• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 2021

There is a gradual increase in the need for energy charging in marine environments because of energy limitations experienced by electric ships and marine robots. Buoys are considered potential energy charging systems, but there are several challenges, which include the need to maintain a fixed position and avoid hazards, dock with ships and robots in order to charge them, be robust to actions by birds, ships, and robots. To solve these problems, this study proposes a smart buoy robot that has multiple thrusters, multiple docking and charging parts, a bird spike, a radar reflector, a light, a camera, and an anchor, and its mechanism is developed. To verify the performance of the smart buoy robot, the position control under disturbance due to wave currents and functional tests such as docking, charging, lighting, and anchoring are performed. Experimental results show that the smart buoy robot can operate under disturbances and is functionally effective. Therefore, the smart buoy robot is suitable as an energy charging system and has potential in realistic applications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.95-103
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• 2024

The diversity of smart EV(electric vehicle)-related industries is increasing due to the growth of battery-based eco-friendly electric vehicle component material technology, and labor-intensive industries such as logistics, manufacturing, food, agriculture, and service have invested in and studied automation for a long time. Accordingly, various types of robots such as autonomous mobile robots and collaborative robots are being utilized for each process to improve industrial engineering such as optimization, productivity management, and work management. The technology that should accompany this unmanned automobile industry is unmanned automatic charging technology, and if autonomous mobile robots are manually charged, the utility of autonomous mobile robots will not be maximized. In this paper, we conducted a study on the technology of unmanned charging of autonomous mobile robots using charging terminal docking and undocking technology using an unmanned charging system composed of hardware such as a monocular camera, multi-joint robot, gripper, and server. In an experiment to evaluate the performance of the system, the average charging terminal recognition rate was 98%, and the average charging terminal recognition speed was 0.0099 seconds. In addition, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the docking and undocking success rate of the charging terminal, and the experimental results showed an average success rate of 99%.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2006

In this paper, we develope the navigation system for patrol robots in indoor environment. The proposed system consists of PDA map modelling, a localization algorithm based on a global position sensor and an automatic charging station. For the practical use in security system, the PDA is used to build object map on the given indoor map. And the builded map is downloaded to the mobile robot and used in path planning. The global path planning is performed with a localization sensor and the downloaded map. As a main controller, we use PXA270 based hardware platform in which embedded linux 2.6 is developed. Data handling for various sensors and the localization algorithm are performed in the linux platform. Also, we implemented a local path planning algorithm for object avoidance with ultra sonar sensors. Finally, for the automatic charging, we use an infrared ray system and develop a docking algorithm. The navigation system is experimented with the two-wheeled mobile robot using North-Star localization system.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.278-285
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• 2005

This paper describes techniques of camera calibration and artificial landmarks detection for the automatic charging of a mobile robot, equipped with a fish-eye camera in the direction of its operation for movement or surveillance purposes. For its identification from the surrounding environments, three landmarks employed with infrared LEDs, were installed at the charging station. When the robot reaches a certain point, a signal is sent to the LEDs for activation, which allows the robot to easily detect the landmarks using its vision camera. To eliminate the effects of the outside light interference during the process, a difference image was generated by comparing the two images taken when the LEDs are on and off respectively. A fish-eye lens was used for the vision camera of the robot but the wide-angle lens resulted in a significant image distortion. The radial lens distortion was corrected after linear perspective projection transformation based on the pin-hole model. In the experiment, the designed system showed sensing accuracy of ${\pm}10$ mm in position and ${\pm}1^{\circ}$ in orientation at the distance of 550 mm.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.810-816
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• 2007

A security robot system named EGIS-SR is a mobile security robot through one of the new growth engine project in robotic industries. It allows home surveillance through an autonomous mobile platform using onboard cameras and wireless security sensors. EGIS-SR has many sensors to allow autonomous navigation, hierarchical control architecture to handle lots of situations in monitoring home surveillance and mighty networks to achieve unmanned security services. EGIS-SR is tightly coupled with a networked security environment, where the information of the robot is remotely connected with the remote cockpit and patrol man. It achieved an intelligent unmanned security service. The robot is a two-wheeled mobile robot and has casters and suspension to overcome a doorsill. The dynamic motion is verified through $ADAMS^{TM}$ simulation. For the main controller, PXA270 based hardware platform based on linux kernel 2.6 is developed. In the linux platform, data handling for various sensors and the localization algorithm are performed. Also, a local path planning algorithm for object avoidance with ultrasonic sensors and localization using $StarGazer^{TM}$ is developed. Finally, for the automatic charging, a docking algorithm with infrared ray system is implemented.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.101-117
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• 2023

Active debris removal, a technology that approaches and removes space debris in orbit, and the on-orbit service, a technology for extending the mission life of satellites by fuel charging or by exchanging the battery, are gaining interest with the growth of the space community. SaTReC plans to develop a satellite capable of capturing and removing Korean satellites orbiting in space after the end of their missions. In contrast to the previously launched satellites by Korea, which were mainly intended to observe Earth and the space environment, rendezvous/docking technologies, as required in the future during, for instance, space exploration missions, will be implemented and demonstrated. In this paper, an orbital transition method for next-generation small satellites that will capture and remove space debris will be introduced. It is assumed that a small satellite with a mass of approximately 200 kg will be injected into the mission orbit through Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II in 2027. Because the satellite must access the target using a minimum amount of fuel, an approaching technology using Earth's J2 perturbation force has been developed. This method is expected to enable space debris removal missions for relatively lightweight satellites and to serve as the basis for carrying out a new type of space exploration in what is termed the 'Newspace' era.