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A Robust Polyurethane Depositing System for Deployment on Disaster Scenario Robotics

Authors:
Alec Burns
Sebastiano Fichera
Paolo Paoletti

Keywords: robotics; overcoming obstacles, disaster scenario

Abstract:
Robotic platforms have been widely recognised as potential tools for mitigating the aftermath of natural catastrophes. However, their ineffectiveness in traversing highly unstable and irregular terrains is a key bottleneck in their deployment and usage in real world scenarios. In this work, a Polyurethane Foam depositing system is proposed to allow ground vehicles to overcome obstacles and navigate on challenging substrates. The proposed system is designed as in independent modular mechanism that can be attached to various robotic platforms to enable material deposition and thus to increase their ability in overcoming obstacles. The materials used are inexpensive and their properties can be tuned on board by a simple control system, allowing the device to vary its output type according to situational requirements. Four different deposit types have been characterized, with expansion ratios varying from $20times$ to $33times$, compressive strengths from $0.16MPa$ to $2MPa$, and full expansion and set times below $6$ minutes, allowing application in real-time. The system has been fitted to a tracked rover equipped with some basic sensors to allow autonomous responses when faced with obstacles. The system allows successful traversing of previously insurmountable obstacles such as large frontal objects and chasms. The results show that the amount of foam deposited can be well controlled and multiple layers can be stacked on top of each other to significantly increase altitude.

Pages: 21 to 26

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2019

Publication date: June 2, 2019

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-3913

ISBN: 978-1-61208-712-2

Location: Athens, Greece

Dates: from June 2, 2019 to June 6, 2019