Research On Debris Surface Jack Robot

Earthquakes occur frequently all around the world, causing grave losses of lifeand property to relevant countries and people. In rescue works, hand tools aremostly used to cut the barricades, open narrow gaps and jack up debris in order toopen up a rescue channel in the complex debris environment. This method reducesthe efficiency of rescue works and the dangerous spot environment is also a threatento the safety of rescue parties. This paper is closely connected to the national863project “Research on Earthquake Disaster Rescue Robots Demonstration System”,with a debris surface jack robot which can go into dangerous sites after earthquakesand assist rescue parties to open narrow gaps and jack up debris developed.The mechanical structure of the debris surface jack robot is designed accordingto its main functions. The jack robot consists of five modules including jack module,support modules and motion modules on right and left sides. The jack module uses akind of double scissors-shaped jack mechanism driven by a hydraulic cylinder,making it have a compact structure and large capacity. The motion module with adeformable tracked motion mechanism based on parallel four-bar linkage, has goodmobility and can change its structure according to different tasks. The robot has twomotion modes: fast motion mode in which the robot can drive in straight line, veerand climb and crawling mode in which the robot can open narrow gaps and expandspaces by itself to enable it to pass through under the debris.Sufficient strength and rigidity is essential because the jack robot needs to beara heavy load when jacking up debris. So kinematics and dynamics analysis andsimulation of the jack robot’s motion and stress state at any time during the jackingup operation is carried out. Taking the jack robot in the most dangerous load case asthe research subject, the static structure analysis is completed with the help ofANSYS Workbench, to provide a theoretical basis for structure improvement andoptimization. Furthermore, the robot’s crawling process is simulated using ADAMSto verify the feasibility of the structure.To improve the reliability of the jack robot’s control system in complexworking conditions, the control system hardware platform is integrated based on themodular principle. The control system software adopts LAAS architecture, which isdivided into decision-making layer, execution control layer, functions layer, logicalsystem layer and hardwares layer. This kind of software architecture has strongflexibility and scalability, independent of changes of hardwares basically. After that,the control software is designed on the basis of multithread mechanism of Windowssystem using Visual C++. A prototype of the jack robot is developed, and a variety of experiments arecarried out including fast moving, crawling, climbing, steering, opening narrow gapsand jacking up haevy load. The experimental results indicate that the jack robot hasgood movement performance, and can cultivate spaces by its crawling function toenable it to pass through. Additionally, the robot can insert into a40mm gap andjack up to410mm gradually under700kg load. All key performance indicatorsmeet or exceed the design requirements.