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Failure detection and diagnosis in a multi-module deployable manipulator system (MDMS)

University of British Columbia

This thesis focuses on the study of failure detection and identification of an innovative multi-modular robot that has been designed and developed in our laboratory. The interest in this class of manipulators developed after Canada's participation in the development of the international space station. All the existing space based manipulators have exclusively revolute joints, providing rotational motions. However, our laboratory manipulator has combined revolute (rotational) and prismatic (translational) joints in each module. Several such modules are connected in series to form the multi-modular deployable manipulator system (MDMS), as desired. This innovative design has several advantages when compared with its counterparts; for example, reduced singular configurations, reduced dynamic interactions, and improved obstacle avoidance capability for a specified number of degrees of freedom. Structural failures of a robotic system are critical in remote and dangerous surroundings such as space, radioactive sites or areas of explosion or battle. During the course of a robotic undertaking if there is a malfunction or failure in the manipulator, still one would wish to have the task completed autonomously, without human intervention. A manipulator that accomplishes such tasks has to be highly reliable, safe, and cost effective, and must possess good maintainability and survival rate. In the present thesis, methodology is developed for identification of structural failures in the multi-modular manipulator system MDMS, which through the use of a decision-making strategy, effective control and kinematic redundancy is capable of satisfactorily executing the intended task in the presence of joint malfunction or failure. The Bayes hypothesis testing method is used to identify the failure. First, a possible set of failure modes is defined, and a hypothesis is associated with each considered failure mode. The most likely hypothesis is selected depending on the observations of the response of the manipulator and a suitable test. This test minimizes the maximum risk of accepting a false hypothesis and thus the identification methodology is considered as most optimal. This failure identification methodology is general and can be used for any failure detection strategy. In the present thesis, the physical MDMS is subjected to several critical failure scenarios in our laboratory. In particular we consider failure due to locked joint, freewheeling of the joint and the sensor failure. The results are studied to evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology for fault-tolerant operation of a class of robotic manipulators.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-03-09

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5742

Mechanical Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/