In-pipe robot based on selective drive mechanism

This paper presents an in-pipe robot, called MRINSPECT V (Multifunctional Robotic crawler for In-pipe inSPECTion V), which is under development for the inspection of pipelines with a nominal 8-inch inside diameter. To travel freely in every pipeline element, the robot adopts a differential driving mechanism that we have developed. Furthermore, by introducing clutches in transmitting driving power to the wheels, MRINSPECT V is able to select the suitable driving method according to the shape of the pipeline and save the energy to drive in pipelines. In this paper, the critical points in the design and construction of the proposed robot are described with the preliminary results that yield good mobility and increased efficiency. Recommended by Editorial Board member Dong Hwan Kim under the direction of Editor Jae-Bok Song. This work was supported by the Postdoctoral Research Program of Sungkyunkwan University (2008). Se-gon Roh received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D degrees in Mechatronics Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 1997, 1999, and 2006 respectively, and is currently a Researcher of the School of Mechanical Engineering also at Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include mechanism design, applications of mobile robots, and in-pipe robots. Do Wan Kim received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 2007. He is currently working toward a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering also at Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include field robotics, in-pipe robots, and autonomous mobile robots. Jung-Sub Lee received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2008 from Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, where he is currently working toward a M.S. degree in mechatronics engineering. His research interests include robot mechanism design, automation, and in-pipe robot. Hyungpil Moon received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from POSTECH in 1996 and 1998 respectively, and Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Michigan in 2005. He joined the faculty of School of Mechanical Engineering in Sungkyunkwan University as a Full-time Lecturer in 2008. He was a Post-doctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, Robotics Institute until November 2007. His research interests include distributed manipulation, multiple robot navigation, SLAM, and biomimetic robotics. Hyouk Ryeol Choi received the B.S. degree from Seoul National University in 1984, the M.S. degree from Korea Advanced Technology of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in 1994, Korea. Since 1995, he has been with Sungkyunkwan University, where he is currently a Professor of the School of Mechanical Engineering. He worked as an Associate Engineer with LG Electronics Central Research Laboratory from 1986 to 1989. From 1993 to 1995, he was with Kyoto University as a grantee of a scholarship from the Japanese Educational Ministry. He visited Advanced Institute of Industrial Science Technology (AIST), Japan as the JSPS Fellow, from 1999 to 2000. He is now an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics, International Journal of Control, System, Automation(IJCAS), and International Journal of Intelligent Service Robots (JISR). His interests include dexterous mechanisms, field applications of robots, and artificial muscle actuator.     

Biologically inspired control of quadruped walking robot

In this paper, we present a control method for a quadruped walking robot inspired from the locomotion of quadrupeds. A simple and useful framework for controlling a quadruped walking robot is presented, which is obtained by observing the stimulus-reaction mechanism, the gravity load receptor and the manner of generating repetitive motions from quadrupeds. In addition, we propose a new rhythmic pattern generator that can relieve the large computational burden on solving the kinematics. The proposed method is tested via a dynamic simulation and validated by implementation in a quadruped walking robot, called AiDIN-I (Artificial Digitigrade for Natural Environment I). Recommended by Editorial Board member Sangdeok Park under the direction of Editor Jae-Bok Song. This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD) (KRF-2005-D00031). Ig Mo Koo received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Myongji University, Yongin, Korea, in 2003, the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, in 2005, where he is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include artificial muscle actuators, haptics, tactile display, biomimetics and quadruped walking robots systems. Tae Hun Kang received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 2000, 2002, and 2006, respectively. His current research interests focus on biomimetics and quadruped walking robot. Gia Loc Vo received the B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering form Ha Noi University of Technology in Vietnam 2003, the M.S. degree Mechanical Engineering form Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, in 2006, where he is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include legged locomotion, walking and climbing robot. Tran Duc Trong received the B.S degree in Mechatronics from HoChiMinh City University of Technology in Vietnam in 2005, where he is currently working toward a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include biological inspired control and adaptive control of quadruped walking robot. Young Kuk Song received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, in 2006, where he is currently working toward a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include biomimetics, hydraulic robotics system and quadruped walking robot. Hyouk Ryeol Choi received the B.S. degree from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1984, the M.S. degree from the Korea Advanced Technology of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea, in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree from the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea, in 1994. Since 1995, he has been with Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, where he is currently a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. He was an Associate Engineer with LG Electronics Central Research Laboratory, Seoul, Korea, from 1986 to 1989. From 1993 to 1995, he was with Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, as a grantee of scholarship funds from the Japanese Educational Administry. He visited the Advanced Institute of Industrial Science Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan, as a JSPS Fellow from 1999 to 2000. He is now an Associate Editor in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Journal of Intelligent Service Robotics, International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems (IJCAS). His interests includes dexterous mechanisms, field application of robots, and artificial muscle actua tors.     

