Kinematics and the implementation of an elephant's trunk manipulator and other continuum style robots

Science.gov (United States)

Hannan, Michael W.; Walker, Ian D.

2003-01-01

Traditionally, robot manipulators have been a simple arrangement of a small number of serially connected links and actuated joints. Though these manipulators prove to be very effective for many tasks, they are not without their limitations, due mainly to their lack of maneuverability or total degrees of freedom. Continuum style (i.e., continuous "back-bone") robots, on the other hand, exhibit a wide range of maneuverability, and can have a large number of degrees of freedom. The motion of continuum style robots is generated through the bending of the robot over a given section; unlike traditional robots where the motion occurs in discrete locations, i.e., joints. The motion of continuum manipulators is often compared to that of biological manipulators such as trunks and tentacles. These continuum style robots can achieve motions that could only be obtainable by a conventionally designed robot with many more degrees of freedom. In this paper we present a detailed formulation and explanation of a novel kinematic model for continuum style robots. The design, construction, and implementation of our continuum style robot called the elephant trunk manipulator is presented. Experimental results are then provided to verify the legitimacy of our model when applied to our physical manipulator. We also provide a set of obstacle avoidance experiments that help to exhibit the practical implementation of both our manipulator and our kinematic model. c2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The application of manipulator robot for nuclear plant maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kohata, Yukifumi; Fujita, Jun; Onishi, Ken; Tsuhari, Hiroyuki; Hosoe, Fumihiro

2010-01-01

In the maintenance works at nuclear power plant, robots are used because of high radiation, narrow space and underwater work. Various robots are needed because there is various maintenance works. This is inefficiency. As the solutions, we developed manipulator robots for the access of specialized tools. This study shows manipulator robots developed by MHI, application example to maintenance works and effectiveness of manipulator robots. When robotization of maintenance works are considered, manipulator technology is very effective solution means. We achieved efficiency improvement and the reliability improvement by developing a high generality manipulator. (author)

A set of decentralized PID controllers for an n–link robot manipulator

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A class of stabilizing decentralized proportional integral derivative (PID) controllers for an -link robot manipulator system is proposed. The range of decentralized PID controller parameters for an -link robot manipulator is obtained using Kharitonov theorem and stability boundary equations. Basically, the proposed design ...

Analysis of a closed-kinematic chain robot manipulator

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Charles C.; Pooran, Farhad J.

1988-01-01

Presented are the research results from the research grant entitled: Active Control of Robot Manipulators, sponsored by the Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) under grant number NAG-780. This report considers a class of robot manipulators based on the closed-kinematic chain mechanism (CKCM). This type of robot manipulators mainly consists of two platforms, one is stationary and the other moving, and they are coupled together through a number of in-parallel actuators. Using spatial geometry and homogeneous transformation, a closed-form solution is derived for the inverse kinematic problem of the six-degree-of-freedom manipulator, built to study robotic assembly in space. Iterative Newton Raphson method is employed to solve the forward kinematic problem. Finally, the equations of motion of the above manipulators are obtained by employing the Lagrangian method. Study of the manipulator dynamics is performed using computer simulation whose results show that the robot actuating forces are strongly dependent on the mass and centroid locations of the robot links.

Particularities of fully-parallel manipulators in 6-DOFs robots design: a review of critical aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milica Lucian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A whole range of industrial applications requires the presence of parallel mechanisms with six degrees of freedom (6-DOF which have been developed in the last fifteen years, and one of the reasons why they still are a current topic is that present-day computers are capable of performing real-time motion laws of great complexity associated with these types of parallel mechanisms. The present work underlines particularities of parallel manipulators and their importance in the design of 6-DOF robots. The paper reveals the progress made in the last twenty years in the development of 6-DOF parallel manipulators, which increasingly find a wide scope of applications in different industrial areas such as robotics, manufacture and assisted medicine. It also emphasizes the need to determine singular configurations and the effect of cinematic redundancy which can increase the working space of the manipulators by adding active joints in one or more branches of the manipulator. Throughout the work, there were outlined three types of singularities encountered in the modelling of different types of parallel manipulators, and three types of redundancy. Furthermore, an analysis was made of the dimension of the workspace for a series of parallel manipulators, highlighting a number of factors that influence its size.

Pneumatic artificial muscle actuators for compliant robotic manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Ryan Michael

Robotic systems are increasingly being utilized in applications that require interaction with humans. In order to enable safe physical human-robot interaction, light weight and compliant manipulation are desirable. These requirements are problematic for many conventional actuation systems, which are often heavy, and typically use high stiffness to achieve high performance, leading to large impact forces upon collision. However, pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) are actuators that can satisfy these safety requirements while offering power-to-weight ratios comparable to those of conventional actuators. PAMs are extremely lightweight actuators that produce force in response to pressurization. These muscles demonstrate natural compliance, but have a nonlinear force-contraction profile that complicates modeling and control. This body of research presents solutions to the challenges associated with the implementation of PAMs as actuators in robotic manipulators, particularly with regard to modeling, design, and control. An existing PAM force balance model was modified to incorporate elliptic end geometry and a hyper-elastic constitutive relationship, dramatically improving predictions of PAM behavior at high contraction. Utilizing this improved model, two proof-of-concept PAM-driven manipulators were designed and constructed; design features included parallel placement of actuators and a tendon-link joint design. Genetic algorithm search heuristics were employed to determine an optimal joint geometry; allowing a manipulator to achieve a desired torque profile while minimizing the required PAM pressure. Performance of the manipulators was evaluated in both simulation and experiment employing various linear and nonlinear control strategies. These included output feedback techniques, such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and fuzzy logic, a model-based control for computed torque, and more advanced controllers, such as sliding mode, adaptive sliding mode, and

Lazy motion planning for robotic manipulators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andrien, A.R.P.; van de Molengraft, M.J.G.; Bruyninckx, H.P.J.

2017-01-01

Robotic manipulators are making a shift towards mobile bases in both industry and domestic environments, which puts high demands on efficient use of the robot’s limited energy resources. In this work, the problem of reducing energy usage of a robot manipulator during a task is investigated. We

The application of manipulator robot for nuclear power plant maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujita, Jun; Onishi, Ken

2009-01-01

In the maintenance works at nuclear power plant, robots are used because of high radiation, narrow space and underwater work. In light of manufacture period, cost and reliability, various maintenance works are requested to be done by one robot. As one of the solutions, we developed manipulator robots for the access of specialized tools. This study shows manipulator robots developed by MHI, application example to maintenance works and effectiveness of manipulator robots. When robotization of maintenance works are considered, manipulator technology is very effective solution means. The manipulator technologies in this study are able to apply to robotization needed under radiation environment. (author)

Dynamic whole-body robotic manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Abe, Yeuhi; Stephens, Benjamin; Murphy, Michael P.; Rizzi, Alfred A.

2013-05-01

The creation of dynamic manipulation behaviors for high degree of freedom, mobile robots will allow them to accomplish increasingly difficult tasks in the field. We are investigating how the coordinated use of the body, legs, and integrated manipulator, on a mobile robot, can improve the strength, velocity, and workspace when handling heavy objects. We envision that such a capability would aid in a search and rescue scenario when clearing obstacles from a path or searching a rubble pile quickly. Manipulating heavy objects is especially challenging because the dynamic forces are high and a legged system must coordinate all its degrees of freedom to accomplish tasks while maintaining balance. To accomplish these types of manipulation tasks, we use trajectory optimization techniques to generate feasible open-loop behaviors for our 28 dof quadruped robot (BigDog) by planning trajectories in a 13 dimensional space. We apply the Covariance Matrix Adaptation (CMA) algorithm to solve for trajectories that optimize task performance while also obeying important constraints such as torque and velocity limits, kinematic limits, and center of pressure location. These open-loop behaviors are then used to generate desired feed-forward body forces and foot step locations, which enable tracking on the robot. Some hardware results for cinderblock throwing are demonstrated on the BigDog quadruped platform augmented with a human-arm-like manipulator. The results are analogous to how a human athlete maximizes distance in the discus event by performing a precise sequence of choreographed steps.

Soft Robotic Manipulation of Onions and Artichokes in the Food Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Morales

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the development of a robotic solution for a problem of fast manipulation and handling of onions or artichokes in the food industry. The complete solution consists of a parallel robotic manipulatior, a specially designed end-effector based on a customized vacuum suction cup, and a computer vision software developed for pick and place operations. First, the selection and design process of the proposed robotic solution to fit with the initial requeriments is presented, including the customized vacuum suction cup. Then, the kinematic analysis of the parallel manipulator needed to develop the robot control system is reviewed. Moreover, computer vision application is presented inthe paper. Hardware details of the implementation of the building prototype are also shown. Finally, conclusions and future work show the current status of the project.

A motion sensing-based framework for robotic manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Hao; Xia, Zeyang; Weng, Shaokui; Gan, Yangzhou; Fang, Peng; Xiong, Jing

2016-01-01

To data, outside of the controlled environments, robots normally perform manipulation tasks operating with human. This pattern requires the robot operators with high technical skills training for varied teach-pendant operating system. Motion sensing technology, which enables human-machine interaction in a novel and natural interface using gestures, has crucially inspired us to adopt this user-friendly and straightforward operation mode on robotic manipulation. Thus, in this paper, we presented a motion sensing-based framework for robotic manipulation, which recognizes gesture commands captured from motion sensing input device and drives the action of robots. For compatibility, a general hardware interface layer was also developed in the framework. Simulation and physical experiments have been conducted for preliminary validation. The results have shown that the proposed framework is an effective approach for general robotic manipulation with motion sensing control.

Control of free-flying space robot manipulator systems

Science.gov (United States)

Cannon, Robert H., Jr.

1990-01-01

New control techniques for self contained, autonomous free flying space robots were developed and tested experimentally. Free flying robots are envisioned as a key element of any successful long term presence in space. These robots must be capable of performing the assembly, maintenance, and inspection, and repair tasks that currently require human extravehicular activity (EVA). A set of research projects were developed and carried out using lab models of satellite robots and a flexible manipulator. The second generation space robot models use air cushion vehicle (ACV) technology to simulate in 2-D the drag free, zero g conditions of space. The current work is divided into 5 major projects: Global Navigation and Control of a Free Floating Robot, Cooperative Manipulation from a Free Flying Robot, Multiple Robot Cooperation, Thrusterless Robotic Locomotion, and Dynamic Payload Manipulation. These projects are examined in detail.

An Integrated Framework for Human-Robot Collaborative Manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Weihua; Thobbi, Anand; Gu, Ye

2015-10-01

This paper presents an integrated learning framework that enables humanoid robots to perform human-robot collaborative manipulation tasks. Specifically, a table-lifting task performed jointly by a human and a humanoid robot is chosen for validation purpose. The proposed framework is split into two phases: 1) phase I-learning to grasp the table and 2) phase II-learning to perform the manipulation task. An imitation learning approach is proposed for phase I. In phase II, the behavior of the robot is controlled by a combination of two types of controllers: 1) reactive and 2) proactive. The reactive controller lets the robot take a reactive control action to make the table horizontal. The proactive controller lets the robot take proactive actions based on human motion prediction. A measure of confidence of the prediction is also generated by the motion predictor. This confidence measure determines the leader/follower behavior of the robot. Hence, the robot can autonomously switch between the behaviors during the task. Finally, the performance of the human-robot team carrying out the collaborative manipulation task is experimentally evaluated on a platform consisting of a Nao humanoid robot and a Vicon motion capture system. Results show that the proposed framework can enable the robot to carry out the collaborative manipulation task successfully.

A Multi-Sensorial Hybrid Control for Robotic Manipulation in Human-Robot Workspaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan A. Corrales

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Autonomous manipulation in semi-structured environments where human operators can interact is an increasingly common task in robotic applications. This paper describes an intelligent multi-sensorial approach that solves this issue by providing a multi-robotic platform with a high degree of autonomy and the capability to perform complex tasks. The proposed sensorial system is composed of a hybrid visual servo control to efficiently guide the robot towards the object to be manipulated, an inertial motion capture system and an indoor localization system to avoid possible collisions between human operators and robots working in the same workspace, and a tactile sensor algorithm to correctly manipulate the object. The proposed controller employs the whole multi-sensorial system and combines the measurements of each one of the used sensors during two different phases considered in the robot task: a first phase where the robot approaches the object to be grasped, and a second phase of manipulation of the object. In both phases, the unexpected presence of humans is taken into account. This paper also presents the successful results obtained in several experimental setups which verify the validity of the proposed approach.

Balancing of linkages and robot manipulators advanced methods with illustrative examples

CERN Document Server

Arakelian, Vigen

2015-01-01

In this book advanced balancing methods for planar and spatial linkages, hand operated and automatic robot manipulators are presented. It is organized into three main parts and eight chapters. The main parts are the introduction to balancing, the balancing of linkages and the balancing of robot manipulators. The review of state-of-the-art literature including more than 500 references discloses particularities of shaking force/moment balancing and gravity compensation methods. Then new methods for balancing of linkages are considered. Methods provided in the second part of the book deal with the partial and complete shaking force/moment balancing of various linkages. A new field for balancing methods applications is the design of mechanical systems for fast manipulation. Special attention is given to the shaking force/moment balancing of robot manipulators. Gravity balancing methods are also discussed. The suggested balancing methods are illustrated by numerous examples.

Intraocular robotic interventional surgical system (IRISS): Mechanical design, evaluation, and master-slave manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Jason T; Gerber, Matthew J; Prince, Stephen W; Chen, Cheng-Wei; Schwartz, Steven D; Hubschman, Jean-Pierre; Tsao, Tsu-Chin

2018-02-01

Since the advent of robotic-assisted surgery, the value of using robotic systems to assist in surgical procedures has been repeatedly demonstrated. However, existing technologies are unable to perform complete, multi-step procedures from start to finish. Many intraocular surgical steps continue to be manually performed. An intraocular robotic interventional surgical system (IRISS) capable of performing various intraocular surgical procedures was designed, fabricated, and evaluated. Methods were developed to evaluate the performance of the remote centers of motion (RCMs) using a stereo-camera setup and to assess the accuracy and precision of positioning the tool tip using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. The IRISS can simultaneously manipulate multiple surgical instruments, change between mounted tools using an onboard tool-change mechanism, and visualize the otherwise invisible RCMs to facilitate alignment of the RCM to the surgical incision. The accuracy of positioning the tool tip was measured to be 0.205±0.003 mm. The IRISS was evaluated by trained surgeons in a remote surgical theatre using post-mortem pig eyes and shown to be effective in completing many key steps in a variety of intraocular surgical procedures as well as being capable of performing an entire cataract extraction from start to finish. The IRISS represents a necessary step towards fully automated intraocular surgery and demonstrated accurate and precise master-slave manipulation for cataract removal and-through visual feedback-retinal vein cannulation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

3rd IFToMM Symposium on Mechanism Design for Robotics

CERN Document Server

Ceccarelli, Marco

2015-01-01

This volume contains the Proceedings of the 3rd IFToMM Symposium on Mechanism Design for Robotics, held in Aalborg, Denmark, 2-4 June, 2015. The book contains papers on recent advances in the design of mechanisms and their robotic applications. It treats the following topics: mechanism design, mechanics of robots, parallel manipulators, actuators and their control, linkage and industrial manipulators, innovative mechanisms/robots and their applications, among others. The book can be used by researchers and engineers in the relevant areas of mechanisms, machines and robotics.

Repetitive motion planning and control of redundant robot manipulators

CERN Document Server

Zhang, Yunong

2013-01-01

Repetitive Motion Planning and Control of Redundant Robot Manipulators presents four typical motion planning schemes based on optimization techniques, including the fundamental RMP scheme and its extensions. These schemes are unified as quadratic programs (QPs), which are solved by neural networks or numerical algorithms. The RMP schemes are demonstrated effectively by the simulation results based on various robotic models; the experiments applying the fundamental RMP scheme to a physical robot manipulator are also presented. As the schemes and the corresponding solvers presented in the book have solved the non-repetitive motion problems existing in redundant robot manipulators, it is of particular use in applying theoretical research based on the quadratic program for redundant robot manipulators in industrial situations. This book will be a valuable reference work for engineers, researchers, advanced undergraduate and graduate students in robotics fields. Yunong Zhang is a professor at The School of Informa...

Manipulator motion planning for high-speed robotic laser cutting

OpenAIRE

Dolgui , Alexandre; Pashkevich , Anatol

2009-01-01

Abstract Recent advances in laser technology, and especially the essential increase of the cutting speed, motivate amending the existing robot path methods, which do not allow the complete utilisation of the actuator capabilities as well as neglect some particularities in the mechanical design of the wrist of the manipulator arm. This research addresses the optimisation of the 6-axes robot motions for continuous contour tracking while considering the redundancy caused by the tool a...

An octopus-bioinspired solution to movement and manipulation for soft robots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Calisti, M; Giorelli, M; Laschi, C; Dario, P [BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant' Anna, Pisa (Italy); Levy, G; Hochner, B [Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Israel); Mazzolai, B, E-mail: marcello.calisti@sssup.it, E-mail: michele.giorelli@sssup.it, E-mail: guy.levy@mail.huji.ac.il, E-mail: barbara.mazzolai@iit.it, E-mail: Binyamin.Hochner@huji.ac.il, E-mail: cecilia.laschi@sssup.it, E-mail: paolo.dario@sssup.it [Centre for Micro-BioRobotics-SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Pontedera (Italy)

2011-09-15

Soft robotics is a challenging and promising branch of robotics. It can drive significant improvements across various fields of traditional robotics, and contribute solutions to basic problems such as locomotion and manipulation in unstructured environments. A challenging task for soft robotics is to build and control soft robots able to exert effective forces. In recent years, biology has inspired several solutions to such complex problems. This study aims at investigating the smart solution that the Octopus vulgaris adopts to perform a crawling movement, with the same limbs used for grasping and manipulation. An ad hoc robot was designed and built taking as a reference a biological hypothesis on crawling. A silicone arm with cables embedded to replicate the functionality of the arm muscles of the octopus was built. This novel arm is capable of pushing-based locomotion and object grasping, mimicking the movements that octopuses adopt when crawling. The results support the biological observations and clearly show a suitable way to build a more complex soft robot that, with minimum control, can perform diverse tasks.

An octopus-bioinspired solution to movement and manipulation for soft robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calisti, M; Giorelli, M; Laschi, C; Dario, P; Levy, G; Hochner, B; Mazzolai, B

2011-01-01

Soft robotics is a challenging and promising branch of robotics. It can drive significant improvements across various fields of traditional robotics, and contribute solutions to basic problems such as locomotion and manipulation in unstructured environments. A challenging task for soft robotics is to build and control soft robots able to exert effective forces. In recent years, biology has inspired several solutions to such complex problems. This study aims at investigating the smart solution that the Octopus vulgaris adopts to perform a crawling movement, with the same limbs used for grasping and manipulation. An ad hoc robot was designed and built taking as a reference a biological hypothesis on crawling. A silicone arm with cables embedded to replicate the functionality of the arm muscles of the octopus was built. This novel arm is capable of pushing-based locomotion and object grasping, mimicking the movements that octopuses adopt when crawling. The results support the biological observations and clearly show a suitable way to build a more complex soft robot that, with minimum control, can perform diverse tasks.

An octopus-bioinspired solution to movement and manipulation for soft robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Calisti, M; Giorelli, M; Levy, G; Mazzolai, B; Hochner, B; Laschi, C; Dario, P

2011-09-01

Soft robotics is a challenging and promising branch of robotics. It can drive significant improvements across various fields of traditional robotics, and contribute solutions to basic problems such as locomotion and manipulation in unstructured environments. A challenging task for soft robotics is to build and control soft robots able to exert effective forces. In recent years, biology has inspired several solutions to such complex problems. This study aims at investigating the smart solution that the Octopus vulgaris adopts to perform a crawling movement, with the same limbs used for grasping and manipulation. An ad hoc robot was designed and built taking as a reference a biological hypothesis on crawling. A silicone arm with cables embedded to replicate the functionality of the arm muscles of the octopus was built. This novel arm is capable of pushing-based locomotion and object grasping, mimicking the movements that octopuses adopt when crawling. The results support the biological observations and clearly show a suitable way to build a more complex soft robot that, with minimum control, can perform diverse tasks.

Posture manipulation for rescue activity via small traction robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iwano, Yuki; Osuka, Koichi; Amano, Hisanori

2006-01-01

We discuss a conceptual design of rescue robots against nuclear-power plant accidents. We claim that the rescue robots in nuclear-power plants should have the following properties. (1) The size is small. (2) The structure is simple. (3) The number of the robots is large. This paper studies the rescue robots to rescue people in an area polluted with radioactive leakage in nuclear power institutions. In particular, we propose a rescue system which consists of a group of small mobile robots. First, small traction robots set the posture of the fainted victims to carry easily, and carry them to the safety space with the mobile robots for the stretcher composition. In this paper, we describe the produced small traction robots. And, we confirm that the robots can manipulate a 40 kg dummy doll's posture. We also examine the optimal number of robots from a perspective of working efficiency in the assumption spot. (author)

Industrial dual arm robot manipulator for precise assembly of mechanical parts

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Chanhun; Kim, Doohyung; Park, Kyoungtaik; Choi, Youngjin

2007-12-01

A new structure of dual arm robot manipulator which consists of two industrial 6-DOF arms and one 2-DOF Torso is introduced. Each industrial 6-DOF arm is able to be used as a stand-alone industrial 6-DOF robot manipulator and as a part of dual arm manipulator at the same time. These structures help the robot maker which is willing to succeed in the emerging dual arm robot market in order to have high competition for the current industrial robot market at same time. Self-collision detection algorithm for multi-arm robot and kinematics algorithms for the developed dual arm robot manipulator which are implemented in our controller are introduced.

Application of model based control to robotic manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Petrosky, Lyman J.; Oppenheim, Irving J.

1988-01-01

A robot that can duplicate humam motion capabilities in such activities as balancing, reaching, lifting, and moving has been built and tested. These capabilities are achieved through the use of real time Model-Based Control (MBC) techniques which have recently been demonstrated. MBC accounts for all manipulator inertial forces and provides stable manipulator motion control even at high speeds. To effectively demonstrate the unique capabilities of MBC, an experimental robotic manipulator was constructed, which stands upright, balancing on a two wheel base. The mathematical modeling of dynamics inherent in MBC permit the control system to perform functions that are impossible with conventional non-model based methods. These capabilities include: (1) Stable control at all speeds of operation; (2) Operations requiring dynamic stability such as balancing; (3) Detection and monitoring of applied forces without the use of load sensors; (4) Manipulator safing via detection of abnormal loads. The full potential of MBC has yet to be realized. The experiments performed for this research are only an indication of the potential applications. MBC has no inherent stability limitations and its range of applicability is limited only by the attainable sampling rate, modeling accuracy, and sensor resolution. Manipulators could be designed to operate at the highest speed mechanically attainable without being limited by control inadequacies. Manipulators capable of operating many times faster than current machines would certainly increase productivity for many tasks.

Approaches to probabilistic model learning for mobile manipulation robots

CERN Document Server

Sturm, Jürgen

2013-01-01

Mobile manipulation robots are envisioned to provide many useful services both in domestic environments as well as in the industrial context. Examples include domestic service robots that implement large parts of the housework, and versatile industrial assistants that provide automation, transportation, inspection, and monitoring services. The challenge in these applications is that the robots have to function under changing, real-world conditions, be able to deal with considerable amounts of noise and uncertainty, and operate without the supervision of an expert. This book presents novel learning techniques that enable mobile manipulation robots, i.e., mobile platforms with one or more robotic manipulators, to autonomously adapt to new or changing situations. The approaches presented in this book cover the following topics: (1) learning the robot's kinematic structure and properties using actuation and visual feedback, (2) learning about articulated objects in the environment in which the robot is operating,...

Control of free-flying space robot manipulator systems

Science.gov (United States)

Cannon, Robert H., Jr.

1989-01-01

Control techniques for self-contained, autonomous free-flying space robots are being tested and developed. Free-flying space robots are envisioned as a key element of any successful long term presence in space. These robots must be capable of performing the assembly, maintenance, and inspection, and repair tasks that currently require astronaut extra-vehicular activity (EVA). Use of robots will provide economic savings as well as improved astronaut safety by reducing and in many cases, eliminating the need for human EVA. The focus of the work is to develop and carry out a set of research projects using laboratory models of satellite robots. These devices use air-cushion-vehicle (ACV) technology to simulate in two dimensions the drag-free, zero-g conditions of space. Current work is divided into six major projects or research areas. Fixed-base cooperative manipulation work represents our initial entry into multiple arm cooperation and high-level control with a sophisticated user interface. The floating-base cooperative manipulation project strives to transfer some of the technologies developed in the fixed-base work onto a floating base. The global control and navigation experiment seeks to demonstrate simultaneous control of the robot manipulators and the robot base position so that tasks can be accomplished while the base is undergoing a controlled motion. The multiple-vehicle cooperation project's goal is to demonstrate multiple free-floating robots working in teams to carry out tasks too difficult or complex for a single robot to perform. The Location Enhancement Arm Push-off (LEAP) activity's goal is to provide a viable alternative to expendable gas thrusters for vehicle propulsion wherein the robot uses its manipulators to throw itself from place to place. Because the successful execution of the LEAP technique requires an accurate model of the robot and payload mass properties, it was deemed an attractive testbed for adaptive control technology.

Kinematics and trajectory synthesis of manipulation robots

CERN Document Server

Vukobratović, Miomir

1986-01-01

A few words about the series "Scientific Fundamentals of Robotics" should be said on the occasion of publication of the present monograph. This six-volume series has been conceived so as to allow the readers to master a contemporary approach to the construction and synthesis of con­ trol for manipulation ~obots. The authors' idea was to show how to use correct mathematical models of the dynamics of active spatial mecha­ nisms for dynamic analysis of robotic systems, optimal design of their mechanical parts based on the accepted criteria and imposed constraints, optimal choice of actuators, synthesis of dynamic control algorithms and their microcomputer implementation. In authors' oppinion this idea has been relatively successfully realized within the six-volume mono­ graphic series. Let us remind the readers of the books of this series. Volumes 1 and 2 are devoted to the dynamics and control algorithms of manipulation ro­ bots, respectively. They form the first part of the series which has a certain topic...

A design of speed reducer with trapezoidal tooth profile for robot manipulator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nam, Won Ki; Oh, Se Hoon [Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2011-01-15

Robots are increasingly performing human work as manufacturing is automated. Accordingly, the use of precision speed reducers has become essential for achieving precise control of the robot arm position. Curved tooth profiles, such as cycloid or involute tooth profiles, are generally used in precision speed reducers. Speed reducers with cycloid tooth profiles, which enable high precision control, are widely used to manipulate robot systems. This study proposes a speed reducer that has a trapezoidal tooth profile with straight lines. In this work, we mechanically analyzed trapezoidal tooth profiles, and then measured performance was by various tests using a prototype manufactured specifically for this study.

A design of speed reducer with trapezoidal tooth profile for robot manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nam, Won Ki; Oh, Se Hoon

2011-01-01

Robots are increasingly performing human work as manufacturing is automated. Accordingly, the use of precision speed reducers has become essential for achieving precise control of the robot arm position. Curved tooth profiles, such as cycloid or involute tooth profiles, are generally used in precision speed reducers. Speed reducers with cycloid tooth profiles, which enable high precision control, are widely used to manipulate robot systems. This study proposes a speed reducer that has a trapezoidal tooth profile with straight lines. In this work, we mechanically analyzed trapezoidal tooth profiles, and then measured performance was by various tests using a prototype manufactured specifically for this study

Kinematic design considerations for minimally invasive surgical robots: an overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, Chin-Hsing; Dai, Jian S; Dasgupta, Prokar

2012-06-01

Kinematic design is a predominant phase in the design of robotic manipulators for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). However, an extensive overview of the kinematic design issues for MIS robots is not yet available to both mechanisms and robotics communities. Hundreds of archival reports and articles on robotic systems for MIS are reviewed and studied. In particular, the kinematic design considerations and mechanism development described in the literature for existing robots are focused on. The general kinematic design goals, design requirements, and design preferences for MIS robots are defined. An MIS-specialized mechanism, namely the remote center-of-motion (RCM) mechanism, is revisited and studied. Accordingly, based on the RCM mechanism types, a classification for MIS robots is provided. A comparison between eight different RCM types is given. Finally, several open challenges for the kinematic design of MIS robotic manipulators are discussed. This work provides a detailed survey of the kinematic design of MIS robots, addresses the research opportunity in MIS robots for kinematicians, and clarifies the kinematic point of view to MIS robots as a reference for the medical community. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SSSFD manipulator engineering using statistical experiment design techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, John

1991-01-01

The Satellite Servicer System Flight Demonstration (SSSFD) program is a series of Shuttle flights designed to verify major on-orbit satellite servicing capabilities, such as rendezvous and docking of free flyers, Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) exchange, and fluid transfer. A major part of this system is the manipulator system that will perform the ORU exchange. The manipulator must possess adequate toolplate dexterity to maneuver a variety of EVA-type tools into position to interface with ORU fasteners, connectors, latches, and handles on the satellite, and to move workpieces and ORUs through 6 degree of freedom (dof) space from the Target Vehicle (TV) to the Support Module (SM) and back. Two cost efficient tools were combined to perform a study of robot manipulator design parameters. These tools are graphical computer simulations and Taguchi Design of Experiment methods. Using a graphics platform, an off-the-shelf robot simulation software package, and an experiment designed with Taguchi's approach, the sensitivities of various manipulator kinematic design parameters to performance characteristics are determined with minimal cost.

Introduction to autonomous manipulation case study with an underwater robot, SAUVIM

CERN Document Server

Marani, Giacomo

2014-01-01

“Autonomous manipulation” is a challenge in robotic technologies. It refers to the capability of a mobile robot system with one or more manipulators that performs intervention tasks requiring physical contacts in unstructured environments and without continuous human supervision. Achieving autonomous manipulation capability is a quantum leap in robotic technologies as it is currently beyond the state of the art in robotics. This book addresses issues with the complexity of the problems encountered in autonomous manipulation including representation and modeling of robotic structures, kinematic and dynamic robotic control, kinematic and algorithmic singularity avoidance, dynamic task priority, workspace optimization and environment perception. Further development in autonomous manipulation should be able to provide robust improvements of the solutions for all of the above issues. The book provides an extensive tract on sensory-based autonomous manipulation for intervention tasks in unstructured environment...

Advanced Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control for Robot Manipulator

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Ji-Hwan Hwang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, advanced interval type-2 fuzzy sliding mode control (AIT2FSMC for robot manipulator is proposed. The proposed AIT2FSMC is a combination of interval type-2 fuzzy system and sliding mode control. For resembling a feedback linearization (FL control law, interval type-2 fuzzy system is designed. For compensating the approximation error between the FL control law and interval type-2 fuzzy system, sliding mode controller is designed, respectively. The tuning algorithms are derived in the sense of Lyapunov stability theorem. Two-link rigid robot manipulator with nonlinearity is used to test and the simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method that can control unknown system well.

Kinematics and dynamics of a six-degree-of-freedom robot manipulator with closed kinematic chain mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Charles C.; Pooran, Farhad J.

1989-01-01

This paper deals with a class of robot manipulators built based on the kinematic chain mechanism (CKCM). This class of CKCM manipulators consists of a fixed and a moving platform coupled together via a number of in-parallel actuators. A closed-form solution is derived for the inverse kinematic problem of a six-degre-of-freedom CKCM manipulator designed to study robotic applications in space. Iterative Newton-Raphson method is employed to solve the forward kinematic problem. Dynamics of the above manipulator is derived using the Lagrangian approach. Computer simulation of the dynamical equations shows that the actuating forces are strongly dependent on the mass and centroid of the robot links.

Planning Robotic Manipulation Strategies for Sliding Objects

Science.gov (United States)

Peshkin, Michael A.

Automated planning of grasping or manipulation requires an understanding of both the physics and the geometry of manipulation, and a representation of that knowledge which facilitates the search for successful strategies. We consider manipulation on a level conveyor belt or tabletop, on which a part may slide when touched by a robot. Manipulation plans for a given part must succeed in the face of two types of uncertainty: that of the details of surfaces in contact, and that of the initial configuration of the part. In general the points of contact between the part and the surface it slides on will be unknown, so the motion of the part in response to a push cannot be predicted exactly. Using a simple variational principle (which is derived), we find the set of possible motions of a part for a given push, for all collections of points of contact. The answer emerges as a locus of centers of rotation (CORs). Manipulation plans made using this locus will succeed despite unknown details of contact. Results of experimental tests of the COR loci are presented. Uncertainty in the initial configuration of a part is usually also present. To plan in the presence of uncertainty, configuration maps are defined, which map all configurations of a part before an elementary operation to all possible outcomes, thus encapsulating the physics and geometry of the operation. The configuration map for an operation sequence is a product of configuration maps of elementary operations. Using COR loci we compute configuration maps for elementary sliding operations. Appropriate search techniques are applied to find operation sequences which succeed in the presence of uncertainty in the initial configuration and unknown details of contact. Such operation sequences may be used as parts feeder designs or as manipulation or grasping strategies for robots. As an example we demonstrate the automated design of a class of passive parts feeders consisting of multiple sequential fences across a conveyor

A discrete-time adaptive control scheme for robot manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Tarokh, M.

1990-01-01

A discrete-time model reference adaptive control scheme is developed for trajectory tracking of robot manipulators. The scheme utilizes feedback, feedforward, and auxiliary signals, obtained from joint angle measurement through simple expressions. Hyperstability theory is utilized to derive the adaptation laws for the controller gain matrices. It is shown that trajectory tracking is achieved despite gross robot parameter variation and uncertainties. The method offers considerable design flexibility and enables the designer to improve the performance of the control system by adjusting free design parameters. The discrete-time adaptation algorithm is extremely simple and is therefore suitable for real-time implementation. Simulations and experimental results are given to demonstrate the performance of the scheme.

IMU-based online kinematic calibration of robot manipulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Guanglong; Zhang, Ping

2013-01-01

Robot calibration is a useful diagnostic method for improving the positioning accuracy in robot production and maintenance. An online robot self-calibration method based on inertial measurement unit (IMU) is presented in this paper. The method requires that the IMU is rigidly attached to the robot manipulator, which makes it possible to obtain the orientation of the manipulator with the orientation of the IMU in real time. This paper proposed an efficient approach which incorporates Factored Quaternion Algorithm (FQA) and Kalman Filter (KF) to estimate the orientation of the IMU. Then, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to estimate kinematic parameter errors. Using this proposed orientation estimation method will result in improved reliability and accuracy in determining the orientation of the manipulator. Compared with the existing vision-based self-calibration methods, the great advantage of this method is that it does not need the complex steps, such as camera calibration, images capture, and corner detection, which make the robot calibration procedure more autonomous in a dynamic manufacturing environment. Experimental studies on a GOOGOL GRB3016 robot show that this method has better accuracy, convenience, and effectiveness than vision-based methods.

IMU-Based Online Kinematic Calibration of Robot Manipulator

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Guanglong Du

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Robot calibration is a useful diagnostic method for improving the positioning accuracy in robot production and maintenance. An online robot self-calibration method based on inertial measurement unit (IMU is presented in this paper. The method requires that the IMU is rigidly attached to the robot manipulator, which makes it possible to obtain the orientation of the manipulator with the orientation of the IMU in real time. This paper proposed an efficient approach which incorporates Factored Quaternion Algorithm (FQA and Kalman Filter (KF to estimate the orientation of the IMU. Then, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF is used to estimate kinematic parameter errors. Using this proposed orientation estimation method will result in improved reliability and accuracy in determining the orientation of the manipulator. Compared with the existing vision-based self-calibration methods, the great advantage of this method is that it does not need the complex steps, such as camera calibration, images capture, and corner detection, which make the robot calibration procedure more autonomous in a dynamic manufacturing environment. Experimental studies on a GOOGOL GRB3016 robot show that this method has better accuracy, convenience, and effectiveness than vision-based methods.

Physics Based Vision Systems for Robotic Manipulation

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — With the increase of robotic manipulation tasks (TA4.3), specifically dexterous manipulation tasks (TA4.3.2), more advanced computer vision algorithms will be...

Mobile Manipulation, Tool Use, and Intuitive Interaction for Cognitive Service Robot Cosero

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Jörg Stückler

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Cognitive service robots that shall assist persons in need in performing their activities of daily living have recently received much attention in robotics research.Such robots require a vast set of control and perception capabilities to provide useful assistance through mobile manipulation and human-robot interaction.In this article, we present hardware design, perception, and control methods for our cognitive service robot Cosero.We complement autonomous capabilities with handheld teleoperation interfaces on three levels of autonomy.The robot demonstrated various advanced skills, including the use of tools.With our robot we participated in the annual international RoboCup@Home competitions, winning them three times in a row.

Task-space sensory feedback control of robot manipulators

CERN Document Server

Cheah, Chien Chern

2015-01-01

This book presents recent advances in robot control theory on task space sensory feedback control of robot manipulators. By using sensory feedback information, the robot control systems are robust to various uncertainties in modelling and calibration errors of the sensors. Several sensory task space control methods that do not require exact knowledge of either kinematics or dynamics of robots, are presented. Some useful methods such as approximate Jacobian control, adaptive Jacobian control, region control and multiple task space regional feedback are included. These formulations and methods give robots a high degree of flexibility in dealing with unforeseen changes and uncertainties in its kinematics and dynamics, which is similar to human reaching movements and tool manipulation. It also leads to the solution of several long-standing problems and open issues in robot control, such as force control with constraint uncertainty, control of multi-fingered robot hand with uncertain contact points, singularity i...

Pyrotechnic robot - constructive design and command

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Ionel A. Staretu

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Pyrotechnic robots are service robots used to reduce the time for intervention of pyrotechnic troops and to diminish the danger for the operators. Pyrotechnic robots are used to inspect dangerous areas or/and to remove and to distroy explosive or suspicious devices/objects. These robots can be used to make corridors through mined battle fields, for manipulation and neutralization of unexploded ammunition, for inspection of vehicles, trains, airplanes and buildings. For these robots, a good functional activity is determined with regard to work space dimensions,, robotic arm kinematics and gripper characteristics. The paper shows the structural, kinematic, static synthesis and analysis as well as the design and functional simulation of the robotic arm and the grippers attached on the pyrotechnic robot designed by the authors.

Computational simulator of robotic manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leal, Alexandre S.; Campos, Tarcisio P.R.

1995-01-01

Robotic application for industrial plants is discussed and a computational model for a mechanical manipulator of three links is presented. A neural network feed-forward type has been used to model the dynamic control of the manipulator. A graphic interface was developed in C programming language as a virtual world in order to visualize and simulate the arm movements handling radioactive waste environment. (author). 7 refs, 5 figs

Design of Optimal Hybrid Position/Force Controller for a Robot Manipulator Using Neural Networks

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Vikas Panwar

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The application of quadratic optimization and sliding-mode approach is considered for hybrid position and force control of a robot manipulator. The dynamic model of the manipulator is transformed into a state-space model to contain two sets of state variables, where one describes the constrained motion and the other describes the unconstrained motion. The optimal feedback control law is derived solving matrix differential Riccati equation, which is obtained using Hamilton Jacobi Bellman optimization. The optimal feedback control law is shown to be globally exponentially stable using Lyapunov function approach. The dynamic model uncertainties are compensated with a feedforward neural network. The neural network requires no preliminary offline training and is trained with online weight tuning algorithms that guarantee small errors and bounded control signals. The application of the derived control law is demonstrated through simulation with a 4-DOF robot manipulator to track an elliptical planar constrained surface while applying the desired force on the surface.

Hand-held transendoscopic robotic manipulators: A transurethral laser prostate surgery case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrick, Richard J; Mitchell, Christopher R; Herrell, S Duke; Webster, Robert J

2015-11-01

Natural orifice endoscopic surgery can enable incisionless approaches, but a major challenge is the lack of small and dexterous instrumentation. Surgical robots have the potential to meet this need yet often disrupt the clinical workflow. Hand-held robots that combine thin manipulators and endoscopes have the potential to address this by integrating seamlessly into the clinical workflow and enhancing dexterity. As a case study illustrating the potential of this approach, we describe a hand-held robotic system that passes two concentric tube manipulators through a 5 mm port in a rigid endoscope for transurethral laser prostate surgery. This system is intended to catalyze the use of a clinically superior, yet rarely attempted, procedure for benign prostatic hyperplasia. This paper describes system design and experiments to evaluate the surgeon's functional workspace and accuracy using the robot. Phantom and cadaver experiments demonstrate successful completion of the target procedure via prostate lobe resection.

