A computer simulation of vehicle and actuator dynamics for a hexapod walking robot
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Authors
Kristiansen, Karl Johann Ragnar Wrussell
Subjects
Robotics
Aquarobot
Aquarobot
Advisors
McGhee, Robert B.
Date of Issue
1994-03
Date
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
Underwater walking machines offer a potential for replacement of human divers in certain aspects of underwater construction and inspection. One such vehicle, Aquarobot, is currently under test in Japan. However, this vehicle is currently too slow to be economically utilized, and limited hardware availability restricts progress in control software improvements. A software dynamic simulation model is desirable to relieve this restricted access. The problem addressed by this research is the modeling of system dynamics of underwater walking vehicles with sufficient simplification to achieve a real- time simulation. The approach taken includes an object-oriented, massless leg robot dynamic model and employs a high performance graphics rendering toolkit. The resulting simulations of a robotic joint actuator and of the robot itself, utilizing springs and dampers in the joints, runs in real-time. The robot simulation model executes on a four-processor machine with under fifteen percent utilization of the processor dedicated to system dynamics. This result indicates that the simulation is likely to retain real-time capability after replacing the springs and dampers with the more accurate joint actuator model also developed in this thesis
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Computer Science
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
158 p.;28 cm.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.