Automated mobile boom system for crawling robots
First Claim
1. A mobile boom system comprising:
- a self-propellable mobile boom base platform comprising a plurality of rolling elements and a plurality of motors respectively coupled to said plurality of rolling elements;
a rotary mast carried by said boom base platform and rotatable relative to said boom base platform about a pan axis;
a gimbal comprising a first portion attached to said rotary mast and a second portion rotatable relative to said rotary mast about a tilt axis;
a hollow boom arm having first and second ends and an intermediate portion coupled to said gimbal;
a cable extending through said hollow boom arm;
a pan angle sensor for detecting a pan angle of said boom arm; and
a computer system programmed to receive pan angle data from said pan angle sensor and send control signals to said motors for changing the position of said boom base platform as a function of at least said pan angle data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system comprising a multi-functional boom subsystem integrated with a holonomic-motion boom base platform. The boom base platform may comprise: Mecanum wheels with independently controlled motors; a pair of sub-platforms coupled by a roll-axis pivot to maintain four-wheel contact with the ground surface; and twist reduction mechanisms to minimize any yaw-axis twisting torque exerted on the roll-axis pivot. A computer with motion control software may be embedded on the boom base platform. The motion control function can be integrated with a real-time tracking system. The motion control computer may have multiple platform motion control modes: (1) a path following mode in which the boom base platform matches the motion path of the surface crawler (i.e., integration with crawler control); (2) a reactive mode in which the boom base platform moves based on the pan and tilt angles of the boom arm; and (3) a collision avoidance mode using sensors distributed around the perimeter of the boom base platform to detect obstacles.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A mobile boom system comprising:
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a self-propellable mobile boom base platform comprising a plurality of rolling elements and a plurality of motors respectively coupled to said plurality of rolling elements; a rotary mast carried by said boom base platform and rotatable relative to said boom base platform about a pan axis; a gimbal comprising a first portion attached to said rotary mast and a second portion rotatable relative to said rotary mast about a tilt axis; a hollow boom arm having first and second ends and an intermediate portion coupled to said gimbal; a cable extending through said hollow boom arm; a pan angle sensor for detecting a pan angle of said boom arm; and a computer system programmed to receive pan angle data from said pan angle sensor and send control signals to said motors for changing the position of said boom base platform as a function of at least said pan angle data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A mobile boom system comprising:
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a mobile boom base platform; a rotary mast carried by said boom base platform and rotatable relative to said boom base platform about a pan axis; a gimbal comprising a first portion attached to said rotary mast and a second portion rotatable relative to said rotary mast about a tilt axis; a boom arm having first and second ends and an intermediate portion coupled to said gimbal; a cable supported by said boom arm; a robotic crawler attached to a distal end of said cable; an electrically controlled boom arm fall arrest mechanism having first and second ends respectively coupled to said boom arm and said rotary mast; a tilt angle sensor for detecting a tilt angle of the boom arm; and a computer system programmed to monitor the output of said tilt angle sensor and issue a fall arrest trigger signal to said boom arm fall arrest mechanism in response to a rate of rotation of the boom arm about said tilt axis exceeding a specified threshold. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system comprising:
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a holonomic-motion boom base platform; a rotary mast carried by said boom base platform and rotatable relative to said boom base platform about a pan axis; a boom arm supported by said boom base platform and rotatable relative to said boom base platform about a pan axis; a cable supported by said boom arm and having a distal end; a holonomic-motion robotic crawler attached to the distal end of said cable; and a computer system programmed to control motion of said boom base platform to match a motion path of said robotic crawler. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification