Vahid Boomeri

Bio: Vahid Boomeri is an academic researcher from Kharazmi University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Robot & Robust control. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 6 publications receiving 10 citations.

Design of a new steerable in-pipe inspection robot and its robust control in presence of pipeline flow

Abstract: Robust multivariable control of an in-pipe inspection robot with variable pitch rate is performed in this paper which moves through the pipelines while fluid is flowing. Most of the traditional inpipe robots have two challenges which make difficulty for investigating the pipe line. The necessity of blocking the flow and difficulty toward bypassing the probable obstacles in the pipes. Here a new mechanism of inpipe robot is proposed which can bypass the obstacles as a result of its mechanism modification and also is able to work in presence of flow by the aid of its designed robust controlled. To meet this goal, the proper mechanism is designed and its related model is derived. Afterwards a nonlinear robust controller is designed and implemented on the proposed robot based on Sliding Mode Control (SMC). The efficiency of the designed robot for bypassing the obstacles and also the robustness of its corresponding controller in presence of flow are investigated by the aid of MATLAB simulation. These simulations are validated by modeling the system in ADAMS and comparing the response of the proposed SMC and Feedback Linearization (FL). It is proved that the designed robot is able to move with controllable velocity through full pipelines while the designed controller can successfully cancel the fluid flow disturbances with a good accuracy of order 10-2.

Dynamic Optimization of a Steerable Screw In-pipe Inspection Robot Using HJB and Turbine Installation

Abstract: In this paper, two strategies are proposed to optimize the energy consumption of a new screw in-pipe inspection robot which is steerable. In the first method, optimization is performed using the optimal path planning and implementing the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) method. Since the number of actuators is more than the number of degrees of freedom of the system for the proposed steerable case, it is possible to minimize the energy consumption by the aid of the dynamics of the system. In the second method, the mechanics of the robot is modified by installing some turbine blades through which the drag force of the pipeline fluid can be employed to decrease the required propulsion force of the robot. It is shown that using both of the mentioned improvements, that is, using HJB formulation for the steerable robot and installing the turbine blades can significantly save power and energy. However, it will be shown that for the latter case this improvement is extremely dependent on the alignment of the fluid stream direction with respect to the direction of the robot velocity, while this optimization is independent of this case for the former strategy. On the other hand, the path planning dictates a special pattern of speed functionality while for the robot equipped by blades, saving the energy is possible for any desired input path. The correctness of the modeling is verified by comparing the results of MATLAB and ADAMS, while the efficiency of the proposed optimization algorithms is checked by the aid of some analytic and comparative simulations.

Design, Modeling, and Control of a New Manipulating Climbing Robot Through Infrastructures Using Adaptive Force Control Method

Abstract: In this paper, design, modeling, and control of a grip-based climbing robot are performed, which consists of a triangular chassis and three actuating legs. This robot can climb through any trusses, pipeline, and scaffolds structures and can perform any inspectional and operational tasks in the high height which decreases the falling danger of operation and increases the safety of the workers. The proposed robot can be substituted for the workers to decrease the risk of death danger and increase the safety of the operation. Since these kinds of infrastructures are truss shaped, the traditional wheel-based climbing robots are not able to travel through these structures. Therefore, in this paper, a grip-based climbing robot is designed to accomplish the climbing process through the trusses and infrastructures in order to perform inspecting and manipulating tasks. Hence, a proper mechanism for the mentioned robot is designed and its related kinematic and kinetic models are developed. Robot modeling is investigated for two different modes including climbing and manipulating phases. Considering the redundancy of the proposed robot and the parallel mechanism employed in it, the active joints are selected in a proper way and its path planning is performed to accomplish the required missions. Concerning the climbing mode, the required computed torque method (CTM) is calculated by the inverse dynamics of the robot. However, for the manipulation mode, after path planning, two controlling strategies are employed, including feedback linearization (FBL) and adaptive force control, and their results are compared as well. It is shown that the latter case is preferable since the external forces implemented on the end effector tool is not exactly predetermined and thus, the controller should adapt the robot with the exerted force pattern of the manipulator. The modeling correctness is investigated by performing some analytic and comparative simulation scenarios in the MATLAB and comparing the results with the MSC-ADAMS ones, for both climbing and manipulating phases. The efficiency of the designed controller is also proved by implementing an unknown force pattern on the manipulator to check its efficiency toward estimating the mentioned implemented forces and compensating the errors. It is shown that the designed robot can successfully climb through a truss and perform its operating task by the aid of the employed adaptive controller in an accurate way.

