Browsing by Author "Williams, Adam John"

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    A Robotic Head Stabilization Device for Post-Trauma Transport
    Williams, Adam John (Virginia Tech, 2018-08-15)
    The work presented in this thesis focuses on the design and testing of a casualty extraction robot intended to stabilize the head and neck of an unresponsive person. The employment of robots in dangerous locales such as combat zones or the site of a natural disaster has the potential to help keep first responders out of harm's way as well as to improve the efficiency of search and rescue teams. After a review of robotic search and rescue platforms the Semi-Autonomous Victim Extraction Robot(SAVER) is introduced. The necessity of a device intended to support the head and cervical spine during transport on a rescue robot is then discussed. The kinematic and dynamic analyses of various candidate differential mechanisms intended for the head stabilization device are described, and the chosen mechanism is demonstrated in a proof-of-concept device. Following testing with a simple PID controller, it was determined an advanced feedback controller with disturbance rejection capabilities was required. Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control (LADRC) was chosen for its effectiveness in rejecting perturbations and handling modeling uncertainties. The performance the proposed LADRC control scheme was compared with PID in simulation and the results are presented. Finally, a prototype of the device was designed and built to validate the functionality of the subsystem, and the results of the corresponding experimentation are discussed.