Problem
For the inspection and maintenance of the ASDEX Upgrade nuclear fusion experiment, a Tokamack fusion reactor, a robot is needed to work inside the reactor chamber under vacuum. The robot is underactuated and is controlled via a tether system using a remote actuation setup.
How can a robot successfully navigate the tight spaces of the reactor, while performing inspection and maintenance?
Objective
The goal of the project is deploy a highly redundant snake like robot that enters the vacuum chamber of the nuclear reactor and reaches a destination pose automatically.
Further, a user should be capable of controlling the robot end-effector in an intuitive way using an interface to inspect the internal wall.