uBot-4
uBot-4
The uBot-4 is a two-wheeled dynamically stable bimanual mobile manipulator. It was designed to combine manipulation and mobility into a small and cost effective, yet very capable platform. It will be used to study a number of different robotic manipulation tasks including pushing, pulling, digging, grasping, single robot transport, and cooperative transport (using multiple copies of the platform). Additionally the platform will be used to study stability maintaining behaviors in the context of significant dynamic effects such as driving over rough terrain, throwing, or lifting. Balancing robots, such as the uBot-4, embody many of the characteristics of a humanoid robot while exploiting the simplicity of wheels.
The uBot-4 is the latest in a line of mobile robots. The uBot-3, which combined bi-manual manipulation with a dynamically stable base, served as a proof of concept for the uBot-4. Simple pushing experiments were performed with this robot to demonstrate some of the advantages that dynamic stability confers upon a robotic platform. See the uBot-3 page for more details on these experiments.
Other predecessors to the uBot-4 include the uBot-2, uBot-1, and uBot-05, all of which lack manipulation capabilities.
Papers
Deegan, P., Thibodeau, B., Grupen, R. Designing a Self-Stabilizing Robot For Dynamic Mobile Manipulation, Robotics: Science and Systems - Workshop on Manipulation for Human Environments. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. August, 2006.
Thibodeau, B., Deegan, P., Grupen, R. Static Analysis of Contact Forces With a Mobile Manipulator, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Orlando, Florida. May, 2006. © 2006 IEEE
External Links
| The MDS (Mobile-Dexterous-Social) Robot | The Stanford STAIR (USA) |
| The robo3 ROBIN (Seoul Korea) | The UMASS UMan (USA) |
| Toyota rolling partner robot (Japan) | The Honda ASIMO (Japan) |
| The Hitachi Emiew (Japan) | The JSC Robonaut (USA) |
| The MIT Cardea (USA) | The Vecna BEAR robot (USA) |
| The Disney Muppet Mobile Laboratory (USA) | |
| The Anybots Monty and Dexter (USA) | |
| The nBot, including an excellent list of wheeled dynamic balancers (USA) |
Videos
These videos require quicktime player. The latest copy is available here (win & mac). The VLC media player is available here (win, mac, linux). To download these videos, choose "Save Link as..." in your browser and use the file type ".mp4".
Ball Pickup
The uBot-4 picking up a ball. In this movie the wheels are teleoperated while the arms perform an open-loop grasping motion.
Range of Motion
The uBot-4 demonstrates agility while driving and range of motion of arms.
Drawer Pushing
The uBot-4 demonstrates pushing a heavy object. In this movie the wheels are teleoperated while the arms perform an open-loop motion.
Throwing
The uBot-4 throws a ball 20ft.
Debris Shoveling
Debris is shoveled against a canister formation.
Bucket Stacking
The uBot-4 performs a pickup and place of a large canister. A small canister is then placed on top of the large canister.