On the Relative Kinematics and Control of Dual-Arm Cutting Robots for a Coal Mine

There is an unbalanced problem in the traditional laneway excavation process for coal mining because the laneway excavation and support are at the same position in space but they are separated in time, consequently leading to problems of low efficiency in laneway excavation. To overcome these problems, an advanced dual-arm tunneling robotic system for a coal mine is developed that can achieve the synchronous operation of excavation and the permanent support of laneways to efficiently complete excavation tasks for large-sized cross-section laneways. A dual-arm cutting robot (DACR) has an important influence on the forming quality and excavation efficiency of large-sized cross-section laneways. As a result, the relative kinematics, workspace, and control of dual-arm cutting robots are investigated in this research. First, a relative kinematic model of the DACR is established, and a closed-loop control strategy for the robot is proposed based on the relative kinematics. Second, an associated workspace (AW) for the DACR is presented and generated, which can provide a reference for the cutting trajectory planning of a DACR. Finally, the relative kinematics, closed-loop kinematic controller, and associated workspace generation algorithm are verified through simulation results.