Techniques applied in design optimization of parallel manipulators

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Modungwa, D

2011-11-01

Full Text Available the desired dexterous workspace " Robot.Comput.Integrated Manuf., vol. 23, pp. 38 - 46, 2007. [12] A.P. Murray, F. Pierrot, P. Dauchez and J.M. McCarthy, "A planar quaternion approach to the kinematic synthesis of a parallel manipulator " Robotica, vol... design of a three translational DoFs parallel manipulator " Robotica, vol. 24, pp. 239, 2005. [15] J. Angeles, "The robust design of parallel manipulators," in 1st Int. Colloquium, Collaborative Research Centre 562, 2002. [16] S. Bhattacharya, H...

Design and Control of a Haptic Enabled Robotic Manipulator

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Muhammad Yaqoob

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Robotic surgery offers various advantages over conventional surgery that includes less bleeding, less trauma, and more precise tissue cutting. However, even surgeons who use the best commercially available surgical robotic systems complain about the absence of haptic feedback in such systems. In this paper, we present the findings of our project to overcome this shortcoming of surgical robotic systems, in which a haptic-enabled robotic system based on master and slave topology is designed and developed. To detect real-time intrusion at the slave end, haptic feedback is implemented along with a programmable system on chip, functioning as an embedded system for processing information. In order to obtain real-time haptic feedback, force and motion sensors are mounted on each joint of the master and slave units. At the master end, results are displayed through a graphical user interface, along with the physical feeling of intrusion at the slave part. Apart from the obvious applications of the current system in robotic surgery, it could also be used in designing more intuitive video games with further precise haptic feedback mechanisms. Moreover, the results presented in our work should pave the way for further scientific investigation, to provide even better haptic mechanisms.

20th CISM-IFToMM Symposium on Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators

CERN Document Server

Glazunov, Victor

2014-01-01

This proceedings volume contains papers that have been selected after review for oral presentation at ROMANSY 2014, the 20th CISM-IFToMM Symposium on Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators. These papers cover advances on several aspects of the wide field of Robotics as concerning Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators. ROMANSY 2014 is the twentieth event in a series that started in 1973 as one of the first conference activities in the world on Robotics. The first event was held at CISM (International Centre for Mechanical Science) in Udine, Italy on 5-8 September 1973. It was also the first topic conference of IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science) and it was directed not only to the IFToMM community. Proceedings volumes of ROMANSY have been always published to be available, also after the symposium, to a large public of scholars and designers with the aim to give an overview of new advances and trends in the theory, design, and practice of robots....

The Tactile Ethics of Soft Robotics: Designing Wisely for Human-Robot Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Thomas; Scheutz, Matthias

2017-06-01

Soft robots promise an exciting design trajectory in the field of robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI), promising more adaptive, resilient movement within environments as well as a safer, more sensitive interface for the objects or agents the robot encounters. In particular, tactile HRI is a critical dimension for designers to consider, especially given the onrush of assistive and companion robots into our society. In this article, we propose to surface an important set of ethical challenges for the field of soft robotics to meet. Tactile HRI strongly suggests that soft-bodied robots balance tactile engagement against emotional manipulation, model intimacy on the bonding with a tool not with a person, and deflect users from personally and socially destructive behavior the soft bodies and surfaces could normally entice.

Joining teleoperation with robotics for advanced manipulation in hostile environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, H.L.; Hamel, W.R.

1984-01-01

Manipulators have been used for many years to perform remote handling tasks in hazardous environments. The development history of teleoperators is reviewed, and applications around the world are summarized. The effect of computer supervisory control is discussed, and similarities between robots and teleoperator research activities are delineated. With improved control strategies and system designs, combination of positive attributes of robots with teleoperators will lead to advanced machines capable of autonomy in unstructured environments. This concept of a telerobot is introduced as a goal for future activities

Manipulation robot system based on visual guidance for sealing blocking plate of steam generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duan Xingguang; Wang Yonggui; Li Meng; Kong Xiangzhan; Liu Qingsong

2016-01-01

To reduce labor intensity and irradiation exposure time inside the steam generator during the maintenance period of the nuclear power plant, a blocking plate manipulation robot system, including manipulation robot and pneumatic control console, is developed as an automatic remote-control tool to help staff to complete sealing steam generator primary pipes. The manipulation robot for fastening/loosening bolts utilizes visual guidance for target position, and the recognition algorithm is exerted to extract the bolt center coordinate values from image captured by camera in the procedure. The control strategy based on the position and current feedback is proposed for single bolt operation and whole bolts automatic operation. Meanwhile, the virtual interactive interface and remote monitoring are designed to improve the operability and safety. Finally, the relative experiments have verified the work effectiveness and the future work would be discussed. (author)

A portable modular architecture for robotic manipulator control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butler, P.L.

1993-01-01

A control architecture has been developed to provide a framework for robotic manipulator control. This architecture, called the Modular Integrated Control Architecture (MICA), has been successfully applied to two different manipulator systems. MICA is a portable system in two respects. First, it can be used for the control of different types of manipulator systems. Second, the MICA code is portable across several operating environments. This portability allows the sharing of common control code among various systems. A major portion of MICA is the precise control of multiple processors that have to be coordinated to control a manipulator system. By having NUCA control the processor synchronization, the system developer can concentrate on the specific aspects of a new manipulator system. MICA also provides standard functions for trajectory generation that can be used for most manipulators. Custom trajectory generators can be easily added to suit the needs of a particular robotic control system. Another facility that MICA provides is a simulation of the manipulator, allowing the control code to be simulated before trying it on a manipulator system. Using this technique, one can develop code for a manipulator system without risking damage to the arm during development

Multiplexed Force and Deflection Sensing Shell Membranes for Robotic Manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Yong-Lae; Black, Richard; Moslehi, Behzad; Cutkosky, Mark; Chau, Kelvin

2012-01-01

Force sensing is an essential requirement for dexterous robot manipulation, e.g., for extravehicular robots making vehicle repairs. Although strain gauges have been widely used, a new sensing approach is desirable for applications that require greater robustness, design flexibility including a high degree of multiplexibility, and immunity to electromagnetic noise. This invention is a force and deflection sensor a flexible shell formed with an elastomer having passageways formed by apertures in the shell, with an optical fiber having one or more Bragg gratings positioned in the passageways for the measurement of force and deflection.

Vision Guided Intelligent Robot Design And Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Slutzky, G. D.; Hall, E. L.

1988-02-01

The concept of an intelligent robot is an important topic combining sensors, manipulators, and artificial intelligence to design a useful machine. Vision systems, tactile sensors, proximity switches and other sensors provide the elements necessary for simple game playing as well as industrial applications. These sensors permit adaption to a changing environment. The AI techniques permit advanced forms of decision making, adaptive responses, and learning while the manipulator provides the ability to perform various tasks. Computer languages such as LISP and OPS5, have been utilized to achieve expert systems approaches in solving real world problems. The purpose of this paper is to describe several examples of visually guided intelligent robots including both stationary and mobile robots. Demonstrations will be presented of a system for constructing and solving a popular peg game, a robot lawn mower, and a box stacking robot. The experience gained from these and other systems provide insight into what may be realistically expected from the next generation of intelligent machines.

EVALUATION OF STATE-OF-THE-ART MANIPULATORS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR DOE ROBOTICS APPLICATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

BLACK, DEREK; GRUPINSKI, STEPHEN

1998-10-08

This report provides an overview of applications within the DOE complex which could benefit from the use of modular robotics technology during remediation operations. Each application area contains one or more specific tasks which are presently conducted by humans under hazardous conditions or which are deemed highly impractical, or are altogether impossible without automation. Five major areas were investigated for specific needs with respect to automation. Information was collected on Mixed Waste Operations, Contaminant Automated Analysis, Tanks, Decontamination and Dismantlement and Automated Plutonium Processing. During this investigation, information was gathered from available literature, telephone interviews with informed personnel and on-site visits. This data serves to provide design requirements and guidelines for the design of a family of modular actuators, which will be used to construct manipulators suited to each task. In addition, a survey of existing modular manipulator designs is presented. This survey addresses modular manipulators developed inside government labs and in universities for such applications as space exploration or controls research. It also addresses efforts at commercially viable industrial manipulators which have been built. This survey of robotic systems provides the reader with a glimpse into what technology currently exists in the way of modular manipulator automation and, to a degree, where this technology may be applicable or, more often, where these systems are unsuited to EM applications. From the information gathered during this study, it is possible to sufficiently define the requirements of one manipulator system which can be used to conduct automated transfer operations within Plutonium gloveboxes. This manipulator will be constructed from ARM Automation actuator modules and will provide this application with a viable option for automation within these gloveboxes. The design issues surrounding this manipulator and its

Approximate Dynamic Programming in Tracking Control of a Robotic Manipulator

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Marcin Szuster

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on the implementation of an approximate dynamic programming algorithm in the discrete tracking control system of the three-degrees of freedom Scorbot-ER 4pc robotic manipulator. The controlled system is included in an articulated robots group which uses rotary joints to access their work space. The main part of the control system is a dual heuristic dynamic programming algorithm that consists of two structures designed in the form of neural networks: an actor and a critic. The actor generates the suboptimal control law while the critic approximates the difference of the value function from Bellman's equation with respect to the state. The residual elements of the control system are the PD controller, the supervisory term and an additional control signal. The structure of the supervisory term derives from the stability analysis performed using the Lyapunov stability theorem. The control system works online, the neural networks' weights-adaptation procedure is performed in every iteration step, and the neural networks' preliminary learning process is not required. The performance of the control system was verified by a series of computer simulations and experiments performed using the Scorbot-ER 4pc robotic manipulator.

A variable structure tracking controller for robot manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jung Hoon; Shin, Hwi Beom

1997-01-01

In this paper, a continuous variable structure tracking controller is designed for the purpose of the control of robot manipulators to follow a given desired planned trajectory with high accuracy. The robustness and continuity of the algorithm are much improved by means of the feedforward compensation technique based on the disturbance observer without any chattering problem. Also the stability of the algorithm is analyzed in detail, further more the usefulness and good performances are verified through computer simulation studies. (author)

Virtual modeling of robot-assisted manipulations in abdominal surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Berelavichus, Stanislav V; Karmazanovsky, Grigory G; Shirokov, Vadim S; Kubyshkin, Valeriy A; Kriger, Andrey G; Kondratyev, Evgeny V; Zakharova, Olga P

2012-06-27

To determine the effectiveness of using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) data in preoperative planning of robot-assisted surgery. Fourteen patients indicated for surgery underwent MDCT using 64 and 256-slice MDCT. Before the examination, a specially constructed navigation net was placed on the patient's anterior abdominal wall. Processing of MDCT data was performed on a Brilliance Workspace 4 (Philips). Virtual vectors that imitate robotic and assistant ports were placed on the anterior abdominal wall of the 3D model of the patient, considering the individual anatomy of the patient and the technical capabilities of robotic arms. Sites for location of the ports were directed by projection on the roentgen-positive tags of the navigation net. There were no complications observed during surgery or in the post-operative period. We were able to reduce robotic arm interference during surgery. The surgical area was optimal for robotic and assistant manipulators without any need for reinstallation of the trocars. This method allows modeling of the main steps in robot-assisted intervention, optimizing operation of the manipulator and lowering the risk of injuries to internal organs.

Modeling of Flexible Beams for Robotic Manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martins, Jorge; Ayala Botto, Miguel; Costa, Jose sa da

2002-01-01

This work treats the problem of modeling robotic manipulators with structural flexibility. A mathematical model of a planar manipulator with a single flexible link is developed. This model is capable of reproducing nonlinear dynamic effects, such as the beam stiffening due to the centrifugal forces induced by the rotation of the joints, giving it the capability to predict reliable dynamic behaviors for a wide range of applications. On the other hand, the model complexity is reduced, in order to keep it amenable for analysis and controller design. The models found in current literature for control design of flexible manipulator arms present dynamic limitations for the sake of real time implementation in a control scheme. These limitations are the result of premature linearization in the formulation of the dynamics equations. In this paper, this common linearization is presented and their dynamic limitations uncovered. An alternative reliable model is then presented. The model is founded on two basic assumptions: inextensibility of the neutral fiber and moderate rotations of the cross sections in order to account for the foreshortening of the beam due to bending. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed model has the closest dynamic behavior to the real beam

Force-Sensing Actuator with a Compliant Flexure-Type Joint for a Robotic Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mathieu Grossard

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the mechatronic design of a novel self-sensing motor-to-joint transmission to be used for the actuation of robotic dexterous manipulators. Backdrivability, mechanical simplicity and efficient flexure joint structures are key concepts that have guided the mechanical design rationale to provide the actuator with force sensing capabilities. Indeed, a self-sensing characteristic is achieved by the specific design of high-resolution cable-driven actuators based on a DC motor, a ball-screw and a monolithic compliant anti-rotation system together with a novel flexure pivot providing a frictionless mechanical structure. That novel compliant pivot with a large angular range and a small center shift has been conceived of to provide the inter-phalangeal rotational degree of freedom of the fingers’ joints to be used for integration in a multi-fingered robotic gripper. Simultaneously, it helps to remove friction at the joint level of the mechanism. Experimental tests carried out on a prototype show an accurate matching between the model and the real behavior. Overall, this mechatronic design contributes to the improvement of the manipulation skills of robotic grippers, thanks to the combination of high performance mechanics, high sensitivity to external forces and compliance control capability.

Mobile Robot and Mobile Manipulator Research Towards ASTM Standards Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Bostelman, Roger; Hong, Tsai; Legowik, Steven

2016-01-01

Performance standards for industrial mobile robots and mobile manipulators (robot arms onboard mobile robots) have only recently begun development. Low cost and standardized measurement techniques are needed to characterize system performance, compare different systems, and to determine if recalibration is required. This paper discusses work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and within the ASTM Committee F45 on Driverless Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles. This includes standards for both terminology, F45.91, and for navigation performance test methods, F45.02. The paper defines terms that are being considered. Additionally, the paper describes navigation test methods that are near ballot and docking test methods being designed for consideration within F45.02. This includes the use of low cost artifacts that can provide alternatives to using relatively expensive measurement systems.

Closed-Loop Dynamic Parameter Identification of Robot Manipulators Using Modified Fourier Series

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenxiang Wu

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This paper concerns the problem of dynamic parameter identification of robot manipulators and proposes a closed-loop identification procedure using modified Fourier series (MFS as exciting trajectories. First, a static continuous friction model is involved to model joint friction for realizable friction compensation in controller design. Second, MFS satisfying the boundary conditions are firstly designed as periodic exciting trajectories. To minimize the sensitivity to measurement noise, the coefficients of MFS are optimized according to the condition number criterion. Moreover, to obtain accurate parameter estimates, the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE method considering the influence of measurement noise is adopted. The proposed identification procedure has been implemented on the first three axes of the QIANJIANG-I 6-DOF robot manipulator. Experiment results verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and comparison between identification using MFS and that using finite Fourier series (FFS reveals that the proposed method achieves better identification accuracy.

Methodology for cloud-based design of robots

Science.gov (United States)

Ogorodnikova, O. M.; Vaganov, K. A.; Putimtsev, I. D.

2017-09-01

This paper presents some important results for cloud-based designing a robot arm by a group of students. Methodology for the cloud-based design was developed and used to initiate interdisciplinary project about research and development of a specific manipulator. The whole project data files were hosted by Ural Federal University data center. The 3D (three-dimensional) model of the robot arm was created using Siemens PLM software (Product Lifecycle Management) and structured as a complex mechatronics product by means of Siemens Teamcenter thin client; all processes were performed in the clouds. The robot arm was designed in purpose to load blanks up to 1 kg into the work space of the milling machine for performing student's researches.

Concept development of a tendon arm manipulator and anthropomorphic robotic hand

Science.gov (United States)

Tolman, C. T.

1987-01-01

AMETEK/ORED inhouse research and development efforts leading toward a next-generation robotic manipulator arm and end-effector technology is summarized. Manipulator arm development has been directed toward a multiple-degree-of-freedom, flexible, tendon-driven concept referred to here as a Tendon Arm Manipulator (TAM). End-effector development has been directed toward a three-fingered, dextrous, tendon-driven, anthropomorphic configuration which is referred to as an Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand (ARH). Key technology issues are identified for both concepts.

Survey of advanced general-purpose software for robot manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latombe, J.C.

1983-01-01

Computer-controlled sensor-based robots will more and more common in industry. This paper attempts to survey the main trends of the development of advanced general-purpose software for robot manipulators. It is intended to make clear that robots are not only mechanical devices. They are truly programmable machines, and their programming, which occurs in an imperfectly modelled world,is somewhat different from conventional computer programming. (orig.)

Probabilistic scan mode of a robot manipulator workspace using EEG signals. Part I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auat Cheein, Fernando A; Di Sciascio, Fernando; Freire Bastos, Teodiano; Carelli, Ricardo

2007-01-01

In this paper a probabilistic-based workspace scan mode of a manipulator robot is presented. The scan mode is governed by a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) based on Event Related Potentials (Synchronization and Dessynchronization events). The user is capable to select a specific position at the robot's workspace, which should be reached by the manipulator. The robot workspace is divided into cells. Each cell has a probability value associated with it. Once the robot reaches a cell, its probability value is updated. The mode the scan is made is determined by the probability of all cells at the workspace. Finally, the manipulator is teleoperated via TCP/IP

Development and design optimization of water hydraulic manipulator for ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kekaelaeinen, Teemu; Mattila, Jouni; Virvalo, Tapio

2009-01-01

This paper describes one of the research projects carried out in The Preparation of Remote Handling Engineers for ITER (PREFIT) program within the European Fusion Training Scheme (EFTS). This research project is focusing on the design and optimization of water hydraulic manipulators used to test several remote handling tasks of ITER at Divertor Test Platform 2 (DTP2), Tampere, Finland, and later in ITER. In this project, a water hydraulic manipulator designed and build by Department of Intelligent Hydraulics and Automation in Tampere University of Technology, Finland (TUT/IHA) is further optimized as a case study for a given manipulator requirement specification in order to illustrate and verify developed comprehensive design guidelines and performance metrics. Without meaningful manipulator performance parameters, the evaluation of alternative robot manipulators designs remains ad hoc at best. Therefore, more comprehensive design guidelines and performance metrics are needed for comparing and improving different existing manipulators versus task requirements or for comparing different digital prototypes at early design phase of manipulators. In this paper the description of the project, its background and developments are presented and discussed.

Desain Proportional Integral Derrivative (Pid) Controller Pada Model Arm Robot Manipulator

OpenAIRE

Pratama, Adhityanendra Pandu; Munadi, Munadi

2014-01-01

Dalam rangka menuju proses industrialisasi modern di negara Indonesia, harus didukung dengan teknologi yang canggih, contoh nya adalah arm robot manipulator. sebagai pelaku proses produksi sehingga dihasilkan ketepatan,kepresisian, dan kefektifan pada proses produksi. Dengan hal tersebut dibuat sebuah desain kontrol PID pada arm robot manipulator dengan tujuan menghasilkan tingkat presisi dan kestabilan yang lebih baik. Kontroler tersebut didesain, disimulasikan, dan diaplikasikan pada ha...

Soft object deformation monitoring and learning for model-based robotic hand manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cretu, Ana-Maria; Payeur, Pierre; Petriu, Emil M

2012-06-01

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a framework that automatically extracts and monitors the shape deformations of soft objects from a video sequence and maps them with force measurements with the goal of providing the necessary information to the controller of a robotic hand to ensure safe model-based deformable object manipulation. Measurements corresponding to the interaction force at the level of the fingertips and to the position of the fingertips of a three-finger robotic hand are associated with the contours of a deformed object tracked in a series of images using neural-network approaches. The resulting model captures the behavior of the object and is able to predict its behavior for previously unseen interactions without any assumption on the object's material. The availability of such models can contribute to the improvement of a robotic hand controller, therefore allowing more accurate and stable grasp while providing more elaborate manipulation capabilities for deformable objects. Experiments performed for different objects, made of various materials, reveal that the method accurately captures and predicts the object's shape deformation while the object is submitted to external forces applied by the robot fingers. The proposed method is also fast and insensitive to severe contour deformations, as well as to smooth changes in lighting, contrast, and background.

Efficient inverse position transformation for TR 4000S robot manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kesheng Wang

1989-04-01

Full Text Available An efficient method is developed for computing the inverse kinematic position solution with a closed form for the TR 4000S spray painting robot manipulator with five degrees of freedom and non-spherical wrist construction. The inverse kinematic problem is defined as the transformation from Cartesian space to the joint space. The solution is based on the geometrical separation of the arm and wrist of a robot manipulator and shows that it is very systematic, efficient and easily derived.

A Human-Robot Co-Manipulation Approach Based on Human Sensorimotor Information.

Science.gov (United States)

Peternel, Luka; Tsagarakis, Nikos; Ajoudani, Arash

2017-07-01

This paper aims to improve the interaction and coordination between the human and the robot in cooperative execution of complex, powerful, and dynamic tasks. We propose a novel approach that integrates online information about the human motor function and manipulability properties into the hybrid controller of the assistive robot. Through this human-in-the-loop framework, the robot can adapt to the human motor behavior and provide the appropriate assistive response in different phases of the cooperative task. We experimentally evaluate the proposed approach in two human-robot co-manipulation tasks that require specific complementary behavior from the two agents. Results suggest that the proposed technique, which relies on a minimum degree of task-level pre-programming, can achieve an enhanced physical human-robot interaction performance and deliver appropriate level of assistance to the human operator.

Kinematic modelling of a five-DOFs spatial manipulator used in robot-assisted surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shakti Singh

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Since last three decades, research in the field of robot kinematics is boosted-up among different researchers worldwide. This is mainly due to their increased use in various challenging fields of engineering and science. One such challenging application is the use of master–slave concept in a robot-assisted surgery. The authors have already performed the kinematic study and gravity balancing of seven degrees-of-freedom (DOFs surgeon-side manipulator (Singh et al., 2015a, 2015b. To meet these challenging demands, the most important aspect of a robotic manipulator is to develop an accurate kinematic model. In this direction, different researchers in the literature have made significant contributions. Out of these, the most prominent one is D–H parameters method, which was proposed by Denavit and Hartenberg in 1955. In the present work, this method is applied to a five-DOFs spatial manipulator, named as patient-side manipulator, which tracks the motion of surgeon-side manipulator during a robot-assisted surgery. The prototype considered in this work is a spatial serial manipulator, being developed at CSIR-CSIO Chandigarh. Experimental validations are performed and results are found to be in close agreement.

Towards Clinically Optimized MRI-guided Surgical Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Prostate Percutaneous Interventions: Constructive Design*

Science.gov (United States)

Eslami, Sohrab; Fischer, Gregory S.; Song, Sang-Eun; Tokuda, Junichi; Hata, Nobuhiko; Tempany, Clare M.; Iordachita, Iulian

2013-01-01

This paper undertakes the modular design and development of a minimally invasive surgical manipulator for MRI-guided transperineal prostate interventions. Severe constraints for the MRI-compatibility to hold the minimum artifact on the image quality and dimensions restraint of the bore scanner shadow the design procedure. Regarding the constructive design, the manipulator kinematics has been optimized and the effective analytical needle workspace is developed and followed by proposing the workflow for the manual needle insertion. A study of the finite element analysis is established and utilized to improve the mechanism weaknesses under some inevitable external forces to ensure the minimum structure deformation. The procedure for attaching a sterile plastic drape on the robot manipulator is discussed. The introduced robotic manipulator herein is aimed for the clinically prostate biopsy and brachytherapy applications. PMID:24683502

Solution of Inverse Kinematics for 6R Robot Manipulators With Offset Wrist Based on Geometric Algebra.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Zhongtao; Yang, Wenyu; Yang, Zhen

2013-08-01

In this paper, we present an efficient method based on geometric algebra for computing the solutions to the inverse kinematics problem (IKP) of the 6R robot manipulators with offset wrist. Due to the fact that there exist some difficulties to solve the inverse kinematics problem when the kinematics equations are complex, highly nonlinear, coupled and multiple solutions in terms of these robot manipulators stated mathematically, we apply the theory of Geometric Algebra to the kinematic modeling of 6R robot manipulators simply and generate closed-form kinematics equations, reformulate the problem as a generalized eigenvalue problem with symbolic elimination technique, and then yield 16 solutions. Finally, a spray painting robot, which conforms to the type of robot manipulators, is used as an example of implementation for the effectiveness and real-time of this method. The experimental results show that this method has a large advantage over the classical methods on geometric intuition, computation and real-time, and can be directly extended to all serial robot manipulators and completely automatized, which provides a new tool on the analysis and application of general robot manipulators.

A Study of Accuracy and Time Delay for Bilateral Master-Slave Industrial Robotic Arm Manipulator System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mansor Nuratiqa Natrah

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Bilateral master-slave industrial robotic arm manipulator system is an advanced technology used to help human to interact with environments that are unreachable to human, due to its remoteness or perilous. The system has been used in different areas such as tele-surgery, autonomous tele-operation for sea and space operation and handling explosive or high radiation operation fields. It is beneficial both for science and society. Remarkably, the system is not common and generally used in Malaysia. Likewise, the number of research conducted that focused about this technology in our country manufacturing industry are not yet discovered and existent. The implementation of this bilateral manipulator system in an industrial robot could be useful for industrial imminent and development over our country and people, specifically for production yield size and human operative. Hence, the study of bilateral robotic arm manipulator system in an industrial robot and analyzation of its performance and time delay in 3 differ controllers will be discussed to attest the efficiency and its effectiveness on the said design system. The experiment conducted was on KUKA youBot arm in V-Rep simulation with three different controllers (P, PD, PID.

An adaptive inverse kinematics algorithm for robot manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Colbaugh, R.; Glass, K.; Seraji, H.

1990-01-01

An adaptive algorithm for solving the inverse kinematics problem for robot manipulators is presented. The algorithm is derived using model reference adaptive control (MRAC) theory and is computationally efficient for online applications. The scheme requires no a priori knowledge of the kinematics of the robot if Cartesian end-effector sensing is available, and it requires knowledge of only the forward kinematics if joint position sensing is used. Computer simulation results are given for the redundant seven-DOF robotics research arm, demonstrating that the proposed algorithm yields accurate joint angle trajectories for a given end-effector position/orientation trajectory.

Inverse dynamic analysis of general n-link robot manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yih, T.C.; Wang, T.Y.; Burks, B.L.; Babcock, S.M.

1996-01-01

In this paper, a generalized matrix approach is derived to analyze the dynamic forces and moments (torques) required by the joint actuators. This method is general enough to solve the problems of any n-link open-chain robot manipulators with joint combinations of R(revolute), P(prismatic), and S(spherical). On the other hand, the proposed matrix solution is applicable to both nonredundant and redundant robotic systems. The matrix notation is formulated based on the Newton-Euler equations under the condition of quasi-static equilibrium. The 4 x 4 homogeneous cylindrical coordinates-Bryant angles (C-B) notation is applied to model the robotic systems. Displacements, velocities, and accelerations of each joint and link center of gravity (CG) are calculated through kinematic analysis. The resultant external forces and moments exerted on the CG of each link are considered as known inputs. Subsequently, a 6n x 6n displacement coefficient matrix and a 6n x 1 external force/moment vector can be established. At last, the joint forces and moments needed for the joint actuators to control the robotic system are determined through matrix inversion. Numerical examples will be illustrated for the nonredundant industrial robots: Bendix AA/CNC (RRP/RRR) and Unimate 2000 spherical (SP/RRR) robots; and the redundant light duty utility arm (LDUA), modified LDUA, and tank waste retrieval manipulator system

Adaptive Neural Output Feedback Control for Uncertain Robot Manipulators with Input Saturation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rong Mei

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptive neural output feedback control scheme for uncertain robot manipulators with input saturation using the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN and disturbance observer. First, the RBFNN is used to approximate the system uncertainty, and the unknown approximation error of the RBFNN and the time-varying unknown external disturbance of robot manipulators are integrated as a compounded disturbance. Then, the state observer and the disturbance observer are proposed to estimate the unmeasured system state and the unknown compounded disturbance based on RBFNN. At the same time, the adaptation technique is employed to tackle the control input saturation problem. Utilizing the estimate outputs of the RBFNN, the state observer, and the disturbance observer, the adaptive neural output feedback control scheme is developed for robot manipulators using the backstepping technique. The convergence of all closed-loop signals is rigorously proved via Lyapunov analysis and the asymptotically convergent tracking error is obtained under the integrated effect of the system uncertainty, the unmeasured system state, the unknown external disturbance, and the input saturation. Finally, numerical simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive neural output feedback control scheme for uncertain robot manipulators.

Finding Optimal Independent Grasp Regions of Parallel Manipulators with Additional Applications for Limbed Robot Mobility

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — For the problem of robotic manipulation, wherein a robotic manipulator interacts with objects or its environment using an end-effector (gripper), there have been...

Design and implementation of a novel modal space active force control concept for spatial multi-DOF parallel robotic manipulators actuated by electrical actuators.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Chifu; Zhao, Jinsong; Li, Liyi; Agrawal, Sunil K

2018-01-01

Robotic spine brace based on parallel-actuated robotic system is a new device for treatment and sensing of scoliosis, however, the strong dynamic coupling and anisotropy problem of parallel manipulators result in accuracy loss of rehabilitation force control, including big error in direction and value of force. A novel active force control strategy named modal space force control is proposed to solve these problems. Considering the electrical driven system and contact environment, the mathematical model of spatial parallel manipulator is built. The strong dynamic coupling problem in force field is described via experiments as well as the anisotropy problem of work space of parallel manipulators. The effects of dynamic coupling on control design and performances are discussed, and the influences of anisotropy on accuracy are also addressed. With mass/inertia matrix and stiffness matrix of parallel manipulators, a modal matrix can be calculated by using eigenvalue decomposition. Making use of the orthogonality of modal matrix with mass matrix of parallel manipulators, the strong coupled dynamic equations expressed in work space or joint space of parallel manipulator may be transformed into decoupled equations formulated in modal space. According to this property, each force control channel is independent of others in the modal space, thus we proposed modal space force control concept which means the force controller is designed in modal space. A modal space active force control is designed and implemented with only a simple PID controller employed as exampled control method to show the differences, uniqueness, and benefits of modal space force control. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed modal space force control concept can effectively overcome the effects of the strong dynamic coupling and anisotropy problem in the physical space, and modal space force control is thus a very useful control framework, which is better than the current joint

A Method on Dynamic Path Planning for Robotic Manipulator Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance Based on an Improved RRT Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Kun; Ren, Bingyin

2018-02-13

In a future intelligent factory, a robotic manipulator must work efficiently and safely in a Human-Robot collaborative and dynamic unstructured environment. Autonomous path planning is the most important issue which must be resolved first in the process of improving robotic manipulator intelligence. Among the path-planning methods, the Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm based on random sampling has been widely applied in dynamic path planning for a high-dimensional robotic manipulator, especially in a complex environment because of its probability completeness, perfect expansion, and fast exploring speed over other planning methods. However, the existing RRT algorithm has a limitation in path planning for a robotic manipulator in a dynamic unstructured environment. Therefore, an autonomous obstacle avoidance dynamic path-planning method for a robotic manipulator based on an improved RRT algorithm, called Smoothly RRT (S-RRT), is proposed. This method that targets a directional node extends and can increase the sampling speed and efficiency of RRT dramatically. A path optimization strategy based on the maximum curvature constraint is presented to generate a smooth and curved continuous executable path for a robotic manipulator. Finally, the correctness, effectiveness, and practicability of the proposed method are demonstrated and validated via a MATLAB static simulation and a Robot Operating System (ROS) dynamic simulation environment as well as a real autonomous obstacle avoidance experiment in a dynamic unstructured environment for a robotic manipulator. The proposed method not only provides great practical engineering significance for a robotic manipulator's obstacle avoidance in an intelligent factory, but also theoretical reference value for other type of robots' path planning.

Augmented reality user interface for mobile ground robots with manipulator arms

Science.gov (United States)

Vozar, Steven; Tilbury, Dawn M.

2011-01-01

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology in which real-world visual data is combined with an overlay of computer graphics, enhancing the original feed. AR is an attractive tool for teleoperated UGV UIs as it can improve communication between robots and users via an intuitive spatial and visual dialogue, thereby increasing operator situational awareness. The successful operation of UGVs often relies upon both chassis navigation and manipulator arm control, and since existing literature usually focuses on one task or the other, there is a gap in mobile robot UIs that take advantage of AR for both applications. This work describes the development and analysis of an AR UI system for a UGV with an attached manipulator arm. The system supplements a video feed shown to an operator with information about geometric relationships within the robot task space to improve the operator's situational awareness. Previous studies on AR systems and preliminary analyses indicate that such an implementation of AR for a mobile robot with a manipulator arm is anticipated to improve operator performance. A full user-study can determine if this hypothesis is supported by performing an analysis of variance on common test metrics associated with UGV teleoperation.

Implementation of robust adaptive control for robotic manipulator using TMS320C30

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, S. H.

1996-01-01

A new adaptive digital control scheme for the robotic manipulator is proposed in this paper. Digital signal processors are used in implementing real time adaptive control algorithms to provide an enhanced motion for robotic manipulators. In the proposed scheme, adaptation laws are derived from the improved Lyapunov second stability analysis based on the adaptive feedforward and feedback controller and PI type time-varying control elements. The control scheme is simple in structure, fast in computation, and suitable for implementation of real-time control. Moreover, this scheme does not require an accurate dynamic modeling, nor values of manipulator parameters and payload. Performance of the adaptive controller is illustrated by simulation and experimental results for a SCARA robot. (author)

SVM-Based Control System for a Robot Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Foudil Abdessemed

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Real systems are usually non-linear, ill-defined, have variable parameters and are subject to external disturbances. Modelling these systems is often an approximation of the physical phenomena involved. However, it is from this approximate system of representation that we propose - in this paper - to build a robust control, in the sense that it must ensure low sensitivity towards parameters, uncertainties, variations and external disturbances. The computed torque method is a well-established robot control technique which takes account of the dynamic coupling between the robot links. However, its main disadvantage lies on the assumption of an exactly known dynamic model which is not realizable in practice. To overcome this issue, we propose the estimation of the dynamics model of the nonlinear system with a machine learning regression method. The output of this regressor is used in conjunction with a PD controller to achieve the tracking trajectory task of a robot manipulator. In cases where some of the parameters of the plant undergo a change in their values, poor performance may result. To cope with this drawback, a fuzzy precompensator is inserted to reinforce the SVM computed torque-based controller and avoid any deterioration. The theory is developed and the simulation results are carried out on a two-degree of freedom robot manipulator to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.

Robotic Irradiated Sample Handling Concept Design in Reactor TRIGA PUSPATI using Simulation Software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Khairulezwan Abdul Manan; Mohd Sabri Minhat; Ridzuan Abdul Mutalib; Zareen Khan Abdul Jalil Khan; Nurfarhana Ayuni Joha

2015-01-01

This paper introduces the concept design of an Robotic Irradiated Sample Handling Machine using graphical software application, designed as a general, flexible and open platform to work on robotics. Webots has proven to be a useful tool in many fields of robotics, such as manipulator programming, mobile robots control (wheeled, sub-aquatic and walking robots), distance computation, sensor simulation, collision detection, motion planning and so on. Webots is used as the common interface for all the applications. Some practical cases and application for this concept design are illustrated on the paper to present the possibilities of this simulation software. (author)

Hand-held multi-DOF robotic forceps for neurosurgery designed for dexterous manipulation in deep and narrow space.

Science.gov (United States)

Okubo, Takuro; Harada, Kanako; Fujii, Masahiro; Tanaka, Shinichi; Ishimaru, Tetsuya; Iwanaka, Tadashi; Nakatomi, Hirohumi; Sora, Sigeo; Morita, Akio; Sugita, Naohiko; Mitsuishi, Mamoru

2014-01-01

Neurosurgical procedures require precise and dexterous manipulation of a surgical suture in narrow and deep spaces in the brain. This is necessary for surgical tasks such as the anastomosis of microscopic blood vessels and dura mater suturing. A hand-held multi-degree of freedom (DOF) robotic forceps was developed to aid the performance of such difficult tasks. The diameter of the developed robotic forceps is 3.5 mm, and its tip has three DOFs, namely, bending, rotation, and grip. Experimental results showed that the robotic forceps had an average needle insertion force of 1.7 N. Therefore, an increase in the needle insertion force is necessary for practical application of the developed device.

Design, modeling and optimization of an underwater manipulator with four-bar mechanism and compliant linkage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jin, Sang Ok; Kim, Ji Hoon; Bae, Jang Ho; Kim, Jong Won [School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Tae Won [School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan (Korea, Republic of)

2016-09-15

Underwater manipulators are very important for a robot to perform a specific operation in water. Conventional robot arm manipulators have been suggested for various operations but have not been suitable for repeated motion in gathering something. This paper presents a new underwater manipulator design for gathering things such as starfish on the sea floor. The manipulator is composed of a four-bar linkage to achieve repeated motion along a loop and compliant linkages to enhance the efficiency of the gathering work. Kinematic and quasi-static analyses were performed to calculate the loop path and the reaction force at the actuation point. Based on the analysis, optimal design was performed to maximize the working distance with the height difference and the reaction moments considered as constraints. A prototype was assembled to test the performance of the manipulator, and the empirical loop path was compared to simulation results.

Design, modeling and optimization of an underwater manipulator with four-bar mechanism and compliant linkage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin, Sang Ok; Kim, Ji Hoon; Bae, Jang Ho; Kim, Jong Won; Seo, Tae Won

2016-01-01

Underwater manipulators are very important for a robot to perform a specific operation in water. Conventional robot arm manipulators have been suggested for various operations but have not been suitable for repeated motion in gathering something. This paper presents a new underwater manipulator design for gathering things such as starfish on the sea floor. The manipulator is composed of a four-bar linkage to achieve repeated motion along a loop and compliant linkages to enhance the efficiency of the gathering work. Kinematic and quasi-static analyses were performed to calculate the loop path and the reaction force at the actuation point. Based on the analysis, optimal design was performed to maximize the working distance with the height difference and the reaction moments considered as constraints. A prototype was assembled to test the performance of the manipulator, and the empirical loop path was compared to simulation results

Autonomous path planning solution for industrial robot manipulator using backpropagation algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PeiJiang Yuan

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Here, we propose an autonomous path planning solution using backpropagation algorithm. The mechanism of movement used by humans in controlling their arms is analyzed and then applied to control a robot manipulator. Autonomous path planning solution is a numerical method. The model of industrial robot manipulator used in this article is a KUKA KR 210 R2700 EXTRA robot. In order to show the performance of the autonomous path planning solution, an experiment validation of path tracking is provided. Experiment validation consists of implementation of the autonomous path planning solution and the control of physical robot. The process of converging to target solution is provided. The mean absolute error of position for tool center point is also analyzed. Comparison between autonomous path planning solution and the numerical methods based on Newton–Raphson algorithm is provided to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the autonomous path planning solution.

Iterative learning control with sampled-data feedback for robot manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delchev Kamen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the improvement of the stability of sampled-data (SD feedback control for nonlinear multiple-input multiple-output time varying systems, such as robotic manipulators, by incorporating an off-line model based nonlinear iterative learning controller. The proposed scheme of nonlinear iterative learning control (NILC with SD feedback is applicable to a large class of robots because the sampled-data feedback is required for model based feedback controllers, especially for robotic manipulators with complicated dynamics (6 or 7 DOF, or more, while the feedforward control from the off-line iterative learning controller should be assumed as a continuous one. The robustness and convergence of the proposed NILC law with SD feedback is proven, and the derived sufficient condition for convergence is the same as the condition for a NILC with a continuous feedback control input. With respect to the presented NILC algorithm applied to a virtual PUMA 560 robot, simulation results are presented in order to verify convergence and applicability of the proposed learning controller with SD feedback controller attached

Master-Slave synchronization of robot manipulators: experimental results

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bondhus, A.K.; Pettersen, K.Y.; Nijmeijer, H.

