Abstract
ARIES (Autonomous Robotic Inspection Experimental System) is under development for the Department of Energy (DOE) to survey and inspect drums containing low-level radioactive waste stored in warehouses at DOE facilities. This paper focuses on the development of CPS-II, the second generation camera positioning system used in the project. The first generation camera positioning system (CPS-I) positioned four identical but separate camera packages. CPS-II positions a single camera package which consists of vision cameras and other required sensors such as a bar-code reader and light stripe projectors. CPS-II is attached to the top of a mobile robot and consists of two mechanisms. The first is a lift mechanism composed of 6 interlocking rail-elements which starts from a retracted position and extends up and down to position the camera package to survey a column of drums four high. The second is a parallelogram special case Grashof four-bar mechanism which is used to deploy the camera package off the back of the robot. Both mechanisms are the subject of this paper.