Mobile robot localization based on effective combination of vision and range sensors

Most localization algorithms are either range-based or vision-based, but the use of only one type of sensor cannot often ensure successful localization. This paper proposes a particle filter-based localization method that combines the range information obtained from a low-cost IR scanner with the SIFT-based visual information obtained from a monocular camera to robustly estimate the robot pose. The rough estimation of the robot pose by the range sensor can be compensated by the visual information given by the camera and the slow visual object recognition can be overcome by the frequent updates of the range information. Although the bandwidths of the two sensors are different, they can be synchronized by using the encoder information of the mobile robot. Therefore, all data from both sensors are used to estimate the robot pose without time delay and the samples used for estimating the robot pose converge faster than those from either range-based or vision-based localization. This paper also suggests a method for evaluating the state of localization based on the normalized probability of a vision sensor model. Various experiments show that the proposed algorithm can reliably estimate the robot pose in various indoor environments and can recover the robot pose upon incorrect localization. Recommended by Editorial Board member Sooyong Lee under the direction of Editor Hyun Seok Yang. This research was conducted by the Intelligent Robotics Development Program, one of the 21st Century Frontier R&D Programs funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy of Korea. Yong-Ju Lee received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Korea University in 2004. He is now a Student for Ph.D. of Mechanical Engineering from Korea University. His research interests include mobile robotics. Byung-Doo Yim received the B.S. degree in Control and Instrumentation Engineering from Seoul National University of Technology in 2005. Also, he received the M.S. degree in Mechatroncis Engineering from Korea University in 2007. His research interests include mobile robotics. Jae-Bok Song received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in 1983 and 1985, respectively. Also, he received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1992. He is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, where he is also the Director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory from 1993. His current research interests lie mainly in mobile robotics, safe robot arms, and design/control of intelligent robotic systems.     

Abstracting Vehicle Shape and Kinematic Constraints from Obstacle Avoidance Methods

Most obstacle avoidance techniques do not take into account vehicle shape and kinematic constraints. They assume a punctual and omnidirectional vehicle and thus they are doomed to rely on approximations when used on real vehicles. Our main contribution is a framework to consider shape and kinematics together in an exact manner in the obstacle avoidance process, by abstracting these constraints from the avoidance method usage. Our approach can be applied to many non-holonomic vehicles with arbitrary shape. For these vehicles, the configuration space is three-dimensional, while the control space is two-dimensional. The main idea is to construct (centred on the robot at any time) the two-dimensional manifold of the configuration space that is defined by elementary circular paths. This manifold contains all the configurations that can be attained at each step of the obstacle avoidance and is thus general for all methods. Another important contribution of the paper is the exact calculus of the obstacle representation in this manifold for any robot shape (i.e. the configuration regions in collision). Finally, we propose a change of coordinates of this manifold so that the elementary paths become straight lines. Therefore, the three-dimensional obstacle avoidance problem with kinematic constraints is transformed into the simple obstacle avoidance problem for a point moving in a two-dimensional space without any kinematic restriction (the usual approximation in obstacle avoidance). Thus, existing avoidance techniques become applicable. The relevance of this proposal is to improve the domain of applicability of a wide range of obstacle avoidance methods. We validated the technique by integrating two avoidance methods in our framework and performing tests in the real robot. Javier Minguez received the physics science degree in 1996 from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science and systems engineering in 2002 from the University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. During his student period, in 1999 he was a research visitor in the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Group, LAASCNRS, Toulouse, France. In 2000, he visited the Robot and ComputerVision Laboratory (ISR-IST), Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. In 2001, he was with the Robotics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, USA. He is currently a fulltime Researcher in the Robot, Vision, and Real Time Group, in the University of Zaragoza. His research interests are obstacle avoidance, motion estimation and sensor-based motion systems for mobile robots. Luis Montano was born on September 6, 1958 in Huesca, Spain. He received the industrial engineering degree in 1981 and the PhD degree in 1987 from the University of Zaragoza, Spain. He is an Associate Professor of Systems Engineering and Automatic Control at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). He has been Head of the Computer Science and Systems Engineering Department of the University of Zaragoza. Currently he is the coordinator of the Production Technologies Research in the Aragon Institute of Engineering Research and of the Robotics, Perception and Real Time group of the University of Zaragoza. He is principal researcher in robotic projects and his major research interests are mobile robot navigation and cooperative robots. José Santos-Victor received the PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1995 from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST - Lisbon, Portugal), in the area of Computer Vision and Robotics. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of IST and a researcher of the Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR), at the Computer and Robot Vision Lab - VisLab. (http://vislab.isr.ist.utl.pt) He is the scientific responsible for the participation of IST in various European and National research projects in the areas of Computer Vision and Robotics. His research interests are in the areas of Computer and Robot Vision, particularly in the relationship between visual perception and the control of action, biologically inspired vision and robotics, cognitive vision and visual controlled (land, air and underwater) mobile robots. Prof. Santos-Victor is an IEEE member and an Associated Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics.     

