The Woodruff School

SUMMARY

Lift assist devices such as overhead cranes are commonly employed in industrial settings to aid in moving large and/or heavy items. Current systems present challenges with regard to precise positioning due to the underactuated system dynamics. This work explores a novel human-centered approach that allows for intuitive payload manipulation by outfitting a push-pull device with force sensing instrumentation to provide feedback for crane control. The force feedback is mapped to crane commands such that the operator has control of gross payload motion via the crane in addition to fine adjustments via the push-pull device. The core contributions of this work are 1) a framework for human-centered force feedback manipulation of suspended payloads, 2) a dynamic model that can be used to predict the behavior of our novel method, 3) performance data from a mock assembly task with 7 human subjects, and 4) the demonstration of a statistically significant reduction in the impulse imparted by the payload on its surrounding environment during assembly. The use of our intelligent push-pull method resulted in a mean impulse of 11.56 N·s compared to a mean impulse of 22.51 N·s when traditional joystick control was used.

SUBJECT:	M.S. Thesis Presentation

BY:	Hogan Welch

TIME:	Wednesday, December 7, 2022, 11:00 a.m.

PLACE:	MARC Building, 101

TITLE:	Force-Based Manipulation of a Suspended Payload via Feedback from an Instrumented Push-Pull Device

COMMITTEE:	Dr. Anirban Mazumdar, Chair (Mechanical Engineering) Dr. Ellen Mazumdar (Mechanical Engineering) Dr. Aaron Young (Mechanical Engineering)

SUMMARY Lift assist devices such as overhead cranes are commonly employed in industrial settings to aid in moving large and/or heavy items. Current systems present challenges with regard to precise positioning due to the underactuated system dynamics. This work explores a novel human-centered approach that allows for intuitive payload manipulation by outfitting a push-pull device with force sensing instrumentation to provide feedback for crane control. The force feedback is mapped to crane commands such that the operator has control of gross payload motion via the crane in addition to fine adjustments via the push-pull device. The core contributions of this work are 1) a framework for human-centered force feedback manipulation of suspended payloads, 2) a dynamic model that can be used to predict the behavior of our novel method, 3) performance data from a mock assembly task with 7 human subjects, and 4) the demonstration of a statistically significant reduction in the impulse imparted by the payload on its surrounding environment during assembly. The use of our intelligent push-pull method resulted in a mean impulse of 11.56 N·s compared to a mean impulse of 22.51 N·s when traditional joystick control was used.