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IMPLEMENTATION AND BENCHMARKING OF A WHEGS ROBOT IN THE USARSIM ENVIRONMENT by BRIAN KYLE TAYLOR Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Thesis Advisor: Dr. Roger D. Quinn Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January, 2009 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of _____________________________________________________ candidate for the ______________________degree *. (signed)_______________________________________________ (chair of the committee) ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ (date) _______________________ *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. To Dr. Dolores Yvonne Straker (mom) Dr. Steven Lloyd Taylor (dad) and all of the fallen angels who have inspired and supported me. You will never be forgotten and your sacrifices will not be in vain. Table of Contents Table of Contents................................................................................................................ 1 List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures..................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures..................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. 7 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. 7 Abstract............................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 – Introduction and Motivation............................................................................ 9 1.1.1 – Work Involving NASTRAN 4D ................................................................... 11 1.1.2 – Work Involving ADAMS ............................................................................. 12 1.1.3 – Work Involving Working Model 2D ............................................................ 14 1.1.4 – Work Involving DynaMechs......................................................................... 15 1.2 – Background on USARSim............................................................................... 15 1.3 – Background on Whegs..................................................................................... 19 1.4 – Motivation for Creating a Whegs Robot Model in USARSim........................ 23 Chapter 2 – Methodology: Creating and Validating the Robot ........................................ 27 2.1 – Developing the Whegs Robot Model................................................................... 29 2.2 – Validation Philosophy.......................................................................................... 33 2.3 – Qualitative Testing and Initial Benchmarking..................................................... 36 2.4 – Quantitative Testing............................................................................................. 40 2.4.1 – Substrate Friction Testing............................................................................. 41 2.4.2 – Body Rotations.............................................................................................. 46 1 2.4.3 – Frequency Analysis....................................................................................... 53 2.4.4 – Wheel-Leg Drive Speeds .............................................................................. 54 2.4.5 – General Data Acquisition.............................................................................. 55 Chapter 3 – Results ........................................................................................................... 56 3.1 – Making the Robot and Qualitative Testing.......................................................... 56 3.1.1 – Dimensions Used In the Simulation ............................................................. 56 3.1.2 – Functionality for Maintaining Proper Wheel Leg Phasing........................... 57 3.1.3 – Wheel-Legs Behaving as KActors vs. KTires .............................................. 58 3.1.4 – Effects of Individual Karma Parameters....................................................... 60 3.1.5 – Qualitative Karma Parameter Search............................................................ 65 3.1.6 – Performance Results ..................................................................................... 67 3.2 – Quantitative Testing............................................................................................. 67 3.2.1 – Substrate Friction Testing Results ................................................................ 67 3.2.2 – Results from the Real Whegs Robot............................................................. 68 3.2.3 – Results from the Simulated Robot (USARSim) ........................................... 70 Chapter 4 – Conclusions, Discussion, and Future Work .................................................. 74 4.1 – Conclusions and Discussion ................................................................................ 74 4.2 – Future Work......................................................................................................... 77 4.2.1 – Whegs Specific Items ................................................................................... 77 4.2.2 – USARSim and Other Applications ............................................................... 80 Appendix I – Converting Velocity from World to Vehicle Coordinates.......................... 84 Appendix II – Dynamics of a General Inclined Plane ...................................................... 86 Appendix III – Substrate Karma Parameters .................................................................... 88 2 Appendix IV – Information on the High Speed Video Setup........................................... 89 Appendix V – Karma Parameter Values After Qualitative Benchmarking...................... 90 References......................................................................................................................... 96 3 List of Tables Table 1. Initial and final dimensions used in the simulation. .......................................... 56 Table 2. Karma parameter values before and after the qualitative study......................... 65 Table 3. Karma Actor substrate properties. ..................................................................... 68 Table 4. Initial and final Karma Parameters after the quantitative study. ....................... 72 4 List of Figures Fig. 1. Illustration of the realism that is possible in USARSim....................................... 17 Fig. 2. Illustration of a standardized virtual test arena (Yellow Arena) .......................... 18 Fig. 3. Illustration of a standard wheel-leg. ..................................................................... 20 Fig 4. Wheel-legs are able to obtain footholds on objects taller than their own radius... 20 Fig. 5. Passive torsional compliance aids the robot in climbing...................................... 21 Fig. 6. Illustration of how a body joint can aid a robot in climbing ................................ 22 Fig. 7. Illustration of a Mini-Whegs™ Robot and its size compared to a cockroach...... 23 Fig. 8. USARSim vehicle class hierarchy........................................................................ 27 Fig. 9. Wheel-Leg appendage created in UnrealEd. ........................................................ 29 Fig. 10. Implementation of passive torsional compliance into USARSim...................... 31 Fig. 11. Illustration of th edifferences between KTire and KActor wheel-leg behavior . 33 Fig. 12. Illustration of how robots in USARSim are currently validated. ....................... 34 Fig. 13. Pictures of the obstacle map that was created for testing the virtual robot. ....... 37 Fig. 14. Illustration of head-on and oblique approaches.................................................. 38 Fig. 15. Illustration of the real inclined plane – block setup............................................ 41 Fig. 16. Picture of the block and mass used in the real-world inclined plane setup........ 42 Fig. 17. Illustration of the simulated inclined plane setup............................................... 43 Fig. 18. Final map used in quantitative testing. ............................................................... 44 Fig. 19. Illustration of UnrealEd’s TERRAIN functionality ........................................... 45 Fig. 20. Illustration of digitized high speed video footage. ............................................. 48 Fig. 21. Illustration of a standard 3D high speed video setup.......................................... 49 Fig. 22. A Mini-Whegs™ robot with digitization points an calibration object............... 49 5 Fig. 23. Illustration of digitized points that are used to extract body rotations ............... 51 Fig. 24. Description of the vehicle coordinate system that is used.................................