[Dprglist] Robot Working Environments

[Murray Altheim]

On the Discord channel the subject of wheels and casters came up and it
occurred to me to try to enumerate the various environments we might
expect our robots to operate in, as this can help people figure out what
kinds of wheels, casters, tank treads, etc. they might consider. A robot
designed for a smooth floor can't be expected to operate up in the
mountains or on the beach, and if smooth floors are all that's expected
the need for large wheels or stair-climbing ability seems overkill.

So here's a first crack at the list of possible robot working environments:

• entirely smooth vinyl, wood or concrete floor, indoor
• mostly smooth wood or tile floor, indoor
• typical indoor flooring, with transitions (smooth, tiled, carpet and rug)
• relatively smooth outdoor (concrete sidewalk, wood deck, parking lot)
• moderately even suburban outdoor (concrete, lawn, transitions, but
   no stairs, curbs, or cliffs)
• challenging suburban outdoor (uneven concrete, curbs, stairs, cliffs)
• wild environments (sand or beach, up in the mountains, tree branches,
   rocks, cliffs, anything goes)
• snow
• water surface
• water surface/amphibious
• underwater
• airborne
• outer space or other planets

There's also the notion of whether a robot can handle rain or spray. Or
on a beach, can it avoid the waves? Apparently some *prefer* the waves...

See: https://service.robots.org.nz/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=RobotOperatingEnvironment

Cheers,

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com>                       = =  ===
http://www.altheim.com/murray/                                     ===  ===
                                                                    = =  ===
     In the evening
     The rice leaves in the garden
     Rustle in the autumn wind
     That blows through my reed hut.
            -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu