A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127120 |
| _version_ | 1811088020323958784 |
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| author | Sandzimier, Ryan Joseph. |
| author2 | H. Harry Asada. |
| author_facet | H. Harry Asada. Sandzimier, Ryan Joseph. |
| author_sort | Sandzimier, Ryan Joseph. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020 |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:54:57Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/127120 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:54:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1271202020-09-04T03:19:50Z A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators Sandzimier, Ryan Joseph. H. Harry Asada. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020 Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 45-46). We develop a data-driven, statistical control method for autonomous excavators. Interactions between soil and an excavator bucket are highly complex and nonlinear, making traditional physical modeling difficult to use for real-time control. Here, we propose a data-driven method, exploiting data obtained from laboratory tests. We use the data to construct a nonlinear, non-parametric statistical model for predicting the behavior of soil scooped by an excavator bucket. The prediction model is built for controlling the amount of soil collected with a bucket. An excavator collects soil by dragging the bucket along the soil surface and scooping the soil by rotating the bucket. It is important to switch from the drag phase to the scoop phase with the correct timing to ensure an appropriate amount of soil has accumulated in front of the bucket. We model the process as a heteroscedastic Gaussian process (GP) based on the observation that the variance of the collected soil mass depends on the scooping trajectory, i.e. the input, as well as the shape of the soil surface immediately prior to scooping. We develop an optimal control algorithm for switching from the drag phase to the scoop phase at an appropriate time and for generating a scoop trajectory to capture a desired amount of soil with high confidence. We implement the method on a robotic excavator and collect experimental data. Experiments show promising results in terms of being able to achieve a desired bucket fill factor with low variance. by Ryan Joseph Sandzimier. S.M. S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering 2020-09-03T17:47:51Z 2020-09-03T17:47:51Z 2020 2020 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127120 1191836399 eng MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 46 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Mechanical Engineering. Sandzimier, Ryan Joseph. A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators |
| title | A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators |
| title_full | A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators |
| title_fullStr | A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators |
| title_full_unstemmed | A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators |
| title_short | A data-driven approach to bucket-filling control for autonomous excavators |
| title_sort | data driven approach to bucket filling control for autonomous excavators |
| topic | Mechanical Engineering. |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127120 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sandzimierryanjoseph adatadrivenapproachtobucketfillingcontrolforautonomousexcavators AT sandzimierryanjoseph datadrivenapproachtobucketfillingcontrolforautonomousexcavators |