Multi-sensor Autonomous Robot Based Manipulation of Valves for Process Control

An autonomous robot finds applications in process industries to perform control operations such as manipulation of valves, especially in hazardous environments. This would require localization and mapping capabilities for efficient navigation, coupled with a dexterous arm for manipulation of the valves. Dynamic path planning and obstacle avoidance are the necessary requirements for autonomous navigation in the work area of a process industry. This paper presents a way to perform the above tasks using an autonomous robot having multi-sensory inputs, and using vision based inferences.