Control practice for robotic applications in challenging environments

Abstract

The use of robots has exceeded the standard focus of manufacturing and production. Over the last decades, special robotic systems have been developed in various extreme environments, such as in the maintenance, repair or even decommissioning of large-scale, strategic facilities, important to any nation’s infrastructure, including power, space, mining, etc. The deployment areas for these robots, like nuclear fuel handling systems, are generally hazardous or unreachable for human beings. The control techniques therein will play an indispensable role in the overall performance of a robotic system as they need to answer enhanced requirements for performance, robustness, and long-term reliability, driven by the fundamental demand for safe operation in complex and hazardous environments. This also needs an understanding of the enhanced industrial standards and requirements for the research, development, design and use of control systems in such environments. The control systems need to be designed specifically capable of tackling different practical control challenges caused by extreme environmental factors. This special section is designed and motivated to bridge the gap between the research community and application engineers, and to help connect control theory, control applications and industrial requirements/regulations.