Bridge-transported bilateral master-slave servo manipulator system for remote manipulation in spent nuclear fuel processing plant

A bridge‐transported bilateral master–slave servo manipulator system called the Bridge‐Transported Dual‐Arm Servo‐Manipulator (BDSM) was developed for remote manipulation at the Pyroprocess Integrated Inactive Demonstration (PRIDE) facility. Its many innovative design concepts include a motion‐decoupled, cable‐drive mechanism, fully counterbalanced linkage structure, and interface system for easy attachment/detachment of the arms during remote maintenance. In addition, the manipulator is mounted at the end of a novel redundant‐drive extensible telescopic boom with a synchronized compact cabling management system. The BDSM is currently installed in the Remote Handling Evaluation Mock‐up (RHEM), where it has successfully completed operating tests with a remote control system incorporating a bilateral force‐reflection controller. Good tracking performance was confirmed regardless of the payload, allowing highly transparent control. The system is thus expected to achieve its design goals in dexterous remote handling tasks in PRIDE. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.