Navigation and manipulation in an unstructured power plant environment

The paper describes an AGV-based testbench whose purpose is to validate and integrate the results achieved by a number of Italian academic and research institutions in the frame of a nationwide project on robotics. The testbench objective is to guide an AGV through an unstructured and partially unknown environment (such as a power plant) to approach a hydraulic circuit that includes analogue indicators and valves. The indication of selected analogue instruments is then to be read by the AGV-mounted vision subsystem and selected valves are to be acted upon accordingly by the AGV-mounted manipulator