Abstract: The research on two-wheeled inverted pendulum (TWIP) mobile robots or commonly known as balancing robots have gained momentum over the last decade in a number of robotic laboratories around the world. This paper describes the hardware design of such a robot. The objective of the design is to develop a TWIP mobile robot as well as MATLAB interfacing configuration to be used as flexible platform comprises of embedded unstable linear plant intended for research and teaching purposes. Issues such as selection of actuators and sensors, signal processing units, MATLAB Real Time Workshop coding, modeling and control scheme will be addressed and discussed. The system is then tested using a wellknown state feedback controller to verify its functionality.
Abstract: The project describes the modeling of various
architectures mechatronics specifically morphologies of robots in an educational environment. Each structure developed by students of
pre-school, primary and secondary was created using the concept of
reverse engineering in a constructivist environment, to later be integrated in educational software that promotes the teaching of
educational Robotics in a virtual and economic environment.
Abstract: This article presents a simple way to perform programmed voice commands for the interface with commercial Digital and Analogue Input/Output PCI cards, used in Robotics and Automation applications. Robots and Automation equipment can "listen" to voice commands and perform several different tasks, approaching to the human behavior, and improving the human- machine interfaces for the Automation Industry. Since most PCI Digital and Analogue Input/Output cards are sold with several DLLs included (for use with different programming languages), it is possible to add speech recognition capability, using a standard speech recognition engine, compatible with the programming languages used. It was created in this work a Visual Basic 6 (the world's most popular language) application, that listens to several voice commands, and is capable to communicate directly with several standard 128 Digital I/O PCI Cards, used to control complete Automation Systems, with up to (number of boards used) x 128 Sensors and/or Actuators.
Abstract: Since the 1940s, many promising telepresence
research results have been obtained. However, telepresence
technology still has not reached industrial usage. As human
intelligence is necessary for successful execution of most manual
assembly tasks, the ability of the human is hindered in some cases,
such as the assembly of heavy parts of small/medium lots or
prototypes. In such a case of manual assembly, the help of industrial
robots is mandatory. The telepresence technology can be considered
as a solution for performing assembly tasks, where the human
intelligence and haptic sense are needed to identify and minimize the
errors during an assembly process and a robot is needed to carry
heavy parts. In this paper, preliminary steps to integrate the
telepresence technology into industrial robot systems are introduced.
The system described here combines both, the human haptic sense
and the industrial robot capability to perform a manual assembly task
remotely using a force feedback joystick. Mapping between the
joystick-s Degrees of Freedom (DOF) and the robot-s ones are
introduced. Simulation and experimental results are shown and future
work is discussed.
Abstract: In this paper, a new method of information fusion – DSmT (Dezert and Smarandache Theory) is introduced to apply to managing and dealing with the uncertain information from robot map building. Here we build grid map form sonar sensors and laser range finder (LRF). The uncertainty mainly comes from sonar sensors and LRF. Aiming to the uncertainty in static environment, we propose Classic DSm (DSmC) model for sonar sensors and laser range finder, and construct the general basic belief assignment function (gbbaf) respectively. Generally speaking, the evidence sources are unreliable in physical system, so we must consider the discounting theory before we apply DSmT. At last, Pioneer II mobile robot serves as a simulation experimental platform. We build 3D grid map of belief layout, then mainly compare the effect of building map using DSmT and DST. Through this simulation experiment, it proves that DSmT is very successful and valid, especially in dealing with highly conflicting information. In short, this study not only finds a new method for building map under static environment, but also supplies with a theory foundation for us to further apply Hybrid DSmT (DSmH) to dynamic unknown environment and multi-robots- building map together.
Abstract: This paper proposes a robot able to climb Columns.
This robot is not dependent on the diameter and material of the
columns. Some climbing robots have been designed up to now but
Koala robot was designed and fabricated for climbing columns
exclusively. Simple kinematics of climbing in the nature inspired us
to design this robot. We used two linear mechanisms to grip the
column. The gripper consists of a DC motor and a power screw
mechanism with a linear bushing as a guide. This mechanism
provides enough force to grip the column. In addition we needed an
actuator for climbing the column; hence, two pneumatic jacks were
used. All the mechanical parts were designed according to the
exerted forces and operational condition. The prototype can be
simply installed and controlled on the column by an inexperienced
operator. This robot is intended for inspection and surveillance of
pipes in oil industries and power poles in electric industries.
Abstract: For high-speed control of robots, a good knowledge of system modelling is necessary to obtain the desired bandwidth. In this paper, we present a cartesian robot with a pan/tilt unit in end-effector (5 dof). This robot is implemented with powerful direct drive AC induction machines. The dynamic model, parameter identification and model validation of the robot are studied (including actuators). This work considers the cartesian robot coupled and non linear (contrary to normal considerations for this type of robots). The mechanical and control architecture proposed in this paper is efficient for industrial and research application in which high speed, well known model and very high accuracy are required.
Abstract: Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMRs) are built with their
Wheels- drive machine, Motors. Depend on their desire design of
WMR, Technicians made used of DC Motors for motion control. In
this paper, the author would like to analyze how to choose DC motor
to be balance with their applications of especially for WMR.
Specification of DC Motor that can be used with desire WMR is to
be determined by using MATLAB Simulink model. Therefore, this
paper is mainly focus on software application of MATLAB and
Control Technology. As the driving system of DC motor, a
Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) based control system is
designed including the assembly software technology and H-bridge
control circuit. This Driving system is used to drive two DC gear
motors which are used to control the motion of WMR. In this
analyzing process, the author mainly focus the drive system on
driving two DC gear motors that will control with Differential Drive
technique to the Wheeled Mobile Robot . For the design analysis of
Motor Driving System, PIC16F84A is used and five inputs of sensors
detected data are tested with five ON/OFF switches. The outputs of
PIC are the commands to drive two DC gear motors, inputs of Hbridge
circuit .In this paper, Control techniques of PIC
microcontroller and H-bridge circuit, Mechanism assignments of
WMR are combined and analyzed by mainly focusing with the
“Modeling and Simulink of DC Motor using MATLAB".
Abstract: This paper describes various stages of design and prototyping of a modular robot for use in various industrial applications. The major goal of current research has been to design and make different robotic joints at low cost capable of being assembled together in any given order for achieving various robot configurations. Five different types of joins were designed and manufactured where extensive research has been carried out on the design of each joint in order to achieve optimal strength, size, modularity, and price. This paper presents various stages of research and development undertaken to engineer these joints that include material selection, manufacturing, and strength analysis. The outcome of this research addresses the birth of a new generation of modular industrial robots with a wider range of applications and greater efficiency.
Abstract: Recently there has been a growing interest in the field
of bio-mimetic robots that resemble the behaviors of an insect or an
aquatic animal, among many others. One of various bio-mimetic robot
applications is to explore pipelines, spotting any troubled areas or
malfunctions and reporting its data. Moreover, the robot is able to
prepare for and react to any abnormal routes in the pipeline. Special
types of mobile robots are necessary for the pipeline monitoring tasks.
In order to move effectively along a pipeline, the robot-s movement
will resemble that of insects or crawling animals. When situated in
massive pipelines with complex routes, the robot places fixed sensors
in several important spots in order to complete its monitoring. This
monitoring task is to prevent a major system failure by preemptively
recognizing any minor or partial malfunctions. Areas uncovered by
fixed sensors are usually impossible to provide real-time observation
and examination, and thus are dependent on periodical offline
monitoring. This paper proposes a monitoring system that is able to
monitor the entire area of pipelines–with and without fixed
sensors–by using the bio-mimetic robot.
Abstract: There has been a growing interest in the field of
bio-mimetic robots that resemble the shape of an insect or an aquatic
animal, among many others. One bio-mimetic robot serves the
purpose of exploring pipelines, spotting any troubled areas or
malfunctions and reporting its data. Moreover, the robot is able to
prepare for and react to any abnormal routes in the pipeline. In order
to move effectively inside a pipeline, the robot-s movement will
resemble that of a lizard. When situated in massive pipelines with
complex routes, the robot places fixed sensors in several important
spots in order to complete its monitoring. This monitoring task is to
prevent a major system failure by preemptively recognizing any minor
or partial malfunctions. Areas uncovered by fixed sensors are usually
impossible to provide real-time observation and examination, and thus
are dependant on periodical offline monitoring. This paper provides
the Monitoring System that is able to monitor the entire area of
pipelines–with and without fixed sensors–by using the bio-mimetic
robot.
