Proposition and development of a robot manipulator for humanitarian demining

This paper presents the proposition and development of a robot manipulator for demining. The manipulator concept is based on the demining method called “mine raking”. The main objective is to safely excavate anti personal mines without being exploded while retaining sufficient force for excavation. The desired excavation force and the actual external force are compared and the error is converted in to a position deviation of the desired position trajectory, causing the manipulator end effector to move towards a safer excavation force. The kinetic and kinematic analyses are presented for the manipulator assuming quasistatic motion. Simulation results are presented for a time varying 2D external force vector.