A ROBOTICALLY ASSISTED MUNITION LOADING SYSTEM

Due to the reliance upon manual operations, conventional loading of munitions on tactical aircraft has several deficiencies including inefficient manpower and time utilization; accident potential; exposure of crew members to chemical, biological, and nuclear agents; and visual obstruction. This article reports on the research and development of a full-scale prototype robotic system called Robotically Assisted Munition Loading System (RAMLS) comprising a fine motion mechanism (FIMOM), a pose acquisition device (PAD), a manual controller, and a data acquisition and computing system. The FIMOM is a six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel mechanism driven by six hydraulic actuators and the PAD is a passive open kinematic chain mechanism having 6 DOF. The article describes the design and functions of the RAMLS components and presents results of experiments conducted to evaluate the RAMLS's performance. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.