Mobile manipulation using tracks of a tracked mobile robot

This paper presents the investigation on mobile manipulation of a self-reconfigurable tracked mobile robot, using its tracks for both manipulation and locomotion. It is desirable for a mobile robot to possess manipulation capability in unstructured environments, especially in the scenario which is unsuitable for human beings. However, it is not convenient for such a mobile robot to carry an onboard manipulator and perform grasping and placing operations. An alternative is to realize the manipulation potential of the existing parts and perform manipulation without attaching additional hardware. Besides the enhanced locomotion ability, a self-reconfigurable tracked mobile robot has great potential in manipulation, which may take the forms of box-pushing, cylinder-moving or lateral hitting. However, the manipulation with tracks has to be controlled properly. One challenge is to optimize the tracks´ configuration so as to get the optimal contact point. Furthermore, the speed and acceleration of the mobile robot have dramatic influence on mobile manipulation with tracks. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, experiments are conducted using a tracked mobile robot in our laboratory.