Door Opening and Closing for Nonholonomic Non-Redundant Service Robots

The number of degrees of freedom (DOF’s) required for the task of opening and closing a door by a service robot has not been a subject of research. This paper analyses the implications of using nonholonomic non-redundant service robots for this task as part of our research studying how the reduction of DOF's effects a robot's capability. We will show only one DOF remains after the door handle has been grabbed by a robot. Using mathematical simulations the dependence of the robot's path on the geometry of the door-robot system is analysed. As a result we find the system shows both stable and unstable behavior. Analysing the influence of walls and system geometry on the required positioning accuracy of a service robot we present a method to determine the robot dimensions. The width of the robot's base and the length of the robot's arm are the most important parameters.bioroboticsBioMechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin