Surface hardness classification via unmanned aerial vehicles gripper finger deflection

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the feasibility of using strain gauges attached to a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) gripper to determine, upon impact, the hardness of a landing site. We design and fabricate a four finger gripper that uses a rotary component to convert the rotational motion of a servo to the linear motion of the finger assemblies. We functionally test a gripper prototype made from rapid-prototype material. We conduct three experiments to test the gripper's functionality. The first experiment tests the gripper's ability to grasp, lift, and release a centered payload, and the gripper performed with overall success rates of 91%, 100%, and 87% respectively. The second experiment tests the gripper's ability to self-align, lift and release the payload and the gripper performed with overall success rates of 99%, 100%, and 96% respectively. The third experiment tests the functional durability of the gripper, and it performed without error for 5000 open/close cycles.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.Eng.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Van Hoosear, Christopher A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Elizabeth Basha

• Aerospace engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Robotics
• Applied sciences
• Engineering

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Identifier

9781303591402

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1230