A Shared-Autonomy Construction Robotic System for Overhead Works

TL;DR

This paper introduces a robotic system designed for overhead tasks like ceiling drilling, combining hardware and software innovations for safe, teleoperated operation in dynamic environments.

Contribution

It presents a novel robotic platform with integrated 3D reconstruction and obstacle avoidance techniques for overhead construction tasks.

Findings

Successful demonstration of drilling, bolting, and anchoring tasks.

Effective real-time 3D environment reconstruction.

Safe teleoperation in environments with moving obstacles.

Abstract

We present the ongoing development of a robotic system for overhead work such as ceiling drilling. The hardware platform comprises a mobile base with a two-stage lift, on which a bimanual torso is mounted with a custom-designed drilling end effector and RGB-D cameras. To support teleoperation in dynamic environments with limited visibility, we use Gaussian splatting for online 3D reconstruction and introduce motion parameters to model moving objects. For safe operation around dynamic obstacles, we developed a neural configuration-space barrier approach for planning and control. Initial feasibility studies demonstrate the capability of the hardware in drilling, bolting, and anchoring, and the software in safe teleoperation in a dynamic environment.