: Yoshida, K., Tadokoro, S. (eds) Field and Service Robotics. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 92. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40686-7_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40686-7_25

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