2005-01-01

This paper presents experimental results for master-slave synchronization of two robot manipulators using a recently developed observer-controller scheme. The paper aims to investigate the value and the limitations of the theory. In particular, the theoretical result of uniform ultimate boundedness

Design of safety mechanism for an industrial manipulator based on passive compliance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hwi Su; Park, Jung Jun; Song, Jae Bok; Kyung, Jin Ho

2010-01-01

In recent years, collision safety between humans and robots has drawn much attention since human-robot cooperation is increasingly needed in various fields. Since positioning accuracy and collision safety are both important, an industrial manipulator should maintain very high stiffness for positioning accuracy in a normal situation, but exhibit very low stiffness when subjected to a collision force greater than the tolerance for human injury. To satisfy these requirements, we proposed in our previous research a safety mechanism composed of a linear spring and a double-slider mechanism for a service robot with a small payload. We modified this device to meet more stringent requirements for an industrial manipulator which usually has a payload higher than a service robot. Several experiments on static and dynamic collisions showed high stiffness of the safety mechanism in response to an external torque that was less than a predetermined threshold torque, but low stiffness that enabled absorption of the collision force when the external torque exceeded the threshold. Thus, positioning accuracy and collision safety were improved using the proposed design. Furthermore, a new safety criterion is suggested to verify the collision safety of a manipulator that uses the proposed safety mechanism

Robot vision language RVL/V: An integration scheme of visual processing and manipulator control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsushita, T.; Sato, T.; Hirai, S.

1984-01-01

RVL/V is a robot vision language designed to write a program for visual processing and manipulator control of a hand-eye system. This paper describes the design of RVL/V and the current implementation of the system. Visual processing is performed on one-dimensional range data of the object surface. Model-based instructions execute object detection, measurement and view control. The hierarchy of visual data and processing is introduced to give RVL/V generality. A new scheme to integrate visual information and manipulator control is proposed. The effectiveness of the model-based visual processing scheme based on profile data is demonstrated by a hand-eye experiment

Control of a high precision macro-micro robotic manipulator system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Whang

1997-01-01

A controller for macro-micro robotic manipulator system in which kinematically independent two robotic sub-systems work together to improve the accuracy of the motion is proposed. A nonlinear feedback linearization scheme is employed as basic architecture for the controller and additional formulations about the controller structure are made to assure the robustness of the overall control action and to restrict the motion of micro sub-system close to its nominal position without causing saturation of joint associated with micro-robot. (author)

Effect of robotic manipulation on unidirectional barbed suture integrity: evaluation of tensile strength and sliding force.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaushik, Dharam; Clay, Kevin; Hossain, S G M; Park, Eugene; Nelson, Carl A; LaGrange, Chad A

2012-06-01

One of the more challenging portions of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is the urethrovesical anastomosis. Because of this, a unidirectional absorbable barbed suture (V-Loc(™)) has been used to complete the anastomosis with better efficiency and less tension. The effect of robotic needle driver manipulation on barbed suture is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine whether robotic manipulation decreases the tensile strength and peak sliding force of V-Loc barbed suture. Fifty-six V-Loc sutures were compared with 56 Maxon sutures. All sutures were 3-0 caliber. Half of the sutures in each group were manipulated with a da Vinci(®) robot large needle driver five times over a 5 cm length of suture. The other half was not manipulated. Breaking force was determined by placing sutures in a Bose ElectroForce load testing device. For sliding force testing, 28 V-Loc sutures were manipulated in the same fashion and compared with 28 nonmanipulated V-Loc sutures. Peak force needed to make the suture slip backward in porcine small intestine was determined to be the sliding force. Scanning electron microscopy of the barbs before and after robotic manipulation was also performed. The mean difference in breaking forces for manipulated vs nonmanipulated Maxon sutures was 4.52 N (P=0.004). The mean difference in breaking forces for manipulated vs nonmanipulated V-Loc sutures was 1.30 N (P=0.046). The manipulated V-Loc group demonstrated a lower peak sliding force compared with the nonmanipulated group (0.76 vs 0.88 N, P=0.199). Electron microscopy revealed minor structural damage to the barbs and suture. Tensile strength and peak sliding force of V-Loc suture is decreased by robotic manipulation. This is likely because of structural damage to the suture and barbs. This structural damage, however, is likely not clinically significant.

Direct kinematics solution architectures for industrial robot manipulators: Bit-serial versus parallel

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, J.; Kim, K.

1991-01-01

A Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) architecture for robot direct kinematic computation suitable for industrial robot manipulators was investigated. The Denavit-Hartenberg transformations are reviewed to exploit a proper processing element, namely an augmented CORDIC. Specifically, two distinct implementations are elaborated on, such as the bit-serial and parallel. Performance of each scheme is analyzed with respect to the time to compute one location of the end-effector of a 6-links manipulator, and the number of transistors required.

Direct kinematics solution architectures for industrial robot manipulators: Bit-serial versus parallel

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, J.; Kim, K.

A Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) architecture for robot direct kinematic computation suitable for industrial robot manipulators was investigated. The Denavit-Hartenberg transformations are reviewed to exploit a proper processing element, namely an augmented CORDIC. Specifically, two distinct implementations are elaborated on, such as the bit-serial and parallel. Performance of each scheme is analyzed with respect to the time to compute one location of the end-effector of a 6-links manipulator, and the number of transistors required.

The Dynamics and Sliding Mode Control of Multiple Cooperative Welding Robot Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Zi

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the design, dynamic modelling and sliding mode control of multiple cooperative welding robot manipulators (MWRMs. The MWRMs can handle complex tasks that are difficult or even impossible for a single manipulator. The kinematics and dynamics of the MWRMs are studied on the basis of the Denavit-Hartenberg and Lagrange method. Following that, considering the MWRM system with nonlinear and unknown disturbances, a non-singular terminal sliding mode control strategy is designed. By means of the Lyapunov function, the stability of the controller is proved. Simulation results indicate that the good control performance of the MWRMs is achieved by the non-singular terminal sliding mode controller, which also illustrates the correctness of the dynamic modelling and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Trajectory control of robot manipulators with closed-kinematic chain mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Charles C.; Pooran, Farhad J.; Premack, Timothy

1987-01-01

The problem of Cartesian trajectory control of a closed-kinematic chain mechanism robot manipulator, recently built at CAIR to study the assembly of NASA hardware for the future Space Station, is considered. The study is performed by both computer simulation and experimentation for tracking of three different paths: a straight line, a sinusoid, and a circle. Linearization and pole placement methods are employed to design controller gains. Results show that the controllers are robust and there are good agreements between simulation and experimentation. The results also show excellent tracking quality and small overshoots.

Robust high-performance control for robotic manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Seraji, Homayoun (Inventor)

1991-01-01

Model-based and performance-based control techniques are combined for an electrical robotic control system. Thus, two distinct and separate design philosophies have been merged into a single control system having a control law formulation including two distinct and separate components, each of which yields a respective signal component that is combined into a total command signal for the system. Those two separate system components include a feedforward controller and a feedback controller. The feedforward controller is model-based and contains any known part of the manipulator dynamics that can be used for on-line control to produce a nominal feedforward component of the system's control signal. The feedback controller is performance-based and consists of a simple adaptive PID controller which generates an adaptive control signal to complement the nominal feedforward signal.

Inverse kinematic solution for near-simple robots and its application to robot calibration

Science.gov (United States)

Hayati, Samad A.; Roston, Gerald P.

1986-01-01

This paper provides an inverse kinematic solution for a class of robot manipulators called near-simple manipulators. The kinematics of these manipulators differ from those of simple-robots by small parameter variations. Although most robots are by design simple, in practice, due to manufacturing tolerances, every robot is near-simple. The method in this paper gives an approximate inverse kinematics solution for real time applications based on the nominal solution for these robots. The validity of the results are tested both by a simulation study and by applying the algorithm to a PUMA robot.

Towards the development of a soft manipulator as an assistive robot for personal care of elderly people

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasmin Ansari

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Manipulators based on soft robotic technologies exhibit compliance and dexterity which ensures safe human–robot interaction. This article is a novel attempt at exploiting these desirable properties to develop a manipulator for an assistive application, in particular, a shower arm to assist the elderly in the bathing task. The overall vision for the soft manipulator is to concatenate three modules in a serial manner such that (i the proximal segment is made up of cable-based actuation to compensate for gravitational effects and (ii the central and distal segments are made up of hybrid actuation to autonomously reach delicate body parts to perform the main tasks related to bathing. The role of the latter modules is crucial to the application of the system in the bathing task; however, it is a nontrivial challenge to develop a robust and controllable hybrid actuated system with advanced manipulation capabilities and hence, the focus of this article. We first introduce our design and experimentally characterize its functionalities, which include elongation, shortening, omnidirectional bending. Next, we propose a control concept capable of solving the inverse kinetics problem using multiagent reinforcement learning to exploit these functionalities despite high dimensionality and redundancy. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the design and control of this module by demonstrating an open-loop task space control where it successfully moves through an asymmetric 3-D trajectory sampled at 12 points with an average reaching accuracy of 0.79 cm ± 0.18 cm. Our quantitative experimental results present a promising step toward the development of the soft manipulator eventually contributing to the advancement of soft robotics.

Specification and resolution of complex manipulation tasks. Application to remote robots tele-programming; Specification et resolution de taches de manipulation complexes. Application a la teleprogrammation de robots distants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Piccin, O

1995-11-15

The work presented in this thesis comes within the scope of remote manipulation with restricted communication properties between the operator and the remote site. This context renders traditional tele-operation infeasible. To enhance the autonomy of the remote manipulator, it is necessary to reason on a model of the robot and its workspace. However, discrepancies between the real world and its representation require calibration capabilities to identify both position and size of objects interacting with the robot. Moreover, the non-repetitiveness and complexity of the tasks demand that the specification system remains easy to re-program and capable of treating a wide range of problems. The proposed constraint-based approach permits the specification of complex manipulation tasks in which tasks' objectives are expressed in terms of mobilities and contact relationships to achieve or maintain between parts. The resulting constraint relationships are then treated by a numerical solver based on a Newton-Raphson scheme. An enhanced robustness has been achieved through a dynamic management of equations' conditioning. This enables the system to choose automatically for the most appropriate resolution scenario. The first main class of applications is complex motion generation for any kind of robotic mechanisms possibly including redundancy. Constraints setting can also be exploited to realize local obstacle avoidance. The proposed approach makes it possible to deal with calibration tasks within the same framework. This constitutes an essential feature in the context of remote manipulation where models are un-precisely known. Lastly, a weld line inspection experiment performed on a real manipulator allows us to put forward a strategy for robotic task performance at a remote location. (author)

Specification and resolution of complex manipulation tasks. Application to remote robots tele-programming; Specification et resolution de taches de manipulation complexes. Application a la teleprogrammation de robots distants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Piccin, O

1995-11-15

The work presented in this thesis comes within the scope of remote manipulation with restricted communication properties between the operator and the remote site. This context renders traditional tele-operation infeasible. To enhance the autonomy of the remote manipulator, it is necessary to reason on a model of the robot and its workspace. However, discrepancies between the real world and its representation require calibration capabilities to identify both position and size of objects interacting with the robot. Moreover, the non-repetitiveness and complexity of the tasks demand that the specification system remains easy to re-program and capable of treating a wide range of problems. The proposed constraint-based approach permits the specification of complex manipulation tasks in which tasks' objectives are expressed in terms of mobilities and contact relationships to achieve or maintain between parts. The resulting constraint relationships are then treated by a numerical solver based on a Newton-Raphson scheme. An enhanced robustness has been achieved through a dynamic management of equations' conditioning. This enables the system to choose automatically for the most appropriate resolution scenario. The first main class of applications is complex motion generation for any kind of robotic mechanisms possibly including redundancy. Constraints setting can also be exploited to realize local obstacle avoidance. The proposed approach makes it possible to deal with calibration tasks within the same framework. This constitutes an essential feature in the context of remote manipulation where models are un-precisely known. Lastly, a weld line inspection experiment performed on a real manipulator allows us to put forward a strategy for robotic task performance at a remote location. (author)

Key Design Requirements for Long-Reach Manipulators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, D.S.

2001-01-01

Long-reach manipulators differ from industrial robots and teleoperators typically used in the nuclear industry in that the aspect ratio (length to diameter) of links is much greater and link flexibility, as well as joint or drive train flexibility, is likely to be significant. Long-reach manipulators will be required for a variety of applications in the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. While each application will present specific functional, kinematic, and performance requirements, an approach for determining the kinematic applicability and performance characteristics is presented, with a focus on waste storage tank remediation. Requirements are identified, kinematic configurations are considered, and a parametric study of link design parameters and their effects on performance characteristics is presented.

Key design requirements for long-reach manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, D.S.; March-Leuba, S.; Babcock, S.M.; Hamel, W.R.

1993-09-01

Long-reach manipulators differ from industrial robots and teleoperators typically used in the nuclear industry in that the aspect ratio (length to diameter) of links is much greater and link flexibility, as well as joint or drive train flexibility, is likely to be significant. Long-reach manipulators will be required for a variety of applications in the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. While each application will present specific functional kinematic, and performance requirements an approach for determining the kinematic applicability and performance characteristics is presented, with a focus on waste storage tank remediation. Requirements are identified, kinematic configurations are considered, and a parametric study of link design parameters and their effects on performance characteristics is presented

Key Design Requirements for Long-Reach Manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, D.S.

2001-01-01

Long-reach manipulators differ from industrial robots and teleoperators typically used in the nuclear industry in that the aspect ratio (length to diameter) of links is much greater and link flexibility, as well as joint or drive train flexibility, is likely to be significant. Long-reach manipulators will be required for a variety of applications in the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. While each application will present specific functional, kinematic, and performance requirements, an approach for determining the kinematic applicability and performance characteristics is presented, with a focus on waste storage tank remediation. Requirements are identified, kinematic configurations are considered, and a parametric study of link design parameters and their effects on performance characteristics is presented

Elastic Stability of Concentric Tube Robots: A Stability Measure and Design Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Hunter B; Hendrick, Richard J; Webster, Robert J

2016-02-01

Concentric tube robots are needle-sized manipulators which have been investigated for use in minimally invasive surgeries. It was noted early in the development of these devices that elastic energy storage can lead to rapid snapping motion for designs with moderate to high tube curvatures. Substantial progress has recently been made in the concentric tube robot community in designing snap-free robots, planning stable paths, and characterizing conditions that result in snapping for specific classes of concentric tube robots. However, a general measure for how stable a given robot configuration is has yet to be proposed. In this paper, we use bifurcation and elastic stability theory to provide such a measure, as well as to produce a test for determining whether a given design is snap-free (i.e. whether snapping can occur anywhere in the unloaded robot's workspace). These results are useful in designing, planning motions for, and controlling concentric tube robots with high curvatures.

Parametric design studies of long-reach manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, D.S.; March-Leuba, S.; Babcock, S.M.; Burks, B.L.; Hamel, W.R.

1993-01-01

A number of different approaches have been studied for remediation of waste storage tanks at various sites. One of the most promising approaches is the use of a high-capacity, long-reach manipulation (LRM) system with a variety of end effectors for dislodging the waste. LRMs may have characteristics significantly different from those of industrial robots due to the long links needed to cover the large workspace. Because link lengths are much greater than their diameters, link flexibility, as well as joint or drive train flexibility, is likely to be significant. LRMs will be required for a variety of applications in the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. While each application will present specific functional, kinematic, and performance requirements, a design approach for determining the kinematic applicability and performance characteristics considering link flexibility is presented with a focus on waste storage tank remediation. This paper addresses key design issues for LRM-based waste retrieval systems. It discusses the effects of parameters such as payload capacity, storage tanks size, and access port diameter on manipulator structural design. The estimated weight, fundamental natural frequency, and static deflection of the manipulator have been calculated for various parameter conditions

Computationally efficient dynamic modeling of robot manipulators with multiple flexible-links using acceleration-based discrete time transfer matrix method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Xuping; Sørensen, Rasmus; RahbekIversen, Mathias

2018-01-01

This paper presents a novel and computationally efficient modeling method for the dynamics of flexible-link robot manipulators. In this method, a robot manipulator is decomposed into components/elements. The component/element dynamics is established using Newton–Euler equations, and then is linea......This paper presents a novel and computationally efficient modeling method for the dynamics of flexible-link robot manipulators. In this method, a robot manipulator is decomposed into components/elements. The component/element dynamics is established using Newton–Euler equations......, and then is linearized based on the acceleration-based state vector. The transfer matrices for each type of components/elements are developed, and used to establish the system equations of a flexible robot manipulator by concatenating the state vector from the base to the end-effector. With this strategy, the size...... manipulators, and only involves calculating and transferring component/element dynamic equations that have small size. The numerical simulations and experimental testing of flexible-link manipulators are conducted to validate the proposed methodologies....

Parametric Approach to Trajectory Tracking Control of Robot Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shijie Zhang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The mathematic description of the trajectory of robot manipulators with the optimal trajectory tracking problem is formulated as an optimal control problem, and a parametric approach is proposed for the optimal trajectory tracking control problem. The optimal control problem is first solved as an open loop optimal control problem by using a time scaling transform and the control parameterization method. Then, by virtue of the relationship between the optimal open loop control and the optimal closed loop control along the optimal trajectory, a practical method is presented to calculate an approximate optimal feedback gain matrix, without having to solve an optimal control problem involving the complex Riccati-like matrix differential equation coupled with the original system dynamics. Simulation results of 2-link robot manipulator are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Variable geometry truss manipulators: A new type of robot for site inspection and remediation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naccarato, F.

1996-01-01

A new type of robotic manipulator has been developed that offers many potential advantages over conventional robot arms for site inspection and remediation. This new robot is based on the variable geometry truss manipulator (VGTM) concept which combines the structural properties of a truss with the dexterous capabilities of a manipulator. By substituting linear actuators for some of the fixed-length members within a truss, the structure can be made to change its overall shape. By coordinating the motion of these actuators appropriately, a VGTM can perform tasks that are relevant to hazardous waste clean-up, including deployment through curved ducts, probing into crevices and obstacle avoidance. Trussarm trademark, a prototype VGTM with twelve degrees-of-freedom, has been constructed by Dynacon Enterprises Limited

EthoHand: A dexterous robotic hand with ball-joint thumb enables complex in-hand object manipulation

OpenAIRE

Konnaris, C; Gavriel, C; Thomik, AAC; Aldo Faisal, A

2016-01-01

Our dexterous hand is a fundmanetal human feature that distinguishes us from other animals by enabling us to go beyond grasping to support sophisticated in-hand object manipulation. Our aim was the design of a dexterous anthropomorphic robotic hand that matches the human hand's 24 degrees of freedom, under-actuated by seven motors. With the ability to replicate human hand movements in a naturalistic manner including in-hand object manipulation. Therefore, we focused on the development of a no...

Inverse Kinematics With Closed Form Solution For Denso Robot Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikhsan Eka Prasetia

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the forward kinematics and inverse kinematics used on the Denso robot manipulator which has a 6-DOF. The forward kinematics will result in the desired position by end-effector, while inverse kinematics produce angel on each joint. Inverse kinematics problem are very difficult, therefor to obtain the solution of inverse kinematics using closed form solution with geometry approach. The simulation result obtained from forward kinematics and inverse kinematics is determining desired position by Denso robot manipulator. Forward kinematics produce the desired position by the end-effector. Inverse kinematics produce joint angle, where the inverse kinematics produce eight conditions obtained from closed form solution with geometry approach to reach the desired position by the end-effector.

Kinematic parameter calibration method for industrial robot manipulator using the relative position

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ha, In Chul

2008-01-01

A new calibration method for industrial robot system calibration on a manufacturing floor is presented in this paper. To calibrate the robot system, a laser sensor to measure the distance between robot tool and measurement surface is attached to the robot end-effector and a grid is established in the floor. Given two position command pulses for a robot manipulator and using the position difference between two command pulses, the relative position measurement calibration method will find the real robot kinematic parameters. The procedures developed have been applied to an industrial robot. Finally, the effects of the models used to calibrate the robot are discussed. This calibration method represents an effective, low cost and feasible technique for the industrial robot calibration in lab. projects and industrial environments

Uncertainty analysis and allocation of joint tolerances in robot manipulators based on interval analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Weidong; Rao, S.S.

2007-01-01

Many uncertain factors influence the accuracy and repeatability of robots. These factors include manufacturing and assembly tolerances and deviations in actuators and controllers. The effects of these uncertain factors must be carefully analyzed to obtain a clear insight into the manipulator performance. In order to ensure the position and orientation accuracy of a robot end effector as well as to reduce the manufacturing cost of the robot, it is necessary to quantify the influence of the uncertain factors and optimally allocate the tolerances. This involves a study of the direct and inverse kinematics of robot end effectors in the presence of uncertain factors. This paper focuses on the optimal allocation of joint tolerances with consideration of the positional and directional errors of the robot end effector and the manufacturing cost. The interval analysis is used for predicting errors in the performance of robot manipulators. The Stanford manipulator is considered for illustration. The unknown joint variables are modeled as interval parameters due to the inherent uncertainty. The cost-tolerance model is assumed to be of an exponential form during optimization. The effects of the upper bounds on the minimum cost and relative deviations of the directional and positional errors of the end effector are also studied

Making planned paths look more human-like in humanoid robot manipulation planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zacharias, F.; Schlette, C.; Schmidt, F.

2011-01-01

It contradicts the human's expectations when humanoid robots move awkwardly during manipulation tasks. The unnatural motion may be caused by awkward start or goal configurations or by probabilistic path planning processes that are often used. This paper shows that the choice of an arm's target...... for the robot arm....

ROBOT LEARNING OF OBJECT MANIPULATION TASK ACTIONS FROM HUMAN DEMONSTRATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Kyrarini

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Robot learning from demonstration is a method which enables robots to learn in a similar way as humans. In this paper, a framework that enables robots to learn from multiple human demonstrations via kinesthetic teaching is presented. The subject of learning is a high-level sequence of actions, as well as the low-level trajectories necessary to be followed by the robot to perform the object manipulation task. The multiple human demonstrations are recorded and only the most similar demonstrations are selected for robot learning. The high-level learning module identifies the sequence of actions of the demonstrated task. Using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM, the model of demonstrated trajectories is learned. The learned trajectory is generated by Gaussian mixture regression (GMR from the learned Gaussian mixture model.  In online working phase, the sequence of actions is identified and experimental results show that the robot performs the learned task successfully.

Recent Advances in Liquid Metal Manipulation toward Soft Robotics and Biotechnologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yue; Miyako, Eijiro

2018-04-06

Interest has grown significantly in the field of soft robotics, which seeks to develop machinery capable of duplicating the elastic and rheological properties of typically polymeric or elastomeric biological tissues and organs. As a result of a number of unique properties, gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) are emerging as materials used in the forefront of soft robotics research. Finding methods to enable the sophisticated manipulation of LMs will be essential for further progress in the field. This review provides a critical discussion of the manipulation of LMs and on important biotechnological applications of LMs including microfluidics, healthcare devices, biomaterials, and nanomedicines. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

USING OF ROBOTS-MANIPULATORS IN LABORATORY WORKS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor Yehorov

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Studying of technical disciplines in higher education institution as a rule consists of 2 parts – theories and practice. Practice, is a type of educational process which allows to realize theoretical knowledge to the applied sphere. In particular it allows to provide an object visually, creating its image and visually adequate perception. This work is devoted to development of laboratory base of technical college with use of robots manipulators on occupations. Its relevance is shown. The overview of modern stands is provided in different higher education institutions, the analysis of their benefits and shortcomings is this. The task of creation of the robot manipulator for sorting of objects of color is set. The robot model including an automatic management system it is developed. The sensor of color, the regulator and the executive mechanism allowing to move objects to the corresponding reservoirs is its part. Possibilities of further development of a question, in particular, creations of physical model for use are given in laboratory works.

USING OF ROBOTS-MANIPULATORS IN LABORATORY WORKS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Yehorov

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Studying of technical disciplines in higher education institution as a rule consists of 2 parts – theories and practice. Practice, is a type of educational process which allows to realize theoretical knowledge to the applied sphere. In particular it allows to provide an object visually, creating its image and visually adequate perception. This work is devoted to development of laboratory base of technical college with use of robots manipulators on occupations. Its relevance is shown. The overview of modern stands is provided in different higher education institutions, the analysis of their benefits and shortcomings is this. The task of creation of the robot manipulator for sorting of objects of color is set. The robot model including an automatic management system it is developed. The sensor of color, the regulator and the executive mechanism allowing to move objects to the corresponding reservoirs is its part. Possibilities of further development of a question, in particular, creations of physical model for use are given in laboratory works.

Concentric Tube Robot Design and Optimization Based on Task and Anatomical Constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Bergeles, Christos; Gosline, Andrew H.; Vasilyev, Nikolay V.; Codd, Patrick J.; del Nido, Pedro J.; Dupont, Pierre E.

2015-01-01

Concentric tube robots are catheter-sized continuum robots that are well suited for minimally invasive surgery inside confined body cavities. These robots are constructed from sets of pre-curved superelastic tubes and are capable of assuming complex 3D curves. The family of 3D curves that the robot can assume depends on the number, curvatures, lengths and stiffnesses of the tubes in its tube set. The robot design problem involves solving for a tube set that will produce the family of curves necessary to perform a surgical procedure. At a minimum, these curves must enable the robot to smoothly extend into the body and to manipulate tools over the desired surgical workspace while respecting anatomical constraints. This paper introduces an optimization framework that utilizes procedureor patient-specific image-based anatomical models along with surgical workspace requirements to generate robot tube set designs. The algorithm searches for designs that minimize robot length and curvature and for which all paths required for the procedure consist of stable robot configurations. Two mechanics-based kinematic models are used. Initial designs are sought using a model assuming torsional rigidity. These designs are then refined using a torsionally-compliant model. The approach is illustrated with clinically relevant examples from neurosurgery and intracardiac surgery. PMID:26380575

Finite-time sliding surface constrained control for a robot manipulator with an unknown deadzone and disturbance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ik Han, Seong; Lee, Jangmyung

2016-11-01

This paper presents finite-time sliding mode control (FSMC) with predefined constraints for the tracking error and sliding surface in order to obtain robust positioning of a robot manipulator with input nonlinearity due to an unknown deadzone and external disturbance. An assumed model feedforward FSMC was designed to avoid tedious identification procedures for the manipulator parameters and to obtain a fast response time. Two constraint switching control functions based on the tracking error and finite-time sliding surface were added to the FSMC to guarantee the predefined tracking performance despite the presence of an unknown deadzone and disturbance. The tracking error due to the deadzone and disturbance can be suppressed within the predefined error boundary simply by tuning the gain value of the constraint switching function and without the addition of an extra compensator. Therefore, the designed constraint controller has a simpler structure than conventional transformed error constraint methods and the sliding surface constraint scheme can also indirectly guarantee the tracking error constraint while being more stable than the tracking error constraint control. A simulation and experiment were performed on an articulated robot manipulator to validate the proposed control schemes. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inspiration, simulation and design for smart robot manipulators from the sucker actuation mechanism of cephalopods.

Science.gov (United States)

Grasso, Frank W; Setlur, Pradeep

2007-12-01

Octopus arms house 200-300 independently controlled suckers that can alternately afford an octopus fine manipulation of small objects and produce high adhesion forces on virtually any non-porous surface. Octopuses use their suckers to grasp, rotate and reposition soft objects (e.g., octopus eggs) without damaging them and to provide strong, reversible adhesion forces to anchor the octopus to hard substrates (e.g., rock) during wave surge. The biological 'design' of the sucker system is understood to be divided anatomically into three functional groups: the infundibulum that produces a surface seal that conforms to arbitrary surface geometry; the acetabulum that generates negative pressures for adhesion; and the extrinsic muscles that allow adhered surfaces to be rotated relative to the arm. The effector underlying these abilities is the muscular hydrostat. Guided by sensory input, the thousands of muscle fibers within the muscular hydrostats of the sucker act in coordination to provide stiffness or force when and where needed. The mechanical malleability of octopus suckers, the interdigitated arrangement of their muscle fibers and the flexible interconnections of its parts make direct studies of their control challenging. We developed a dynamic simulator (ABSAMS) that models the general functioning of muscular hydrostat systems built from assemblies of biologically constrained muscular hydrostat models. We report here on simulation studies of octopus-inspired and artificial suckers implemented in this system. These simulations reproduce aspects of octopus sucker performance and squid tentacle extension. Simulations run with these models using parameters from man-made actuators and materials can serve as tools for designing soft robotic implementations of man-made artificial suckers and soft manipulators.

State of the art in design and control of master-slave manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ki Ho; Kim, Seung Ho; Kim, Byung Soo; Kim, Chang Hoi; Jung, Seung Ho; Kwang, Suk Yeoung; Seo, Yong Chil; Lee, Young Kwang

1998-03-01

The use of remotely operated robots and other mechanical devices as replacements of human workers in hazardous environments is a growing field of research. In particular, master-slave manipulators have been extensively used in the nuclear industries governed by the ALARA principle for more than four decades. There, however, are still few successful implementations of complex and high degree-of-freedom systems. The master manipulator is an input device which interfaces with the human operator on one side and with the slave manipulator on the other. Bilateral force-reflecting control plays a key supporting role in successful dexterous manipulation of the master-slave manipulators. Great increase in performance of the master-slave manipulator system can be achieved through good design of mechanical hardware and proper implementation of the embedded control strategies. This report presents some of design issues relevant to designers of the master manipulator as man-machine interface device in the master-slave manipulator system. Significant design parameters for both the replica and universal master manipulators are evaluated. In addition, the report describes the various control schemes of the bilateral force-reflecting master-slave manipulators, discusses the analysis and synthesis of the control loop between the master and slave manipulators, and examines the necessary position and force information on both sides. (author). 80 refs., 2 tabs., 15 figs

Design, analysis and control of cable-suspended parallel robots and its applications

CERN Document Server

Zi, Bin

2017-01-01

This book provides an essential overview of the authors’ work in the field of cable-suspended parallel robots, focusing on innovative design, mechanics, control, development and applications. It presents and analyzes several typical mechanical architectures of cable-suspended parallel robots in practical applications, including the feed cable-suspended structure for super antennae, hybrid-driven-based cable-suspended parallel robots, and cooperative cable parallel manipulators for multiple mobile cranes. It also addresses the fundamental mechanics of cable-suspended parallel robots on the basis of their typical applications, including the kinematics, dynamics and trajectory tracking control of the feed cable-suspended structure for super antennae. In addition it proposes a novel hybrid-driven-based cable-suspended parallel robot that uses integrated mechanism design methods to improve the performance of traditional cable-suspended parallel robots. A comparative study on error and performance indices of hybr...

Design, implementation and testing of master slave robotic surgical system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, S.A.

2015-01-01

The autonomous manipulation of the medical robotics is needed to draw up a complete surgical plan in development. The autonomy of the robot comes from the fact that once the plan is drawn up off-line, it is the servo loops, and only these, that control the actions of the robot online, based on instantaneous control signals and measurements provided by the vision or force sensors. Using only these autonomous techniques in medical and surgical robotics remain relatively limited for two main reasons: Predicting complexity of the gestures, and human Safety. Therefore, Modern research in haptic force feedback in medical robotics is aimed to develop medical robots capable of performing remotely, what a surgeon does by himself. These medical robots are supposed to work exactly in the manner that a surgeon does in daily routine. In this paper the master slave tele-robotic system is designed and implemented with accuracy and stability by using 6DOF (Six Degree of Freedom) haptic force feedback devices. The master slave control strategy, haptic devices integration, application software designing using Visual C++ and experimental setup are considered. Finally, results are presented the stability, accuracy and repeatability of the system. (author)

Design, Implementation and Testing of Master Slave Robotic Surgical System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Amjad Ali

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The autonomous manipulation of the medical robotics is needed to draw up a complete surgical plan in development. The autonomy of the robot comes from the fact that once the plan is drawn up off-line, it is the servo loops, and only these, that control the actions of the robot online, based on instantaneous control signals and measurements provided by the vision or force sensors. Using only these autonomous techniques in medical and surgical robotics remain relatively limited for two main reasons: Predicting complexity of the gestures, and human Safety. Therefore, Modern research in haptic force feedback in medical robotics is aimed to develop medical robots capable of performing remotely, what a surgeon does by himself. These medical robots are supposed to work exactly in the manner that a surgeon does in daily routine. In this paper the master slave tele-robotic system is designed and implemented with accuracy and stability by using 6DOF (Six Degree of Freedom haptic force feedback devices. The master slave control strategy, haptic devices integration, application software designing using Visual C++ and experimental setup are considered. Finally, results are presented the stability, accuracy and repeatability of the system

The development of robotic system for the nuclear power plants - A study on the manipulation of teleoperation system using redundant robot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Chung Oh; Cho, Hyung Seok; Jang, Pyung Hoon; Park, Ki Chul; Hyun, Jang Hwan; Kim, Joo Gon; Park, Young Joon; Hwang, Woong Tae; Jeon, Yong Soo; Lee, Joo Yeon; Ahn, Kyung Mo [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1996-07-01

In this project the following 4 sub- projects have been studied for use in nuclear power plants. 1) Development of precision control method for the hydraulic and pneumatic actuators: The fuzzy gain tuner for the pneumatic servo position control system with the state feedback controller was designed= by using the professional knowledge. Through the experimental study, this control method was verified to obtain the optimal fain automatically. 2) Development of an universal master arm and force reflecting teleoperation system: An autonomous telerobot system with a vision based force reflection capability was developed. To effectly implement visual force feedback, 3 different control methods were also developed. 3) A study on the analysis and control of the redundant robot manipulator: An optimal joint-path of 8-DOF redundant KAEROT for the nozzle dam task was generated and its effectiveness and safety was verified by using graphic/animation tool. The proposed dynamic control algorithm for the redundant robot was applied to the experiment of planar 3- DOF redundant robot, showing good performance. 4) A study on the robot/user interface design: A set of final design and its console table was developed, which has metaphorical identity and user-friendly interface and a study mock-up was also developed to identify the possibility in a clear form. 33 refs., 3 tabs., 11 figs. (author)

Improvement of a Robotic Manipulator Model Based on Multivariate Residual Modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Serge Gale

2017-07-01

Full Text Available A new method is presented for extending a dynamic model of a six degrees of freedom robotic manipulator. A non-linear multivariate calibration of input–output training data from several typical motion trajectories is carried out with the aim of predicting the model systematic output error at time (t + 1 from known input reference up till and including time (t. A new partial least squares regression (PLSR based method, nominal PLSR with interactions was developed and used to handle, unmodelled non-linearities. The performance of the new method is compared with least squares (LS. Different cross-validation schemes were compared in order to assess the sampling of the state space based on conventional trajectories. The method developed in the paper can be used as fault monitoring mechanism and early warning system for sensor failure. The results show that the suggested methods improves trajectory tracking performance of the robotic manipulator by extending the initial dynamic model of the manipulator.

Conceptual design of an in-vessel inspection robotic system for Tokamak environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Prabhat; Raju, Daniel; Ranjan, Vaibhav; Patel, Prateek; Dave, Jatinkumar; Naik, Mehul

2013-01-01

An in-vessel inspection robotic system has been conceptualized for operation inside a tokamak vessel. The robotic system is envisaged to comprise of a robotic arm, end-effector, microcontroller and wireless communication system. The end-effector is envisaged to be a special purpose camera for in-situ inspection between plasma shots. The three-link robotic arm, designed for ITER-like environment, has 4 revolute joints- 3 providing manipulation in poloidal plane and the fourth one providing limited movement in adjacent toroidal planes. This paper provides the conceptual design of the system along with kinematic analysis of robotic arm. Solutions have been derived for forward and inverse kinematic models and the Jacobian matrix for the robotic arm linkage. In forward kinematic model, given a set of joint-link parameters, the position and orientation of end-effector are determined with respect to a reference frame. In inverse kinematic model, given the specified position and orientation of end-effector with respect to a reference frame, a set of joint variables are derived that would bring the end-effector into the required posture. Using Jacobian matrix, the relation between the end-effector velocity and the joint velocity of a manipulator is obtained i.e. given the individual joint velocity; the end-effector velocity is obtained. A CAD model has been generated using CATIA to simulate the kinematic model and carry out computational stress analysis. (author)

21th CISM-IFToMM Symposium on Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators

CERN Document Server

Schiehlen, Werner

2016-01-01

This proceedings volume contains papers that have been selected after review for oral presentation at ROMANSY 2016, the 21th CISM-IFToMM Symposium on Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators. These papers cover advances on several aspects of the wide field of Robotics as concerning Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators. ROMANSY 2016 is the 21st event in a series that started in 1973 as one of the first conference activities in the world on Robotics. The first event was held at CISM (International Centre for Mechanical Science) in Udine, Italy on 5-8 September 1973. It was also the first topic conference of IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science) and it was directed not only to the IFToMM community.

A Velocity-Level Bi-Criteria Optimization Scheme for Coordinated Path Tracking of Dual Robot Manipulators Using Recurrent Neural Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Lin; Zhang, Yongsheng; Liao, Bolin; Zhang, Zhijun; Ding, Lei; Jin, Long

2017-01-01

A dual-robot system is a robotic device composed of two robot arms. To eliminate the joint-angle drift and prevent the occurrence of high joint velocity, a velocity-level bi-criteria optimization scheme, which includes two criteria (i.e., the minimum velocity norm and the repetitive motion), is proposed and investigated for coordinated path tracking of dual robot manipulators. Specifically, to realize the coordinated path tracking of dual robot manipulators, two subschemes are first presented for the left and right robot manipulators. After that, such two subschemes are reformulated as two general quadratic programs (QPs), which can be formulated as one unified QP. A recurrent neural network (RNN) is thus presented to solve effectively the unified QP problem. At last, computer simulation results based on a dual three-link planar manipulator further validate the feasibility and the efficacy of the velocity-level optimization scheme for coordinated path tracking using the recurrent neural network.

Performance evaluation of 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control method for assistive robotic manipulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Ka, Hyun W; Chung, Cheng-Shiu; Ding, Dan; James, Khara; Cooper, Rory

2018-02-01

We developed a 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control interface for assistive robotic manipulators. It was implemented based on one of the most popular commercially available assistive robotic manipulator combined with a low-cost depth-sensing camera mounted on the robot base. To perform a manipulation task with the 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control interface, a user starts operating with a manual control method available to him/her. When detecting objects within a set range, the control interface automatically stops the robot, and provides the user with possible manipulation options through audible text output, based on the detected object characteristics. Then, the system waits until the user states a voice command. Once the user command is given, the control interface drives the robot autonomously until the given command is completed. In the empirical evaluations conducted with human subjects from two different groups, it was shown that the semi-autonomous control can be used as an alternative control method to enable individuals with impaired motor control to more efficiently operate the robot arms by facilitating their fine motion control. The advantage of semi-autonomous control was not so obvious for the simple tasks. But, for the relatively complex real-life tasks, the 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control showed significantly faster performance. Implications for Rehabilitation A 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control interface will improve clinical practice by providing an alternative control method that is less demanding physically as well cognitively. A 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control provides the user with task specific intelligent semiautonomous manipulation assistances. A 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control gives the user the feeling that he or she is still in control at any moment. A 3D vision-based semi-autonomous control is compatible with different types of new and existing manual control methods for ARMs.

PSO based neuro fuzzy sliding mode control for a robot manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Vijay

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the control strategy of two degrees of freedom (2DOF rigid robot manipulator based on the coupling of artificial neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS with sliding mode control (SMC. Initially SMC with proportional integral derivative (PID sliding surface is adapted to control the robot manipulator. The parameters of the sliding surface are obtained by minimizing a quadratic performance indices using particle swarm optimization (PSO. Variations of SMC i.e. boundary sliding mode control (BSMC and boundary sliding mode control with PID sliding surface (PIDBSMC are developed for optimized performance index. Finally an ANFIS adaptive controller is proposed to generate the adaptive control signal and found to be more robust with regard to disturbances in input torque.

Attitude dynamics and control of a spacecraft like a robotic manipulator when implementing on-orbit servicing

Science.gov (United States)

Da Fonseca, Ijar M.; Goes, Luiz C. S.; Seito, Narumi; da Silva Duarte, Mayara K.; de Oliveira, Élcio Jeronimo

2017-08-01

In space the manipulators working space is characterized by the microgravity environment. In this environment the spacecraft floats and its rotational/translational motion may be excited by any internal and external disturbances. The complete system, i.e., the spacecraft and the associated robotic manipulator, floats and is sensitive to any reaction force and torque related to the manipulator's operation. In this sense the effort done by the robot may result in torque about the system center of mass and also in forces changing its translational motion. This paper analyzes the impact of the robot manipulator dynamics on the attitude motion and the associated control effort to keep the attitude stable during the manipulator's operation. The dynamics analysis is performed in the close proximity phase of rendezvous docking/berthing operation. In such scenario the linear system equations for the translation and attitude relative motions are appropriate. The computer simulations are implemented for the relative translational and rotational motion. The equations of motion have been simulated through computer by using the MatLab software. The LQR and the PID control laws are used for linear and nonlinear control, respectively, aiming to keep the attitude stable while the robot is in and out of service. The gravity-gradient and the residual magnetic torque are considered as external disturbances. The control efforts are analyzed for the manipulator in and out of service. The control laws allow the system stabilization and good performance when the manipulator is in service.