Kinematic and dynamic modeling of an infrastructure hybrid climbing robot

Abstract: Metallic bridges, nuclear plant ducts, telecom and electric power masts, truss shaped structures planted on gyms and showrooms ceilings, astronomy and military facilities are egregious infrastructures in modern age for which locomotion on them is inevitable in order to perform specific tasks including maintenance, constructions (welding and riveting) and periodic inspections (scavenging, searching for impairments) and etc. Therefore, climbing robots are designed to cover the mentioned duties. Since stability and precision of a climbing robot is inevitable, parallel mechanism is proposed. Considering the fact that maneuvering ability is an important factor for climbing robot in a complicated environment (truss shaped environment, scaffolds), the mobility of the robot is increased by a serial linkage added to the parallel portion of the robot to overtake obstacles and cross branches. Hence, a stiff and precise hybrid (parallel / serial) robot is proposed here by composing serial and parallel modules for climbing scaffolds. In this paper design and modeling of the mentioned hybrid climbing robot, consisting kinematics and kinetics is studied. The robot is a 3limbed gripping mechanism with one base (main body) to which the limbs are attached to. A closed kinematic chain is made by 2 limbs, grasping the support terrain firmly. The mechanism is a non-fully parallel mechanism which needs special calculations for modeling. Robot's movement is classified into two phases: 1-manipulation, 2-locomotion. In this manipulation phase is discussed as the primary design and all of the modeling is verified by conducting some comparative and analytic simulation in MATLAB. It is shown that the designed robot can successfully perform operational tasks after its climbing through the trusses.

Design, Modeling, and Control of a New Manipulating Climbing Robot Through Infrastructures Using Adaptive Force Control Method

Abstract: In this paper, design, modeling, and control of a grip-based climbing robot are performed, which consists of a triangular chassis and three actuating legs. This robot can climb through any trusses, pipeline, and scaffolds structures and can perform any inspectional and operational tasks in the high height which decreases the falling danger of operation and increases the safety of the workers. The proposed robot can be substituted for the workers to decrease the risk of death danger and increase the safety of the operation. Since these kinds of infrastructures are truss shaped, the traditional wheel-based climbing robots are not able to travel through these structures. Therefore, in this paper, a grip-based climbing robot is designed to accomplish the climbing process through the trusses and infrastructures in order to perform inspecting and manipulating tasks. Hence, a proper mechanism for the mentioned robot is designed and its related kinematic and kinetic models are developed. Robot modeling is investigated for two different modes including climbing and manipulating phases. Considering the redundancy of the proposed robot and the parallel mechanism employed in it, the active joints are selected in a proper way and its path planning is performed to accomplish the required missions. Concerning the climbing mode, the required computed torque method (CTM) is calculated by the inverse dynamics of the robot. However, for the manipulation mode, after path planning, two controlling strategies are employed, including feedback linearization (FBL) and adaptive force control, and their results are compared as well. It is shown that the latter case is preferable since the external forces implemented on the end effector tool is not exactly predetermined and thus, the controller should adapt the robot with the exerted force pattern of the manipulator. The modeling correctness is investigated by performing some analytic and comparative simulation scenarios in the MATLAB and comparing the results with the MSC-ADAMS ones, for both climbing and manipulating phases. The efficiency of the designed controller is also proved by implementing an unknown force pattern on the manipulator to check its efficiency toward estimating the mentioned implemented forces and compensating the errors. It is shown that the designed robot can successfully climb through a truss and perform its operating task by the aid of the employed adaptive controller in an accurate way.

Design and Control of an Omnidirectional Mobile Wall-Climbing Robot

Abstract: Omnidirectional mobile wall-climbing robots have better motion performance than traditional wall-climbing robots. However, there are still challenges in designing and controlling omnidirectional mobile wall-climbing robots, which can attach to non-ferromagnetic surfaces. In this paper, we design a novel wall-climbing robot, establish the robot’s dynamics model, and propose a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC)-based trajectory tracking control algorithm. Compared against state-of-the-art, the contribution is threefold: First, the combination of three-wheeled omnidirectional locomotion and non-contact negative pressure air chamber adhesion achieves omnidirectional locomotion on non-ferromagnetic vertical surfaces. Second, the critical slip state has been employed as an acceleration constraint condition, which could improve the maximum linear acceleration and the angular acceleration by 164.71% and 22.07% on average, respectively. Last, an NMPC-based trajectory tracking control algorithm is proposed. According to the simulation experiment results, the tracking accuracy is higher than the traditional PID controller.

Design and Motion Planning of a Wheeled Type Pipeline Inspection Robot

Abstract: The most popular method for transporting fluids, and gases is through pipelines. For them to work correctly, regular inspection is necessary. Humans must enter potentially dangerous environments to inspect pipelines. As a result, pipeline robots came into existence. These robots aid in pipeline inspection, protecting numerous people from harm. Despite numerous improvements, pipeline robots still have several limitations. This paper presents the design and motion planning of a wheeled type pipeline inspection robot that can inspect pipelines having an inner diameter between 250 mm to 350 mm. The traditional wheeled robot design has three wheels fixed symmetrically at a 120° angle apart from each other. When maneuvering through a curved pipeline, this robot encounters motion singularity. The proposed robot fixes the wheels at different angles to address this issue, allowing the robot to stay in constant contact with the pipe's surface. Motion analysis is done for the proposed and existing robot design to study their behavior inside the pipeline. The result shows that the proposed robot avoids motion singularity and improves mobility inside pipelines. 3d printing technology aids in the development of the proposed robot. The experimental tests on the developed robot inside a 300 mm-diameter straight and curved pipeline show that the robot avoids motion singularity.