Smooth Path Planner for Dynamic Simulators Based on Cable-Driven Parallel Robots

Abstract

A cable-driven parallel robot was designed to simulate underwater conditions in underwater humanoid robots. In real tests in marine environments or swimming pools, high deployment costs are required; visualization of the actual movement of the robot is reduced; all electronic components need to be sealed; slippery effects can appear; diving equipment needs to be in contact with the robot, and it is difficult to produce desired environment forces such as underwater currents. This research analyzed the capability of the cable-driven parallel robot to simulate dynamic forces such as those existing in underwater environments. The simulator had to follow the trajectories performed by the humanoid robot by providing smooth path planning to avoid any perturbation that the cables could produce. A polygonal path planning was developed in both robots analyzing the feasibility of the simulator to track the humanoid robot. A dynamic model was developed for ground and underwater environments to understand the maximum velocity and acceleration needed by the system.