Design and Requirement Analysis of an Outdoor Autonomous Mobile Manipulator

Abstract

Industrial Mobile Robots (IMRs) gained prominence in research and technical applications. Besides their original interior application environment, the expanding demand for such devices has recently led to their growing application in exterior environments. In general, the external setting challenges robots with higher complexity and variety in the sense of tasks and the target environment. This article presents the proposal of a mobile manipulator robot suitable for external applications like industrial and urban settings. The robot achieves flexible manipulation freedom with two manipulator arms and a revolving base beneficial in solving a wide variety of complex tasks. The related research process included additional characteristic requirements for similar external devices. These requirements include IP protection, rough ground mobility, acceptable movement range, and autonomous self-monitoring and control capabilities. The research further focuses on analyzing system- wide capabilities with the help of computer simulations and virtual test environments. Besides developing a novel robotic device, the further goal is to survey the potentials and challenges of external robotic applications and to summarize the gained technical knowledge and experience.