Wheeled robot for geophysical survey

C. Ferraresi (*), G. Quaglia (*) and L. Sambuelli () (*) Department of Mechanics Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 10129 Torino Italy E-mail: ferraresi@polito.it, quaglia@polito.it () DIGET Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 10129 Torino Italy E-mail: sambuelli@polito.it Abstract : A novel kind of mobile robot to be used as smart carrier for very high resolution geophysical survey is here described. The robot must move and position a rather large sensor over a grid of points as fine as 5x5 cm or even follow random trajectories individuated by adaptive logic. The structure of the robot, made up of two carts linked by a two d.o.f. articulated joint, gives the necessary dexterity to the robot. The paper illustrates the main characteristics of the device, then describes its motion capabilities and proposes a control strategy allowing the robot to follow the trajectories required for its mission.

Introduction

Very high resolution geophysics has become a subject acquiring more and more space on the specialised journals in the recent years /1/, /2/, /3/. This is mainly due to the impressive growth of hardware and software technologies allowing for faster and more precise data acquisition and for handling complex geology situations. Both these improvements are needed whenever one wants to deal with archaeological /4/, environmental and engineering problems. In archaeology, for example, today magnetometers can easily acquire as many as 50 samples per square metre that roughly means a spacing in both direction of 0.15 m and also means 500.000 samples each surveyed hectare. The same figures can hold as far as electromagnetic, Slingram or Ground Probing Radar, surveys are concerned /5/ in the field of engineering use of geophysics. In the environmental applications too one can often face to extensive areas to be surveyed searching for pipe leakage or pollutants plumes /6/. New techniques such as Holographic Ground Probing Radar HGPR /7/ need a very accurate and very fine positioning of the antennas to give the best 3D or 2D reconstruction of the reflectivity image of the subsoil. The design of a geophysical survey to detect the anomalous values of a field (electric, magnetic, gravitational, elastic, electromagnetic) caused by a perturbing body within an area, can be faced according to two main strategies: Design a regular grid of points in correspondence to which the area will be sampled by measurements; Set up a random or quasi-random pattern along which sample the area. Both the two aforementioned strategies need an operator carrying around, according to the designed strategy, the sensors. The cost of the operator could be the most significant of the whole survey. A smart carrier becomes almost indispensable when working with HGPR where a scanning of the area to be investigated as fine as 5 x 5 cm is often needed in order to obtain reliable and meaningful reflectivity images. Moreover, dealing with the second strategy outlined before, the need for automation is even more pressing because of the evident

advantages provided by a vehicle moving along a pre-programmed, and occasionally adaptive pattern and controlled in closed loop by a proper feedback, i.e. provided by a fast GPS positioning system.

The smart carrier

The robot is being studied at the Department of Mechanics of the Politecnico di Torino, on the basis of previous experiences in the field of mobile robotics /8, /9/, /10/, /11/. Because of the very specific application, the robot must guarantee several particular features: it must be compact and lightweight, so as to be transported by a common car on the place to be surveyed; it must be able to move on rough surfaces, typically a country terrain; it must be adaptable to antennas of different size; it must be able to position the centre of the antenna on the points of a pre-established grid, with a typical step of five centimetres; it must be autonomous as concerns the energy source and the motion control. A WL E WR WI

V R WI

Figure 1 - The mobile robot All previous requirements led to conceive an original device which is schematised in figure 1. The antenna is contained in a rectangular box (A). The robot is made up of two main parts, a front cart (F), which carries the antenna, and a rear cart (R), devoted to carry the batteries and the control devices. Two driven non-steerable wheels (WL and WR), actuated by the electric motors (E) are placed on the front cart; two idler wheels (WI) are mounted on a rigid axle of the rear cart. The front and rear cart are linked by a 2-d.o.f. joint. In this way the robot is provided with an articulated tail which can rotate around a vertical axis (V) and a longitudinal axis (L). By controlling the velocities of the two driven wheels it is possible to determine the trajectory of the robot, both in forward and in backward motion. The 2-d.o.f. joint between the front and rear parts allows the robot to perform sharp bend trajectories and to guarantee the contact between all four wheels and the ground, even if this latter is quite rough and uneven. The design solution providing for two main mechanical blocks allows the robot to be easily adapted to antennas of different sizes, and also to be disassembled into parts that can be easily transported.

Motion capabilities of the robot

The prototype has been designed for an antenna enclosed in a box of about 1x0.5x0.5 metres.

