Development of magnetic nail guidance system for mobile manipulators

A robot system composed of a mobile robot and a manipulator is called a "mobile manipulator". In this paper a navigation system based on dead-reckoning for a power wheeled steering (PWS) mobile manipulator is proposed. A guidance control using dead-reckoning requires periodical compensation of estimated position and heading errors. We propose the compensation method which detects x-y coordinates on the travelling plane and heading around x axis by using magnet marker placed along a course. Moreover a guidance method aimed at correct approaching to a destination point with a designated heading is proposed, which constructs a autonomous navigation system with the magnetic compensation device. And the total navigation system is discussed on the basis of dynamical and kinematical formulation of the PWS mobile manipulator.