Flicking: variable sampling method for chemical plume tracing by an autonomous robot

• OKAJIMA Kei

  Department of Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, and Ocean Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science Yokohama National University

• SHIGAKI Shunsuke

  Department of System Innovation, Osaka University

• SANADA Kazushi

  Faculty of Engineering Division of Systems Research, Yokohama National University

• KURABAYASHI Daisuke

  Department of Systems and Control Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• フリックによる可変式サンプリングを導入した自律移動ロボットによる匂い源探索

Abstract

In this paper, we proposed a sampling mechanism with flicking motion for chemical plume tracing (CPT). CPT stands for a task to locate a chemical source according to the chemical in the air. Capability of CPT by an autonomous robot is highly demanded because that can be applicable for rescue surveys, security inspections, and resource searching, yet that was difficult for an individual robot due to the complex behavior of airflow. From the viewpoint of bio-inspired systems, we focused on the flicking of an insect, by which it swings its antennae (chemical sensors) depending on situations. We expected the flicking provided variable sampling resolutions according to searching phases. We first design and implemented a variable air sampling mechanism that gave flicking ability to an autonomous mobile robot. Then, we introduced the flicking to a common CPT algorithm inspired by the programmed behavior of a silkworm moth, which was composed of three action phases. For the action phases, we tested the all combinations of wide or narrow range of the sampling system. We verified CPT performance with the proposed device through experiments. The results indicated that the flicking could improve success ratio of CPT tasks without extending needed time for a search.

Journal

• Transactions of the JSME (in Japanese)

  Transactions of the JSME (in Japanese) 86 (887), 19-00340-19-00340, 2020

  The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers

Keywords

• Flicking
• Chemical plume tracing
• Sampling resolution

Details

• CRID: 1390003825201151104
• NII Article ID: 130007879938
• DOI: 10.1299/transjsme.19-00340
• ISSN: 21879761
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/transjsme/86/887/86_19-00340/_pdf
• Text Lang: ja
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed