Compensation of Wave-Induced Motion and Force Phenomena for Ship-Based High Performance Robotic and Human Amplifying Systems

The decrease in manpower and increase in material handling needs on many Naval vessels provides the motivation to explore the modeling and control of Naval robotic and robotic assistive devices. This report addresses the design, modeling, control and analysis of position and force controlled robotic systems operating on the deck of a moving ship. First we provide background information that quantifies the motion of the ship, both in terms of frequency and amplitude. We then formulate the motion of the ship in terms of homogeneous transforms. This transformation provides a link between the motion of the ship and the base of a manipulator. We model the kinematics of a manipulator as a serial extension of the ship motion. We then show how to use these transforms to formulate the kinetic and potential energy of a general, multi-degree of freedom manipulator moving on a ship. As a demonstration, we consider two examples: a one degree-of-freedom system experiencing three sea states operating in a plane to verify the methodology and a 3 degree of freedom system experiencing all six degrees of ship motion to illustrate the ease of computation and complexity of the solution. The first series of simulations explore the impact wave motion has on tracking performance of a position controlled robot. We provide a preliminary comparison between conventional linear control and Repetitive Learning Control (RLC) and show how fixed time delay RLC breaks down due to the varying nature wave disturbance frequency. Next, we explore the impact wave motion disturbances have on Human Amplification Technology (HAT). We begin with a description of the traditional HAT control methodology. Simulations show that the motion of the base of the robot, due to ship motion, generates disturbances forces reflected to the operator that significantly degrade the positioning accuracy and resolution at higher sea states. As with position-controlled manipulators, augmenting the control with a Repetitive Learning Controller has little impact due to the variable nature of the wave period. We then introduce a new approach to HAT control, Ship Motion Compensation for Force Control Systems (SMCFCS). This basic approach uses inclinometer and acceleration information from the base of the robot to compensate for ship motion disturbances. Results of the simulation study show over an order of magnitude decrease in the disturbance force reflected back to the operator and an order of magnitude increase in positioning accuracy and resolution.