Rotor-Flying Manipulator: Modeling, Analysis, and Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Equipping multijoint manipulators on a mobile robot is a typical redesign scheme to make the latter be able to actively influence the surroundings and has been extensively used for many ground robots, underwater robots, and space robotic systems. However, the rotor-flying robot (RFR is difficult to be made such redesign. This is mainly because the motion of the manipulator will bring heavy coupling between itself and the RFR system, which makes the system model highly complicated and the controller design difficult. Thus, in this paper, the modeling, analysis, and control of the combined system, called rotor-flying multijoint manipulator (RF-MJM, are conducted. Firstly, the detailed dynamics model is constructed and analyzed. Subsequently, a full-state feedback linear quadratic regulator (LQR controller is designed through obtaining linearized model near steady state. Finally, simulations are conducted and the results are analyzed to show the basic control performance.

Robot training of upper limb in multiple sclerosis: comparing protocols with or without manipulative task components.

Science.gov (United States)

Carpinella, Ilaria; Cattaneo, Davide; Bertoni, Rita; Ferrarin, Maurizio

2012-05-01

In this pilot study, we compared two protocols for robot-based rehabilitation of upper limb in multiple sclerosis (MS): a protocol involving reaching tasks (RT) requiring arm transport only and a protocol requiring both objects' reaching and manipulation (RMT). Twenty-two MS subjects were assigned to RT or RMT group. Both protocols consisted of eight sessions. During RT training, subjects moved the handle of a planar robotic manipulandum toward circular targets displayed on a screen. RMT protocol required patients to reach and manipulate real objects, by moving the robotic arm equipped with a handle which left the hand free for distal tasks. In both trainings, the robot generated resistive and perturbing forces. Subjects were evaluated with clinical and instrumental tests. The results confirmed that MS patients maintained the ability to adapt to the robot-generated forces and that the rate of motor learning increased across sessions. Robot-therapy significantly reduced arm tremor and improved arm kinematics and functional ability. Compared to RT, RMT protocol induced a significantly larger improvement in movements involving grasp (improvement in Grasp ARAT sub-score: RMT 77.4%, RT 29.5%, p=0.035) but not precision grip. Future studies are needed to evaluate if longer trainings and the use of robotic handles would significantly improve also fine manipulation.

Dynamic modelling and adaptive robust tracking control of a space robot with two-link flexible manipulators under unknown disturbances

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xinxin; Ge, Shuzhi Sam; He, Wei

2018-04-01

In this paper, both the closed-form dynamics and adaptive robust tracking control of a space robot with two-link flexible manipulators under unknown disturbances are developed. The dynamic model of the system is described with assumed modes approach and Lagrangian method. The flexible manipulators are represented as Euler-Bernoulli beams. Based on singular perturbation technique, the displacements/joint angles and flexible modes are modelled as slow and fast variables, respectively. A sliding mode control is designed for trajectories tracking of the slow subsystem under unknown but bounded disturbances, and an adaptive sliding mode control is derived for slow subsystem under unknown slowly time-varying disturbances. An optimal linear quadratic regulator method is proposed for the fast subsystem to damp out the vibrations of the flexible manipulators. Theoretical analysis validates the stability of the proposed composite controller. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the performance of the closed-loop flexible space robot system.

Control of a Heavy-Lift Robotic Manipulator with Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryan M. Robinson

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Lightweight, compliant actuators are particularly desirable in robotic systems intended for interaction with humans. Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs exhibit these characteristics and are capable of higher specific work than comparably-sized hydraulic actuators and electric motors. The objective of this work is to develop a control algorithm that can smoothly and accurately track the desired motions of a manipulator actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles. The manipulator is intended for lifting humans in nursing assistance or casualty extraction scenarios; hence, the control strategy must be capable of responding to large variations in payload over a large range of motion. The present work first investigates the feasibility of two output feedback controllers (proportional-integral-derivative and fuzzy logic, but due to the limitations of pure output feedback control, a model-based feedforward controller is developed and combined with output feedback to achieve improved closed-loop performance. The model upon which the controller is based incorporates the internal airflow dynamics, the physical parameters of the pneumatic muscles and the manipulator dynamics. Simulations were performed in order to validate the control algorithms, guide controller design and predict optimal gains. Using real-time interface software and hardware, the controllers were implemented and experimentally tested on the manipulator, demonstrating the improved capability.

Dexterous robotic manipulation of alert adult Drosophila for high-content experimentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Savall, Joan; Ho, Eric Tatt Wei; Huang, Cheng; Maxey, Jessica R; Schnitzer, Mark J

2015-07-01

We present a robot that enables high-content studies of alert adult Drosophila by combining operations including gentle picking; translations and rotations; characterizations of fly phenotypes and behaviors; microdissection; or release. To illustrate, we assessed fly morphology, tracked odor-evoked locomotion, sorted flies by sex, and dissected the cuticle to image neural activity. The robot's tireless capacity for precise manipulations enables a scalable platform for screening flies' complex attributes and behavioral patterns.

Dismantling of JPDR reactor internals by underwater plasma arc cutting technique using robotic manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokota, M.

1988-01-01

The actual dismantling of JPDR started on December 4, 1986. As of now, equipment that surrounds the reactor has mostly been removed to provide working space in reactor containment prior to the dismantling of reactor internals. Some reactor internals have been successfully dismantled using the underwater arc cutting system with a robotic manipulator during the period of January to March 1988. The cutting system is composed of an underwater plasma arc cutting device and a robotic manipulator. The cut off reactor internals were core spray block, feedwater sparger and stabilizers for fuel upper grid tube. The plasma arc cutting device was developed to dismantle the reactor internals underwater. It mainly consists of a plasma torch, power and gas supply systems for the torch, and by-product treatment systems. It has the cutting ability of 130 mm thickness stainless steel underwater. The robotic manipulator has seven degrees of freedom of movement, enabling it to move in almost the same way as the arm of a human being. The arm of the robot is mounted on a supporting device which is suspended by three chains from the support structure set on a service floor. A plasma torch is griped by the robotic hand; its position to the structure to be cut is controlled from a remote control room, about 100 meters outside the reactor containment

Advanced mechanics in robotic systems

CERN Document Server

Nava Rodríguez, Nestor Eduardo

2011-01-01

Illustrates original and ambitious mechanical designs and techniques for the development of new robot prototypes Includes numerous figures, tables and flow charts Discusses relevant applications in robotics fields such as humanoid robots, robotic hands, mobile robots, parallel manipulators and human-centred robots

A study on optimal motion for a robot manipulator amid obstacles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jong Keun

1997-01-01

Optimal motion for a robot manipulator is obtained by nonlinear programming. The objective of optimal motion is minimizing energy consumption of manipulator arm with fixed traveling time in the presence of obstacles. The geometric path is not predetermined. The total trajectory is described in terms of cubic B-spline polynomials and the coefficients of them are obtained to minimize a specific performance index. Obstacle avoidance is performed by the method that the square sum of penetration growth distances between every obstacles and robot links is included in the performance index with appropriate weighting coefficient. In all examples tested here, the solutions were converged to unique optimal trajectories from different initial ones. The optimal geometric path obtained in this research can be used in minimum time trajectory planning. (author)

Advanced Bimanual Manipulation Results from the DEXMART Project

CERN Document Server

2012-01-01

Dexterous and autonomous manipulation is a key technology for the personal and service robots of the future. Advances in Bimanual Manipulation edited by Bruno Siciliano provides the robotics community with the most noticeable results of the four-year European project DEXMART (DEXterous and autonomous dual-arm hand robotic manipulation with sMART sensory-motor skills: A bridge from natural to artificial cognition). The volume covers a host of highly important topics in the field, concerned with modelling and learning of human manipulation skills, algorithms for task planning, human-robot interaction, and grasping, as well as hardware design of dexterous anthropomorphic hands. The results described in this five-chapter collection are believed to pave the way towards the development of robotic systems endowed with dexterous and human-aware dual-arm/hand manipulation skills for objects, operating with a high degree of autonomy in unstructured real-world environments.

Human-robot collision detection under modeling uncertainty using frequency boundary of manipulator dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Byung Jin; Koo, Ja Choon; Choi, Hyouk Ryeol; Moon, Hyung Pil [Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-11-15

This paper presents the development and experimental evaluation of a collision detection method for robotic manipulators sharing a workspace with humans. Fast and robust collision detection is important for guaranteeing safety and preventing false alarms. The main cause of a false alarm is modeling error. We use the characteristic of the maximum frequency boundary of the manipulator's dynamic model. The tendency of the frequency boundary's location in the frequency domain is applied to the collision detection algorithm using a band pass filter (band designed disturbance observer, BdDOB) with changing frequency windows. Thanks to the band pass filter, which considers the frequency boundary of the dynamic model, our collision detection algorithm can extract the collision caused by the disturbance from the mixed estimation signal. As a result, the collision was successfully detected under the usage conditions of faulty sensors and uncertain model data. The experimental result of a collision between a 7-DOF serial manipulator and a human body is reported.

The Development of Control System Design for 5 DOF Nuclear Malaysia Robot Arm v2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Zaid Hassan; Anwar Abdul Rahman; Rosli Darmawan; Mohd Arif Hamzah

2011-01-01

This paper describes a general design and implementation approach used for programming and controlling robotic systems such as remotely operated robotic manipulator systems. A hierarchical approach to control system design is adopted. The hierarchical design is translated into a component-based software design. A low-cost robotic arm and controller system is presented. The controller is a modular model of the robotic arm with the same degrees of freedom whose joints are equipped with sensors. The system takes advantage of the low cost and wide availability of control components and uses a low-cost, easy-to-program microprocessor. Furthermore, it presents the design and the construction of electronic systems for the control of an articulated robot developed for research and development related with instrumentation and control. The system is simple but it is designed the motor to move the robot arm to proper angular position according to the input controller. Limitations of the micro controller are discussed, and suggestions for further development of the robot arm and control are made. (author)

Self-Structured Organizing Single-Input CMAC Control for Robot Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ThanhQuyen Ngo

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This paper represents a self-structured organizing single-input control system based on differentiable cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC for an n-link robot manipulator to achieve the high-precision position tracking. In the proposed scheme, the single-input CMAC controller is solely used to control the plant, so the input space dimension of CMAC can be simplified and no conventional controller is needed. The structure of single-input CMAC will also be self-organized; that is, the layers of single-input CMAC will grow or prune systematically and their receptive functions can be automatically adjusted. The online tuning laws of single-input CMAC parameters are derived in gradient-descent learning method and the discrete-type Lyapunov function is applied to determine the learning rates of proposed control system so that the stability of the system can be guaranteed. The simulation results of robot manipulator are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control methodology.

Performance analysis of two-degree of freedom fractional order PID controllers for robotic manipulator with payload.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Richa; Gaur, Prerna; Mittal, A P

2015-09-01

The robotic manipulators are multi-input multi-output (MIMO), coupled and highly nonlinear systems. The presence of external disturbances and time-varying parameters adversely affects the performance of these systems. Therefore, the controller designed for these systems should effectively deal with such complexities, and it is an intriguing task for control engineers. This paper presents two-degree of freedom fractional order proportional-integral-derivative (2-DOF FOPID) controller scheme for a two-link planar rigid robotic manipulator with payload for trajectory tracking task. The tuning of all controller parameters is done using cuckoo search algorithm (CSA). The performance of proposed 2-DOF FOPID controllers is compared with those of their integer order designs, i.e., 2-DOF PID controllers, and with the traditional PID controllers. In order to show effectiveness of proposed scheme, the robustness testing is carried out for model uncertainties, payload variations with time, external disturbance and random noise. Numerical simulation results indicate that the 2-DOF FOPID controllers are superior to their integer order counterparts and the traditional PID controllers. Copyright © 2015 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Task based synthesis of serial manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarosh Patel

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Computing the optimal geometric structure of manipulators is one of the most intricate problems in contemporary robot kinematics. Robotic manipulators are designed and built to perform certain predetermined tasks. There is a very close relationship between the structure of the manipulator and its kinematic performance. It is therefore important to incorporate such task requirements during the design and synthesis of the robotic manipulators. Such task requirements and performance constraints can be specified in terms of the required end-effector positions, orientations and velocities along the task trajectory. In this work, we present a comprehensive method to develop the optimal geometric structure (DH parameters of a non-redundant six degree of freedom serial manipulator from task descriptions. In this work we define, develop and test a methodology to design optimal manipulator configurations based on task descriptions. This methodology is devised to investigate all possible manipulator configurations that can satisfy the task performance requirements under imposed joint constraints. Out of all the possible structures, the structures that can reach all the task points with the required orientations are selected. Next, these candidate structures are tested to see whether they can attain end-effector velocities in arbitrary directions within the user defined joint constraints, so that they can deliver the best kinematic performance. Additionally least power consuming configurations are also identified.

Kinematics, dynamics and control design of 4WIS4WID mobile robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Han Lee

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Kinematic and dynamic modelling and corresponding control design of a four-wheel-independent steering and four-wheel-independent driving (4WIS4WID mobile robot are presented in this study. Different from the differential or car-like mobile robot, the 4WIS4WID mobile robot is controlled by four steering and four driving motors, so the control scheme should possess the ability to integrate and manipulate the four independent wheels. A trajectory tracking control scheme is developed for the 4WIS4WID mobile robot, where both non-linear kinematic control and dynamic sliding-mode control are designed. All of the stabilities of the kinematic and dynamic control laws are proved by Lyapunov stability analysis. Finally, the feasibility and validity of the proposed trajectory tracking control scheme are confirmed through computer simulations.

Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hvilshøj, Mads; Bøgh, Simon; Nielsen, Oluf Skov

2012-01-01

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the interdisciplinary research field Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM), with an emphasis on physical implementations and applications. Design/methodology/approach - Following an introduction to AIMM, this paper investiga......Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the interdisciplinary research field Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM), with an emphasis on physical implementations and applications. Design/methodology/approach - Following an introduction to AIMM, this paper......; sustainability, configuration, adaptation, autonomy, positioning, manipulation and grasping, robot-robot interaction, human-robot interaction, process quality, dependability, and physical properties. Findings - The concise yet comprehensive review provides both researchers (academia) and practitioners (industry......) with a quick and gentle overview of AIMM. Furthermore, the paper identifies key open issues and promising research directions to realize real-world integration and maturation of the AIMM technology. Originality/value - This paper reviews the interdisciplinary research field Autonomous Industrial Mobile...

Development of Direct Kinematics and Workspace Representation for Smokie Robot Manipulator & the Barret WAM

OpenAIRE

Abdolmalaki, Reza Yazdanpanah

2017-01-01

This paper discusses modelling two 6 DOF arm robots. The first step of modelling a robot is establishing its Denavit-Hartenberg parameters. It requires assigning proper coordinates for each link and finding their exact dimensions. In this project we will develop the direct kinematics and workspace representations for two manipulators: the Smokie Robot and the Barrett WAM. After finding the D-H parameters and creating Transformation Matrices,MATLAB programming is used to represent their worksp...

Analysis on the Load Carrying Mechanism Integrated as Heterogeneous Co-operative Manipulator in a Walking Wheelchair

Science.gov (United States)

Rajay Vedaraj, I. S.; Jain, Ritika; Rao, B. V. A.

2014-07-01

After industrial robots came into existence during 1960, the technology of robotics with the design and analysis of robots in various forms in industries as well as in domestic applications were developed. Nowadays, along with the automotive sector the robots are producing a great impact in the form of quality and production rate to register their existence reliable in various other sectors also. Robotic technology has undergone various phase translations from being tortured as humanoids to the present day manipulators. Depending upon the various forms of its existence, robot manipulators are designed as serial manipulators and parallel manipulators. Individually both types can be proved effective though both have various drawbacks in design and the kinematic analysis. The versatility of robots can be increased by making them work in an environment where the same work volume is shared by more than one manipulator. This work volume can be identified as co-operative work volume of those manipulators. Here the interference of manipulators in the work volume of other manipulators is possible and is made obstacle free. The main advantage of co-operative manipulators is that when a number of independent manipulators are put together in a cooperative work envelope the efficiency and ability to perform tasks is greatly enhanced. The main disadvantage of the co-operative manipulators lies in the complication of its design even for a simple application, in almost all fields. In this paper, a cooperative design of robot manipulators to work in co-operative work environment is done and analysed for its efficacy. In the industrial applications when robotic manipulators are put together in more numbers, the trajectory planning becomes the tough task in the work cell. Proper design can remove the design defects of the cooperative manipulators and can be utilized in a more efficient way. In the proposed research paper an analysis is made on such a type of cooperative manipulator

Analysis on the Load Carrying Mechanism Integrated as Heterogeneous Co-operative Manipulator in a Walking Wheelchair

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vedaraj, I S Rajay; Jain, Ritika; Rao, B V A

2014-01-01

After industrial robots came into existence during 1960, the technology of robotics with the design and analysis of robots in various forms in industries as well as in domestic applications were developed. Nowadays, along with the automotive sector the robots are producing a great impact in the form of quality and production rate to register their existence reliable in various other sectors also. Robotic technology has undergone various phase translations from being tortured as humanoids to the present day manipulators. Depending upon the various forms of its existence, robot manipulators are designed as serial manipulators and parallel manipulators. Individually both types can be proved effective though both have various drawbacks in design and the kinematic analysis. The versatility of robots can be increased by making them work in an environment where the same work volume is shared by more than one manipulator. This work volume can be identified as co-operative work volume of those manipulators. Here the interference of manipulators in the work volume of other manipulators is possible and is made obstacle free. The main advantage of co-operative manipulators is that when a number of independent manipulators are put together in a cooperative work envelope the efficiency and ability to perform tasks is greatly enhanced. The main disadvantage of the co-operative manipulators lies in the complication of its design even for a simple application, in almost all fields. In this paper, a cooperative design of robot manipulators to work in co-operative work environment is done and analysed for its efficacy. In the industrial applications when robotic manipulators are put together in more numbers, the trajectory planning becomes the tough task in the work cell. Proper design can remove the design defects of the cooperative manipulators and can be utilized in a more efficient way. In the proposed research paper an analysis is made on such a type of cooperative manipulator

Structure Assembly by a Heterogeneous Team of Robots Using State Estimation, Generalized Joints, and Mobile Parallel Manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Komendera, Erik E.; Adhikari, Shaurav; Glassner, Samantha; Kishen, Ashwin; Quartaro, Amy

2017-01-01

Autonomous robotic assembly by mobile field robots has seen significant advances in recent decades, yet practicality remains elusive. Identified challenges include better use of state estimation to and reasoning with uncertainty, spreading out tasks to specialized robots, and implementing representative joining methods. This paper proposes replacing 1) self-correcting mechanical linkages with generalized joints for improved applicability, 2) assembly serial manipulators with parallel manipulators for higher precision and stability, and 3) all-in-one robots with a heterogeneous team of specialized robots for agent simplicity. This paper then describes a general assembly algorithm utilizing state estimation. Finally, these concepts are tested in the context of solar array assembly, requiring a team of robots to assemble, bond, and deploy a set of solar panel mockups to a backbone truss to an accuracy not built into the parts. This paper presents the results of these tests.

Learning compliant manipulation through kinesthetic and tactile human-robot interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Kronander, Klas; Billard, Aude

2014-01-01

Robot Learning from Demonstration (RLfD) has been identified as a key element for making robots useful in daily lives. A wide range of techniques has been proposed for deriving a task model from a set of demonstrations of the task. Most previous works use learning to model the kinematics of the task, and for autonomous execution the robot then relies on a stiff position controller. While many tasks can and have been learned this way, there are tasks in which controlling the position alone is insufficient to achieve the goals of the task. These are typically tasks that involve contact or require a specific response to physical perturbations. The question of how to adjust the compliance to suit the need of the task has not yet been fully treated in Robot Learning from Demonstration. In this paper, we address this issue and present interfaces that allow a human teacher to indicate compliance variations by physically interacting with the robot during task execution. We validate our approach in two different experiments on the 7 DoF Barrett WAM and KUKA LWR robot manipulators. Furthermore, we conduct a user study to evaluate the usability of our approach from a non-roboticists perspective.

Supervised Autonomy for Exploration and Mobile Manipulation in Rough Terrain with a Centaur-like Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Max Schwarz

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Planetary exploration scenarios illustrate the need for autonomous robots that are capable to operate in unknown environments without direct human interaction. At the DARPA Robotics Challenge, we demonstrated that our Centaur-like mobile manipulation robot Momaro can solve complex tasks when teleoperated. Motivated by the DLR SpaceBot Cup 2015, where robots should explore a Mars-like environment, find and transport objects, take a soil sample, and perform assembly tasks, we developed autonomous capabilities for Momaro. Our robot perceives and maps previously unknown, uneven terrain using a 3D laser scanner. Based on the generated height map, we assess drivability, plan navigation paths, and execute them using the omnidirectional drive. Using its four legs, the robot adapts to the slope of the terrain. Momaro perceives objects with cameras, estimates their pose, and manipulates them with its two arms autonomously. For specifying missions, monitoring mission progress, on-the-fly reconfiguration, and teleoperation, we developed a ground station with suitable operator interfaces. To handle network communication interruptions and latencies between robot and ground station, we implemented a robust network layer for the ROS middleware. With the developed system, our team NimbRo Explorer solved all tasks of the DLR SpaceBot Camp 2015. We also discuss the lessons learned from this demonstration.

Robotic neurorehabilitation system design for stroke patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baoguo Xu

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In this article, a neurorehabilitation system combining robot-aided rehabilitation with motor imagery–based brain–computer interface is presented. Feature extraction and classification algorithm for the motor imagery electroencephalography is implemented under our brain–computer interface research platform. The main hardware platform for functional recovery therapy is the Barrett Whole-Arm Manipulator. The mental imagination of upper limb movements is translated to trigger the Barrett Whole-Arm Manipulator Arm to stretch the affected upper limb to move along the predefined trajectory. A fuzzy proportional–derivative position controller is proposed to control the Whole-Arm Manipulator Arm to perform passive rehabilitation training effectively. A preliminary experiment aimed at testing the proposed system and gaining insight into the potential of motor imagery electroencephalography-triggered robotic therapy is reported.

Design and Development of a Mechanical Carrier for Mobile Robot (with rough surface/terrain movement features)- Extension of KINPOE Robot Project for Application at K-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, H. W.

2012-01-01

During plant (KANUPP) operation, it is difficult or nearly impossible to access and monitor (high) radiation areas where some abnormal condition has to be detected or mitigated. Presence of a surveillance mobile robot will be very useful for such a scenario. This project work is an effort towards the development of a mobile robot that can be used for remote surveillance. A four DOF (degree of freedom) articulated robotic arm, and mobile base is developed. Manipulator is designed using Autodesk inventor, and then fabricated in PIEAS Fabrication Shop. All joints of the manipulator are revolute joints. Maxon DC motors have been used to empower the joints with the help of gears. Spur gear and planetary gear head have been used to increase the torque at joints and to reduce the speed. The report provides complete detail about mechanical design, moreover some casting procedures are also discussed at the end to cast main parts of robot, problems that were faced during the project and their solutions are also discussed in the report. (author)

Dynamic modelling and simulation for control of a cylindrical robotic manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, A.; Athar, S.M.

1995-03-01

In this report a dynamic model for the three degrees-of-freedom cylindrical manipulator, INFOMATE has been developed. Although the robot dynamics are highly coupled and non-linear, the developed model is relatively straight forward and compact for control engineering and simulation applications. The model has been simulated using the graphical simulation package SIMULINK. Different aspects of INFOMATE associated with forward dynamics, inverse dynamics and control have been investigated by performing various simulation experiments. These simulation experiments confirm the accuracy and applicability of the dynamic robot model. (author) 18 figs

Experimental Investigation on Adaptive Robust Controller Designs Applied to Constrained Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco H. Terra

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, two interlaced studies are presented. The first is directed to the design and construction of a dynamic 3D force/moment sensor. The device is applied to provide a feedback signal of forces and moments exerted by the robotic end-effector. This development has become an alternative solution to the existing multi-axis load cell based on static force and moment sensors. The second one shows an experimental investigation on the performance of four different adaptive nonlinear H∞ control methods applied to a constrained manipulator subject to uncertainties in the model and external disturbances. Coordinated position and force control is evaluated. Adaptive procedures are based on neural networks and fuzzy systems applied in two different modeling strategies. The first modeling strategy requires a well-known nominal model for the robot, so that the intelligent systems are applied only to estimate the effects of uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances. The second strategy considers that the robot model is completely unknown and, therefore, intelligent systems are used to estimate these dynamics. A comparative study is conducted based on experimental implementations performed with an actual planar manipulator and with the dynamic force sensor developed for this purpose.

Fault Tolerant Control Architecture Design for Mobile Manipulation in Scientific Facilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad M. Aref

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes one of the challenging issues implied by scientific infrastructures on a mobile robot cognition architecture. For a generally applicable cognition architecture, we study the dependencies and logical relations between several tasks and subsystems. The overall view of the software modules is described, including their relationship with a fault management module that monitors the consistency of the data flow among the modules. The fault management module is the solution of the deliberative architecture for the single point failures, and the safety anchor is the reactive solution for the faults by redundant equipment. In addition, a hardware architecture is proposed to ensure safe robot movement as a redundancy for the cognition of the robot. The method is designed for a four-wheel steerable (4WS mobile manipulator (iMoro as a case study.

Design and Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Wire-Driven Multi-Section Flexible Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Li

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a bio-inspired wire-driven multi-section flexible robot. It is inspired by the snake skeleton and octopus arm muscle arrangements. The robot consists of three sections and each section is made up of several identical vertebras, which are articulated by both spherical joints and a flexible backbone. Each section is driven by two groups of wires, controlling the bending motion in X and Y directions. This design integrates the serpentine robots' structure and the continuum robots' actuation. As a result, it is more compact than traditional serpentine robots and has a higher positioning accuracy than typical continuum soft robots, such as OctArm V. A Kinematics model and a workspace model of the robot are developed based on the piece wise constant curvature assumption. To evaluate the design, a prototype is built and experiments are carried out. The average distal end positioning error is less than 4%. Characteristics of the wire-driven robot are also discussed, including the leverage effect and the manipulability under constraint. These features makes the proposed robot well suited to confined spaces, especially for working in minimally invasive surgery, nuclear reactor pipelines, disaster debris, etc.

Robotics for nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abe, Akira; Nakayama, Ryoichi; Kubo, Katsumi

1988-01-01

It is highly desirable that automatic or remotely controlled machines perform inspection and maintenance tasks in nuclear facilities. Toshiba has been working to develop multi-functional robots, with one typical example being a master-slave manipulator for use in reprocessing facilities. At the same time, the company is also working on the development of multi-purpose intelligent robots. One such device, an automatic inspection robot, to be deployed along a monorail, performs inspection by means of image processing technology, while and advanced intelligent maintenance robot is equipped with a special wheel-locomotion mechanism and manipulator and is designed to perform maintenance tasks. (author)

Hierarchical Kinematic Modelling and Optimal Design of a Novel Hexapod Robot with Integrated Limb Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guiyang Xin

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel hexapod robot, hereafter named PH-Robot, with three degrees of freedom (3-DOF parallel leg mechanisms based on the concept of an integrated limb mechanism (ILM for the integration of legged locomotion and arm manipulation. The kinematic model plays an important role in the parametric optimal design and motion planning of robots. However, models of parallel mechanisms are often difficult to obtain because of the implicit relationship between the motions of actuated joints and the motion of a moving platform. In order to derive the kinematic equations of the proposed hexapod robot, an extended hierarchical kinematic modelling method is proposed. According to the kinematic model, the geometrical parameters of the leg are optimized utilizing a comprehensive objective function that considers both dexterity and payload. PH-Robot has distinct advantages in accuracy and load ability over a robot with serial leg mechanisms through the former's comparison of performance indices. The reachable workspace of the leg verifies its ability to walk and manipulate. The results of the trajectory tracking experiment demonstrate the correctness of the kinematic model of the hexapod robot.

A novel magnetorheological damper based parallel planar manipulator design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoyle, A; Arzanpour, S; Shen, Y

2010-01-01

This paper presents a novel parallel planar robot design which is low cost and simple in structure. The design addresses some of the problems, such as concentration of excessive load on the links and joints, due to wrong commanding signals being given by the controller. In this application two of the conventional actuators are replaced by magnetorheological (MR) dampers, and only one actuator is used to generate motion. The design paradigm is based on the concept that a moving object 'intuitively' follows the path with minimum resistance to its motion. This implies that virtual adoptable constraints can be used effectively to define motion trajectories. In fact, motion generation and adaptive constraints are two elements essential to implementing this strategy. In this paper, MR dampers are used to provide adjustable constraints and to guide the platform that is moved by the linear motor. The model of the MR dampers is derived using the Bouc–Wen model. This model is then used for manipulator simulation and controller design. Two controllers are developed for this manipulator: (1) a closed loop on/off one and (2) a proportional–derivative controller. Also, three different trajectories are defined and used for both the simulations and experiments. The results indicate a good agreement between the simulations and experiments. The experimental results also demonstrate the capability of the manipulator for following sophisticated trajectories

A New Methodology for Solving Trajectory Planning and Dynamic Load-Carrying Capacity of a Robot Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wanjin Guo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A new methodology using a direct method for obtaining the best found trajectory planning and maximum dynamic load-carrying capacity (DLCC is presented for a 5-degree of freedom (DOF hybrid robot manipulator. A nonlinear constrained multiobjective optimization problem is formulated with four objective functions, namely, travel time, total energy involved in the motion, joint jerks, and joint acceleration. The vector of decision variables is defined by the sequence of the time-interval lengths associated with each two consecutive via-points on the desired trajectory of the 5-DOF robot generalized coordinates. Then this vector of decision variables is computed in order to minimize the cost function (which is the weighted sum of these four objective functions subject to constraints on joint positions, velocities, acceleration, jerks, forces/torques, and payload mass. Two separate approaches are proposed to deal with the trajectory planning problem and the maximum DLCC calculation for the 5-DOF robot manipulator using an evolutionary optimization technique. The adopted evolutionary algorithm is the elitist nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II. A numerical application is performed for obtaining best found solutions of trajectory planning and maximum DLCC calculation for the 5-DOF hybrid robot manipulator.

Positioning the laparoscopic camera with industrial robot arm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Capolei, Marie Claire; Wu, Haiyan; Andersen, Nils Axel

2017-01-01

This paper introduces a solution for the movement control of the laparoscopic camera employing a teleoperated robotic assistant. The project propose an autonomous robotic solution based on an industrial manipulator, provided with a modular software which is applicable to large scale. The robot arm...... industrial robot arm is designated to accomplish this manipulation task. The software is implemented in ROS in order to facilitate future extensions. The experimental results shows a manipulator capable of moving fast and smoothly the surgical tool around a remote center of motion....

Robot Mechanisms

CERN Document Server

Lenarcic, Jadran; Stanišić, Michael M

2013-01-01

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the area of robot mechanisms, primarily considering industrial manipulators and humanoid arms. The book is intended for both teaching and self-study. Emphasis is given to the fundamentals of kinematic analysis and the design of robot mechanisms. The coverage of topics is untypical. The focus is on robot kinematics. The book creates a balance between theoretical and practical aspects in the development and application of robot mechanisms, and includes the latest achievements and trends in robot science and technology.

Modular robotic applications in nuclear power plant maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glass, S.W.; Ranson, C.C.; Reinholtz, C.F.; Calkins, J.M.

1996-01-01

General-purpose factory automation robots have experienced limited use in nuclear maintenance and hazardous-environment work spaces due to demanding requirements on size, weight, mobility and adaptability. Robotic systems in nuclear power plants are frequently custom designed to meet specific space and performance requirements. Examples of these custom configurations include Framatome Technologies COBRA trademark Steam Generator Manipulator and URSULA trademark Reactor Vessel Inspection Manipulator. The use of custom robots in nuclear plants has been limited because of the lead time and expense associated with custom design. Developments in modular robotics and advanced robot control software coupled with more powerful low-cost computers, however, are helping to reduce the cost and schedule for deploying custom robots. A modular robotic system allows custom robot configurations to be implemented using standard (modular) joints and adaptable controllers. This paper discusses Framatome Technologies (FTI) current and planned developments in the area of modular robot system design

Multiple-Robot Systems for USAR: Key Design Attributes and Deployment Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Choon Yue Wong

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The interaction between humans and robots is undergoing an evolution. Progress in this evolution means that humans are close to robustly deploying multiple robots. Urban search and rescue (USAR can benefit greatly from such capability. The review shows that with state of the art artificial intelligence, robots can work autonomously but still require human supervision. It also shows that multiple robot deployment (MRD is more economical, shortens mission durations, adds reliability as well as addresses missions impossible with one robot and payload constraints. By combining robot autonomy and human supervision, the benefits of MRD can be applied to USAR while at the same time minimizing human exposure to danger. This is achieved with a single-human multiple-robot system (SHMRS. However, designers of the SHMRS must consider key attributes such as the size, composition and organizational structure of the robot collective. Variations in these attributes also induce fluctuations in issues within SHMRS deployment such as robot communication and computational load as well as human cognitive workload and situation awareness (SA. Research is essential to determine how the attributes can be manipulated to mitigate these issues while meeting the requirements of the USAR mission.

Multiple-Robot Systems for USAR: Key Design Attributes and Deployment Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Choon Yue Wong

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The interaction between humans and robots is undergoing an evolution. Progress in this evolution means that humans are close to robustly deploying multiple robots. Urban search and rescue (USAR can benefit greatly from such capability. The review shows that with state of the art artificial intelligence, robots can work autonomously but still require human supervision. It also shows that multiple robot deployment (MRD is more economical, shortens mission durations, adds reliability as well as addresses missions impossible with one robot and payload constraints. By combining robot autonomy and human supervision, the benefits of MRD can be applied to USAR while at the same time minimizing human exposure to danger. This is achieved with a single-human multiple-robot system (SHMRS. However, designers of the SHMRS must consider key attributes such as the size, composition and organizational structure of the robot collective. Variations in these attributes also induce fluctuations in issues within SHMRS deployment such as robot communication and computational load as well as human cognitive workload and situation awareness (SA.Research is essential to determine how the attributes can be manipulated to mitigate these issues while meeting the requirements of the USAR mission.

Robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheide, A.W.

1983-01-01

This article reviews some of the technical areas and history associated with robotics, provides information relative to the formation of a Robotics Industry Committee within the Industry Applications Society (IAS), and describes how all activities relating to robotics will be coordinated within the IEEE. Industrial robots are being used for material handling, processes such as coating and arc welding, and some mechanical and electronics assembly. An industrial robot is defined as a programmable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for a variety of tasks. The initial focus of the Robotics Industry Committee will be on the application of robotics systems to the various industries that are represented within the IAS

Robonaut: a robot designed to work with humans in space

Science.gov (United States)

Bluethmann, William; Ambrose, Robert; Diftler, Myron; Askew, Scott; Huber, Eric; Goza, Michael; Rehnmark, Fredrik; Lovchik, Chris; Magruder, Darby

2003-01-01

The Robotics Technology Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center is developing robotic systems to assist astronauts in space. One such system, Robonaut, is a humanoid robot with the dexterity approaching that of a suited astronaut. Robonaut currently has two dexterous arms and hands, a three degree-of-freedom articulating waist, and a two degree-of-freedom neck used as a camera and sensor platform. In contrast to other space manipulator systems, Robonaut is designed to work within existing corridors and use the same tools as space walking astronauts. Robonaut is envisioned as working with astronauts, both autonomously and by teleoperation, performing a variety of tasks including, routine maintenance, setting up and breaking down worksites, assisting crew members while outside of spacecraft, and serving in a rapid response capacity.

Space robot simulator vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Cannon, R. H., Jr.; Alexander, H.

1985-01-01

A Space Robot Simulator Vehicle (SRSV) was constructed to model a free-flying robot capable of doing construction, manipulation and repair work in space. The SRSV is intended as a test bed for development of dynamic and static control methods for space robots. The vehicle is built around a two-foot-diameter air-cushion vehicle that carries batteries, power supplies, gas tanks, computer, reaction jets and radio equipment. It is fitted with one or two two-link manipulators, which may be of many possible designs, including flexible-link versions. Both the vehicle body and its first arm are nearly complete. Inverse dynamic control of the robot's manipulator has been successfully simulated using equations generated by the dynamic simulation package SDEXACT. In this mode, the position of the manipulator tip is controlled not by fixing the vehicle base through thruster operation, but by controlling the manipulator joint torques to achieve the desired tip motion, while allowing for the free motion of the vehicle base. One of the primary goals is to minimize use of the thrusters in favor of intelligent control of the manipulator. Ways to reduce the computational burden of control are described.

Intelligent Hybrid Control Strategy for Trajectory Tracking of Robot Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Zuo

2008-01-01

Full Text Available We address the problem of robust tracking control using a PD-plus-feedforward controller and an intelligent adaptive robust compensator for a rigid robotic manipulator with uncertain dynamics and external disturbances. A key feature of this scheme is that soft computer methods are used to learn the upper bound of system uncertainties and adjust the width of the boundary layer base. In this way, the prior knowledge of the upper bound of the system uncertainties does need not to be required. Moreover, chattering can be effectively eliminated, and asymptotic error convergence can be guaranteed. Numerical simulations and experiments of two-DOF rigid robots are presented to show effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Development of a robotic manipulator for orbital welding; Desenvolvimento de um manipulador robotico para a sondagem orbital

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvalho, Renon Steinbach; Dutra, Jair Carlos [Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianopolis, SC (Brazil). Lab. de Soldagem; Bonacorso, Nelso Gauze [Centro Federal de Educacao Tecnologica de Santa Catarina (CEFET/SC), Florianopolis, SC (Brazil). Lab. da Automacao Hidraulica e Pneumatica (LAHP)

2008-07-01

On the national oil scenario, the pipelines have a high cost, specially on the long time spent on its constructions. Thus, this transaction optimizations become highly attractive. A form of improvement this task is to automate the process of welding. In this context it is interesting the use of a robot manipulator for the orbital welding. In the international market, there are dedicates solutions that meet the restrictions associated mainly with the ease of handling and dimensions. However,since these manipulators use foreign technology this makes the acquisition and maintenance costs high. The project aims to create subsides for greater efficiency in the task of union of pipelines through the development of a robotic manipulator. However it is clear that only the design of such a handler does not guarantee the quality of the root pass. Therefore, it is also being studied the use of the process MIG (Metal Inert Gas), through parametrization of CCC (Short-circuit controlled) in order to have a robust process of welding. The CCC monitors the process of welding and acts when there is detection od short circuit. It is obtained then higher pass from scratch controllability and drastically reduces the amount of spay. (author)

Forward Models for Following a Moving Target with the Puma 560 Robot Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Fernando Tello Gamarra

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper describes how a forward model could be applied in a manipulator robot to accomplish the task of following a moving target. The forward model has been implemented in the puma 560 robot manipulator in simulation after a babbling motor phase using ANFIS neural networks. The forward model delivers a rough estimation of the position in the operational space of a moving target. Using this information a Cartesian controller tracks the moving target. An implementation of the proposed architecture and the Piepmeir algorithm for the problem of following a moving target is also shown in the paper. The control architecture proposed in this paper was also tested with MLP and RBF neural networks. Results and simulations are shown to demonstrate the applicability of our proposed architecture for tracking a moving target.

