Kinematic design and simulation of long reach manipulators

The Long Reach Manipulator (LRM) acts as a platform for the various waste cleanup tools and dexterous manipulator required for the Tank Waste Retrieval system. The LRM will be used as a positioning and orienting device for these tools and the dexterous manipulator. The kinematic design of the LRM plays an important role in its performance in covering the complete workspace inside the tank, avoiding collisions and joint limits, and orienting the tool plate. Joints included beyond the number necessary for positioning, referred to as redundant joints, will be required for the LRM to have collision avoidance, joint limit avoidance, complete workspace coverage and tool plate orientation capabilities. The emphasis of this thesis is on the investigation and choice of an optimum kinematic design of the long reach manipulator, specifically, the determination of link lengths and joint arrangements that would be easy to manufacture and reach all the waste tank volume. Comparisons of IGRIP simulations, analytical solutions and graphical solutions are used to determine the optimum long reach manipulator kinematic design. Control schemes for mining operation are demonstrated on the old testbed. This testbed manipulator consists of Spar RMS 2500 as a Gross Positioning Manipulator (GPM) and Schilling TITAN II as a Dexterous Manipulator (DM). The purpose of the software is to demonstrate future redundancy resolution control strategies to be applied to the finalized design of LRM and DM.