Since the centre of the antenna must be positioned on the points of a grid having rather fine resolution, it is fundamental that the robot may be able to perform trajectories with any radius of curvature, so as to compensate deviations along the path from one point to the following. This is allowed by the kinematic structure of the robot. The figure 2 shows a 2-D scheme of the WL carrier moving on a plane, in a generic condition. The position of the whole robot can be described T simply by the position of the segment MT and by M the value of the attitude angle between front and rear cart. By controlling the angular velocities of the two WI R WR driven wheels one determines the centre of curvature C of the front cart. If C is located on the WI line passing through the idler wheels WI, then the robot will move as a whole around C, without varying the attitude angle . This latter has a C maximum possible value , determined by the overall geometry, corresponding to the minimum Figure 2 - Scheme of the robot radius of curvature that the robot is able to execute when the trajectory must have an indefinite length. Moreover, it is possible to move the point M along sharp-corner trajectories. This is described by the figure 3. In fact, by imposing two equal and opposite velocities to the driven wheels, the front cart will rotate just around the point M, while the rear cart will follow the motion imposed by the displacement of the point T. Of course this motion is limited when the maximum value of attitude angle is reached. Finally, the kinematic structure of the carrier allows to control easily the backward motion too, as illustrated in figure 4. In fact, by imposing the velocity ratio of the driven wheels one determines the position of the velocity centre of the front cart CF, so imposing the velocity of point T; in this way, the position of the velocity centre of the rear cart CR, as well as the velocity of point R, is determined too, as indicated by the construction shown in figure 4.
T CR T R R M T VR R VL VM VT M CF VR

Figure 3 - The robot rotating around its midpoint M Figure 4 - The robot in backward motion

Trajectory control

Since the task of the robot is to position the antenna in a definite point and with a definite orientation, it must be able to reach, with its front cart, a target position defined in a fixed frame by co-ordinates xR, yR, R, starting from actual position x, y, , as described in figure 5. Therefore it is necessary to individuate an algorithm able to define the trajectory that has to be

followed, i.e. able to calculate the curvature radius R that the control must impose to the robot in real time during the motion. Such (xR,yR,R) algorithm may be effectively defined as a y function of relative co-ordinates d, , , M yV calculated within the mobile reference yRV frame xV, yV. d The figure 6 shows a block scheme of the robot provided with a closed-loop control system. xV xRV The controller calculates first the relative R (x,y,) co-ordinates (d, , ) of the target M position with respect to the actual one. x This may be done by simple geometrical Figure 5 - Co-ordinate systems relations, derivable from the scheme of figure 5.
x, y, xR, yR,R d,, Trajectory algorithm Control R L wheels speed R computation

Absolute to Relative Co-ordinate

Mobile Robot

x, y,

Figure 6 - Scheme of the closed-loop control The key-element of the closed-loop control is the algorithm that describes the trajectory control logic, defining how to get to the target position, consistently with the kinematic characteristics of the robot. Among the numerous possible solutions, a strategy suited for small positioning runs and compatible with the robot characteristics has been conceived. This logic exploits the capability of the robot to rotate the front cart around the middle point M, so being able to follow a trajectory with zero curvature radius, until the attitude angle between front and rear cart reaches it maximum value (collision between carts). The logic may be described with the aid of figure 7. The front cart is reported in its actual position and in the target position, indicated by relative coyV ordinates d, , . M is the mid point of the cart. C In the situation shown, the target orientation is M greater than and less than 2. In this case, it is possible for the cart to follow a curved d RT trajectory, with defined radius RT, that may be /2 calculated as:
M 2 xV

d cos( ) RT =

If (considering also negative values for ), then the robot will rotate at once around M, until the front cart is aligned with , after it will run straight ahead to the target position, where it will complete the positioning with a second rotation around M.

Figure 7 Definition of curvature radius

d sin ( ) tan( ) tan( / 2)

(1)

Relative co-ordinates d, , yes Yes (Target on the left) >0 yes not yes R= yes R=RT 2 not R= not d>0 not yes not

>0

R=0+ =0

R=0-

Not (Target on the right)

R=0+

Figure 8 - The control strategy

If 2, then the robot will proceed straight ahead (with curvature radius R=) until has became equal to 2, then it will complete the trajectory curving with a radius calculated again with the (1). The scheme of figure 8 summarises all the possibilities provided by the aforesaid logic. The symbols 0+ and 0- indicate the rotation around the midpoint M respectively counterclockwise and clockwise. The last block of the control system, in figure 6, starting from the curvature radius calculated by the trajectory algorithm and from the target point coordinates, evaluates the velocities L and R that have to be imposed respectively to the left and right driven wheel. Their ratio depends on the curvature radius, as indicated by the following relation:

0.08 0.06 0.04 y,m R=00.02 0 R=0+ -0.02 -0.02

<=

<<=2

>2

L R s / 2 = R R + s / 2

(2)

M o (a)
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 x,m 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18

0.04 0.035 0.03 0.025 0.02 6

<= <<=2

where s is the distance between the wheels. The actual value of velocities will be determined according to a definite logic that considers the relative coordinates between actual and desired position. A possible criterion could be the following: if 1 R 0 then R = f (d , , ) if 1 R < 0 then L = f (d , , ) (3)

R=07 8 9

o
10

>2

where the function f will be defined according to the control typology chosen. 0.01 The figure 9 shows two groups of 0.005 M trajectories obtained with the strategy 2 0 o conceived. The first group (fig. 9a) -0.005 R=0+ considers different positions of the target (b) -0.01 point, with the same final orientation of -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 the front cart; the second group (fig. 9b) x,m indicates trajectories towards the same Figure 9 - Example of possible trajectories target point, reached with different orientations. In particular it is interesting to note that in cases when (cases 1, 2, 6 and 7) the robot is able to follow the desired trajectory only by exploiting its capability of rotating the front cart around its midpoint.
0.015

y,m

Conclusions

A mobile robot that may be used as smart carrier for missions of geophysical survey has been conceived. The particular kinematic structure of the robot makes it suitable for operating on rough terrain, allowing in any condition to distribute the load on the four wheels. Although the robot has rather large dimensions, it is able to move and position the sensor along any type of trajectory, even if this latter presents sharp corners. Finally, the robot has been designed so as to be easily disassembled and transported on the site that has to be surveyed. Acknowledgements The authors wish to tank Mr. Mantovani and Mr. Placenza for the help provided in the design of the robot. References / 1 / Romig Phil, (1996). Inventing geophysical engineering. Journal of Engineering and Environmental Geophysics, 0, 2,137-143. / 2 / Mc Cann D., Culshaw M., (1996). Engineering geophysics. Ground Engineering, 29, 4, 18-28. / 3 / Steeples Don W., (2001). Engineering and environmental geophysics at the millennium. Geophysics, 66, 1, 31-35. / 4 / Sambuelli L., Socco L. V., Brecciaroli L., (1999). Acquisition and processing of electric, magnetic and GPR data on a Roman site (Victimulae, Salussola, Biella). Journal of Applied Geophysics, 41, 189-204. / 5 / Godio A., Sambuelli L., Socco L. V., (2000). Electromagnetic survey for detection of archaeological remains in urban areas. The Leading Edge, 19, 8, 840-854. / 6 / Cahyna, F., Mazc, O., and Venhodov, Determination of the extent of cyanide contamination by surface geolectrical methods. In: Ward, S.H. (ed.), Geotechnical and Environmental Geophysics, Volumes 1-3, Society of Exploration Geophysics, Tulsa, OK, 97-99, 1990. / 7 / Giubbolini L., Sambuelli L., (2000). New developments in Ground Probing Radar: the possibility of reconstruction a holographic image of underground reflectivity. Annali di Geofisica, 43, 6 / 8 / Belforte G., D'Alfio N., Ferraresi C., Sorli M., "Mobile robot with wheels and legs"; Int. Symposium and Exposition on Robots, Sidney, Australia, 7-11 November 1988. / 9 / Belforte G., Ferraresi C., Quaglia G., "Problems in locomotion of legged mobile robots", 21st International Symposium on Industrial Robots, Editor T.Lund, Copenhagen, 24-25 October 1990, pp. 367-372. / 10 / Ferraresi C., Quaglia G., "A new hybrid locomotion mobile robot for semi-structured environments", 2nd Int. Workshop on Robotics in Alpe-Adria Region, Krems, 13-15 June 1993, pp. 5.5-1 5.5-9. / 11 / Ferraresi C., Quaglia G., "A high-performance mobile robot for use in domestic and public environments", 7th Int. Conf. on Advanced Robotics, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain, 20-22 September 1995, pp. 925-931.