Downhole water management and robotic valve manipulation on electric wireline

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schwanitz, Brian [Welltec, Alleroed (Denmark); Petersen, Erik; Farias, Eduardo [Welltec do Brasil Ltda., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2008-07-01

Due to high operating cost and challenging environments, the oil and gas industry is facing an increasing demand to identify areas where new intervention solutions can be applied. Down hole water management and robotic valve manipulation are some of the areas where new approaches are finding critical success. A new technology has enabled increased recovery rates by managing produced water and allowing remote mechanical manipulation of down hole valves on wireline. These services are possible when applying a robotic stroking device and a wireline key tool.This paper will examine the challenges and present case histories illustrating how advanced technological solutions were applied to overcome operational problem in order to enhance reservoir performance and well productivity. Specifically the paper will illustrate both how isolating sliding side door and setting bridge plug in high x-flow using wireline stroker and tractor technologies water cut were reduced from 85% to 5% and from 90% to 45% respectively and shifting isolation sleeve and open and close sliding sleeve replacing conventional methods with a solution that runs on electrical wireline meant a revolution within the oil and gas industry. (author)

System Integration for Real-time Mobile Manipulation

OpenAIRE

Oftadeh, Reza; Aref, Mohammad M.; Ghabcheloo, Reza; Mattila, Jouni

2014-01-01

Mobile manipulators are one of the most complicated types of mechatronics systems. The performance of these robots in performing complex manipulation tasks is highly correlated with the synchronization and integration of their low-level components. This paper discusses in detail the mechatronics design of a four wheel steered mobile manipulator. It presents the manipulator ’s mechanical structure and electrical interfaces, designs low-level software architecture based on embedded PC-based con...

The EMeRGE modular robot, an open platform for quick testing of evolved robot morphologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moreno Garcia, Rodrigo; Liu, Ceyue; Faina, Andres

2017-01-01

This work presents the hardware design and implementation of the EMeRGE open modular robot platform. EMeRGE (Easy Modular Embodied Robot Generation) modules are designed to be cheap and easy to build and their hardware is open for anyone to use and modify. Four magnetic connectors enable the quick...... assembly of different complex robot morphologies like the ones generated by evolutionary robotics experiments. Non-human agents, like robotic manipulators, can also take advantage of the magnetic connectors to assemble and disassemble morphologies....

Probabilistic scan mode of a robot manipulator workspace using EEG signals. Part II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auat Cheein, Fernando A; Di Sciascio, Fernando; Freire Bastos, Teodiano; Carelli, Ricardo

2007-01-01

In this paper a probabilistic-based workspace scan mode of a robot manipulator is presented. The workspace is divided into cells. Each cell has its own probability value associated with it. Once the robot reaches a cell, its probability value is updated. The updating process is governed by a recursive Bayes algorithm. A performance comparison between a sequential scan mode and the one proposed here is made. Mathematical derivations and experimental results are also shown in this paper

Design and Modelling of Distributed Industrial Manipulation System with Wireless Operated Moving Manipulation

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Belda, Květoslav; Píša, P.

2015-01-01

Roč. 4, č. 3 (2015), s. 69-75 ISSN 1805-3386 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : Manipulation system * wireless communication * distributed systems * production lines * physical modelling * DC motors * robotic s Subject RIV: BC - Control Systems Theory http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2015/AS/belda-0448098.pdf

Design and Construction of a Robotic Vehicle with Omni-directional Mecanum Wheels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ján VACHÁLEK

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the design and construction of a universal robotic vehicle prototype, used for laboratory and educational purposes. The main goal is its use as a technology demonstrator for the needs of students, therefore it is equipped with several kinds of sensors and universal advanced control technologies and design solutions. Its basis is a control system and construction concept using mobile battery gear and omnidirectional Mecanum wheels. A manipulating arm and advanced tracking and spatial navigation systems are also components of the design. Since the problem of a customized design and construction of such a robotic vehicle is very complex and solved in various scientific fields, in this paper we will mainly focus on the detailed description of the control systems and subsystems of the vehicle.

A modelling of robot manipulator dynamics based on Newton-Euler's equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasaki, Shinobu

1990-09-01

In this paper is presented an algorithm for solving the inverse dynamics of robot manipulators. In comparison with the dynamical equations derived from the Lagrange's mechanics, the relations to be treated are of simple forms due to recursive expressions of relative link motions. A computer simulation for applying the algorithm to a six-link manipulator indicated that the present method might be most appropriate among the existing approaches from the viewpoint of computational efficiency. In particular, it is noted that the increase of the number of links has hardly great effect on the intricacy of calculation. (author)

Manipulator Controlled since a Smartphone by Bluetooth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sánchez-Niño, F; Pedroza, G Rodríguez; Baldivia, E G Castillo

2015-01-01

We present the design of transmitter interface of data between a microcontroller and Smartphone to control a robot. We used a Bluetooth module to send the commands to control the moving of the manipulator. The system is formed by three parts: the first part, the program made in Android. It is run on the Smartphone that controls the position of the robot. The second part is the reception board based in the PIC18F4550 that energizes the joints of the manipulator. The last part is the driver. It use an integrated circuit L293D that is configured in two full bridges H. This system is a good tool for learning of programing, sensors, actuators, robotic, electronic and design electronic

Analyzing Robotic Kinematics Via Computed Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Carnahan, Timothy M.

1992-01-01

Computing system assists in evaluation of kinematics of conceptual robot. Displays positions and motions of robotic manipulator within work cell. Also displays interactions between robotic manipulator and other objects. Results of simulation displayed on graphical computer workstation. System includes both off-the-shelf software originally developed for automotive industry and specially developed software. Simulation system also used to design human-equivalent hand, to model optical train in infrared system, and to develop graphical interface for teleoperator simulation system.

A set of decentralized PID controllers for an n – link robot manipulator

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The solution of decentralized tracking control problem for robot manipulator is slightly comp- lex since we .... Figure 1 shows decentralized control scheme for the ith joint of system (10). ...... Automatic Control 49(11): 2081–2084. Gahinet P ...

Learning in robotic manipulation: The role of dimensionality reduction in policy search methods. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

Science.gov (United States)

Ficuciello, Fanny; Siciliano, Bruno

2016-07-01

A question that often arises, among researchers working on artificial hands and robotic manipulation, concerns the real meaning of synergies. Namely, are they a realistic representation of the central nervous system control of manipulation activities at different levels and of the sensory-motor manipulation apparatus of the human being, or do they constitute just a theoretical framework exploiting analytical methods to simplify the representation of grasping and manipulation activities? Apparently, this is not a simple question to answer and, in this regard, many minds from the field of neuroscience and robotics are addressing the issue [1]. The interest of robotics is definitely oriented towards the adoption of synergies to tackle the control problem of devices with high number of degrees of freedom (DoFs) which are required to achieve motor and learning skills comparable to those of humans. The synergy concept is useful for innovative underactuated design of anthropomorphic hands [2], while the resulting dimensionality reduction simplifies the control of biomedical devices such as myoelectric hand prostheses [3]. Synergies might also be useful in conjunction with the learning process [4]. This aspect is less explored since few works on synergy-based learning have been realized in robotics. In learning new tasks through trial-and-error, physical interaction is important. On the other hand, advanced mechanical designs such as tendon-driven actuation, underactuated compliant mechanisms and hyper-redundant/continuum robots might exhibit enhanced capabilities of adapting to changing environments and learning from exploration. In particular, high DoFs and compliance increase the complexity of modelling and control of these devices. An analytical approach to manipulation planning requires a precise model of the object, an accurate description of the task, and an evaluation of the object affordance, which all make the process rather time consuming. The integration of

Human-friendly robotic manipulators: safety and performance issues in controller design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tadele, T.S.

2014-01-01

Recent advances in robotics have spurred its adoption into new application areas such as medical, rescue, transportation, logistics, personal care and entertainment. In the personal care domain, robots are expected to operate in human-present environments and provide non-critical assistance.

Multidiscipline simulation of elastic manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Rølvåg

1992-10-01

Full Text Available This paper contributes to multidiscipline simulation of elastic robot manipulators in FEDEM. All developments presented in this paper are based on the formulations in FEDEM, a simulation system developed by the authors which combines finite element, mechanism and control analysis. In order to establish this general simulation system as an efficient multidiscipline robot design tool a robot control system including a high level robot programming language, interpolation algorithms, path generation algorithms, forward and inverse kinematics, control systems, gear and transmission models are implemented. These new features provide a high level of integration between traditionally separate design disciplines from the very beginning of the design and optimization process. Several simulations have shown that high fidelity mathematical models can be derived and used as a basis for dynamic analysis and controller design in FEDEM.

HERMIES-3: A step toward autonomous mobility, manipulation, and perception

Science.gov (United States)

Weisbin, C. R.; Burks, B. L.; Einstein, J. R.; Feezell, R. R.; Manges, W. W.; Thompson, D. H.

1989-01-01

HERMIES-III is an autonomous robot comprised of a seven degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator designed for human scale tasks, a laser range finder, a sonar array, an omni-directional wheel-driven chassis, multiple cameras, and a dual computer system containing a 16-node hypercube expandable to 128 nodes. The current experimental program involves performance of human-scale tasks (e.g., valve manipulation, use of tools), integration of a dexterous manipulator and platform motion in geometrically complex environments, and effective use of multiple cooperating robots (HERMIES-IIB and HERMIES-III). The environment in which the robots operate has been designed to include multiple valves, pipes, meters, obstacles on the floor, valves occluded from view, and multiple paths of differing navigation complexity. The ongoing research program supports the development of autonomous capability for HERMIES-IIB and III to perform complex navigation and manipulation under time constraints, while dealing with imprecise sensory information.

Design and implementation of wormlike creeping mobile robot for EAST remote maintenance system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Qiang, E-mail: zhangqiang@iim.ac.cn [Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031 (China); Department of Automation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Zhou, Ling [Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031 (China); Wang, Zengfu, E-mail: zfwang@ustc.edu.cn [Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031 (China); Department of Automation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

2017-05-15

Highlights: • Wormlike creeping robot walking on the V-shaped circular slot in EAST fusion vessel. • Mobile platform to carry equipments or assist manipulators for maintenance tasks. • Chain structure design with n(n ≥ 2) creeping units each of which has three segments. • Creeping gait planning to construct a multi-axis coordinating control scheme. • Evaluation and verification of basic motion performance and mechanical properties. - Abstract: Maintenance for nuclear fusion vessel is crucial, yet it faces great difficulty due to the complex internal physical and geometric conditions. Since the limitation on inherent strength, load, size, etc, a manipulator robot can only complete very limited tasks. Robotic arm systems for remote operation such as JET and MPD can carry certain tools to complete a variety of operating tasks, but it is difficult to achieve the system which is very complex. Therefore, if the inherent idea of using a single robot to complete the specified functions can change, it is possible to make the problems simpler and easier to solve by adding auxiliary robots working together with the robotic arm systems to complete the assigned tasks. Under the above background, based on the deeply analyzing and refining the functional requirements of the vessel operation robot, proceeding from the perspective of ability to move and carry a certain operating device, this paper presents a wormlike creeping mobile robot walking on the V-shaped circular slot inside a nuclear fusion vessel such as EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak). We have designed and implemented the principle prototype of the robot which has chain structure with n (n ≥2) creeping units. Each creeping unit is of three-part structure, which consists of fore segment, mid segment and back segment connected by bidirectional universal joint. The fore and back segments stretch the paws to contact the surface of V-shaped slot, while the mid segment realizes the overall

Design and implementation of wormlike creeping mobile robot for EAST remote maintenance system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Qiang; Zhou, Ling; Wang, Zengfu

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Wormlike creeping robot walking on the V-shaped circular slot in EAST fusion vessel. • Mobile platform to carry equipments or assist manipulators for maintenance tasks. • Chain structure design with n(n ≥ 2) creeping units each of which has three segments. • Creeping gait planning to construct a multi-axis coordinating control scheme. • Evaluation and verification of basic motion performance and mechanical properties. - Abstract: Maintenance for nuclear fusion vessel is crucial, yet it faces great difficulty due to the complex internal physical and geometric conditions. Since the limitation on inherent strength, load, size, etc, a manipulator robot can only complete very limited tasks. Robotic arm systems for remote operation such as JET and MPD can carry certain tools to complete a variety of operating tasks, but it is difficult to achieve the system which is very complex. Therefore, if the inherent idea of using a single robot to complete the specified functions can change, it is possible to make the problems simpler and easier to solve by adding auxiliary robots working together with the robotic arm systems to complete the assigned tasks. Under the above background, based on the deeply analyzing and refining the functional requirements of the vessel operation robot, proceeding from the perspective of ability to move and carry a certain operating device, this paper presents a wormlike creeping mobile robot walking on the V-shaped circular slot inside a nuclear fusion vessel such as EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak). We have designed and implemented the principle prototype of the robot which has chain structure with n (n ≥2) creeping units. Each creeping unit is of three-part structure, which consists of fore segment, mid segment and back segment connected by bidirectional universal joint. The fore and back segments stretch the paws to contact the surface of V-shaped slot, while the mid segment realizes the overall

Designing the robot inclusive space challenge

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Rajesh Elara Mohan

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A novel robotic challenge, namely the robot inclusive spaces (RIS challenge, is proposed in this paper, which is a cross disciplinary and design focused initiative. It aims to foster the roboticists, architects, and designers towards realizing robot friendly social spaces. Contrary to conventional robotics competitions focusing on designing robots and its component technologies, robot inclusive spaces challenge adopts an interdisciplinary “design for robots” strategy to overcome the traditional research problem in real world deployments of social robots. In order to realize the RIS, various architectural elements must be adapted including: design principles for inclusive spaces, lighting schemes, furniture choices and arrangement, wall and floor surfaces, pathways among others. This paper introduces the format and design principles of RIS challenge, presents a first run of the challenge, and gives the corresponding analysis.

Performance Analysis of a Neuro-PID Controller Applied to a Robot Manipulator

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Saeed Pezeshki

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The performance of robot manipulators with nonadaptive controllers might degrade significantly due to the open loop unstable system and the effect of some uncertainties on the robot model or environment. A novel Neural Network PID controller (NNP is proposed in order to improve the system performance and its robustness. The Neural Network (NN technique is applied to compensate for the effect of the uncertainties of the robot model. With the NN compensator introduced, the system errors and the NN weights with large dispersion are guaranteed to be bounded in the Lyapunov sense. The weights of the NN compensator are adaptively tuned. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the model validation approach and its efficiency to guarantee a stable and accurate trajectory tracking process in the presence of uncertainties.

Inverse Kinematics With Closed Form Solution For Denso Robot Manipulator

OpenAIRE

Ikhsan Eka Prasetia; Trihastuti Agustinah

2015-01-01

In this paper, the forward kinematics and inverse kinematics used on the Denso robot manipulator which has a 6-DOF. The forward kinematics will result in the desired position by end-effector, while inverse kinematics produce angel on each joint. Inverse kinematics problem are very difficult, therefor to obtain the solution of inverse kinematics using closed form solution with geometry approach. The simulation result obtained from forward kinematics and inverse kinematics is determining desire...

Hierarchical Robot Control System and Method for Controlling Select Degrees of Freedom of an Object Using Multiple Manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Muhammad E. (Inventor); Platt, Robert (Inventor); Wampler, II, Charles W. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A robotic system includes a robot having manipulators for grasping an object using one of a plurality of grasp types during a primary task, and a controller. The controller controls the manipulators during the primary task using a multiple-task control hierarchy, and automatically parameterizes the internal forces of the system for each grasp type in response to an input signal. The primary task is defined at an object-level of control, e.g., using a closed-chain transformation, such that only select degrees of freedom are commanded for the object. A control system for the robotic system has a host machine and algorithm for controlling the manipulators using the above hierarchy. A method for controlling the system includes receiving and processing the input signal using the host machine, including defining the primary task at the object-level of control, e.g., using a closed-chain definition, and parameterizing the internal forces for each of grasp type.

Impact Vibration Attenuation for a Flexible Robotic Manipulator through Transfer and Dissipation of Energy

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Yushu Bian

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the presence of system flexibility, impact can excite severe large amplitude vibration responses of the flexible robotic manipulator. This impact vibration exhibits characteristics of remarkable nonlinearity and strong energy. The main goal of this study is to put forward an energy-based control method to absorb and attenuate large amplitude impact vibration of the flexible robotic manipulator. The method takes advantage of internal resonance and is implemented through a vibration absorber based on the transfer and dissipation of energy. The addition of the vibration absorber to the flexible arm generates a coupling effect between vibration modes of the system. By means of analysis on 2:1 internal resonance, the exchange of energy is proven to be existent. The impact vibrational energy can be transferred from the arm to the absorber and dissipated through the damping of the absorber. The results of numerical simulations are promising and preliminarily verify that the method is feasible and can be used to combat large amplitude impact vibration of the flexible manipulator undergoing rigid motion.

Continuum robot arms inspired by cephalopods

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Ian D.; Dawson, Darren M.; Flash, Tamar; Grasso, Frank W.; Hanlon, Roger T.; Hochner, Binyamin; Kier, William M.; Pagano, Christopher C.; Rahn, Christopher D.; Zhang, Qiming M.

2005-05-01

In this paper, we describe our recent results in the development of a new class of soft, continuous backbone ("continuum") robot manipulators. Our work is strongly motivated by the dexterous appendages found in cephalopods, particularly the arms and suckers of octopus, and the arms and tentacles of squid. Our ongoing investigation of these animals reveals interesting and unexpected functional aspects of their structure and behavior. The arrangement and dynamic operation of muscles and connective tissue observed in the arms of a variety of octopus species motivate the underlying design approach for our soft manipulators. These artificial manipulators feature biomimetic actuators, including artificial muscles based on both electro-active polymers (EAP) and pneumatic (McKibben) muscles. They feature a "clean" continuous backbone design, redundant degrees of freedom, and exhibit significant compliance that provides novel operational capacities during environmental interaction and object manipulation. The unusual compliance and redundant degrees of freedom provide strong potential for application to delicate tasks in cluttered and/or unstructured environments. Our aim is to endow these compliant robotic mechanisms with the diverse and dexterous grasping behavior observed in octopuses. To this end, we are conducting fundamental research into the manipulation tactics, sensory biology, and neural control of octopuses. This work in turn leads to novel approaches to motion planning and operator interfaces for the robots. The paper describes the above efforts, along with the results of our development of a series of continuum tentacle-like robots, demonstrating the unique abilities of biologically-inspired design.

A Method for Improving the Pose Accuracy of a Robot Manipulator Based on Multi-Sensor Combined Measurement and Data Fusion

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bailing; Zhang, Fumin; Qu, Xinghua

2015-01-01

An improvement method for the pose accuracy of a robot manipulator by using a multiple-sensor combination measuring system (MCMS) is presented. It is composed of a visual sensor, an angle sensor and a series robot. The visual sensor is utilized to measure the position of the manipulator in real time, and the angle sensor is rigidly attached to the manipulator to obtain its orientation. Due to the higher accuracy of the multi-sensor, two efficient data fusion approaches, the Kalman filter (KF) and multi-sensor optimal information fusion algorithm (MOIFA), are used to fuse the position and orientation of the manipulator. The simulation and experimental results show that the pose accuracy of the robot manipulator is improved dramatically by 38%∼78% with the multi-sensor data fusion. Comparing with reported pose accuracy improvement methods, the primary advantage of this method is that it does not require the complex solution of the kinematics parameter equations, increase of the motion constraints and the complicated procedures of the traditional vision-based methods. It makes the robot processing more autonomous and accurate. To improve the reliability and accuracy of the pose measurements of MCMS, the visual sensor repeatability is experimentally studied. An optimal range of 1 × 0.8 × 1 ∼ 2 × 0.8 × 1 m in the field of view (FOV) is indicated by the experimental results. PMID:25850067

Fuzzy Adaptation Algorithms’ Control for Robot Manipulators with Uncertainty Modelling Errors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongqing Fan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A novel fuzzy control scheme with adaptation algorithms is developed for robot manipulators’ system. At the beginning, one adjustable parameter is introduced in the fuzzy logic system, the robot manipulators system with uncertain nonlinear terms as the master device and a reference model dynamic system as the slave robot system. To overcome the limitations such as online learning computation burden and logic structure in conventional fuzzy logic systems, a parameter should be used in fuzzy logic system, which composes fuzzy logic system with updated parameter laws, and can be formed for a new fashioned adaptation algorithms controller. The error closed-loop dynamical system can be stabilized based on Lyapunov analysis, the number of online learning computation burdens can be reduced greatly, and the different kinds of fuzzy logic systems with fuzzy rules or without any fuzzy rules are also suited. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed approach has been shown in simulation example.

Design Minimalism in Robotics Programming

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Anthony Cowley

2008-11-01

Full Text Available With the increasing use of general robotic platforms in different application scenarios, modularity and reusability have become key issues in effective robotics programming. In this paper, we present a minimalist approach for designing robot software, in which very simple modules, with well designed interfaces and very little redundancy can be connected through a strongly typed framework to specify and execute different robotics tasks.

Design Minimalism in Robotics Programming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony Cowley

2006-03-01

Full Text Available With the increasing use of general robotic platforms in different application scenarios, modularity and reusability have become key issues in effective robotics programming. In this paper, we present a minimalist approach for designing robot software, in which very simple modules, with well designed interfaces and very little redundancy can be connected through a strongly typed framework to specify and execute different robotics tasks.

Integrated multi-sensory control of space robot hand

Science.gov (United States)

Bejczy, A. K.; Kan, E. P.; Killion, R. R.

1985-01-01

Dexterous manipulation of a robot hand requires the use of multiple sensors integrated into the mechanical hand under distributed microcomputer control. Where space applications such as construction, assembly, servicing and repair tasks are desired of smart robot arms and robot hands, several critical drives influence the design, engineering and integration of such an electromechanical hand. This paper describes a smart robot hand developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for experimental use and evaluation with the Protoflight Manipulator Arm (PFMA) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

Minimum Time Path Planning for Robotic Manipulator in Drilling/ Spot Welding Tasks

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Qiang Zhang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a minimum time path planning strategy is proposed for multi points manufacturing problems in drilling/spot welding tasks. By optimizing the travelling schedule of the set points and the detailed transfer path between points, the minimum time manufacturing task is realized under fully utilizing the dynamic performance of robotic manipulator. According to the start-stop movement in drilling/spot welding task, the path planning problem can be converted into a traveling salesman problem (TSP and a series of point to point minimum time transfer path planning problems. Cubic Hermite interpolation polynomial is used to parameterize the transfer path and then the path parameters are optimized to obtain minimum point to point transfer time. A new TSP with minimum time index is constructed by using point-point transfer time as the TSP parameter. The classical genetic algorithm (GA is applied to obtain the optimal travelling schedule. Several minimum time drilling tasks of a 3-DOF robotic manipulator are used as examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Design Sliding Mode Controller of with Parallel Fuzzy Inference System Compensator to Control of Robot Manipulator

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Farzin Piltan

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Sliding mode controller (SMC is a significant nonlinear controller under condition of partly uncertain dynamic parameters of system. This controller is used to control of highly nonlinear systems especially for robot manipulators, because this controller is a robust and stable. Conversely, pure sliding mode controller is used in many applications; it has two important drawbacks namely; chattering phenomenon, and nonlinear equivalent dynamic formulation in uncertain dynamic parameter. The nonlinear equivalent dynamic formulation problem and chattering phenomenon in uncertain system can be solved by using artificial intelligence theorem. However fuzzy logic controller is used to control complicated nonlinear dynamic systems, but it cannot guarantee stability and robustness.  In this research parallel fuzzy logic theory is used to compensate the system dynamic uncertainty.

Using Industrial Robots to Manipulate the Measured Object in CMM

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Samir Lemes

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs are widely used to check dimensions of manufactured parts, especially in the automotive industry. The major obstacles in automation of these measurements are fixturing and clamping assemblies, which are required in order to position the measured object within the CMM. This paper describes how an industrial robot can be used to manipulate the measured object within the CMM work space, in order to enable automation of complex geometry measurement.

Supervised Remote Robot with Guided Autonomy and Teleoperation (SURROGATE): A Framework for Whole-Body Manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Hebert, Paul; Ma, Jeremy; Borders, James; Aydemir, Alper; Bajracharya, Max; Hudson, Nicolas; Shankar, Krishna; Karumanchi, Sisir; Douillard, Bertrand; Burdick, Joel

2015-01-01

The use of the cognitive capabilties of humans to help guide the autonomy of robotics platforms in what is typically called "supervised-autonomy" is becoming more commonplace in robotics research. The work discussed in this paper presents an approach to a human-in-the-loop mode of robot operation that integrates high level human cognition and commanding with the intelligence and processing power of autonomous systems. Our framework for a "Supervised Remote Robot with Guided Autonomy and Teleoperation" (SURROGATE) is demonstrated on a robotic platform consisting of a pan-tilt perception head, two 7-DOF arms connected by a single 7-DOF torso, mounted on a tracked-wheel base. We present an architecture that allows high-level supervisory commands and intents to be specified by a user that are then interpreted by the robotic system to perform whole body manipulation tasks autonomously. We use a concept of "behaviors" to chain together sequences of "actions" for the robot to perform which is then executed real time.

A Null Space Control of Two Wheels Driven Mobile Manipulator Using Passivity Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Shibata, Tsuyoshi; Murakami, Toshiyuki

This paper describes a control strategy of null space motion of a two wheels driven mobile manipulator. Recently, robot is utilized in various industrial fields and it is preferable for the robot manipulator to have multiple degrees of freedom motion. Several studies of kinematics for null space motion have been proposed. However stability analysis of null space motion is not enough. Furthermore, these approaches apply to stable systems, but they do not apply unstable systems. Then, in this research, base of manipulator equips with two wheels driven mobile robot. This robot is called two wheels driven mobile manipulator, which becomes unstable system. In the proposed approach, a control design of null space uses passivity based stabilizing. A proposed controller is decided so that closed-loop system of robot dynamics satisfies passivity. This is passivity based control. Then, control strategy is that stabilizing of the robot system applies to work space observer based approach and null space control while keeping end-effector position. The validity of the proposed approach is verified by simulations and experiments of two wheels driven mobile manipulator.

International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2011

CERN Document Server

Rosen, Jacob; Redundancy in Robot Manipulators and Multi-Robot Systems

2013-01-01

The trend in the evolution of robotic systems is that the number of degrees of freedom increases. This is visible both in robot manipulator design and in the shift of focus from single to multi-robot systems. Following the principles of evolution in nature, one may infer that adding degrees of freedom to robot systems design is beneficial. However, since nature did not select snake-like bodies for all creatures, it is reasonable to expect the presence of a certain selection pressure on the number of degrees of freedom. Thus, understanding costs and benefits of multiple degrees of freedom, especially those that create redundancy, is a fundamental problem in the field of robotics. This volume is mostly based on the works presented at the workshop on Redundancy in Robot Manipulators and Multi-Robot Systems at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2011. The workshopwas envisioned as a dialog between researchers from two separate, but obviously relatedfields of robotics: on...

Automatic control system generation for robot design validation

Science.gov (United States)

Bacon, James A. (Inventor); English, James D. (Inventor)

2012-01-01

The specification and drawings present a new method, system and software product for and apparatus for generating a robotic validation system for a robot design. The robotic validation system for the robot design of a robotic system is automatically generated by converting a robot design into a generic robotic description using a predetermined format, then generating a control system from the generic robotic description and finally updating robot design parameters of the robotic system with an analysis tool using both the generic robot description and the control system.

Robots Are Taking Over--Who Does What.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrison, H. Don

Robots are machines designed to replace human labor. A fear of vast unemployment due to robots seems unfounded, however, since industrialization creates many more jobs and automation requires technologists to build, program, maintain, and operate sophisticated equipment. Robots possess an intelligence unit, a manipulator, and an end effector.…

Intelligent robot / manipulator systems for NDT of primary components in nuclear power plants; Intelligente Roboter / Handhabungssysteme fuer die Pruefung von Primaerkreiskomponenten in Kernkraftwerken

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dirauf, F.; Gottfried, R.; Bauer, R. [Siemens AG, KWU, Erlangen (Germany)

1999-08-01

The inspection robot developed by Siemens KWU for BWR reactor pressure vessel inspection has a mounting plate with exchangeable parts so as to fit into the various profiles of the vertical guiding tracks at the different pressure vessels. The robot is a versatile device also due to its variable cinematic equipment and thus can be used for any task hitherto performed by the available manipulators. For BWR pressure vessel testing, a novel, compact probe system equipped with five radiation assemblies has been combined with the ultrasonic SAPHIR probe. Until now, NDE of the RPV nozzles in BWRs has been carried out from the outside of the component. The newly developed manipulator of Siemens for inspection of the RPV nozzles can be moved to the nozzles either by manipulating arms or by a floating device, and is fixed to the nozzles by means of pneumatic suckers. Due to the modular design, probe arrays can be exchanged according to nozzle size or structural profiles to be tested. The mobile testing robot SISTAR for PWR pressure vessels consists of a floating cylinder platform that is moved under water to the target position by popellers or by ropes. It is self-adjusting for taking horizontal position and is held in position in the center of the RPV by means of a radial arrangement of legs automatically and synchronously extending from the robot. The platform can be equipped with one or two manipulator arms, depending on the testing task. (orig./CB) [Deutsch] Der von Siemens KWU neuentwickelte Pruefroboter fuer SWR-Reaktordruckbehaelter besitzt einen auswechselbaren Grundwagen, so dass er an die unterschiedlichen Profile der vertikalen Fuehrungsschienen in den einzelnen Kraftwerken angepasst werden kann. Er ist damit auch aufgrund seiner variablen Kinematik universell einsetzbar und kann saemtliche herkoemmliche Manipulatoren ersetzen. In Verbindung mit dem US-Pruefgeraet SAPHIR wurde fuer die SWR-Reaktordruckbehaelter ein neuartiges kompaktes Pruefkopfsystem mit fuenf

Design-Oriented Enhanced Robotics Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Yilmaz, M.; Ozcelik, S.; Yilmazer, N.; Nekovei, R.

2013-01-01

This paper presents an innovative two-course, laboratory-based, and design-oriented robotics educational model. The robotics curriculum exposed senior-level undergraduate students to major robotics concepts, and enhanced the student learning experience in hybrid learning environments by incorporating the IEEE Region-5 annual robotics competition…

Sea-Shore Interface Robotic Design

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

for various beachfront terrains. Robotics , Robot , Amphibious Vehicles, Mobility, Surf-Zone, Autonomous, Wheg, exoskeleton Unclassified Unclassified...controllers and to showcase the benefits of a modular construction. The result was an exoskeleton design with modular components, see Figure 2.1. Figure 2.1...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS SEA-SHORE INTERFACE ROBOTIC DESIGN by Timothy L. Bell June 2014 Thesis Advisor: Richard Harkins

Latest Advances in Robot Kinematics

CERN Document Server

Husty, Manfred

2012-01-01

This book is  of interest to researchers inquiring about modern topics and methods in the kinematics, control and design of robotic manipulators. It considers the full range of robotic systems, including serial, parallel and cable driven manipulators, both planar and spatial. The systems range from being less than fully mobile to kinematically redundant to overconstrained. In addition to recognized areas, this book also presents recent advances in emerging areas such as the design and control of humanoids and humanoid subsystems, and the analysis, modeling and simulation of human body motions, as well as the mobility analysis of protein molecules and the development of machines which incorporate man.

Design and Performance Evaluation of Real-time Endovascular Interventional Surgical Robotic System with High Accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Kundong; Chen, Bing; Lu, Qingsheng; Li, Hongbing; Liu, Manhua; Shen, Yu; Xu, Zhuoyan

2018-05-15

Endovascular interventional surgery (EIS) is performed under a high radiation environment at the sacrifice of surgeons' health. This paper introduces a novel endovascular interventional surgical robot that aims to reduce radiation to surgeons and physical stress imposed by lead aprons during fluoroscopic X-ray guided catheter intervention. The unique mechanical structure allowed the surgeon to manipulate the axial and radial motion of the catheter and guide wire. Four catheter manipulators (to manipulate the catheter and guide wire), and a control console which consists of four joysticks, several buttons and two twist switches (to control the catheter manipulators) were presented. The entire robotic system was established on a master-slave control structure through CAN (Controller Area Network) bus communication, meanwhile, the slave side of this robotic system showed highly accurate control over velocity and displacement with PID controlling method. The robotic system was tested and passed in vitro and animal experiments. Through functionality evaluation, the manipulators were able to complete interventional surgical motion both independently and cooperatively. The robotic surgery was performed successfully in an adult female pig and demonstrated the feasibility of superior mesenteric and common iliac artery stent implantation. The entire robotic system met the clinical requirements of EIS. The results show that the system has the ability to imitate the movements of surgeons and to accomplish the axial and radial motions with consistency and high-accuracy. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

From robot to human grasping simulation

CERN Document Server

León, Beatriz; Sancho-Bru, Joaquin

2013-01-01

The human hand and its dexterity in grasping and manipulating objects are some of the hallmarks of the human species. For years, anatomic and biomechanical studies have deepened the understanding of the human hand’s functioning and, in parallel, the robotics community has been working on the design of robotic hands capable of manipulating objects with a performance similar to that of the human hand. However, although many researchers have partially studied various aspects, to date there has been no comprehensive characterization of the human hand’s function for grasping and manipulation of

Effect of sensory substitution on suture-manipulation forces for robotic surgical systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitagawa, Masaya; Dokko, Daniell; Okamura, Allison M; Yuh, David D

2005-01-01

Direct haptic (force or tactile) feedback is not yet available in commercial robotic surgical systems. Previous work by our group and others suggests that haptic feedback might significantly enhance the execution of surgical tasks requiring fine suture manipulation, specifically those encountered in cardiothoracic surgery. We studied the effects of substituting direct haptic feedback with visual and auditory cues to provide the operating surgeon with a representation of the forces he or she is applying with robotic telemanipulators. Using the robotic da Vinci surgical system (Intuitive Surgical, Inc, Sunnyvale, Calif), we compared applied forces during a standardized surgical knot-tying task under 4 different sensory-substitution scenarios: no feedback, auditory feedback, visual feedback, and combined auditory-visual feedback. The forces applied with these sensory-substitution modes more closely approximate suture tensions achieved under ideal haptic conditions (ie, hand ties) than forces applied without such sensory feedback. The consistency of applied forces during robot-assisted suture tying aided by visual feedback or combined auditory-visual feedback sensory substitution is superior to that achieved with hand ties. Robot-assisted ties aided with auditory feedback revealed levels of consistency that were generally equivalent or superior to those attained with hand ties. Visual feedback and auditory feedback improve the consistency of robotically applied forces. Sensory substitution, in the form of visual feedback, auditory feedback, or both, confers quantifiable advantages in applied force accuracy and consistency during the performance of a simple surgical task.

Neuro-fuzzy inverse model control structure of robotic manipulators utilized for physiotherapy applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.A. Fahmy

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new neuro-fuzzy controller for robot manipulators. First, an inductive learning technique is applied to generate the required inverse modeling rules from input/output data recorded in the off-line structure learning phase. Second, a fully differentiable fuzzy neural network is developed to construct the inverse dynamics part of the controller for the online parameter learning phase. Finally, a fuzzy-PID-like incremental controller was employed as Feedback servo controller. The proposed control system was tested using dynamic model of a six-axis industrial robot. The control system showed good results compared to the conventional PID individual joint controller.

Modelling and Intelligent Control of an Elastic Link Robot Manipulator

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Malik Loudini

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, precise control of the end-point position of a planar single-link elastic manipulator robot is discussed. The Timoshenko beam theory (TBT has been used to characterize the structural link elasticity including important damping mechanisms. A suitable nonlinear model is derived based on the Lagrangian assumed modes method. Elastic link manipulators are classified as systems possessing highly complex dynamics. In addition, the environment in which they operate may have a lot of disturbances. These give rise to special problems that may be solved using intelligent control techniques. The application of two advanced control strategies based on fuzzy set theory is investigated. The first closed-loop control scheme to be applied is the standard Proportional-Derivative (PD type fuzzy logic controller (FLC, also known as PD-type Mamdani's FLC (MPDFLC. Then, a genetic algorithm (GA is used to optimize the MPDFLC parameters with innovative tuning procedures. Both the MPDFLC and the GA optimized FLC (GAOFLC are implemented and tested to achieve a precise control of the manipulator end-point. The performances of the adopted closed-loop intelligent control strategies are examined via simulation experiments.

Use of a robotic manipulator in the simulation of the automation of a calibration process of dosemeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benitez R, J.S.; Najera H, M.C.

2002-01-01

The development of a system based in a manipulative robot which simulates the operative sequence in a calibration process of dosemeters is presented. In this process it is performed the monitoring of the dosemeter positions and the calibrator by mean of an arm of articulated robot which develops the movement sequences and the taking a decision based on the information coming from the external sensors. (Author)

The development of robot application technology in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seung Ho; Lee, Jong Min; Kim, Chang Hoe; Kim, Byung Soo; Sohn, Surg Won; Hwoang, Suk Yeoung; Lee, Yong Bum; Kim, Woong Ki

1992-12-01

The objective of this project is to establish the basic technologies for advanced robotic systems operated in unstructured environment. The developed robotic system, which is remotely controlled, is expected to reduce the radiation dosage for workers who do the maintenance, inspection, and repairing work in nuclear facilities. The two major work scopes of this project in this year are to study the control scheme of advanced robotic system and develop a mobile robot. An inverse kinematic algorithm of 7 degrees of freedom anthropomorphic manipulator is investigated for dexterous control. Extended closed-loop schemes for solving the inverse kinematics of the redundant manipulator have been proposed and decentralized adaptive controller was designed by utilizing a new cartesian space controller. Control architecture of neural network has been developed, which has a strong capability on solving the kinematics of manipulator. The planetary wheel assembly has been implemented in the design to be suitable for plant. The design of manipulator has been implemented to operate with the battery power in the mobile system. This project will continue to be a major technical driver, with nuclear plant maintenance and waste management applications in conjunction with 'Long-term nuclear development program' over the next decade. (Author)

Real-time networked control of an industrial robot manipulator via discrete-time second-order sliding modes

Science.gov (United States)

Massimiliano Capisani, Luca; Facchinetti, Tullio; Ferrara, Antonella

2010-08-01

This article presents the networked control of a robotic anthropomorphic manipulator based on a second-order sliding mode technique, where the control objective is to track a desired trajectory for the manipulator. The adopted control scheme allows an easy and effective distribution of the control algorithm over two networked machines. While the predictability of real-time tasks execution is achieved by the Soft Hard Real-Time Kernel (S.Ha.R.K.) real-time operating system, the communication is established via a standard Ethernet network. The performances of the control system are evaluated under different experimental system configurations using, to perform the experiments, a COMAU SMART3-S2 industrial robot, and the results are analysed to put into evidence the robustness of the proposed approach against possible network delays, packet losses and unmodelled effects.

Emulating a robotic manipulator arm with an hybrid motion-control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aragón-González, G; León-Galicia, A; Noriega-Hernández, M; Salazar-Hueta, A

2015-01-01

A motion control system with four and 1/2 degrees of freedom, designed to move small objects within a 0.25 m3 space, parallel to a horizontal table, with high speed and performance similar to a robotic manipulator arm was built. The machine employs several actuators and control devices. Its main characteristic is to incorporate a servomotor, steeper motors, electromechanical and fluid power actuators and diverse control resources. A group of actuators arranged on a spherical coordinates system is attached to the servomotor platform. A linear pneumatic actuator with an angular grip provides the radial extension and load clamping capacity. Seven inductive proximity sensors and one encoder provide feedback, for operating the actuators under closed loop conditions. Communication between the sensors and control devices is organized by a PLC. A touch screen allows governing the system remotely, easily and interactively, without knowing the specific programming language of each control component. The graphic environment on the touch screen guides the user to design and store control programs, establishing coordinated automatic routines for moving objects in space, simulation and implementation of industrial positioning or machining processes

Modular robotics overview of the 'state of the art'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kress, R.L.; Jansen, J.F.; Hamel, W.R.