Abstract: In this paper, a Cooperative Multi-robot for Carrying
Targets (CMCT) algorithm is proposed. The multi-robot team
consists of three robots, one is a supervisor and the others are
workers for carrying boxes in a store of 100×100 m2. Each robot has
a self recharging mechanism. The CMCT minimizes robot-s worked
time for carrying many boxes during day by working in parallel. That
is, the supervisor detects the required variables in the same time
another robots work with previous variables. It works with
straightforward mechanical models by using simple cosine laws. It
detects the robot-s shortest path for reaching the target position
avoiding obstacles by using a proposed CMCT path planning
(CMCT-PP) algorithm. It prevents the collision between robots
during moving. The robots interact in an ad hoc wireless network.
Simulation results show that the proposed system that consists of
CMCT algorithm and its accomplished CMCT-PP algorithm
achieves a high improvement in time and distance while performing
the required tasks over the already existed algorithms.
Abstract: Natural disasters, including earthquake, kill many people around the world every year. Society rescue actions, which start after the earthquake and are called LAST in abbreviation, include locating, access, stabilization and transportation. In the present article, we have studied the process of local accessibility to the injured and transporting them to health care centers. With regard the heavy traffic load due to earthquake, the destruction of connecting roads and bridges and the heavy debris in alleys and street, which put the lives of the injured and the people buried under the debris in danger, accelerating the rescue actions and facilitating the accessibilities are of great importance, obviously. Tehran, the capital of Iran, is among the crowded cities in the world and is the center of extensive economic, political, cultural and social activities. Tehran has a population of about 9.5 millions and because of the immigration of people from the surrounding cities. Furthermore, considering the fact that Tehran is located on two important and large faults, a 6 Richter magnitude earthquake in this city could lead to the greatest catastrophe during the entire human history. The present study is a kind of review and a major part of the required information for it, has been obtained from libraries all of the rescue vehicles around the world, including rescue helicopters, ambulances, fire fighting vehicles and rescue boats, and their applied technology, and also the robots specifically designed for the rescue system and the advantages and disadvantages of them, have been investigated. The studies show that there is a significant relationship between the rescue team-s arrival time at the incident zone and the number of saved people; so that, if the duration of burial under debris 30 minutes, the probability of survival is %99.3, after a day is %81, after 2days is %19 and after 5days is %7.4. The exiting transport systems all have some defects. If these defects are removed, more people could be saved each hour and the preparedness against natural disasters is increased. In this study, transport system has been designed for the rescue team and the injured; which could carry the rescue team to the incident zone and the injured to the health care centers. In addition, this system is able to fly in the air and move on the earth as well; so that the destruction of roads and the heavy traffic load could not prevent the rescue team from arriving early at the incident zone. The system also has the equipment required firebird for debris removing, optimum transport of the injured and first aid.
Abstract: In the visual servoing systems, the data obtained by
Visionary is used for controlling robots. In this project, at first the
simulator which was proposed for simulating the performance of a
6R robot before, was examined in terms of software and test, and in
the proposed simulator, existing defects were obviated. In the first
version of simulation, the robot was directed toward the target object only in a Position-based method using two cameras in the
environment. In the new version of the software, three cameras were used simultaneously. The camera which is installed as eye-inhand on the end-effector of the robot is used for visual servoing in a
Feature-based method. The target object is recognized according to
its characteristics and the robot is directed toward the object in compliance with an algorithm similar to the function of human-s
eyes. Then, the function and accuracy of the operation of the robot are examined through Position-based visual servoing method using
two cameras installed as eye-to-hand in the environment. Finally, the obtained results are tested under ANSI-RIA R15.05-2 standard.
