AZIMUT

From IntRoLab

AZIMUTLogo.gif AZIMUT3.jpg

Plate-forme robotique modulaire à pattes-chenilles-roues / Modular Mobile Robotic Platform with Legs-Tracks-Wheels


AZIMUT addresses the challenge of making multiple mechanisms available for locomotion on the same robotic platform. AZIMUT has four independent articulations that can be wheels (as shown above), legs or tracks, or a combination of these. By changing the direction of its articulations, AZIMUT is also capable of moving sideways without changing its orientation, making it omnidirectional. All these capabilities provide the robot with the ability to move in tight areas. AZIMUT is designed to be highly modular, placing for instance the actuators in the articulations so that the wheels can be easily replaced by leg-track articulations for all-terrain operations. Stability and compliance of the platform are enhanced by adding a vertical suspension and using elastic actuators for the motorized direction of AZIMUT’s articulations. An elastic element is placed in the actuation mechanism and a sensor is used to measure its deformation, allowing to sense and control the torque at the actuator’s end. This should improve robot motion over uneven terrains, making the robot feel the surface on which it operates. Mechatronic modules, such as the wheel-motor that is used in all configurations, use a distributed processing architecture with multiple microcontrollers communicating through shared data buses. AZIMUT's design provides a rich framework to create a great variety of robots for indoor and outdoor uses.

AzimutDebut.jpg AZIMUTMulti.jpg AZIMUTWheel.jpg AZIMUT2.jpg AZIMUT2Track.jpg AZIMUT track.jpg

Videos

Publications

  1. Clavien, L., Lauria, M., Michaud. F. (2018), "Instantaneous centre of rotation based motion control for omnidirectional mobile robots with sidewards off-centred wheels," Robotics and Autonomous Systems.
  2. Chamberland, S., Beaudry, É., Clavien, L., Kabanza, F., Michaud, F., Lauria, M. (2010), “Motion planning of an omnidirectional non-holonomic robot with steering constraints,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. (pdf)
  3. Ferland, F., Clavien, L., Frémy, J., Létourneau, D., Michaud, F., Lauria, M. (2010), “Teleoperation of AZIMUT-3, an omnidirectional non-holonomic platform with steerable wheels,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. (pdf) (mov)
  4. Frémy, J., Ferland, F., Clavien, L., Létourneau, D., Michaud, F., Lauria, M. (2010), “Force-controlled motion of a mobile platform,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. (pdf) (mov)
  5. Clavien, L., Lauria, M., Michaud, F. (2010), “Instantaneous centre of rotation estimation of an omnidirectional mobile robot,” Proceedings 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Anchorage, USA. (pdf)
  6. Lauria, M., Michaud, F., Legault, M.-A., Létourneau, D., Rétornaz, P., Nadeau, I., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Gagnon, F., Giguère, P., Frémy, J., Clavien, L. (2008), “Elastic locomotion of a four steered mobile robot,” Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. (pdf) (video)
  7. Lauria, M., Nadeau, I., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Giguère, P., Gagnon, F., Létourneau, D., Michaud, F. (2006), “Design and control of a four steered wheeled mobile robot,” Proceedings Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Paris, France. (pdf)
  8. Lauria, M., Nadeau, I., Lepage, P., Dupas, Y., Morin, Y., Giguère, P., Gagnon, F., Létourneau, D., Michaud, F. (2006), “Kinematical analysis and control of a four steered wheeled mobile robot,” IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, Montréal, 3090-3095. (pdf)
  9. Michaud, F., Létourneau, D., Paré, J.-F., Legault, M.-A., Cadrin, R., Arsenault, M., Bergeron, Y., Tremblay, M.-C., Gagnon, F., Millette, M., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Caron, S. (2005), "Multi-modal locomotion robotic platform using leg-track-wheel articulations", Autonomous Robots, Special Issue on Unconventional Robotic Mobility, 18(2):137-156. (pdf)
  10. Michaud, F., Létourneau, D., Paré, J.-F., Legault, M.-A., Cadrin, R., Arsenault, M., Bergeron, Y., Tremblay, M.-C., Gagnon, F., Millette, M., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Caron, S. (2003), "AZIMUT - A leg-track-wheel robot", Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, p. 2553-2558. (pdf)
  11. Michaud, F., Létourneau, D., Paré, J.-F., Legault, M.-A., Cadrin, R., Arsenault, M., Bergeron, Y., Tremblay, M.-C., Gagnon, F., Millette, M., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Caron, S. (2003), "Co-design of AZIMUT, a multi-modal robotic platform", Proceedings ASME 23rd Computers and Information in Engineering Conference - Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing. (pdf)
  12. Michaud, F., Létourneau, D., Paré, J.-F., Legault, M.-A., Cadrin, R., Arsenault, M., Bergeron, Y., Tremblay, M.-C., Gagnon, F., Millette, M., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Caron, S. (2003), "AZIMUT - A multi-modal locomotion robotic platform", SPIE's 17th Annual International Symposium on Aerospace/Defense Sensing, Simulation, and Controls. (pdf)

Équipe / Team

  • Pierre Lepage
  • Yan Morin
  • Frédéric Gagnon
  • Patrick Giguère
  • Marc-Antoine Legault
  • Dominic Létourneau
  • Isabelle Nadeau
  • Lionel Clavien
  • Julien Frémy
  • Michel Lauria
  • François Michaud