1996-08-01

The design of a robotic arm processing modular components and reconfigurable links is the general goal of a modular robotics development program. The impetus behind the pursuit of modular design is the remote engineering paradigm of improved reliability and availability provided by the ability to remotely maintain and repair a manipulator operating in a hazardous environment by removing and replacing worn or failed modules. Failed components can service off- line and away from hazardous conditions. The desire to reconfigure an arm to perform different tasks is also an important driver for the development of a modular robotic manipulator. In order to bring to fruition a truly modular manipulator, an array of technical challenges must be overcome. These range from basic mechanical and electrical design considerations such as desired kinematics, actuator types, and signal and transmission types and routings, through controls issues such as the need for control algorithms capable of stable free space and contact control, to computer and sensor design issues like consideration of the use of embedded processors and redundant sensors. This report presents a brief overview of the state of the art of technical issues relevant of modular robotic arm design. The focus is on breadth of coverage, rather than depth, in order to provide a reference frame for future development

Design and Development of Two Manipulators as a Key Element of a Space Robot Testing Facility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seweryn Karol

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Podczas procesu projektowania układów sterowania robotów pracujących w warunkach mikrograwitacji niezbędna jest możliwość przeprowadzenia ich walidacji w relewantnym środowisku. Kluczowym problemem jest budowa stanowisk testowych pozwalających na analizowanie ruchu manipulatora umieszczonego na swobodnej bazie, której ruch odbywa się w trzech wymiarach. Artykuł zawiera opis dwóch stanowisk testowych wykorzystywanych do analizy działania algorytmów sterowania w zrobotyzowanych systemach satelitarnych. W artykule opisano symulator warunków mikrograwitacji w postaci manipulatora płaskiego ze swobodną bazą umieszczoną na łożyskach powietrznych oraz stanowisko testowe wyposażone w manipulator o 7 stopniach swobody z utwierdzona bazą pozwalającą na pomiar 3 składowych siły i momentu siły.

Micro manipulators to handle micro machines. ; Aiming at developing clever and deft robots. Micro machine wo handling surutameno micro manipulator. ; Kashikoku kiyo na robot kaihatsu wo mezashite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujie, M [Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

1991-11-15

The current state of micro manipulators (MM) to control micro machines is described. No MM can be realized with the conventional robots of which finger positions and attitudes are controlled by information on angles of each articulate. To solve this problem, such a system using the conception called a master slave manipulator with complex structure is proposed, in which human ways of manipulation are coupled with master arms with simple structure and slave arms facilitating works via a computer. The MM requires a flexible articulate chaining mechanism when the considerations on smallness of the arm structure and chaining of the multiple actuators are taken. To control the relative positions and attitudes, development of the control algorithm is required, which can learn the command signals given to a large number of actuators to drive mechanisms with ultra high freedoms and the relationship among changes in the end effector movements, rotation and directions, and can perform works according to precise relative positioning of objects to be handled. 8 refs., 4 figs.

Soft Robotic Grippers for Biological Sampling on Deep Reefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Galloway, Kevin C; Becker, Kaitlyn P; Phillips, Brennan; Kirby, Jordan; Licht, Stephen; Tchernov, Dan; Wood, Robert J; Gruber, David F

2016-03-01

This article presents the development of an underwater gripper that utilizes soft robotics technology to delicately manipulate and sample fragile species on the deep reef. Existing solutions for deep sea robotic manipulation have historically been driven by the oil industry, resulting in destructive interactions with undersea life. Soft material robotics relies on compliant materials that are inherently impedance matched to natural environments and to soft or fragile organisms. We demonstrate design principles for soft robot end effectors, bench-top characterization of their grasping performance, and conclude by describing in situ testing at mesophotic depths. The result is the first use of soft robotics in the deep sea for the nondestructive sampling of benthic fauna.

Tree Climbing Robot Design, Kinematics and Motion Planning

CERN Document Server

Lam, Tin Lun

2012-01-01

Climbing robot is a challenging research topic that has gained much attention from researchers. Most of the robots reported in the literature are designed to climb on manmade structures, but seldom robots are designed for climbing natural environment such as trees. Trees and manmade structures are very different in nature. It brings different aspects of technical challenges to the robot design. In this book, you can find a collection of the cutting edge technologies in the field of tree-climbing robot and the ways that animals climb. It provides a valuable reference for robot designers to select appropriate climbing methods in designing tree-climbing robots for specific purposes. Based on the study, a novel bio-inspired tree-climbing robot with several breakthrough performances has been developed and presents in this book. It is capable of performing various actions that is impossible in the state-of-the-art tree-climbing robots, such as moving between trunk and branches. This book also proposes several appro...

Selected Topics in MicroNano-robotics for Biomedical Applications

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

Selected Topics in Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications features a system approach and incorporates modern methodologies in autonomous mobile robots for programmable and controllable micro/nano-robots aiming at biomedical applications. The book provides chapters of instructional materials and cutting-edge research results in micro/nanorobotics for biomedical applications. The book presents new sensing technology on nanofibers, new power supply techniques including miniature fuel cells and energy harvesting devices, and manipulation techniques including AFM-based nano-robotic manipulation, robot-aided optical tweezers, and robot-assisted catheter surgery systems. It also contains case studies on using micro/nano-robots in biomedical environments and in biomedicine, as well as a design example to conceptually develop a Vitamin-pill sized robot to enter human’s gastrointestinal tract. Each chapter covers a different topic of the highly interdisciplinary area. Bring together the selected topics into ...

Design and Implementation of Fire Extinguisher Robot with Robotic Arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Memon Abdul Waris

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Robot is a device, which performs human task or behave like a human-being. It needs expertise skills and complex programming to design. For designing a fire fighter robot, many sensors and motors were used. User firstly send robot to an affected area, to get live image of the field with the help of mobile camera via Wi-Fi using IP camera application to laptop. If any signs of fire shown in image, user direct robot in that particular direction for confirmation. Fire sensor and temperature sensor detects and measures the reading, after confirmation robot sprinkle water on affected field. During extinguish process if any obstacle comes in between the prototype and the affected area the ultrasonic sensor detects the obstacle, in response the robotic arm moves to pick and place that obstacle to another location for clearing the path. Meanwhile if any poisonous gas is present, the gas sensor detects and indicates by making alarm.

Design of teleoperated robot system for nozzle dam maintenance in steam generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Chang-Hoi; Hwang, Suk-Young; Lee, Young-Gwang; Kim, Byung-Soo; Kim, Seung-Ho; Lee, Jong-Min

1994-01-01

The recent development of teleoperated manipulator system in KAERI is presented. The manipulator system is composed of master-slave arm and control system with VME based hierarchical structure. Supervisory control part with graphic workstation provides affluent visual information to human operator. This robot can be operated either in the teleoperation mode with master-slave or in the program mode running by computer system itself to enable installation or removal of nozzle dam appropriately within a water chamber of steam generator. Evaluation and analysis have been carried out to get optimal parameters of the robot. (author)

An Intelligent Actuator Fault Reconstruction Scheme for Robotic Manipulators.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Bing; Yin, Shen

2018-02-01

This paper investigates a difficult problem of reconstructing actuator faults for robotic manipulators. An intelligent approach with fast reconstruction property is developed. This is achieved by using observer technique. This scheme is capable of precisely reconstructing the actual actuator fault. It is shown by Lyapunov stability analysis that the reconstruction error can converge to zero after finite time. A perfect reconstruction performance including precise and fast properties can be provided for actuator fault. The most important feature of the scheme is that, it does not depend on control law, dynamic model of actuator, faults' type, and also their time-profile. This super reconstruction performance and capability of the proposed approach are further validated by simulation and experimental results.

Design system for in-vessel mainipulator of fusion reactor 'DESIM'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adachi, Junihci; Kobayashi, Takeshi; Ise, Hideo; Sato, Keisuke; Matsuda, Hirotsugu

1989-01-01

A computer aided design system 'DESIM' for the in-vessel manipulators of nuclear fusion reactors has been developed to design the manipulators efficiently. The DESIM consists of the following subsystems: (1) the design system for arm mechanisms to realize optimum manipulation performance in the specified workspace; (2) the robot simulator to study manipulator movement, postures and interference problems; (3) the CAD system which is used to define the structure object data for robots, and the interface system for the data conversion from the CAD system to the robot simulator. The DESIM has been used to design the in-vessel manipulator for the Fusion Experimental Reactor (FER) to confirm the effectiveness. (author)

A survey of snake-inspired robot designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hopkins, James K; Spranklin, Brent W; Gupta, Satyandra K

2009-01-01

Body undulation used by snakes and the physical architecture of a snake body may offer significant benefits over typical legged or wheeled locomotion designs in certain types of scenarios. A large number of research groups have developed snake-inspired robots to exploit these benefits. The purpose of this review is to report different types of snake-inspired robot designs and categorize them based on their main characteristics. For each category, we discuss their relative advantages and disadvantages. This review will assist in familiarizing a newcomer to the field with the existing designs and their distinguishing features. We hope that by studying existing robots, future designers will be able to create new designs by adopting features from successful robots. The review also summarizes the design challenges associated with the further advancement of the field and deploying snake-inspired robots in practice. (topical review)

Controller design for Robotic hand through Electroencephalogram

OpenAIRE

Pandelidis P.; Kiriazis N.; Orgianelis K.; Koulios N.

2016-01-01

- This paper deals with the designing, the construction and the control of a robotic hand via an electroencephalogram sensor. First a robotic device that is able to mimic a real human hand is constructed. A PID controller is designed in order to improve the performance of the robotic arm for grabbing objects. Furthermore, a novel design approach is presented for controlling the motion of the robotic arm using signals produced from an innovative electroencephalogram sensor that detects the con...

Designing competitions for education in robotics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Nils Axel; Ravn, Ole

2012-01-01

The paper describes design considerations for making a robot competition. Topics as level of participants, learning objective, evaluation form, task design and competition rules are treated. It is shown that careful design considering these topics are necessary for a succesful outcome of a compet......The paper describes design considerations for making a robot competition. Topics as level of participants, learning objective, evaluation form, task design and competition rules are treated. It is shown that careful design considering these topics are necessary for a succesful outcome...... of a competition. The conclusions are based on examples from more than 15 years of experience with robotic competitions....

Swarming Robot Design, Construction and Software Implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Stolleis, Karl A.

2014-01-01

In this paper is presented an overview of the hardware design, construction overview, software design and software implementation for a small, low-cost robot to be used for swarming robot development. In addition to the work done on the robot, a full simulation of the robotic system was developed using Robot Operating System (ROS) and its associated simulation. The eventual use of the robots will be exploration of evolving behaviors via genetic algorithms and builds on the work done at the University of New Mexico Biological Computation Lab.

Characteristics of manipulator for industrial robot with three rotational pairs having parallel axes

Science.gov (United States)

Poteyev, M. I.

1986-01-01

The dynamics of a manipulator with three rotatinal kinematic pairs having parallel axes are analyzed, for application in an industrial robot. The system of Lagrange equations of the second kind, describing the motion of such a mechanism in terms of kinetic energy in generalized coordinates, is reduced to equations of motion in terms of Newton's laws. These are useful not only for either determining the moments of force couples which will produce a prescribed motion or, conversely determining the motion which given force couples will produce but also for solving optimization problems under constraints in both cases and for estimating dynamic errors. As a specific example, a manipulator with all three axes of vertical rotation is considered. The performance of this manipulator, namely the parameters of its motion as functions of time, is compared with that of a manipulator having one rotational and two translational kinematic pairs. Computer aided simulation of their motion on the basis of ideal models, with all three links represented by identical homogeneous bars, has yielded velocity time diagrams which indicate that the manipulator with three rotational pairs is 4.5 times faster.

Stability Analysis of a Voltage-Based Controller for Robot Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Orrante-Sakanassi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A voltage-based control scheme for robot manipulators has been presented in recent literature, where feedback linearization is applied in the electrical equations of the DC motors in order to cancel the electrical current terms. However, in this paper we show that this control technique generates a system of the form Ex = Ax + Bu, where E is a singular matrix, that is to say, a generalized state-space system or singular system. This paper introduces a formal stability analysis of the respective system by considering the state-space equation as a singular system. Furthermore, in order to avoid the singularity of the closed-loop system, modified voltage-based control schemes are proposed, whose Lyapunov stability analyses conclude semiglobal asymptotic stability for the set-point control case and uniform boundedness of the solutions and semiglobal convergence of the position, as well as velocity errors for the tracking control case. The proposed control systems are simulated for the tracking and set-point cases using the CICESE Pelican robot driven by DC motors.

Robustly stable adaptive control of a tandem of master-slave robotic manipulators with force reflection by using a multiestimation scheme.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibeas, Asier; de la Sen, Manuel

2006-10-01

The problem of controlling a tandem of robotic manipulators composing a teleoperation system with force reflection is addressed in this paper. The final objective of this paper is twofold: 1) to design a robust control law capable of ensuring closed-loop stability for robots with uncertainties and 2) to use the so-obtained control law to improve the tracking of each robot to its corresponding reference model in comparison with previously existing controllers when the slave is interacting with the obstacle. In this way, a multiestimation-based adaptive controller is proposed. Thus, the master robot is able to follow more accurately the constrained motion defined by the slave when interacting with an obstacle than when a single-estimation-based controller is used, improving the transparency property of the teleoperation scheme. The closed-loop stability is guaranteed if a minimum residence time, which might be updated online when unknown, between different controller parameterizations is respected. Furthermore, the analysis of the teleoperation and stability capabilities of the overall scheme is carried out. Finally, some simulation examples showing the working of the multiestimation scheme complete this paper.

Hydraulic manipulator research at ORNL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kress, R.L.; Jansen, J.F.; Love, L.J.

1997-01-01

Recently, task requirements have dictated that manipulator payload capacity increase to accommodate greater payloads, greater manipulator length, and larger environmental interaction forces. General tasks such as waste storage tank cleanup and facility dismantlement and decommissioning require manipulator life capacities in the range of hundreds of pounds rather than tens of pounds. To meet the increased payload capacities demanded by present-day tasks, manipulator designers have turned once again to hydraulics as a means of actuation. In order to successfully design, build, and deploy a new hydraulic manipulator (or subsystem), sophisticated modeling, analysis, and control experiments are usually needed. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has a history of projects that incorporate hydraulics technology, including mobile robots, teleoperated manipulators, and full-scale construction equipment. In addition, to support the development and deployment of new hydraulic manipulators, ORNL has outfitted a significant experimental laboratory and has developed the software capability for research into hydraulic manipulators, hydraulic actuators, hydraulic systems, modeling of hydraulic systems, and hydraulic controls. The purpose of this article is to describe the past hydraulic manipulator developments and current hydraulic manipulator research capabilities at ORNL. Included are example experimental results from ORNL's flexible/prismatic test stand

Hydraulic manipulator research at ORNL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kress, R.L.; Jansen, J.F. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Love, L.J. [Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education, TN (United States)

1997-03-01

Recently, task requirements have dictated that manipulator payload capacity increase to accommodate greater payloads, greater manipulator length, and larger environmental interaction forces. General tasks such as waste storage tank cleanup and facility dismantlement and decommissioning require manipulator life capacities in the range of hundreds of pounds rather than tens of pounds. To meet the increased payload capacities demanded by present-day tasks, manipulator designers have turned once again to hydraulics as a means of actuation. In order to successfully design, build, and deploy a new hydraulic manipulator (or subsystem), sophisticated modeling, analysis, and control experiments are usually needed. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has a history of projects that incorporate hydraulics technology, including mobile robots, teleoperated manipulators, and full-scale construction equipment. In addition, to support the development and deployment of new hydraulic manipulators, ORNL has outfitted a significant experimental laboratory and has developed the software capability for research into hydraulic manipulators, hydraulic actuators, hydraulic systems, modeling of hydraulic systems, and hydraulic controls. The purpose of this article is to describe the past hydraulic manipulator developments and current hydraulic manipulator research capabilities at ORNL. Included are example experimental results from ORNL`s flexible/prismatic test stand.

Building and Programming a Smart Robotic System for Distinguishing Objects Based on their Shape and Colour

Science.gov (United States)

Sharari, T. M.

2015-03-01

This paper presents a robotic system designed for holding and placing objects based on their colour and shape. The presented robot is given a complete set of instructions of positions and orientation angles for each manipulation motion. The main feature in this paper is that the developed robot used a combination of vision and motion systems for holding and placing the work-objects, mounted on the flat work-plane, based on their shapes and colors. This combination improves the flexibility of manipulation which may help eliminate the use of some expensive manipulation tasks in a variety of industrial applications. The robotic system presented in this paper is designed as an educational robot that possesses the ability for holding-and-placing operations with limited load. To process the various instructions for holding and placing the work objects, a main control unit - Manipulation Control Unit (MCU) is used as well as a slave unit that performed the actual instructions from the MCU.

Soft Robotics: Biological Inspiration, State of the Art, and Future Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deepak Trivedi

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Traditional robots have rigid underlying structures that limit their ability to interact with their environment. For example, conventional robot manipulators have rigid links and can manipulate objects using only their specialised end effectors. These robots often encounter difficulties operating in unstructured and highly congested environments. A variety of animals and plants exhibit complex movement with soft structures devoid of rigid components. Muscular hydrostats (e.g. octopus arms and elephant trunks are almost entirely composed of muscle and connective tissue and plant cells can change shape when pressurised by osmosis. Researchers have been inspired by biology to design and build soft robots. With a soft structure and redundant degrees of freedom, these robots can be used for delicate tasks in cluttered and/or unstructured environments. This paper discusses the novel capabilities of soft robots, describes examples from nature that provide biological inspiration, surveys the state of the art and outlines existing challenges in soft robot design, modelling, fabrication and control.

The human hand as an inspiration for robot hand development

CERN Document Server

Santos, Veronica

2014-01-01

“The Human Hand as an Inspiration for Robot Hand Development” presents an edited collection of authoritative contributions in the area of robot hands. The results described in the volume are expected to lead to more robust, dependable, and inexpensive distributed systems such as those endowed with complex and advanced sensing, actuation, computation, and communication capabilities. The twenty-four chapters discuss the field of robotic grasping and manipulation viewed in light of the human hand’s capabilities and push the state-of-the-art in robot hand design and control. Topics discussed include human hand biomechanics, neural control, sensory feedback and perception, and robotic grasp and manipulation. This book will be useful for researchers from diverse areas such as robotics, biomechanics, neuroscience, and anthropologists.

Controller design for Robotic hand through Electroencephalogram

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pandelidis P.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available - This paper deals with the designing, the construction and the control of a robotic hand via an electroencephalogram sensor. First a robotic device that is able to mimic a real human hand is constructed. A PID controller is designed in order to improve the performance of the robotic arm for grabbing objects. Furthermore, a novel design approach is presented for controlling the motion of the robotic arm using signals produced from an innovative electroencephalogram sensor that detects the concentration of the brain

Design and Analysis of a Collision Detector for Hybrid Robotic Machine Tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan ZHANG

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Capacitive sensing depends on the physical parameter changing either the spacing between the two plates or the dielectric constant. Based on this idea, a capacitive based collision detection sensor is proposed and designed in this paper for the purpose of detecting any collision between the end effector and peripheral equipment (e.g., fixture for the three degrees of freedom hybrid robotic machine tools when it is in operation. One side of the finger-like capacitor is attached to the moving platform of the hybrid robotic manipulator and the other side of the finger-like capacitor is attached to the tool. When the tool accidently hits the peripheral equipment, the vibration will make the distance of the capacitor change and therefore trigger the machine to stop. The new design is illustrated and modelled. The capacitance, sensitivity and frequency response of the detector are analyzed in detail, and finally, the fabrication process is presented. The proposed collision detector can also be applied to other machine tools.

Clean-room robot implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comeau, J.L.

1982-01-01

A robot has been incorporated in a clean room operation in which vacuum tube parts are cleaned just prior to final assembly with a 60 lb/in 2 blast of argon gas. The robot is programmed to pick up the parts, manipulate/rotate them as necessary in the jet pattern and deposit them in a tray precleaned by the robot. A carefully studied implementation plan was followed in the procurement, installation, modification and programming of the robot facility. An unusual configuration of one tube part required a unique gripper design. A study indicated that the tube parts processed by the robot are 12% cleaner than those manually cleaned by an experienced operator

The Minimally Invasive Manipulator: an ergonomic and economic non-robotic alternative for endoscopy?

Science.gov (United States)

Bosma, Jesse; Aarts, Sanne; Jaspers, Joris

2015-02-01

Since the da Vinci robotic system was introduced, it has been reported to have ergonomic advantages over conventional laparoscopy (COV). High investments associated with this system challenged us to design a more economical, mechanical alternative for improvement of laparoscopic ergonomics: the Minimally Invasive Manipulator (MIM). An earlier reported MIM prototype was investigated. Its shortcomings were input for the establishment of design criteria for a new prototype. A new prototype was developed, aiming at improved intuitiveness and ergonomics. The handle and instrument tip were redesigned and the parallelogram mechanism was converted from linear moving parts to mainly rotating parts. The new prototype was tested by a panel of experts and novices during an indicative ergonomic experiment. A major advantage of the MIM seems to be the possibility to perform laparoscopic surgery in a sitting position, in line with the working axis, instead of standing at the side of the patient. At an estimated cost level of 10% of the da Vinci system, the MIM can be an economical alternative for the enhancement of laparoscopy ergonomics. However, further development for clinical feasibility is necessary.

Probabilistic approach to manipulator kinematics and dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rao, S.S.; Bhatti, P.K.

2001-01-01

A high performance, high speed robotic arm must be able to manipulate objects with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. As with any other physical system, there are a number of factors causing uncertainties in the behavior of a robotic manipulator. These factors include manufacturing and assembling tolerances, and errors in the joint actuators and controllers. In order to study the effect of these uncertainties on the robotic end-effector and to obtain a better insight into the manipulator behavior, the manipulator kinematics and dynamics are modeled using a probabilistic approach. Based on the probabilistic model, kinematic and dynamic performance criteria are defined to provide measures of the behavior of the robotic end-effector. Techniques are presented to compute the kinematic and dynamic reliabilities of the manipulator. The effects of tolerances associated with the various manipulator parameters on the reliabilities are studied. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the procedures

The Walk-Man Robot Software Architecture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirko Ferrati

2016-05-01

Full Text Available A software and control architecture for a humanoid robot is a complex and large project, which involves a team of developers/researchers to be coordinated and requires many hard design choices. If such project has to be done in a very limited time, i.e., less than 1 year, more constraints are added and concepts, such as modular design, code reusability, and API definition, need to be used as much as possible. In this work, we describe the software architecture developed for Walk-Man, a robot participant at the Darpa Robotics Challenge. The challenge required the robot to execute many different tasks, such as walking, driving a car, and manipulating objects. These tasks need to be solved by robotics specialists in their corresponding research field, such as humanoid walking, motion planning, or object manipulation. The proposed architecture was developed in 10 months, provided boilerplate code for most of the functionalities required to control a humanoid robot and allowed robotics researchers to produce their control modules for DRC tasks in a short time. Additional capabilities of the architecture include firmware and hardware management, mixing of different middlewares, unreliable network management, and operator control station GUI. All the source code related to the architecture and some control modules have been released as open source projects.

Controller Design Of Unicycle Mobile Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Zamzuri Abd Rashid

2012-10-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The ability of unicycle mobile robot to stand and move around using one wheel has attracted a lot of researchers to conduct studies about the system, particularly in the design of the system mechanisms and the control strategies. This paper reports the investigation done on the design of the controller of the unicycle mobile robot system to maintain its stability in both longitudinal and lateral directions. The controller proposed is a Linear Quadratic Controller (LQR type which is based on the linearized model of the system. A thorough simulation studies have been carried out to find out the performance of the LQR controller. The best controller gain, K acquired through the simulation is selected to be implemented and tested in the experimental hardware. Finally, the results obtained from the experimental study are compared to the simulation results to study the controller efficacy. The analysis reveals that the proposed controller design is able to stabilize the unicycle mobile robot.ABSTRAK: Kemampuan robot satu roda untuk berdiri dan bergerak di sekitar telah menarik minat ramai penyelidik untuk mengkaji sistem robot terutamanya didalam bidang rangka mekanikal dan strategi kawalan robot. Kertas kajian ini melaporkan hasil penyelidikan ke atas strategi kawalan robot bagi memastikan sistem robot satu roda dapat distabilkan dari arah sisi dan hadapan. Strategi kawalan yang dicadang, menggunakan teknik kawalan kuadratik sejajar (Linear Quadratic Control yang berdasarkan model robot yang telah dipermudahkan. Kajian simulasi secara terperinci telah dijalankan bagi mengkaji prestasi strategi kawalan yang dicadangkan. Dari kajian simulasi sistem robot, pemilihan faktor konstan, K yang sesuai di dalam strategi kawalan telah dibuat, agar dapat dilaksanakan ke atas sistem robot yang dibangunkan. Keputusan dari kajian simulasi dan tindak balas oleh sistem robot yang dibangunkan akhirnya dibandingkan bagi melihat kesesuaian faktor kostan, K

The Modular Design and Production of an Intelligent Robot Based on a Closed-Loop Control Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Libo; Zhu, Junjie; Ren, Hao; Liu, Dongdong; Meng, Dan; Wu, Yanjun; Luo, Tiejian

2017-10-14

Intelligent robots are part of a new generation of robots that are able to sense the surrounding environment, plan their own actions and eventually reach their targets. In recent years, reliance upon robots in both daily life and industry has increased. The protocol proposed in this paper describes the design and production of a handling robot with an intelligent search algorithm and an autonomous identification function. First, the various working modules are mechanically assembled to complete the construction of the work platform and the installation of the robotic manipulator. Then, we design a closed-loop control system and a four-quadrant motor control strategy, with the aid of debugging software, as well as set steering gear identity (ID), baud rate and other working parameters to ensure that the robot achieves the desired dynamic performance and low energy consumption. Next, we debug the sensor to achieve multi-sensor fusion to accurately acquire environmental information. Finally, we implement the relevant algorithm, which can recognize the success of the robot's function for a given application. The advantage of this approach is its reliability and flexibility, as the users can develop a variety of hardware construction programs and utilize the comprehensive debugger to implement an intelligent control strategy. This allows users to set personalized requirements based on their needs with high efficiency and robustness.

A Conceptual Design of Light-weighted Mobile Robot for the Integrity of SG Tubes in NPP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seo, Yong Chil; Jeong, Kyung Min; Shin, Ho Chul; Lee, Sung Uk; Cho, Jae Wan; Choi, Young Soo; Kim, Seung Ho [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Chun Sup; Park, Ki Tae [Korea Plant Serviceand Engineering, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

2010-10-15

Steam generators (SG) are among the most critical components of pressurized water Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). SG tubes must provide a reliable pressure boundary between the primary and secondary cooling water. It is because that any leakage from tube defects could result in the release of radioactivity to the environment. Thus degradations of steam generators tubes should be monitored and inspected periodically under nuclear regulatory. In-service inspections of SG tubes are carried out using eddy current test (ECT) and the defected tubes are usually plugged. Because the radioactivity in the internal of SG chambers limits free access of human worker, remote manipulators are required. In South Korea, Manipulators such as the Zetec SM series and the Westinghouse ROSA series have been used. Such manipulators are rigidly mounted to manways or tube sheets of SG. Confusions for the inspected tubes may occur from deflection of the manipulators. To reduce the deflections of the manipulators for covering the large working areas of tube sheets, sufficient rigidity is required and it leads to the increase of the weight. Such weight increase results in some difficulties for handling and more radiation exposure of human workers. Recently light-weighed mobile robots have been introduced by Westinghouse and Zetec. The robots can move keeping in contact with the tube sheets using devices which are commonly called cam-locks. They are easier to handle and provide no confusion for the position of the inspected tubes. But when the clamping forces are loosed accidently, they can be fall down and light repair works can be performed. This paper provides the design results for a light weighted mobile robot which is recently being developed in cooperation of our institutes

A Conceptual Design of Light-weighted Mobile Robot for the Integrity of SG Tubes in NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seo, Yong Chil; Jeong, Kyung Min; Shin, Ho Chul; Lee, Sung Uk; Cho, Jae Wan; Choi, Young Soo; Kim, Seung Ho; Shin, Chun Sup; Park, Ki Tae

2010-01-01

Steam generators (SG) are among the most critical components of pressurized water Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). SG tubes must provide a reliable pressure boundary between the primary and secondary cooling water. It is because that any leakage from tube defects could result in the release of radioactivity to the environment. Thus degradations of steam generators tubes should be monitored and inspected periodically under nuclear regulatory. In-service inspections of SG tubes are carried out using eddy current test (ECT) and the defected tubes are usually plugged. Because the radioactivity in the internal of SG chambers limits free access of human worker, remote manipulators are required. In South Korea, Manipulators such as the Zetec SM series and the Westinghouse ROSA series have been used. Such manipulators are rigidly mounted to manways or tube sheets of SG. Confusions for the inspected tubes may occur from deflection of the manipulators. To reduce the deflections of the manipulators for covering the large working areas of tube sheets, sufficient rigidity is required and it leads to the increase of the weight. Such weight increase results in some difficulties for handling and more radiation exposure of human workers. Recently light-weighed mobile robots have been introduced by Westinghouse and Zetec. The robots can move keeping in contact with the tube sheets using devices which are commonly called cam-locks. They are easier to handle and provide no confusion for the position of the inspected tubes. But when the clamping forces are loosed accidently, they can be fall down and light repair works can be performed. This paper provides the design results for a light weighted mobile robot which is recently being developed in cooperation of our institutes

Robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design

CERN Document Server

Braumann, Johannes

2013-01-01

Architects, artists, and designers have been fascinated by robots for many decades, from Villemard’s utopian vision of an architect building a house with robotic labor in 1910, to the design of buildings that are robots themselves, such as Archigram’s Walking City. Today, they are again approaching the topic of robotic fabrication but this time employing a different strategy: instead of utopian proposals like Archigram’s or the highly specialized robots that were used by Japan’s construction industry in the 1990s, the current focus of architectural robotics is on industrial robots. These robotic arms have six degrees of freedom and are widely used in industry, especially for automotive production lines. What makes robotic arms so interesting for the creative industry is their multi-functionality: instead of having to develop specialized machines, a multifunctional robot arm can be equipped with a wide range of end-effectors, similar to a human hand using various tools. Therefore, architectural researc...

Cask system design guidance for robotic handling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griesmeyer, J.M.; Drotning, W.D.; Morimoto, A.K.; Bennett, P.C.

1990-10-01

Remote automated cask handling has the potential to reduce both the occupational exposure and the time required to process a nuclear waste transport cask at a handling facility. The ongoing Advanced Handling Technologies Project (AHTP) at Sandia National Laboratories is described. AHTP was initiated to explore the use of advanced robotic systems to perform cask handling operations at handling facilities for radioactive waste, and to provide guidance to cask designers regarding the impact of robotic handling on cask design. The proof-of-concept robotic systems developed in AHTP are intended to extrapolate from currently available commercial systems to the systems that will be available by the time that a repository would be open for operation. The project investigates those cask handling operations that would be performed at a nuclear waste repository facility during cask receiving and handling. The ongoing AHTP indicates that design guidance, rather than design specification, is appropriate, since the requirements for robotic handling do not place severe restrictions on cask design but rather focus on attention to detail and design for limited dexterity. The cask system design features that facilitate robotic handling operations are discussed, and results obtained from AHTP design and operation experience are summarized. The application of these design considerations is illustrated by discussion of the robot systems and their operation on cask feature mock-ups used in the AHTP project. 11 refs., 11 figs

Integration of Mobile Manipulators in an Industrial Production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Ole; Bøgh, Simon; Schou, Casper

2015-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this study has been to evaluate the technology of autonomous mobile manipulation in a real world industrial manufacturing environment. The objective has been to obtain experience in the integration with existing equipment and determine key challenges in maturing...... reports from such a real-world industrial experiment with two mobile manipulators. Design/methodology/approach – In the experiment, autonomous industrial mobile manipulators are integrated into the actual manufacturing environment of the pump manufacturer Grundfos. The two robots together solve the task...... of producing rotors; a task constituted by several sub-tasks ranging from logistics to complex assembly. With a total duration of 10 days, the experiment includes workspace adaptation, safety regulations, rapid robot instruction and running production. Findings – With a setup time of less than one day...

A survey of bio-inspired compliant legged robot designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Xiaodong; Bi Shusheng

2012-01-01

The roles of biological springs in vertebrate animals and their implementations in compliant legged robots offer significant advantages over the rigid legged ones in certain types of scenarios. A large number of robotics institutes have been attempting to work in conjunction with biologists and incorporated these principles into the design of biologically inspired robots. The motivation of this review is to investigate the most published compliant legged robots and categorize them according to the types of compliant elements adopted in their mechanical structures. Based on the typical robots investigated, the trade-off between each category is summarized. In addition, the most significant performances of these robots are compared quantitatively, and multiple available solutions for the future compliant legged robot design are suggested. Finally, the design challenges for compliant legged robots are analysed. This review will provide useful guidance for robotic designers in creating new designs by inheriting the virtues of those successful robots according to the specific tasks. (topical review)

Development of a Robotic Colonoscopic Manipulation System, Using Haptic Feedback Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Jaehong; Choi, Jae Hyuk; Seo, Jong Tae; Kim, Tae Il; Yi, Byung Ju

2017-01-01

Colonoscopy is one of the most effective diagnostic and therapeutic tools for colorectal diseases. We aim to propose a master-slave robotic colonoscopy that is controllable in remote site using conventional colonoscopy. The master and slave robot were developed to use conventional flexible colonoscopy. The robotic colonoscopic procedure was performed using a colonoscope training model by one expert endoscopist and two unexperienced engineers. To provide the haptic sensation, the insertion force and the rotating torque were measured and sent to the master robot. A slave robot was developed to hold the colonoscopy and its knob, and perform insertion, rotation, and two tilting motions of colonoscope. A master robot was designed to teach motions of the slave robot. These measured force and torque were scaled down by one tenth to provide the operator with some reflection force and torque at the haptic device. The haptic sensation and feedback system was successful and helpful to feel the constrained force or torque in colon. The insertion time using robotic system decreased with repeated procedures. This work proposed a robotic approach for colonoscopy using haptic feedback algorithm, and this robotic device would effectively perform colonoscopy with reduced burden and comparable safety for patients in remote site.

Development of a Robotic Colonoscopic Manipulation System, Using Haptic Feedback Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Jaehong; Choi, Jae Hyuk; Seo, Jong Tae

2017-01-01

Purpose Colonoscopy is one of the most effective diagnostic and therapeutic tools for colorectal diseases. We aim to propose a master-slave robotic colonoscopy that is controllable in remote site using conventional colonoscopy. Materials and Methods The master and slave robot were developed to use conventional flexible colonoscopy. The robotic colonoscopic procedure was performed using a colonoscope training model by one expert endoscopist and two unexperienced engineers. To provide the haptic sensation, the insertion force and the rotating torque were measured and sent to the master robot. Results A slave robot was developed to hold the colonoscopy and its knob, and perform insertion, rotation, and two tilting motions of colonoscope. A master robot was designed to teach motions of the slave robot. These measured force and torque were scaled down by one tenth to provide the operator with some reflection force and torque at the haptic device. The haptic sensation and feedback system was successful and helpful to feel the constrained force or torque in colon. The insertion time using robotic system decreased with repeated procedures. Conclusion This work proposed a robotic approach for colonoscopy using haptic feedback algorithm, and this robotic device would effectively perform colonoscopy with reduced burden and comparable safety for patients in remote site. PMID:27873506

Designing robots for care: care centered value-sensitive design.

Science.gov (United States)

van Wynsberghe, Aimee

2013-06-01

The prospective robots in healthcare intended to be included within the conclave of the nurse-patient relationship--what I refer to as care robots--require rigorous ethical reflection to ensure their design and introduction do not impede the promotion of values and the dignity of patients at such a vulnerable and sensitive time in their lives. The ethical evaluation of care robots requires insight into the values at stake in the healthcare tradition. What's more, given the stage of their development and lack of standards provided by the International Organization for Standardization to guide their development, ethics ought to be included into the design process of such robots. The manner in which this may be accomplished, as presented here, uses the blueprint of the Value-sensitive design approach as a means for creating a framework tailored to care contexts. Using care values as the foundational values to be integrated into a technology and using the elements in care, from the care ethics perspective, as the normative criteria, the resulting approach may be referred to as care centered value-sensitive design. The framework proposed here allows for the ethical evaluation of care robots both retrospectively and prospectively. By evaluating care robots in this way, we may ultimately ask what kind of care we, as a society, want to provide in the future.

Active Tube-Shaped Actuator with Embedded Square Rod-Shaped Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites for Robotic-Assisted Manipulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanjie Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports a new technique involving the design, fabrication, and characterization of an ionic polymer-metal composite- (IPMC- embedded active tube, which can achieve multidegree-of-freedom (MODF bending motions desirable in many applications, such as a manipulator and an active catheter. However, traditional strip-type IPMC actuators are limited in only being able to generate 1-dimensional bending motion. So, in this paper, we try to develop an approach which involves molding or integrating rod-shaped IPMC actuators into a soft silicone rubber structure to create an active tube. We modified the Nafion solution casting method and developed a complete sequence of a fabrication process for rod-shaped IPMCs with square cross sections and four insulated electrodes on the surface. The silicone gel was cured at a suitable temperature to form a flexible tube using molds fabricated by 3D printing technology. By applying differential voltages to the four electrodes of each IPMC rod-shaped actuator, MDOF bending motions of the active tube can be generated. Experimental results show that such IPMC-embedded tube designs can be used for developing robotic-assisted manipulation.

Active Tube-Shaped Actuator with Embedded Square Rod-Shaped Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites for Robotic-Assisted Manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiayu; Zhu, Denglin; Chen, Hualing

2018-01-01

This paper reports a new technique involving the design, fabrication, and characterization of an ionic polymer-metal composite- (IPMC-) embedded active tube, which can achieve multidegree-of-freedom (MODF) bending motions desirable in many applications, such as a manipulator and an active catheter. However, traditional strip-type IPMC actuators are limited in only being able to generate 1-dimensional bending motion. So, in this paper, we try to develop an approach which involves molding or integrating rod-shaped IPMC actuators into a soft silicone rubber structure to create an active tube. We modified the Nafion solution casting method and developed a complete sequence of a fabrication process for rod-shaped IPMCs with square cross sections and four insulated electrodes on the surface. The silicone gel was cured at a suitable temperature to form a flexible tube using molds fabricated by 3D printing technology. By applying differential voltages to the four electrodes of each IPMC rod-shaped actuator, MDOF bending motions of the active tube can be generated. Experimental results show that such IPMC-embedded tube designs can be used for developing robotic-assisted manipulation. PMID:29770160

Tendon-Based Stiffening for a Pneumatically Actuated Soft Manipulator

OpenAIRE

Shiva, A.; Stilli, A.; Noh, Y.; Faragasso, A.; Falco, I. D.; Gerboni, G.; Cianchetti, M.; Menciassi, A.; Althoefer, K.; Wurdemann, H. A.

2016-01-01

There is an emerging trend toward soft robotics due to its extended manipulation capabilities compared to traditionally rigid robot links, showing promise for an extended applicability to new areas. However, as a result of the inherent property of soft robotics being less rigid, the ability to control/obtain higher overall stiffness when required is yet to be further explored. In this letter, an innovative design is introduced which allows varying the stiffness of a continuum silicon-based ma...

Rod-based Fabrication of Customizable Soft Robotic Pneumatic Gripper Devices for Delicate Tissue Manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Low, Jin-Huat; Yeow, Chen-Hua

2016-08-02

Soft compliant gripping is essential in delicate surgical manipulation for minimizing the risk of tissue grip damage caused by high stress concentrations at the point of contact. It can be achieved by complementing traditional rigid grippers with soft robotic pneumatic gripper devices. This manuscript describes a rod-based approach that combined both 3D-printing and a modified soft lithography technique to fabricate the soft pneumatic gripper. In brief, the pneumatic featureless mold with chamber component is 3D-printed and the rods were used to create the pneumatic channels that connect to the chamber. This protocol eliminates the risk of channels occluding during the sealing process and the need for external air source or related control circuit. The soft gripper consists of a chamber filled with air, and one or more gripper arms with a pneumatic channel in each arm connected to the chamber. The pneumatic channel is positioned close to the outer wall to create different stiffness in the gripper arm. Upon compression of the chamber which generates pressure on the pneumatic channel, the gripper arm will bend inward to form a close grip posture because the outer wall area is more compliant. The soft gripper can be inserted into a 3D-printed handling tool with two different control modes for chamber compression: manual gripper mode with a movable piston, and robotic gripper mode with a linear actuator. The double-arm gripper with two actuatable arms was able to pick up objects of sizes up to 2 mm and yet generate lower compressive forces as compared to elastomer-coated and non-coated rigid grippers. The feasibility of having other designs, such as single-arm or hook gripper, was also demonstrated, which further highlighted the customizability of the soft gripper device, and it's potential to be used in delicate surgical manipulation to reduce the risk of tissue grip damage.

Selection of rational technical solutions in designing a robotized assembly complex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petrov, B.M.; Rasulbekov, R.I.

