Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter

In large-scale open-pit mining and construction works, excavators must deal with large rocks mixed with gravel and granular soil. Capturing and moving large rocks with the bucket of an excavator requires a high level of skill that only experienced human operators possess. In an attempt to develop au...

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Main Authors: Sotiropoulos, Filippos E., Asada, Haruhiko
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2020
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128005
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author Sotiropoulos, Filippos E.
Asada, Haruhiko
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sotiropoulos, Filippos E.
Asada, Haruhiko
author_sort Sotiropoulos, Filippos E.
collection MIT
description In large-scale open-pit mining and construction works, excavators must deal with large rocks mixed with gravel and granular soil. Capturing and moving large rocks with the bucket of an excavator requires a high level of skill that only experienced human operators possess. In an attempt to develop autonomous rock excavators, this letter presents a control method that predicts the rock movement in response to bucket operation and computes an optimal bucket movement to capture the rock. The process is highly nonlinear and stochastic. A Gaussian process model, which is nonlinear, nonparametric, and stochastic, is used for describing rock behaviors interacting with the bucket and surrounding soil. Experimental data is used directly for identifying the model. An Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is then integrated with the Gaussian process model for predicting the rock movements and estimating the length of the rock. A feedback controller that optimizes a cost function is designed based on the rock motion prediction and implemented on a robotic excavator prototype. Experiments demonstrate encouraging results towards autonomous mining and rock excavation.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1280052022-10-01T15:01:44Z Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter Sotiropoulos, Filippos E. Asada, Haruhiko Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering In large-scale open-pit mining and construction works, excavators must deal with large rocks mixed with gravel and granular soil. Capturing and moving large rocks with the bucket of an excavator requires a high level of skill that only experienced human operators possess. In an attempt to develop autonomous rock excavators, this letter presents a control method that predicts the rock movement in response to bucket operation and computes an optimal bucket movement to capture the rock. The process is highly nonlinear and stochastic. A Gaussian process model, which is nonlinear, nonparametric, and stochastic, is used for describing rock behaviors interacting with the bucket and surrounding soil. Experimental data is used directly for identifying the model. An Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is then integrated with the Gaussian process model for predicting the rock movements and estimating the length of the rock. A feedback controller that optimizes a cost function is designed based on the rock motion prediction and implemented on a robotic excavator prototype. Experiments demonstrate encouraging results towards autonomous mining and rock excavation. 2020-10-15T15:44:49Z 2020-10-15T15:44:49Z 2020-02 2020-09-21T16:22:48Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2377-3766 2377-3774 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128005 Sotiropoulos, Filippos E. and H. Harry Asada. "Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 5, 2 (April 2020): 2491 - 2497 © 2020 IEEE en http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/lra.2020.2972891 IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Prof. Asada via Elizabeth Soergel
spellingShingle Sotiropoulos, Filippos E.
Asada, Haruhiko
Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter
title Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter
title_full Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter
title_fullStr Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter
title_full_unstemmed Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter
title_short Autonomous Excavation of Rocks Using a Gaussian Process Model and Unscented Kalman Filter
title_sort autonomous excavation of rocks using a gaussian process model and unscented kalman filter
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128005
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