Date: Tuesday, August 02, 2022

Time: 3:30 PM EST

Location: GTMI Auditorium

Raymond Kim

Robotics PhD Student

School of Mechanical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Committee:

Dr. Anirban Mazumdar (Advisor) - School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Stephen Balakirsky - Georgia Tech Research Institute

Dr. Jonathan Rogers - School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Jun Ueda - School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Aaron Young – School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract:

Terrestrial mobile robotics is crucial to various missions, including planetary exploration, search and rescue, logistics, and national security. Many of these missions require the robot to operate on a broad variety of terrain. Physical adaptation can enable a robot to intelligently interact with the environment to benefit from efficient and versatile performance. This proposal describes a new approach to physical adaptation through manipulation. Specifically, this proposal aims to explore how manipulators can be used to change the vehicle’s mode of locomotion or increase vehicle traction. This work presents “swappable propulsors/anchors”, which can be easily attached/detached to adapt the vehicle using permanent magnets and geometric features. A new robot system that uses its manipulator to switch between these devices is created. This work will demonstrate and quantify how this manipulation-driven adaptation method provides a unique combination of energy efficiency and versatility. This work describes the design of swappable propulsors/anchors, analyzes how to manipulate them, and explains how they can be used to improve performance in mobility and payload transport across various surfaces.