1984-01-01

One of the methods permitting a more objective approach to decision making in design is the method of ordered search which, in combination with the methods of expert estimate was used in designing the robotized assembly-finishing complex for automobile tires. The assembly-finishing complex consists of a number of functionally independent parts, i.e., modules provided with manipulators and mutually connected by a transport system with intermediate storage. The modified method of ordered search, examined in the present work, was therefore used for each module separately, and not for the complex as a whole. We will examine the main principles of our approach to the selection of design solutions for the example of a module for laying on the bottom-cushion cords

Automation and Robotics for Space-Based Systems, 1991

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Robert L., II (Editor)

1992-01-01

The purpose of this in-house workshop was to assess the state-of-the-art of automation and robotics for space operations from an LaRC perspective and to identify areas of opportunity for future research. Over half of the presentations came from the Automation Technology Branch, covering telerobotic control, extravehicular activity (EVA) and intra-vehicular activity (IVA) robotics, hand controllers for teleoperation, sensors, neural networks, and automated structural assembly, all applied to space missions. Other talks covered the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) active damping augmentation, space crane work, modeling, simulation, and control of large, flexible space manipulators, and virtual passive controller designs for space robots.

Behavior-Based Assists for Telerobotic Manipulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noakes, Mark W.; Hamel, Dr. William R.

2008-01-01

Teleoperated manipulation has been a critical tool in hazardous operations where the presence of humans has been precluded since the early days of nuclear material handling. Performance levels and limitations were understood and accepted. However, in the current era of decontamination and decommissioning (D and D) of facilities owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, there has been criticism that traditional remote systems are too expensive, too slow, and too difficult to use by cost-driven demolition companies. Previous research in telerobotics has attempted to alleviate some of these issues; however, it has been difficult to get capabilities generated in the research lab into the field. One major difficulty is the severely unstructured environments found in real D and D type environments. Behavior-based robotics (BBR) is based on concepts specifically designed to permit autonomous robots to function in unstructured environments. BBR schemes use sensor data to interact with the world directly rather than to generate models that are manipulated. Because the robot is immersed in its environment and since sensors are mounted on the robot, sensing and motion are inherently calibrated with respect to the robot. This paper presents a behavior-based approach and architecture for executing telerobotic D and D type tooling tasks

The development of advanced robotics for the nuclear industry -The development of optimal design technology in robotics-

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Tae Ryong; Park, Jin Suk; Jung, Seung Hoh; Park, Jin Hoh

1995-07-01

Light weight nozzle dam was fabricated with the carbon fabric reinforced plastic(CFRP). The stiffness-to-weight ratio of the nozzle dam was remarkably improved from 18.25 x 10 3 N m 2 /kg(Kori nozzle dam) to 29.83 x 10 3 (KAERI nozzle dam). The structure integrity of KAERI nozzle dam was verified through the stress analysis using ANSYS program. Design of nozzle dam diaphragm seal assembly which consists of inflatable seals(a wet and a dry seal) and a mechanical seal has been completed. It is used to prevent the coolant leakage from steam generator nozzles. Control console panel, which controls pneumatic pressure supplied to inflatable seals and hydraulic pressure applied to nozzle dam at leak test, has been manufactured. KAERI gripper, which is proper to handle a heavy object such as the nozzle dam, was designed and manufactured based on the enhanced driving force-to-gripping force ratio (performance index). The performance index of the KAERI gripper was found to be 4.1, while that of Schilling gripper (product of Schilling Inc.) is 10.0. The position analysis and the kinematic analysis of the KAERI gripper were also carried out. To control the gripper system a fuzzy logic controller was proposed. The controller takes two sensory inputs, position feedback from the LVDT and pressure feedback from pressure transducers. Computer simulation considering the actual environments where the controller is to be put was carried out to test control performance. The simulation results show that the designed controller can effectively control the gripper system. A bolting tool to fasten the nozzle dam to the nozzle ring of steam generator was also designed and manufactured. Preliminary design of robot manipulator was done by considering maximum load on robot end-effector. From the preliminary design, the dynamic equation for the robot was derived. Driving torque required at each joint of robot was calculated through the simulation for the predetermined working path which is

Computationally efficient dynamic modeling of robot manipulators with multiple flexible-links using acceleration-based discrete time transfer matrix method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Xuping; Sørensen, Rasmus; RahbekIversen, Mathias

2018-01-01

, and then is linearized based on the acceleration-based state vector. The transfer matrices for each type of components/elements are developed, and used to establish the system equations of a flexible robot manipulator by concatenating the state vector from the base to the end-effector. With this strategy, the size...... manipulators, and only involves calculating and transferring component/element dynamic equations that have small size. The numerical simulations and experimental testing of flexible-link manipulators are conducted to validate the proposed methodologies....

Fundamentals of soft robot locomotion

OpenAIRE

Calisti, M.; Picardi, G.; Laschi, C.

2017-01-01

Soft robotics and its related technologies enable robot abilities in several robotics domains including, but not exclusively related to, manipulation, manufacturing, human���robot interaction and locomotion. Although field applications have emerged for soft manipulation and human���robot interaction, mobile soft robots appear to remain in the research stage, involving the somehow conflictual goals of having a deformable body and exerting forces on the environment to achieve locomotion. This p...

25th Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region

CERN Document Server

Borangiu, Theodor

2017-01-01

This book presents the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region, RAAD 2016 held in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 30th–July 2nd, 2016. In keeping with the tradition of the event, RAAD 2016 covered all the important areas of research and innovation in new robot designs and intelligent robot control, with papers including Intelligent robot motion control; Robot vision and sensory processing; Novel design of robot manipulators and grippers; Robot applications in manufacturing and services; Autonomous systems, humanoid and walking robots; Human–robot interaction and collaboration; Cognitive robots and emotional intelligence; Medical, human-assistive robots and prosthetic design; Robots in construction and arts, and Evolution, education, legal and social issues of robotics. For the first time in RAAD history, the themes cloud robots, legal and ethical issues in robotics as well as robots in arts were included in the technical program. The book is a valuable resource f...

Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2016 essentials

CERN Document Server

Marsh, Ken

2016-01-01

Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2016 - Essentials is an excellent introduction to the essential features, functions, and workflows of Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional. Master the tools you will need to make Robot work for you: Go from zero to proficiency with this thorough and detailed introduction to the essential concepts and workflows of Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2016. - Demystify the interface - Manipulate and manage Robot tables like a pro - Learn how to use Robot's modeling tools - Master loading techniques - Harness Robot automated load combinations - Decipher simplified seismic loading - Discover workflows for steel and concrete design - Gain insights to help troubleshoot issues Guided exercises are provided to help cement fundamental concepts in Robot Structural Analysis and drive home key functions. Get up to speed quickly with this essential text and add Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2016 to your analysis and design toolbox. New in 2016: AWC-NDS ...

Collision-free inverse kinematics of the redundant seven link manipulator used in a cucumber harvesting robot

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Henten, van E.J.; Schenk, E.J.J.; Willigenburg, van L.G.; Meuleman, J.; Barreiro, P.

2010-01-01

The paper presents results of research on an inverse kinematics algorithm that has been used in a functional model of a cucumber-harvesting robot consisting of a redundant P6R manipulator. Within a first generic approach, the inverse kinematics problem was reformulated as a non-linear programming

Preliminary analysis of force-torque measurements for robot-assisted fracture surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Georgilas, Ioannis; Dagnino, Giulio; Tarassoli, Payam; Atkins, Roger; Dogramadzi, Sanja

2015-08-01

Our group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory has been working on a new robotic system for fracture surgery that has been previously reported [1]. The robotic system is being developed for distal femur fractures and features a robot that manipulates the small fracture fragments through small percutaneous incisions and a robot that re-aligns the long bones. The robots controller design relies on accurate and bounded force and position parameters for which we require real surgical data. This paper reports preliminary findings of forces and torques applied during bone and soft tissue manipulation in typical orthopaedic surgery procedures. Using customised orthopaedic surgical tools we have collected data from a range of orthopaedic surgical procedures at Bristol Royal Infirmary, UK. Maximum forces and torques encountered during fracture manipulation which involved proximal femur and soft tissue distraction around it and reduction of neck of femur fractures have been recorded and further analysed in conjunction with accompanying image recordings. Using this data we are establishing a set of technical requirements for creating safe and dynamically stable minimally invasive robot-assisted fracture surgery (RAFS) systems.

SPONGE ROBOTIC HAND DESIGN FOR PROSTHESES

OpenAIRE

Mine Seçkin

2016-01-01

In this study robotic hands and fingers’ materials are investigated from past to present and a sponge robotic hand is designed for biomedical applications. Emergence and necessity of soft robotic technology are explained and description of soft robot is made. Because of the importance of hand in a person’s body, researchers have dealt with robotic hand prostheses for many centuries and developed many hand types. To mimic the best for the human limbs, softness of the hand is one of the importa...

Approaching human performance the functionality-driven Awiwi robot hand

CERN Document Server

Grebenstein, Markus

2014-01-01

Humanoid robotics have made remarkable progress since the dawn of robotics. So why don't we have humanoid robot assistants in day-to-day life yet? This book analyzes the keys to building a successful humanoid robot for field robotics, where collisions become an unavoidable part of the game. The author argues that the design goal should be real anthropomorphism, as opposed to mere human-like appearance. He deduces three major characteristics to aim for when designing a humanoid robot, particularly robot hands: _ Robustness against impacts _ Fast dynamics _ Human-like grasping and manipulation performance   Instead of blindly copying human anatomy, this book opts for a holistic design me-tho-do-lo-gy. It analyzes human hands and existing robot hands to elucidate the important functionalities that are the building blocks toward these necessary characteristics.They are the keys to designing an anthropomorphic robot hand, as illustrated in the high performance anthropomorphic Awiwi Hand presented in this book.  ...

Dataglove-based interface for impedance control of manipulators in cooperative human–robot environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paredes-Madrid, L; Gonzalez de Santos, P

2013-01-01

A dataglove-based interface is presented for tracking the forces applied by the hand during contact tasks with a 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator. The interface uses 11 force sensors carefully placed on the palm-side fabric of a 16 DOF dataglove. The force sensors use piezoresistive technology to measure the individual force components from the hand. Based on the dataglove measurements, these components are transformed and summed to assemble the resultant force vector. Finally, this force vector is translated into the manipulator frame using orientation measurements from an inertial measurement unit placed on the dorsal side of the dataglove. Static tests show that the dataglove-based interface can effectively measure the applied hand force, but there are inaccuracies in orientation and magnitude when compared to the load cell measurements used as the reference for error calculation. Promising results were achieved when controlling the 6 DOF manipulator based on the force readings acquired from the dataglove interface; the decoupled dynamics of the dataglove interface with respect to the robot structure yielded smooth force readings of the human intention that could be effectively used in the impedance control of the manipulator. (paper)

Design and implementation of motion planning of inspection and maintenance robot for ITER-like vessel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Hesheng; Lai, Yinping [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China (China); Chen, Weidong, E-mail: wdchen@sjtu.edu.cn [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China (China); Cao, Qixin [Institute of Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China)

2015-12-15

Robot motion planning is a fundamental problem to ensure the robot executing the task without clashes, fast and accurately in a special environment. In this paper, a motion planning of a 12 DOFs remote handling robot used for inspecting the working state of the ITER-like vessel and maintaining key device components is proposed and implemented. Firstly, the forward and inverse kinematics are given by analytic method. The work space and posture space of this manipulator are both considered. Then the motion planning is divided into three stages: coming out of the cassette mover, moving along the in-vessel center line, and inspecting the D-shape section. Lastly, the result of experiments verified the performance of the motion design method. In addition, the task of unscrewing/screwing the screw demonstrated the feasibility of system in function.

Soft Manipulators and Grippers: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josie Hughes

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Soft robotics is a growing area of research which utilises the compliance and adaptability of soft structures to develop highly adaptive robotics for soft interactions. One area in which soft robotics has the ability to make significant impact is in the development of soft grippers and manipulators. With an increased requirement for automation, robotics systems are required to perform task in unstructured and not well defined environments; conditions which conventional rigid robotics are not best suited. This requires a paradigm shift in the methods and materials used to develop robots such that they can adapt to and work safely in human environments. One solution to this is soft robotics, which enables soft interactions with the surroundings whilst maintaining the ability to apply significant force. This review paper assess the current materials and methods, actuation methods and sensors which are used in the development of soft manipulators. The achievements and shortcomings of recent technology in these key areas are evaluated, and this paper concludes with a discussion on the potential impacts of soft manipulators on industry and society.

Manned spacecraft automation and robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Jon D.

1987-01-01

The Space Station holds promise of being a showcase user and driver of advanced automation and robotics technology. The author addresses the advances in automation and robotics from the Space Shuttle - with its high-reliability redundancy management and fault tolerance design and its remote manipulator system - to the projected knowledge-based systems for monitoring, control, fault diagnosis, planning, and scheduling, and the telerobotic systems of the future Space Station.

Mobility Systems For Robotic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, Wendell

1987-02-01

The majority of existing robotic systems can be decomposed into five distinct subsystems: locomotion, control/man-machine interface (MMI), sensors, power source, and manipulator. When designing robotic vehicles, there are two main requirements: first, to design for the environment and second, for the task. The environment can be correlated with known missions. This can be seen by analyzing existing mobile robots. Ground mobile systems are generally wheeled, tracked, or legged. More recently, underwater vehicles have gained greater attention. For example, Jason Jr. made history by surveying the sunken luxury liner, the Titanic. The next big surge of robotic vehicles will be in space. This will evolve as a result of NASA's commitment to the Space Station. The foreseeable robots will interface with current systems as well as standalone, free-flying systems. A space robotic vehicle is similar to its underwater counterpart with very few differences. Their commonality includes missions and degrees-of-freedom. The issues of stability and communication are inherent in both systems and environment.

Automatic Modeling and Simulation of Modular Robots

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, C.; Wei, H.; Zhang, Y.

2018-03-01

The ability of reconfiguration makes modular robots have the ability of adaptable, low-cost, self-healing and fault-tolerant. It can also be applied to a variety of mission situations. In this manuscript, a robot platform which relied on the module library was designed, based on the screw theory and module theory. Then, the configuration design method of the modular robot was proposed. And the different configurations of modular robot system have been built, including industrial mechanical arms, the mobile platform, six-legged robot and 3D exoskeleton manipulator. Finally, the simulation and verification of one system among them have been made, using the analyses of screw kinematics and polynomial planning. The results of experiments demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of this modular system.

Design and validation of an MR-conditional robot for transcranial focused ultrasound surgery in infants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Price, Karl D., E-mail: karl.price@sickkids.ca [Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8 (Canada); The Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8 (Canada); Sin, Vivian W. [Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8 (Canada); Mougenot, Charles [Philips Healthcare Canada, Markham, Ontario L6C 2S3 (Canada); Pichardo, Samuel [Electrical Engineering, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 5E1 (Canada); Looi, Thomas [Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8 (Canada); The Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 3G9 (Canada); Waspe, Adam C. [Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8 (Canada); Department of Medical Imaging, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1W7 (Canada); Drake, James M. [Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8 (Canada); Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1 (Canada); The Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 3G9 (Canada)

2016-09-15

Purpose: Current treatment of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) involves cerebral shunt placement or an invasive brain surgery. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) applied to the brains of pediatric patients presents an opportunity to treat IVH in a noninvasive manner, termed “incision-less surgery.” Current clinical and research focused ultrasound systems lack the capability to perform neonatal transcranial surgeries due to either range of motion or dexterity requirements. A novel robotic system is proposed to position a focused ultrasound transducer accurately above the head of a neonatal patient inside an MRI machine to deliver the therapy. Methods: A clinical Philips Sonalleve MRgFUS system was expanded to perform transcranial treatment. A five degree-of-freedom MR-conditional robot was designed and manufactured using MR compatible materials. The robot electronics and control were integrated into existing Philips electronics and software interfaces. The user commands the position of the robot with a graphical user interface, and is presented with real-time MR imaging of the patient throughout the surgery. The robot is validated through a series of experiments that characterize accuracy, signal-to-noise ratio degeneration of an MR image as a result of the robot, MR imaging artifacts generated by the robot, and the robot’s ability to operate in a representative surgical environment inside an MR machine. Results: Experimental results show the robot responds reliably within an MR environment, has achieved 0.59 ± 0.25 mm accuracy, does not produce severe MR-imaging artifacts, has a workspace providing sufficient coverage of a neonatal brain, and can manipulate a 5 kg payload. A full system demonstration shows these characteristics apply in an application environment. Conclusions: This paper presents a comprehensive look at the process of designing and validating a new robot from concept to implementation for use in an MR environment. An MR

Design and validation of an MR-conditional robot for transcranial focused ultrasound surgery in infants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, Karl D.; Sin, Vivian W.; Mougenot, Charles; Pichardo, Samuel; Looi, Thomas; Waspe, Adam C.; Drake, James M.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Current treatment of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) involves cerebral shunt placement or an invasive brain surgery. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) applied to the brains of pediatric patients presents an opportunity to treat IVH in a noninvasive manner, termed “incision-less surgery.” Current clinical and research focused ultrasound systems lack the capability to perform neonatal transcranial surgeries due to either range of motion or dexterity requirements. A novel robotic system is proposed to position a focused ultrasound transducer accurately above the head of a neonatal patient inside an MRI machine to deliver the therapy. Methods: A clinical Philips Sonalleve MRgFUS system was expanded to perform transcranial treatment. A five degree-of-freedom MR-conditional robot was designed and manufactured using MR compatible materials. The robot electronics and control were integrated into existing Philips electronics and software interfaces. The user commands the position of the robot with a graphical user interface, and is presented with real-time MR imaging of the patient throughout the surgery. The robot is validated through a series of experiments that characterize accuracy, signal-to-noise ratio degeneration of an MR image as a result of the robot, MR imaging artifacts generated by the robot, and the robot’s ability to operate in a representative surgical environment inside an MR machine. Results: Experimental results show the robot responds reliably within an MR environment, has achieved 0.59 ± 0.25 mm accuracy, does not produce severe MR-imaging artifacts, has a workspace providing sufficient coverage of a neonatal brain, and can manipulate a 5 kg payload. A full system demonstration shows these characteristics apply in an application environment. Conclusions: This paper presents a comprehensive look at the process of designing and validating a new robot from concept to implementation for use in an MR environment. An MR

The development of robotic system for the nuclear power plants -The development of advanced robotics for the nuclear industry-

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seung Ho; Kim, Chang Hoi; Kim, Byung Soo; Lee, Yong Bum; Hwang, Suk Yeoung; Kim, Woong Ki; Park, Soon Yong; Lee, Young Kwang; Lee, Jae Gyeong; Seo, Yong Chil

1994-07-01

The omni-directional planetary wheel type mobile robot (KAEROT/ml) has been developed on the concepts of the modularity, reliability, and stability. Manipulator system is designed in order to be able to install on mobile system and to upgrade operating capability. Control system consists of 68030 processor board, servo motor controller and I/O board. The 6 DOFs hydraulic manipulator is designed for nozzle dam installation and removal. The reachable length of manipulator is 1.7 m with the wrist configuration of pitch-yaw-roll. For the easy installation of manipulator from outside steam generator, specially designed guider is considered. Also master manipulator is designed for force feedback control. RCP (Remote Control Part) is constructed with Sparc processor boards and servo control boards. Graphic simulation has done for the evaluation of manipulator performance of nozzle dam works. (Author)

Future robotic platforms in urologic surgery: Recent Developments

Science.gov (United States)

Herrell, S. Duke; Webster, Robert; Simaan, Nabil

2014-01-01

Purpose of review To review recent developments at Vanderbilt University of new robotic technologies and platforms designed for minimally invasive urologic surgery and their design rationale and potential roles in advancing current urologic surgical practice. Recent findings Emerging robotic platforms are being developed to improve performance of a wider variety of urologic interventions beyond the standard minimally invasive robotic urologic surgeries conducted presently with the da Vinci platform. These newer platforms are designed to incorporate significant advantages of robotics to improve the safety and outcomes of transurethral bladder surgery and surveillance, further decrease the invasiveness of interventions by advancing LESS surgery, and allow for previously impossible needle access and ablation delivery. Summary Three new robotic surgical technologies that have been developed at Vanderbilt University are reviewed, including a robotic transurethral system to enhance bladder surveillance and TURBT, a purpose-specific robotic system for LESS, and a needle sized robot that can be used as either a steerable needle or small surgeon-controlled micro-laparoscopic manipulator. PMID:24253803

DEVELOPING INDUSTRIAL ROBOT SIMULATION MODEL TUR10-K USING “UNIVERSAL MECHANISM” SOFTWARE COMPLEX

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vadim Vladimirovich Chirkov

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Manipulation robots are complex spatial mechanical systems having five or six degrees of freedom, and sometimes more. For this reason, modeling manipulative robots movement, even in the kinematic formulation, is a complex mathematical task. If one moves from kinematic modeling of motion to dynamic modeling then there must be taken into account the inertial properties of the modeling object. In this case, analytical constructing of such a complex object mathematical model as a manipulation robot becomes practically impossible. Therefore, special computer-aided design systems, called CAE-systems, are used for modeling complex mechanical systems. The purpose of the paper is simulation model construction of a complex mechanical system, such as the industrial robot TUR10-K, to obtain its dynamic characteristics. Developing such models makes it possible to reduce the complexity of designing complex systems process and to obtain the necessary characteristics. Purpose. Developing the simulation model of the industrial robot TUR10-K and obtaining dynamic characteristics of the mechanism. Methodology: the article is used a computer simulation method. Results: There is obtained the simulation model of the robot and its dynamic characteristics. Practical implications: the results can be used in the mechanical systems design and various simulation models.

Control and applications of cooperating disparate robotic manipulators relevant to nuclear waste management

Science.gov (United States)

Lew, Jae Young; Book, Wayne J.

1991-01-01

Remote handling in nuclear waste management requires a robotic system with precise motion as well as a large workspace. The concept of a small arm mounted on the end of a large arm may satisfy such needs. However, the performance of such a serial configuration lacks payload capacity which is a crucial factor for handling a massive object. Also, this configuration induces more flexibility on the structure. To overcome these problems, the topology of bracing the tip of the small arm (not the large arm) and having an end effector in the middle of the chain is proposed in this paper. Also, control of these cooperating disparate manipulators is accomplished in computer simulations. Thus, this robotic system can have the accuracy of the small arm, and at the same time, it can have the payload capacity and large workspace of the large arm.

End-Effector Position Analysis Using Forward Kinematics For 5 Dof Pravak Robot Arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jolly Atit Shah

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Automatic control of the robotic manipulator involves study of kinematics and dynamics as a major issue. This paper involves the kinematic analysis of a Pravak Robot arm which is used for doing successful robotic manipulation task in its workspace. The Pravak Robot Arm is a 5-DOF robot having all the joints revolute. The kinematics problem is defined as the transformation from the Cartesian space to the joint space and vice versa. In this study the Denavit- Hartenberg (D-H model is used to model robot links and joints. Pravak Robot Arm is a simple and safe robotic system designed for laboratory training and research applications. This robot allows to gain theoretical and practical experience in robotics, automation and control systems. The MATLAB R2007 is used to analyse end effectors position for a set of joint parameter.

Anthropomorphic Robot Design and User Interaction Associated with Motion

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Stephen R.

2016-01-01

Though in its original concept a robot was conceived to have some human-like shape, most robots now in use have specific industrial purposes and do not closely resemble humans. Nevertheless, robots that resemble human form in some way have continued to be introduced. They are called anthropomorphic robots. The fact that the user interface to all robots is now highly mediated means that the form of the user interface is not necessarily connected to the robots form, human or otherwise. Consequently, the unique way the design of anthropomorphic robots affects their user interaction is through their general appearance and the way they move. These robots human-like appearance acts as a kind of generalized predictor that gives its operators, and those with whom they may directly work, the expectation that they will behave to some extent like a human. This expectation is especially prominent for interactions with social robots, which are built to enhance it. Often interaction with them may be mainly cognitive because they are not necessarily kinematically intricate enough for complex physical interaction. Their body movement, for example, may be limited to simple wheeled locomotion. An anthropomorphic robot with human form, however, can be kinematically complex and designed, for example, to reproduce the details of human limb, torso, and head movement. Because of the mediated nature of robot control, there remains in general no necessary connection between the specific form of user interface and the anthropomorphic form of the robot. But their anthropomorphic kinematics and dynamics imply that the impact of their design shows up in the way the robot moves. The central finding of this report is that the control of this motion is a basic design element through which the anthropomorphic form can affect user interaction. In particular, designers of anthropomorphic robots can take advantage of the inherent human-like movement to 1) improve the users direct manual control over

Houdini: Site and locomotion analysis-driven design of an in-tank mobile cleanup robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schempf, H.

1995-10-01

This paper describes design and locomotion analysis efforts to develop a new reconfigurable and collapsible working machine, dubbed Houdini, to remotely clean up hazardous-waste and petroleum storage tanks. The tethered robot system is designed to allow remote entry through man-way openings as small as 0.61 m in diameter, after which it expands its locomotors and opens up its collapsible backhoe/manipulator and plow to subsequently perform waste or material handling operations. The design is optimized to meet stringent site and safety requirements, and represents a viable alternative to (1) the long-reach manipulation systems proposed for hazardous storage tank cleanup, and (2) confined-entry manual cleanup approaches. The system development has been funded to provide waste mobilization and removal solutions for the hazardous waste storage tanks in the Department of Energy (DoE) Fernald and Oak Ridge complexes. Other potential applications areas are the cleanup of heavy-crude petroleum storage tanks. The author has developed a fully operational prototype which is currently undergoing testing

Design and Implementation of a New DELTA Parallel Robot in Robotics Competitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonqlan Lin

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This investigation concerns the design and implementation of the DELTA parallel robot, covering the entire mechatronic process, involving kinematics, control design and optimizing methods. To accelerate the construction of the robot, 3D printing is used to fabricate end-effector parts. The parts are modular, low-cost, reconfigurable and can be assembled in less time than is required for conventionally fabricated parts. The controller, including the control algorithm and human-machine interface (HMI, is coded using the Borland C++ Builder 6 Personal software environment. The integration of the motion controller with image recognition into an opto-mechatronics system is presented. The robot system has been entered into robotic competitions in Taiwan. The experimental results reveal that the proposed DELTA robot completed the tasks in those competitions successfully.

Visual exploration and analysis of human-robot interaction rules

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hui; Boyles, Michael J.

2013-01-01

We present a novel interaction paradigm for the visual exploration, manipulation and analysis of human-robot interaction (HRI) rules; our development is implemented using a visual programming interface and exploits key techniques drawn from both information visualization and visual data mining to facilitate the interaction design and knowledge discovery process. HRI is often concerned with manipulations of multi-modal signals, events, and commands that form various kinds of interaction rules. Depicting, manipulating and sharing such design-level information is a compelling challenge. Furthermore, the closed loop between HRI programming and knowledge discovery from empirical data is a relatively long cycle. This, in turn, makes design-level verification nearly impossible to perform in an earlier phase. In our work, we exploit a drag-and-drop user interface and visual languages to support depicting responsive behaviors from social participants when they interact with their partners. For our principal test case of gaze-contingent HRI interfaces, this permits us to program and debug the robots' responsive behaviors through a graphical data-flow chart editor. We exploit additional program manipulation interfaces to provide still further improvement to our programming experience: by simulating the interaction dynamics between a human and a robot behavior model, we allow the researchers to generate, trace and study the perception-action dynamics with a social interaction simulation to verify and refine their designs. Finally, we extend our visual manipulation environment with a visual data-mining tool that allows the user to investigate interesting phenomena such as joint attention and sequential behavioral patterns from multiple multi-modal data streams. We have created instances of HRI interfaces to evaluate and refine our development paradigm. As far as we are aware, this paper reports the first program manipulation paradigm that integrates visual programming

Research on Visual Servo Grasping of Household Objects for Nonholonomic Mobile Manipulator

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Huangsheng Xie

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the problem of visual servo grasping of household objects for nonholonomic mobile manipulator. Firstly, a new kind of artificial object mark based on QR (Quick Response Code is designed, which can be affixed to the surface of household objects. Secondly, after summarizing the vision-based autonomous mobile manipulation system as a generalized manipulator, the generalized manipulator’s kinematic model is established, the analytical inverse kinematic solutions of the generalized manipulator are acquired, and a novel active vision based camera calibration method is proposed to determine the hand-eye relationship. Finally, a visual servo switching control law is designed to control the service robot to finish object grasping operation. Experimental results show that QR Code-based artificial object mark can overcome the difficulties brought by household objects’ variety and operation complexity, and the proposed visual servo scheme makes it possible for service robot to grasp and deliver objects efficiently.

Multi-Purpose Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand Design for Extra-Vehicular Activity Manipulation Tasks using Embedded Fiber Optic Sensors, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — IFOS proposes to design and build fiber-optically sensorized robotic fingers that can sense force and, objects using only tactile feedback, similar to the skin on a...

Review on design and control aspects of ankle rehabilitation robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Jamwal, Prashant K; Hussain, Shahid; Xie, Sheng Q

2015-03-01

Ankle rehabilitation robots can play an important role in improving outcomes of the rehabilitation treatment by assisting therapists and patients in number of ways. Consequently, few robot designs have been proposed by researchers which fall under either of the two categories, namely, wearable robots or platform-based robots. This paper presents a review of both kinds of ankle robots along with a brief analysis of their design, actuation and control approaches. While reviewing these designs it was observed that most of them are undesirably inspired by industrial robot designs. Taking note of the design concerns of current ankle robots, few improvements in the ankle robot designs have also been suggested. Conventional position control or force control approaches, being used in the existing ankle robots, have been reviewed. Apparently, opportunities of improvement also exist in the actuation as well as control of ankle robots. Subsequently, a discussion on most recent research in the development of novel actuators and advanced controllers based on appropriate physical and cognitive human-robot interaction has also been included in this review. Implications for Rehabilitation Ankle joint functions are restricted/impaired as a consequence of stroke or injury during sports or otherwise. Robots can help in reinstating functions faster and can also work as tool for recording rehabilitation data useful for further analysis. Evolution of ankle robots with respect to their design and control aspects has been discussed in the present paper and a novel design with futuristic control approach has been proposed.

Adaptive control of robotic manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Seraji, H.

1987-01-01

The author presents a novel approach to adaptive control of manipulators to achieve trajectory tracking by the joint angles. The central concept in this approach is the utilization of the manipulator inverse as a feedforward controller. The desired trajectory is applied as an input to the feedforward controller which behaves as the inverse of the manipulator at any operating point; the controller output is used as the driving torque for the manipulator. The controller gains are then updated by an adaptation algorithm derived from MRAC (model reference adaptive control) theory to cope with variations in the manipulator inverse due to changes of the operating point. An adaptive feedback controller and an auxiliary signal are also used to enhance closed-loop stability and to achieve faster adaptation. The proposed control scheme is computationally fast and does not require a priori knowledge of the complex dynamic model or the parameter values of the manipulator or the payload.

Innovations in robotic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Gettman, Matthew; Rivera, Marcelino

2016-05-01

Developments in robotic surgery have continued to advance care throughout the field of urology. The purpose of this review is to evaluate innovations in robotic surgery over the past 18 months. The release of the da Vinci Xi system heralded an improvement on the Si system with improved docking, the ability to further manipulate robotic arms without clashing, and an autofocus universal endoscope. Robotic simulation continues to evolve with improvements in simulation training design to include augmented reality in robotic surgical education. Robotic-assisted laparoendoscopic single-site surgery continues to evolve with improvements on technique that allow for tackling previously complex pathologic surgical anatomy including urologic oncology and reconstruction. Last, innovations of new surgical platforms with robotic systems to improve surgeon ergonomics and efficiency in ureteral and renal surgery are being applied in the clinical setting. Urologic surgery continues to be at the forefront of the revolution of robotic surgery with advancements in not only existing technology but also creation of entirely novel surgical systems.

R and D on robots for nuclear power plants in 'advanced robot technology' project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ando, Hiroaki

1987-01-01

The project aims at developing a safe man-robot system of high mobility and workability, highly adaptable to the working environment, and readily and reliably remote-controlled. The plan is to develop 'multi-purpose robots' that can do monitoring, inspection and light work quickly and correctly in areas where access of humans is difficult (e.g. hot spots and the inner space of the primary containment vessel), and 'robots used exclusively for valves, pumps, and other equipment, multi-functional to be used only for specific purposes'. This can be expected to be completed on the basis of results in research and development for the multi-purpose robots. R and D on the total system means manufacturing an optimum system with sufficient functions and performance required for the robot by combining existing technologies most adequately on the basis of the results of research and development on the project. After conceptual drawing and conceptual design, the system will be manufactured and demonstration tests will be completed by fiscal 1987 or 1988. This report describes the total image of the robots concerning the shape, locomotion, manipulation, perception, communication, control management, reliability and environmental durability, and then outlines the research and development activities regarding locomotion, manipulator, tectile sensor, actuator, single-eye three-dimensional measurement, visual data processing, optical spacial transmission, failure repair controller, functional reduction, robot health care and radiation resistance. (Nogami, K.)

Robotics and nuclear power. Report by the Technology Transfer Robotics Task Team

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-06-01

A task team was formed at the request of the Department of Energy to evaluate and assess technology development needed for advanced robotics in the nuclear industry. The mission of these technologies is to provide the nuclear industry with the support for the application of advanced robotics to reduce nuclear power generating costs and enhance the safety of the personnel in the industry. The investigation included robotic and teleoperated systems. A robotic system is defined as a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. A teleoperated system includes an operator who remotely controls the system by direct viewing or through a vision system

Fundamentals of soft robot locomotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Calisti, M; Picardi, G; Laschi, C

2017-05-01

Soft robotics and its related technologies enable robot abilities in several robotics domains including, but not exclusively related to, manipulation, manufacturing, human-robot interaction and locomotion. Although field applications have emerged for soft manipulation and human-robot interaction, mobile soft robots appear to remain in the research stage, involving the somehow conflictual goals of having a deformable body and exerting forces on the environment to achieve locomotion. This paper aims to provide a reference guide for researchers approaching mobile soft robotics, to describe the underlying principles of soft robot locomotion with its pros and cons, and to envisage applications and further developments for mobile soft robotics. © 2017 The Author(s).

6-REXOS: Upper Limb Exoskeleton Robot with Improved pHRI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malin Gunasekara

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Close interaction can be observed between an exoskeleton robot and its wearer. Therefore, appropriate physical human-robot interaction (pHRI should be considered when designing an exoskeleton robot to provide safe and comfortable motion assistance. Different features have been used in recent studies to enhance the pHRI in upper-limb exoskeleton robots. However, less attention has been given to integrating kinematic redundancy into upper-limb exoskeleton robots to improve the pHRI. In this context, this paper proposes a six-degrees-of-freedom (DoF upper-limb exoskeleton robot (6-REXOS for the motion assistance of physically weak individuals. The 6-REXOS uses a kinematically different structure to that of the human lower arm, where the exoskeleton robot is worn. The 6-REXOS has four active DoFs to generate the motion of the human lower arm. Furthermore, two flexible bellow couplings are attached to the wrist and elbow joints to generate two passive DoFs. These couplings not only allow translational motion in wrist and elbow joints but also a redundancy in the robot. Furthermore, the compliance of the flexible coupling contributes to avoiding misalignments between human and robot joint axes. The redundancy in the 6-REXOS is verified based on manipulability index, minimum singular value, condition number and manipulability ellipsoids. The 6-REXOS and a four-DoF exoskeleton robot are compared to verify the manipulation advantage due to the redundancy. The four-DoF exoskeleton robot is designed by excluding the two passive DoFs of the 6-REXOS. In addition, a kinematic model is proposed for the human lower arm to validate the performance of the 6-REXOS. Kinematic analysis and simulations are carried out to validate the 6-REXOS and human-lower-arm model.

Conceptual design for transmission line inspection robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalal, M F Abdul; Sahari, K S Mohamed; Anuar, A; Arshad, A D Mohd; Idris, M S

2013-01-01

Power transmission line is used for power distribution purposes due to their cost effective measure compared to underlying cable. However, prolonged exposure to natural weather may cause fatigue stress to the lines as well as induce material failure. Therefore, periodical line inspection is considered uttermost important as a preventive measure to avoid power outage. However, transmission line inspection has always been a high risk and expensive work. Hazardous works that may harm operator as well as routine that requires precise handling can be performed by robots. Various types of robots have been designed and developed for line inspection but only perform well on a straight and continuous line. As these robots encounter an obstacle during the inspection, then the real problem in terms of robot stability and smooth operation arises. In this paper, conceptual design and evaluation for transmission line inspection robot is presented. The inspection robot mobile robot must be able to bypass or avoid obstacles as it travels along the power transmission line.

A Fully Sensorized Cooperative Robotic System for Surgical Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Tovar-Arriaga, Saúl; Vargas, José Emilio; Ramos, Juan M.; Aceves, Marco A.; Gorrostieta, Efren; Kalender, Willi A.

2012-01-01

In this research a fully sensorized cooperative robot system for manipulation of needles is presented. The setup consists of a DLR/KUKA Light Weight Robot III especially designed for safe human/robot interaction, a FD-CT robot-driven angiographic C-arm system, and a navigation camera. Also, new control strategies for robot manipulation in the clinical environment are introduced. A method for fast calibration of the involved components and the preliminary accuracy tests of the whole possible errors chain are presented. Calibration of the robot with the navigation system has a residual error of 0.81 mm (rms) with a standard deviation of ±0.41 mm. The accuracy of the robotic system while targeting fixed points at different positions within the workspace is of 1.2 mm (rms) with a standard deviation of ±0.4 mm. After calibration, and due to close loop control, the absolute positioning accuracy was reduced to the navigation camera accuracy which is of 0.35 mm (rms). The implemented control allows the robot to compensate for small patient movements. PMID:23012551

Designing the Mind of a Social Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Lazzeri

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Humans have an innate tendency to anthropomorphize surrounding entities and have always been fascinated by the creation of machines endowed with human-inspired capabilities and traits. In the last few decades, this has become a reality with enormous advances in hardware performance, computer graphics, robotics technology, and artificial intelligence. New interdisciplinary research fields have brought forth cognitive robotics aimed at building a new generation of control systems and providing robots with social, empathetic and affective capabilities. This paper presents the design, implementation, and test of a human-inspired cognitive architecture for social robots. State-of-the-art design approaches and methods are thoroughly analyzed and discussed, cases where the developed system has been successfully used are reported. The tests demonstrated the system’s ability to endow a social humanoid robot with human social behaviors and with in-silico robotic emotions.

Modeling of Continuum Manipulators Using Pythagorean Hodograph Curves.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Inderjeet; Amara, Yacine; Melingui, Achille; Mani Pathak, Pushparaj; Merzouki, Rochdi

2018-05-10

Research on continuum manipulators is increasingly developing in the context of bionic robotics because of their many advantages over conventional rigid manipulators. Due to their soft structure, they have inherent flexibility, which makes it a huge challenge to control them with high performances. Before elaborating a control strategy of such robots, it is essential to reconstruct first the behavior of the robot through development of an approximate behavioral model. This can be kinematic or dynamic depending on the conditions of operation of the robot itself. Kinematically, two types of modeling methods exist to describe the robot behavior; quantitative methods describe a model-based method, and qualitative methods describe a learning-based method. In kinematic modeling of continuum manipulator, the assumption of constant curvature is often considered to simplify the model formulation. In this work, a quantitative modeling method is proposed, based on the Pythagorean hodograph (PH) curves. The aim is to obtain a three-dimensional reconstruction of the shape of the continuum manipulator with variable curvature, allowing the calculation of its inverse kinematic model (IKM). It is noticed that the performances of the PH-based kinematic modeling of continuum manipulators are considerable regarding position accuracy, shape reconstruction, and time/cost of the model calculation, than other kinematic modeling methods, for two cases: free load manipulation and variable load manipulation. This modeling method is applied to the compact bionic handling assistant (CBHA) manipulator for validation. The results are compared with other IKMs developed in case of CBHA manipulator.

Surgeon Design Interface for Patient-Specific Concentric Tube Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Morimoto, Tania K; Greer, Joseph D; Hsieh, Michael H; Okamura, Allison M

2016-06-01

Concentric tube robots have potential for use in a wide variety of surgical procedures due to their small size, dexterity, and ability to move in highly curved paths. Unlike most existing clinical robots, the design of these robots can be developed and manufactured on a patient- and procedure-specific basis. The design of concentric tube robots typically requires significant computation and optimization, and it remains unclear how the surgeon should be involved. We propose to use a virtual reality-based design environment for surgeons to easily and intuitively visualize and design a set of concentric tube robots for a specific patient and procedure. In this paper, we describe a novel patient-specific design process in the context of the virtual reality interface. We also show a resulting concentric tube robot design, created by a pediatric urologist to access a kidney stone in a pediatric patient.