Abstract: A wireless power transfer system can attribute to the
fields in robot, aviation and space in which lightening the weight of
device and improving the movement play an important role. A
wireless power transfer system was investigated to overcome the
inconvenience of using power cable. Especially a wireless power
transfer technology is important element for mobile robots. We
proposed the wireless power transfer system of the half-bridge
resonant converter with the frequency tracking and optimized
power transfer control unit. And the possibility of the application
and development system was verified through the experiment with
LED loads.
Abstract: This paper proposes a location-aware system for
household robots which allows users to paste predefined paper tags at
different locations according to users- comprehension of the house. In this system a household robot may be aware of its location and the
attributes thereof by visually recognizing the tags when the robot is moving. This paper also presents a novel user interface to define a
moving path of the robot, which allows users to draw the path in the air
with a finger so as to generate commands for following motions.
Abstract: A novel biologically inspired controller for the autonomous
navigation of a mobile robot in an evasion task is
proposed. The controller takes advantage of the environment by
calculating a measure of danger and subsequently choosing the
parameters of a reinforcement learning based decision process.
Two different reinforcement learning algorithms were used: Qlearning
and Sarsa (λ). Simulations show that selecting dynamic
parameters reduce the time while executing the decision making
process, so the robot can obtain a policy to succeed in an escaping
task in a realistic time.
Abstract: In this paper, a multi-agent robot system is presented. The system consists of four robots. The developed robots are able to automatically enter and patrol a harmful environment, such as the building infected with virus or the factory with leaking hazardous gas. Further, every robot is able to perform obstacle avoidance and search for the victims. Several operation modes are designed: remote control, obstacle avoidance, automatic searching, and so on.
Abstract: In this paper, a Smart Home Service Robot, McBot II,
which performs mess-cleanup function etc. in house, is designed much
more optimally than other service robots. It is newly developed in
much more practical system than McBot I which we had developed
two years ago. One characteristic attribute of mobile platforms
equipped with a set of dependent wheels is their omni- directionality
and the ability to realize complex translational and rotational
trajectories for agile navigation in door. An accurate coordination of
steering angle and spinning rate of each wheel is necessary for a
consistent motion. This paper develops trajectory controller of
3-wheels omni-directional mobile robot using fuzzy azimuth estimator.
A specialized anthropomorphic robot manipulator which can be
attached to the housemaid robot McBot II, is developed in this paper.
This built-in type manipulator consists of both arms with 3 DOF
(Degree of Freedom) each and both hands with 3 DOF each. The
robotic arm is optimally designed to satisfy both the minimum
mechanical size and the maximum workspace. Minimum mass and
length are required for the built-in cooperated-arms system. But that
makes the workspace so small. This paper proposes optimal design
method to overcome the problem by using neck joint to move the arms
horizontally forward/backward and waist joint to move them
vertically up/down. The robotic hand, which has two fingers and a
thumb, is also optimally designed in task-based concept. Finally, the
good performance of the developed McBot II is confirmed through
live tests of the mess-cleanup task.
Abstract: Robots- visual perception is a field that is gaining
increasing attention from researchers. This is partly due to emerging
trends in the commercial availability of 3D scanning systems or
devices that produce a high information accuracy level for a variety of
applications. In the history of mining, the mortality rate of mine workers
has been alarming and robots exhibit a great deal of potentials to
tackle safety issues in mines. However, an effective vision system
is crucial to safe autonomous navigation in underground terrains.
This work investigates robots- perception in underground terrains
(mines and tunnels) using statistical region merging (SRM) model.
SRM reconstructs the main structural components of an imagery
by a simple but effective statistical analysis. An investigation is
conducted on different regions of the mine, such as the shaft, stope
and gallery, using publicly available mine frames, with a stream of
locally captured mine images. An investigation is also conducted on a
stream of underground tunnel image frames, using the XBOX Kinect
3D sensors. The Kinect sensors produce streams of red, green and
blue (RGB) and depth images of 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per
second. Integrating the depth information to drivability gives a strong
cue to the analysis, which detects 3D results augmenting drivable and
non-drivable regions in 2D. The results of the 2D and 3D experiment
with different terrains, mines and tunnels, together with the qualitative
and quantitative evaluation, reveal that a good drivable region can be
detected in dynamic underground terrains.