Design to Robotic Production for Informed Materialization Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sina Mostafavi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Design to Robotic Production (D2RP establishes links between digital design and production in order to achieve informed materialization at an architectural scale. D2RP research is being discussed under the computation, automation and materialization themes, by reference to customizable digital design means, robotic fabrication setups and informed materialization strategies implemented by the Robotic Building group at Hyperbody, TU Delft.

Fable: Design of a Modular Robotic Playware Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pacheco, Moises; Moghadam, Mikael; Magnússon, Arnþór

2013-01-01

-based system composed of reconfigurable heterogeneous modules with a reliable and scalable connector. Furthermore, this paper describes tests where the connector design is tested with children, and presents examples of a moving snake and a quadruped robot, as well as an interactive upper humanoid torso.......We are developing the Fable modular robotic system as a playware platform that will enable non-expert users to develop robots ranging from advanced robotic toys to robotic solutions to problems encountered in their daily lives. This paper presents the mechanical design of Fable: a chain...

MicroBioRobots for single cell manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Sakar, Mahmut Selman

One of the great challenges in nano and micro scale science and engineering is the independent manipulation of biological cells and small man-made objects with active sensing. For such biomedical applications as single cell manipulation, telemetry, and localized targeted delivery of chemicals, it is important to fabricate microstructures that can be powered and controlled without a tether in fluidic environments. These microstructures can be used to develop microrobots that have the potential to make existing therapeutic and diagnostic procedures less invasive. Actuation can be realized using various different organic and inorganic methods. Previous studies explored different forms of actuation and control with microorganisms. Bacteria, in particular, offer several advantages as controllable microactuators: they draw chemical energy directly from their environment, they are genetically modifiable, and they are scalable and configurable in the sense that any number of bacteria can be selectively patterned. Additionally, the study of bacteria inspires inorganic schemes of actuation and control. For these reasons, we chose to employ bacteria while controlling their motility using optical and electrical stimuli. In the first part of the thesis, we demonstrate a biointegrated approach by introducing MicroBioRobots (MBRs). MBRs are negative photosensitive epoxy (SU8) microfabricated structures with typical feature sizes ranging from 1-100 mum coated with a monolayer of the swarming Serratia marcescens . The adherent bacterial cells naturally coordinate to propel the microstructures in fluidic environments which we call Self-Actuation. First, we demonstrate the control of MBRs using self-actuation, DC electric fields and ultra-violet radiation and develop an experimentally-validated mathematical model for the MBRs. This model allows us to to steer the MBR to any position and orientation in a planar micro channel using visual feedback and an inverted microscope. Examples

Towards Robot-Assisted Echocardiographic Monitoring in Catheterization Laboratories : Usability-Centered Manipulator for Transesophageal Echocardiography.

Science.gov (United States)

Pahl, Christina; Ebelt, Henning; Sayahkarajy, Mostafa; Supriyanto, Eko; Soesanto, Amiliana

2017-08-15

This paper proposes a robotic Transesophageal Echocardiography (TOE) system concept for Catheterization Laboratories. Cardiovascular disease causes one third of all global mortality. TOE is utilized to assess cardiovascular structures and monitor cardiac function during diagnostic procedures and catheter-based structural interventions. However, the operation of TOE underlies various conditions that may cause a negative impact on performance, the health of the cardiac sonographer and patient safety. These factors have been conflated and evince the potential of robot-assisted TOE. Hence, a careful integration of clinical experience and Systems Engineering methods was used to develop a concept and physical model for TOE manipulation. The motion of different actuators of the fabricated motorized system has been tested. It is concluded that the developed medical system, counteracting conflated disadvantages, represents a progressive approach for cardiac healthcare.

Recommendations for cask features for robotic handling from the Advanced Handling Technology Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drotning, W.

1991-02-01

This report describes the current status and recent progress in the Advanced Handling Technology Project (AHTP) initiated to explore the use of advanced robotic systems and handling technologies to perform automated cask handling operations at radioactive waste handling facilities, and to provide guidance to cask designers on the impact of robotic handling on cask design. Current AHTP tasks have developed system mock-ups to investigate robotic manipulation of impact limiters and cask tiedowns. In addition, cask uprighting and transport, using computer control of a bridge crane and robot, were performed to demonstrate the high speed cask transport operation possible under computer control. All of the current AHTP tasks involving manipulation of impact limiters and tiedowns require robotic operations using a torque wrench. To perform these operations, a pneumatic torque wrench and control system were integrated into the tool suite and control architecture of the gantry robot. The use of captured fasteners is briefly discussed as an area where alternative cask design preferences have resulted from the influence of guidance for robotic handling vs traditional operations experience. Specific robotic handling experiences with these system mock-ups highlight a number of continually recurring design principles: (1) robotic handling feasibility is improved by mechanical designs which emphasize operation with limited dexterity in constrained workspaces; (2) clearances, tolerances, and chamfers must allow for operations under actual conditions with consideration for misalignment and imprecise fixturing; (3) successful robotic handling is enhanced by including design detail in representations for model-based control; (4) robotic handling and overall quality assurance are improved by designs which eliminate the use of loose, disassembled parts. 8 refs., 15 figs

Vehicle-manipulator systems modeling for simulation, analysis, and control

CERN Document Server

From, Pal Johan; Pettersen, Kristin Ytterstad

2014-01-01

Furthering the aim of reducing human exposure to hazardous environments, this monograph presents a detailed study of the modeling and control of vehicle-manipulator systems. The text shows how complex interactions can be performed at remote locations using systems that combine the manipulability of robotic manipulators with the ability of mobile robots to locomote over large areas.  The first part studies the kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies and standard robotic manipulators and can be used as an introduction to robotics focussing on robust mathematical modeling. The monograph then moves on to study vehicle-manipulator systems in great detail with emphasis on combining two different configuration spaces in a mathematically sound way. Robustness of these systems is extremely important and Modeling and Control of Vehicle-manipulator Systems effectively represents the dynamic equations using a mathematically robust framework. Several tools from Lie theory and differential geometry are used to obtain glob...

Special Gripper for a Robotic Arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel Angel SELLES

2012-12-01

Full Text Available New structures for gripping objects in robotic manipulation processes are oriented to the new arrangement of mechanical structures using new materials and processing technologies and innovative procedures for the implementation of contact gripping element links to an object with a high degree of adaptively of applications together with the ability to alter the structure of grip and limiting the intensity of the contact stiffness variation of snap elements custody and pliability. The application of elastomeric materials and surface finishes is important. This paper presents both a new gripper design for robot arms but also the search of the selected materials to make an experimental evaluation of technical parameters that are used to assess their application potential and suitability for the targeted applications. Also the results and conclusions for gripper testing in manipulation operations with two different robot arms are presented.

Development of mobile manipulator for maintenance work in containment vessels of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omichi, Takeo; Nishihara, Masatoshi; Hosaka, Shigetaka; Nakayama, Junji; Sato, Masatoshi; Ishida, Michiyasu

1985-01-01

The teleoperation system with robot is described for in the containment vessels of nuclear power plants. We have developed a high level robot system as the practical use level. The robot is designed to execute the locomotions and manipulations required for closing and opening the valve, tightening the bolt and others. The robot consists of a locomotor with four legs and two driving wheels, an articulated manipulator with seven joints, and an ITV arm with stereo-camera. The size of the robot is small, that is about 500 mm in length, 500 mm in width, 1200 mm in height and 420 kg in weight. The robot can be operated in a hostile environment, which has a 10 6 R gamma ray dose, 70 deg C temperature, 100 % relative humidity. We have added an advanced control method in order to reduce the operator's load. Also, an interlock and a fail-safe control are installed in the robot system. (author)

Fiscal 1997 report on the results of the international standardization R and D. Robot control system; 1997 nendo seika hokokusho kokusai hyojun soseigata kenkyu kaihatsu. Robot seigyo system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-03-01

R and D of the robot control system was conducted in the following items: 1) integrated open control system, 2) remote control robot manipulation language, 3) human factor robot use built-in LAN system, 4) built-in actuator driver. In 1), there were some problems to be pointed out around the system, but the effectiveness was confirmed as system architecture of each verification item. In 2), development/design were made of RCML(R-Cube Manipulation Language) as a remote robot manipulation language, telecommunication protocol, and the experimental system, and the international standardization was targeted. In 3), the R and D was conducted of the realtime telecommunication protocol which clears the standards for the distributed control required for construction of human factor robot and the advanced realtime micro-controller, ULSI, which is the one that the protocol was made IC. In 4), an intelligent connector for built-in actuator was developed which enables saving of wiring in robot system and plug-in connection. 13 refs., 186 figs., 53 tabs.

Practical design for robot operating in radiation condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oomichi, Takeo; Isozaki, Yoshifumi

2002-01-01

It is proposed systematic design for radiation resistance robot based on irradiation test and estimating damage lifetime by reliable technology. Reducing design time and cost, key device IC is classified to non-exchange, no use and use after radiation test by analyzing robot function and IC function. Since the damage lifetime verified normal distribution under radiation test of IC, the proposed design method is effective for practical radiation resistance robot. (author)

The development of advanced robotics for the nuclear industry -The development of optimal design technology in robotics-

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Tae Ryong; Park, Jin Suk; Jung, Seung Hoh; Park, Jin Hoh [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1995-07-01

Light weight nozzle dam was fabricated with the carbon fabric reinforced plastic(CFRP). The stiffness-to-weight ratio of the nozzle dam was remarkably improved from 18.25 x 10{sup 3} N m{sup 2}/kg(Kori nozzle dam) to 29.83 x 10{sup 3} (KAERI nozzle dam). The structure integrity of KAERI nozzle dam was verified through the stress analysis using ANSYS program. Design of nozzle dam diaphragm seal assembly which consists of inflatable seals(a wet and a dry seal) and a mechanical seal has been completed. It is used to prevent the coolant leakage from steam generator nozzles. Control console panel, which controls pneumatic pressure supplied to inflatable seals and hydraulic pressure applied to nozzle dam at leak test, has been manufactured. KAERI gripper, which is proper to handle a heavy object such as the nozzle dam, was designed and manufactured based on the enhanced driving force-to-gripping force ratio (performance index). The performance index of the KAERI gripper was found to be 4.1, while that of Schilling gripper (product of Schilling Inc.) is 10.0. The position analysis and the kinematic analysis of the KAERI gripper were also carried out. To control the gripper system a fuzzy logic controller was proposed. The controller takes two sensory inputs, position feedback from the LVDT and pressure feedback from pressure transducers. Computer simulation considering the actual environments where the controller is to be put was carried out to test control performance. The simulation results show that the designed controller can effectively control the gripper system. A bolting tool to fasten the nozzle dam to the nozzle ring of steam generator was also designed and manufactured. Preliminary design of robot manipulator was done by considering maximum load on robot end-effector. Driving torque required at each joint of robot was calculated through the simulation for the predetermined working path which is conservatively similar to the actual path. (Abstract Truncated)

Human-robot skills transfer interfaces for a flexible surgical robot.

Science.gov (United States)

Calinon, Sylvain; Bruno, Danilo; Malekzadeh, Milad S; Nanayakkara, Thrishantha; Caldwell, Darwin G

2014-09-01

In minimally invasive surgery, tools go through narrow openings and manipulate soft organs to perform surgical tasks. There are limitations in current robot-assisted surgical systems due to the rigidity of robot tools. The aim of the STIFF-FLOP European project is to develop a soft robotic arm to perform surgical tasks. The flexibility of the robot allows the surgeon to move within organs to reach remote areas inside the body and perform challenging procedures in laparoscopy. This article addresses the problem of designing learning interfaces enabling the transfer of skills from human demonstration. Robot programming by demonstration encompasses a wide range of learning strategies, from simple mimicking of the demonstrator's actions to the higher level imitation of the underlying intent extracted from the demonstrations. By focusing on this last form, we study the problem of extracting an objective function explaining the demonstrations from an over-specified set of candidate reward functions, and using this information for self-refinement of the skill. In contrast to inverse reinforcement learning strategies that attempt to explain the observations with reward functions defined for the entire task (or a set of pre-defined reward profiles active for different parts of the task), the proposed approach is based on context-dependent reward-weighted learning, where the robot can learn the relevance of candidate objective functions with respect to the current phase of the task or encountered situation. The robot then exploits this information for skills refinement in the policy parameters space. The proposed approach is tested in simulation with a cutting task performed by the STIFF-FLOP flexible robot, using kinesthetic demonstrations from a Barrett WAM manipulator. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimalisasi Ukuran Manipulabilitas Robot Stanford Menggunakan Metode Pseudo-inverse

OpenAIRE

admin, Gina Fahrina

2013-01-01

Robot is one of the most important element in the industrial world which has been growing very rapidly. Stanford robot arm is one of robot that use in industry, it has five degrees of freedom (DOF). Movement of the robot arm in his workspace called manipulability or manipulability measure. More the optimal manipulability measure manipulator, the more movement of the robotic arm will be more flexible in his workspace. The purpose of this research are to get knowledge and learn how to solve inv...

VIBRATION REDUCTION ON SINGLE-LINK FLEXIBLE MANIPULATOR USING H∞ CONTROL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberd Saragih

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the vibration and position control of a single link flexible manipulator. Robot link manipulators are widely used in various industrial applications. It is desirable to build light weight flexible manipulators. Light flexible manipulators have a variety of applications, most significantly in space exploration,manufacturing automation, construction, mining, and hazardous operation. Timoshenko beam theory is used to derive mathematical model of a flexible manipulator. The dynamic equations of motion are obtained using the Lagrange's formulation of dynamics.The H∞ controller is designed for vibration and position control of the system. Simulations are presented and show that vibration and position control of a single flexible link can be controlled with the designed H∞ controller.

Nested Reconfigurable Robots: Theory, Design, and Realization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning Tan

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Rather than the conventional classification method, we propose to divide modular and reconfigurable robots into intra-, inter-, and nested reconfigurations. We suggest designing the robot with nested reconfigurability, which utilizes individual robots with intra-reconfigurability capable of combining with other homogeneous/heterogeneous robots (inter-reconfigurability. The objective of this approach is to generate more complex morphologies for performing specific tasks that are far from the capabilities of a single module or to respond to programmable assembly requirements. In this paper, we discuss the theory, concept, and initial mechanical design of Hinged-Tetro, a self-reconfigurable module conceived for the study of nested reconfiguration. Hinged-Tetro is a mobile robot that uses the principle of hinged dissection of polyominoes to transform itself into any of the seven one-sided tetrominoes in a straightforward way. The robot can also combine with other modules for shaping complex structures or giving rise to a robot with new capabilities. Finally, the validation experiments verify the nested reconfigurability of Hinged-Tetro. Extensive tests and analyses of intra-reconfiguration are provided in terms of energy and time consumptions. Experiments using two robots validate the inter-reconfigur ability of the proposed module.

System Integration for Real-Time Mobile Manipulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reza Oftadeh

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Mobile manipulators are one of the most complicated types of mechatronics systems. The performance of these robots in performing complex manipulation tasks is highly correlated with the synchronization and integration of their low-level components. This paper discusses in detail the mechatronics design of a four wheel steered mobile manipulator. It presents the manipulator's mechanical structure and electrical interfaces, designs low-level software architecture based on embedded PC-based controls, and proposes a systematic solution based on code generation products of MATLAB and Simulink. The remote development environment described here is used to develop real-time controller software and modules for the mobile manipulator under a POSIX-compliant, real-time Linux operating system. Our approach enables developers to reliably design controller modules that meet the hard real-time constraints of the entire low-level system architecture. Moreover, it provides a systematic framework for the development and integration of hardware devices with various communication mediums and protocols, which facilitates the development and integration process of the software controller.

Design of Piano -playing Robotic Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin Jen-Chang

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Unlike the market slowdown of industrial robots, service & entertainment robots have been highly regarded by most robotics reseach and market research agencies. In this study we developed a music playing robot (which can also work as a service robot for public performance. The research is mainly focused on the mechanical and electrical control of piano-playing robot, the exploration of correlations among music theory, rhythm and piano keys, and eventually the research on playing skill of keyboard instrument. The piano-playing robot is capable of control linear motor, servo-motor and pneumatic devices in accordance with the notes and rhythm in order to drive the mechanical structure to proper positions for pressing the keys and generating music. The devices used for this robot are mainly crucial components produced by HIWIN Technology Corp. The design of robotic hand is based on the direction of anthropomorphic hand such that five fingers will be used for playing piano. The finger actuations include actions of finger rotation, finger pressing, and finger lifting; time required for these 3 stages must meet the requirement of rhythm. The purpose of entertainment robot can be achieved by playing electric piano with robotic hand, and we hope this research can contribute to the development of domestic entertainment music playing robots.

Design and Development of a Step Climbing Wheeled Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Srijan BHATTACHARYA

2009-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a design of Step Climbing Robot that can move in uneven environment and traverse a slope or staircase. The condition imposed on this new system of robot is that it will move only in linear fashion, which will reduce the demands on the physical complexity of the robot unit. A summary of the current state of research in the field of mobile robots as it relates to robot stair climbing and moving in uneven surfaces. The architecture of the robot is developed and compared with the previous design.

Strategy for robot motion and path planning in robot taping

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Qilong; Chen, I.-Ming; Lembono, Teguh Santoso; Landén, Simon Nelson; Malmgren, Victor

2016-06-01

Covering objects with masking tapes is a common process for surface protection in processes like spray painting, plasma spraying, shot peening, etc. Manual taping is tedious and takes a lot of effort of the workers. The taping process is a special process which requires correct surface covering strategy and proper attachment of the masking tape for an efficient surface protection. We have introduced an automatic robot taping system consisting of a robot manipulator, a rotating platform, a 3D scanner and specially designed taping end-effectors. This paper mainly talks about the surface covering strategies for different classes of geometries. The methods and corresponding taping tools are introduced for taping of following classes of surfaces: Cylindrical/extended surfaces, freeform surfaces with no grooves, surfaces with grooves, and rotational symmetrical surfaces. A collision avoidance algorithm is introduced for the robot taping manipulation. With further improvements on segmenting surfaces of taping parts and tape cutting mechanisms, such taping solution with the taping tool and the taping methodology can be combined as a very useful and practical taping package to assist humans in this tedious and time costly work.

Innovative Robot Archetypes for In-Space Construction and Maintenance

Science.gov (United States)

Rehnmark, Fredrik; Ambrose, Robert O.; Kennedy, Brett; Diftler, Myron; Mehling Joshua; Brigwater, Lyndon; Radford, Nicolaus; Goza, S. Michael; Culbert, Christopher

2005-01-01

The space environment presents unique challenges and opportunities in the assembly, inspection and maintenance of orbital and transit spaceflight systems. While conventional Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) technology, out of necessity, addresses each of the challenges, relatively few of the opportunities have been exploited due to crew safety and reliability considerations. Extra-Vehicular Robotics (EVR) is one of the least-explored design spaces but offers many exciting innovations transcending the crane-like Space Shuttle and International Space Station Remote Manipulator System (RMS) robots used for berthing, coarse positioning and stabilization. Microgravity environments can support new robotic archetypes with locomotion and manipulation capabilities analogous to undersea creatures. Such diversification could enable the next generation of space science platforms and vehicles that are too large and fragile to launch and deploy as self-contained payloads. Sinuous manipulators for minimally invasive inspection and repair in confined spaces, soft-stepping climbers with expansive leg reach envelopes and free-flying nanosatellite cameras can access EVA worksites generally not accessible to humans in spacesuits. These and other novel robotic archetypes are presented along with functionality concepts

Designing Modular Robotic Playware

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik Hautop; Marti, Patrizia

2009-01-01

In this paper, we explore the design of modular robotic objects that may enhance playful experiences. The approach builds upon the development of modular robotics to create a kind of playware, which is flexible in both set-up and activity building for the end-user to allow easy creation of games....... Key features of this design approach are modularity, flexibility, and construction, immediate feedback to stimulate engagement, activity design by end-users, and creative exploration of play activities. These features permit the use of such modular playware by a vast array of users, including disabled...... children who often could be prevented from using and taking benefits from modern technologies. The objective is to get any children moving, exchanging, experimenting and having fun, regardless of their cognitive or physical ability levels. The paper describes two prototype systems developed as modular...

Recent advances in robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beni, G.; Hackwood, S.

1984-01-01

Featuring 10 contributions, this volume offers a state-of-the-art report on robotic science and technology. It covers robots in modern industry, robotic control to help the disabled, kinematics and dynamics, six-legged walking robots, a vector analysis of robot manipulators, tactile sensing in robots, and more

A parallel robot to assist vitreoretinal surgery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakano, Taiga; Sugita, Naohiko; Mitsuishi, Mamoru [University of Tokyo, School of Engineering, Tokyo (Japan); Ueta, Takashi; Tamaki, Yasuhiro [University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo (Japan)

2009-11-15

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a parallel prototype robot for vitreoretinal surgery where physiological hand tremor limits performance. The manipulator was specifically designed to meet requirements such as size, precision, and sterilization; this has six-degree-of-freedom parallel architecture and provides positioning accuracy with micrometer resolution within the eye. The manipulator is controlled by an operator with a ''master manipulator'' consisting of multiple joints. Results of the in vitro experiments revealed that when compared to the manual procedure, a higher stability and accuracy of tool positioning could be achieved using the prototype robot. This microsurgical system that we have developed has superior operability as compared to traditional manual procedure and has sufficient potential to be used clinically for vitreoretinal surgery. (orig.)

Numerical kinematic transformation calculations for a parallel link manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Killough, S.M.

1993-01-01

Parallel link manipulators are often considered for particular robotic applications because of the unique advantages they provide. Unfortunately, they have significant disadvantages with respect to calculating the kinematic transformations because of the high-order equations that must be solved. Presented is a manipulator design that exploits the mechanical advantages of parallel links yet also has a corresponding numerical kinematic solution that can be solved in real time on common microcomputers

Automated platform for designing multiple robot work cells

Science.gov (United States)

Osman, N. S.; Rahman, M. A. A.; Rahman, A. A. Abdul; Kamsani, S. H.; Bali Mohamad, B. M.; Mohamad, E.; Zaini, Z. A.; Rahman, M. F. Ab; Mohamad Hatta, M. N. H.

2017-06-01

Designing the multiple robot work cells is very knowledge-intensive, intricate, and time-consuming process. This paper elaborates the development process of a computer-aided design program for generating the multiple robot work cells which offer a user-friendly interface. The primary purpose of this work is to provide a fast and easy platform for less cost and human involvement with minimum trial and errors adjustments. The automated platform is constructed based on the variant-shaped configuration concept with its mathematical model. A robot work cell layout, system components, and construction procedure of the automated platform are discussed in this paper where integration of these items will be able to automatically provide the optimum robot work cell design according to the information set by the user. This system is implemented on top of CATIA V5 software and utilises its Part Design, Assembly Design, and Macro tool. The current outcomes of this work provide a basis for future investigation in developing a flexible configuration system for the multiple robot work cells.

Design of Kalman filters for mobile robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Thomas Dall; Hansen, Karsten L.; Andersen, Nils Axel

1999-01-01

the mobile robot is equipped with a dual encoder system supported by some additional absolute measurements. A common filter type for this setup is the odometric filter, where readings from the odometry system on the robot are used together with the geometry of the robot movement as a model of the robot......Kalman filters have for a long time been widely used on mobile robots as a location estimator. Many different Kalman filter designs have been proposed, using models of various complexity. In this paper, two different design methods are evaluated and compared. Focus is put on the common setup where...... estimates. The Kalman filter normally consists of a time update followed by one or more data updates. However, it is shown that when using the kinematic filter, the encoder measurements should be fused prior to the time update for better performance....

Robotic Design Choice Overview using Co-simulation and Design Space Exploration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Martin Peter; Larsen, Peter Gorm; Nyholm Jørgensen, Rasmus

2015-01-01

. Simulations are used to evaluate the robot model output response in relation to operational demands. An example of a load carrying challenge in relation to the feeding robot is presented and a design space is defined with candidate solutions in both the mechanical and software domains. Simulation results......Rapid robotic system development has created a demand for multi-disciplinary methods and tools to explore and compare design alternatives. In this paper, we present a collaborative modelling technique that combines discrete-event models of controller software with continuous-time models of physical...... robot components. The proposed co-modelling method utilises Vienna Development Method (VDM) and Matlab for discrete-event modelling and 20-sim for continuous-time modelling. The model-based development of a mobile robot mink feeding system is used to illustrate the collaborative modelling method...

MART: an overview of the Mobile Autonomous Robot Twente project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tillema, H.G.; de Graaf, A.J.; Koster, M.P.; Nauta, J.M.; Oelen, W.; Schipper, D.A.

1993-01-01

At the University of Twente a mobile autonomous robot system is built that is designed to operate in a 'factory of the future'. Multiple robots, consisting of a manipulator on top of a vehicle, will drive through an assembly hall to collect components at part supply stations and to assemble

Feedback Control Design for a Walking Athlete Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuan Vu Trien Nguyen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In the paper, authors generalized the dynamic model of an athlete robot with elastic legs through Lagrange method. Then, a feed-back controller was designed to control the robot through a step-walking. The research just focused on stance phase – the period that robot just touched one leg on the ground. The simulation results showed that system worked well with the designed controller.

Evaluation of head-collision safety of a 7-DOF manipulator according to posture variation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ki Hong, E-mail: rome582@khu.ac.kr; Park, In Jun, E-mail: demianjun@gmail.com; Choi, Jin-Hwan, E-mail: jhchoi@khu.ac.kr; Rhim, Sungsoo, E-mail: ssrhim@khu.ac.kr [Kyung Hee University, Department of Mechanical Engineering (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

As the need for the improvement of the productivity in the manufacturing process grows, industrial robots are brought out of the safety fences and used in the direct collaborative operation with human workers. Consequently, the intended and/or unintended contact between the human and the robot in the collaborative operation is no longer an extraordinary event and is a mundane possibility. The level of the risk of the collision depends on various quantities associated with the collision, for example, inertia, velocity, stiffness, and so on. MSI (manipulator safety index) which is based on HIC (head injury criteria) conventionally used in the automotive industry is one of the practically available measures to estimate the risk of the collision between the human and the manipulator. In this paper MSI is applied to evaluate the collision safety of a 7-DOF articulated human-arm-like manipulator. The risk of the collision could be reduced by choosing different postures without deviating from the given end-effector trajectory using the redundant degree of freedom in the 7-DOF manipulator. The paper shows how the redundant degree of the freedom is utilized to design safer trajectories and/or safer manipulator configurations among many available. A parametric analysis and simulation results for a given trajectory illustrate the usefulness of the concept of the trajectory design for alleviating the risk of the manipulator operation in the human–robot coexisting workspace.

High degree-of-freedom dynamic manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Michael P.; Stephens, Benjamin; Abe, Yeuhi; Rizzi, Alfred A.

2012-06-01

The creation of high degree of freedom dynamic mobile manipulation techniques and behaviors will allow robots to accomplish difficult tasks in the field. We are investigating the use of the body and legs of legged robots to improve the strength, velocity, and workspace of an integrated manipulator to accomplish dynamic manipulation. This is an especially challenging task, as all of the degrees of freedom are active at all times, the dynamic forces generated are high, and the legged system must maintain robust balance throughout the duration of the tasks. To accomplish this goal, we are utilizing trajectory optimization techniques to generate feasible open-loop behaviors for our 28 dof quadruped robot (BigDog) by planning the trajectories in a 13 dimensional space. Covariance Matrix Adaptation techniques are utilized to optimize for several criteria such as payload capability and task completion speed while also obeying constraints such as torque and velocity limits, kinematic limits, and center of pressure location. These open-loop behaviors are then used to generate feed-forward terms, which are subsequently used online to improve tracking and maintain low controller gains. Some initial results on one of our existing balancing quadruped robots with an additional human-arm-like manipulator are demonstrated on robot hardware, including dynamic lifting and throwing of heavy objects 16.5kg cinder blocks, using motions that resemble a human athlete more than typical robotic motions. Increased payload capacity is accomplished through coordinated body motion.

Dual-arm manipulation module for use in decontamination and decommissioning operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamel, W.R.; Haley, D.C.; Dixon, W.E.

1994-01-01

A dual-arm manipulation module is under development for application in decontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D) tasks. The development is led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory with support from Sandia National Laboratories, and with university and industry participation. The project is part of the Robotics Technology Development Program funded by the US Department of Energy, Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Office of Technology Development. The dual-arm module is designed to provide dexterous manipulation capability for remote characterization, decontamination, and dismantlement operations, and the module is reconfigurable to meet various deployment requirements. Remote manipulation capability can benefit D ampersand D activities through reduced worker exposure to both contaminant and industrial hazards. When tasks conditions permit, increased use of robotic features reduce costs by increased efficiency of operation

Interaction control of a redundant mobile manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, J.H.; Velinsky, S.A.; Hess, R.A.

1998-01-01

This paper discusses the modeling and control of a spatial mobile manipulator that consists of a robotic manipulator mounted on a wheeled mobile platform. The Lagrange-d'Alembert formulation is used to obtain a concise description of the dynamics of the system, which is subject to nonholonomic constraints. The complexity of the model is increased by introducing kinematic redundancy, which is created when a multilinked manipulator is used. The kinematic redundancy is resolved by decomposing the mobile manipulator into two subsystems: the mobile platform and the manipulator. The redundancy resolution scheme employs a nonlinear interaction-control algorithm, which is developed and applied to coordinate the two subsystems' controllers. The subsystem controllers are independently designed, based on each subsystem's dynamic characteristics. Simulation results show the promise of the developed algorithm

Review of surgical robotics user interface: what is the best way to control robotic surgery?

Science.gov (United States)

Simorov, Anton; Otte, R Stephen; Kopietz, Courtni M; Oleynikov, Dmitry

2012-08-01

As surgical robots begin to occupy a larger place in operating rooms around the world, continued innovation is necessary to improve our outcomes. A comprehensive review of current surgical robotic user interfaces was performed to describe the modern surgical platforms, identify the benefits, and address the issues of feedback and limitations of visualization. Most robots currently used in surgery employ a master/slave relationship, with the surgeon seated at a work-console, manipulating the master system and visualizing the operation on a video screen. Although enormous strides have been made to advance current technology to the point of clinical use, limitations still exist. A lack of haptic feedback to the surgeon and the inability of the surgeon to be stationed at the operating table are the most notable examples. The future of robotic surgery sees a marked increase in the visualization technologies used in the operating room, as well as in the robots' abilities to convey haptic feedback to the surgeon. This will allow unparalleled sensation for the surgeon and almost eliminate inadvertent tissue contact and injury. A novel design for a user interface will allow the surgeon to have access to the patient bedside, remaining sterile throughout the procedure, employ a head-mounted three-dimensional visualization system, and allow the most intuitive master manipulation of the slave robot to date.

D2 Delta Robot Structural Design and Kinematics Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xudong; wang, Song; Dong, Yu; Yang, Hai

2017-12-01

In this paper, a new type of Delta robot with only two degrees of freedom is proposed on the basis of multi - degree - of - freedom delta robot. In order to meet our application requirements, we have carried out structural design and analysis of the robot. Through SolidWorks modeling, combined with 3D printing technology to determine the final robot structure. In order to achieve the precise control of the robot, the kinematics analysis of the robot was carried out. The SimMechanics toolbox of MATLAB is used to establish the mechanism model, and the kinematics mathematical model is used to simulate the robot motion control in Matlab environment. Finally, according to the design mechanism, the working space of the robot is drawn by the graphic method, which lays the foundation for the motion control of the subsequent robot.

Module-based structure design of wheeled mobile robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Luo

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an innovative and systematic approach for synthesizing mechanical structures of wheeled mobile robots. The principle and terminologies used for the proposed synthesis method are presented by adopting the concept of modular design, isomorphic and non-isomorphic, and set theory with its associated combinatorial mathematics. The modular-based innovative synthesis and design of wheeled robots were conducted at two levels. Firstly at the module level, by creative design and analysing the structures of classic wheeled robots, a wheel module set containing four types of wheel mechanisms, a suspension module set consisting of five types of suspension frames and a chassis module set composed of five types of rigid or articulated chassis were designed and generalized. Secondly at the synthesis level, two kinds of structure synthesis modes, namely the isomorphic-combination mode and the non-isomorphic combination mode were proposed to synthesize mechanical structures of wheeled robots; which led to 241 structures for wheeled mobile robots including 236 novel ones. Further, mathematical models and a software platform were developed to provide appropriate and intuitive tools for simulating and evaluating performance of the wheeled robots that were proposed in this paper. Eventually, physical prototypes of sample wheeled robots/rovers were developed and tested so as to prove and validate the principle and methodology presented in this paper.

Designing Robots for Care: Care Centered Value-Sensitive Design

OpenAIRE

van Wynsberghe, Aimee

2012-01-01

The prospective robots in healthcare intended to be included within the conclave of the nurse-patient relationship?what I refer to as care robots?require rigorous ethical reflection to ensure their design and introduction do not impede the promotion of values and the dignity of patients at such a vulnerable and sensitive time in their lives. The ethical evaluation of care robots requires insight into the values at stake in the healthcare tradition. What?s more, given the stage of their develo...

A Piecewise Acceleration-Optimal and Smooth-Jerk Trajectory Planning Method for Robot Manipulator along a Predefined Path

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Chen

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a piecewise acceleration-optimal and smooth-jerk trajectory planning method of robot manipulator. The optimal objective function is given by the weighted sum of two terms having opposite effects: the maximal acceleration and the minimal jerk. Some computing techniques are proposed to determine the optimal solution. These techniques take both the time intervals between two interpolation points and the control points of B-spline function as optimal variables, redefine the kinematic constraints as the constraints of optimal variables, and reformulate the objective function in matrix form. The feasibility of the optimal method is illustrated by simulation and experimental results with pan mechanism for cooking robot.

Parametric Synthesis of Automatic Control System of Industrial Robot Manipulator in Compliance with Requirements of Robust Quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Nesenchuk

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers an application of a root-locus method for synthesis of dynamic systems with uncertainty that meet the requirements of pre-set quality. This method is used for parametric synthesis of automatic control system of industrial robot manipulator that is used for transportation of engineering products. The synthesis takes place under conditions of substantial changes in inertia moment of robot load. As a result of investigations it is possible to determine range of values of variable parameter that ensures the required quality of control system operation. A system of computer programs has been developed in order to solve the problem.

Kinematics and design of a class of parallel manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Hertz, Roger Barry

1998-12-01

solutions. For special cases of the double tripod, the forward kinematics problem is shown to have a closed-form solution. Numerical examples are presented for the solution to the forward kinematics. A double tripod is presented that admits 16 unique and real forward kinematics solutions. Another example for a variable geometry truss is given that possesses 64 real solutions: 8 for each 16th order polynomial. The inverse kinematics problem is also discussed: given the relative position of the hand (end-effector), which is rigidly attached to one platform, solve for the independently controlled joint variables. Iterative solutions are proposed for both the variable-geometry truss and the double tripod. For special cases of both mechanisms, closed-form solutions are given. The practical problems of designing, building, and controlling a double-tripod manipulator are addressed. The resulting manipulator is a first-of-its kind prototype of a tapered (asymmetric) double-tripod manipulator. Real-time forward and inverse kinematics algorithms on an industrial robot controller is presented. The resulting performance of the prototype is impressive, since it was to achieve a maximum tool-tip speed of 4064 mm/s, maximum acceleration of 5 g, and a cycle time of 1.2 seconds for a typical pick-and-place pattern.

Multi-robot team design for real-world applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parker, L.E.

1996-10-01

Many of these applications are in dynamic environments requiring capabilities distributed in functionality, space, or time, and therefore often require teams of robots to work together. While much research has been done in recent years, current robotics technology is still far from achieving many of the real world applications. Two primary reasons for this technology gap are that (1) previous work has not adequately addressed the issues of fault tolerance and adaptivity in multi-robot teams, and (2) existing robotics research is often geared at specific applications and is not easily generalized to different, but related, applications. This paper addresses these issues by first describing the design issues of key importance in these real-world cooperative robotics applications: fault tolerance, reliability, adaptivity, and coherence. We then present a general architecture addressing these design issues (called ALLIANCE) that facilities multi-robot cooperation of small- to medium-sized teams in dynamic environments, performing missions composed of loosely coupled subtasks. We illustrate an implementation of ALLIANCE in a real-world application, called Bounding Overwatch, and then discuss how this architecture addresses our key design issues.

Industrial Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Dean; Harden, Thomas K.

Robots are mechanical devices that can be programmed to perform some task of manipulation or locomotion under automatic control. This paper discusses: (1) early developments of the robotics industry in the United States; (2) the present structure of the industry; (3) noneconomic factors related to the use of robots; (4) labor considerations…

Advanced robot locomotion.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neely, Jason C.; Sturgis, Beverly Rainwater; Byrne, Raymond Harry; Feddema, John Todd; Spletzer, Barry Louis; Rose, Scott E.; Novick, David Keith; Wilson, David Gerald; Buerger, Stephen P.

2007-01-01

This report contains the results of a research effort on advanced robot locomotion. The majority of this work focuses on walking robots. Walking robot applications include delivery of special payloads to unique locations that require human locomotion to exo-skeleton human assistance applications. A walking robot could step over obstacles and move through narrow openings that a wheeled or tracked vehicle could not overcome. It could pick up and manipulate objects in ways that a standard robot gripper could not. Most importantly, a walking robot would be able to rapidly perform these tasks through an intuitive user interface that mimics natural human motion. The largest obstacle arises in emulating stability and balance control naturally present in humans but needed for bipedal locomotion in a robot. A tracked robot is bulky and limited, but a wide wheel base assures passive stability. Human bipedal motion is so common that it is taken for granted, but bipedal motion requires active balance and stability control for which the analysis is non-trivial. This report contains an extensive literature study on the state-of-the-art of legged robotics, and it additionally provides the analysis, simulation, and hardware verification of two variants of a proto-type leg design.

Embodiment design of soft continuum robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rongjie Kang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of a multidisciplinary project where mechatronic engineers worked alongside biologists to develop a soft robotic arm that captures key features of octopus anatomy and neurophysiology. The concept of embodiment (the dynamic coupling between sensory-motor control, anatomy, materials and environment that allows for the animal to achieve adaptive behaviours is used as a starting point for the design process but tempered by current engineering technologies and approaches. In this article, the embodied design requirements are first discussed from a robotic viewpoint by taking into account real-life engineering limitations; then, the motor control schemes inspired by octopus nervous system are investigated. Finally, the mechanical and control design of a prototype is presented that appropriately blends bio-inspiration and engineering limitations. Simulated and experimental results show that the developed continuum robotic arm is able to reproduce octopus-like motions for bending, reaching and grasping.

Adaptive Robot Control – An Experimental Comparison

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Alonge

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with experimental comparison between stable adaptive controllers of robotic manipulators based on Model Based Adaptive, Neural Network and Wavelet -Based control. The above control methods were compared with each other in terms of computational efficiency, need for accurate mathematical model of the manipulator and tracking performances. An original management algorithm of the Wavelet Network control scheme has been designed, with the aim of constructing the net automatically during the trajectory tracking, without the need to tune it to the trajectory itself. Experimental tests, carried out on a planar two link manipulator, show that the Wavelet-Based control scheme, with the new management algorithm, outperforms the conventional Model-Based schemes in the presence of structural uncertainties in the mathematical model of the robot, without pre-training and more efficiently than the Neural Network approach.

Principles of expert fuzzy controller design: AI mobile wall climbing robots for decontamination of nuclear power-station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gradetsky, V.G.; Ul'yanov, S.; Slesarev, Y.V.; Pospelov, D.A.

1994-01-01

The arrangement principles for a complex control framework of artificial intelligence control systems are introduced. The notions of intelligence levels with the top boundary (intelligence in large) and the bottom boundary (intelligence in small) are defined. A special methodology for the design of an artificial intelligence control system design for the decontamination of a nuclear power plant using a wall climbing robot with different intelligence levels is presented. The application of WARP (Weight Associative Rule Processor) to the design of an automatic fuzzy controller for the fuzzy correction of the motion of the manipulator and WCR is examined