Mobile robot interception using human navigational principles: Comparison of active versus passive tracking algorithms

We examined human navigational principles for intercepting a projected object and tested their application in the design of navigational algorithms for mobile robots. These perceptual principles utilize a viewer-based geometry that allows the robot to approach the target without need of time-consuming calculations to determine the world coordinates of either itself or the target. Human research supports the use of an Optical Acceleration Cancellation (OAC) strategy to achieve interception. Here, the fielder selects a running path that nulls out the acceleration of the retinal image of an approaching ball, and maintains an image that rises at a constant rate throughout the task. We compare two robotic control algorithms for implementing the OAC strategy in cases in which the target remains in the sagittal plane headed directly toward the robot (which only moves forward or backward). In the “passive” algorithm, the robot keeps the orientation of the camera constant, and the image of the ball rises at a constant rate. In the “active” algorithm, the robot maintains a camera fixation that is centered on the image of the ball and keeps the tangent of the camera angle rising at a constant rate. Performance was superior with the active algorithm in both computer simulations and trials with actual mobile robots. The performance advantage is principally due to the higher gain and effectively wider viewing angle when the camera remains centered on the ball image. The findings confirm the viability and robustness of human perceptual principles in the design of mobile robot algorithms for tasks like interception. Thomas Sugar works in the areas of mobile robot navigation and wearable robotics assisting gait of stroke survivors. In mobile robot navigation, he is interested in combining human perceptual principles with mobile robotics. He majored in business and mechanical engineering for his Bachelors degrees and mechanical engineering for his Doctoral degree all from the University of Pennsylvania. In industry, he worked as a project engineer for W. L. Gore and Associates. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Engineering at Arizona State University. His research is currently funded by three grants from the National Sciences Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and focuses on perception and action, and wearable robots using tunable springs. Michael McBeath works in the area combining Psychology and Engineering. He majored in both fields for his Bachelors degree from Brown University and again for his Doctoral degree from Stanford University. Parallel to his academic career, he worked as a research scientist at NASA—Ames Research Center, and at the Interval Corporation, a technology think tank funded by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Kent State University and at Arizona State University, where he is Program Director for the Cognition and Behavior area, and is on the Executive Committee for the interdisciplinary Arts, Media, and Engineering program. His research is currently funded by three grants from the National Sciences Foundation, and focuses on perception and action, particularly in sports. He is best known for his research on navigational strategies used by baseball players, animals, and robots.     

Application of perturbation/correlation based gradient estimation for environment exploration

Mobile robots are increasingly being used to perform tasks in unknown environments. The potential of robots to undertake such tasks lies in their ability to intelligently and efficiently search in an environment. This paper introduced an algorithm for robots that explore the environment so that they can measure physical properties (dust in this paper). While the robot is moving, it measures the amount of dust and registers the value in the corresponding grid cell. At first, the robot moves from local maximum to local minimum, then to another local maximum, and repeats. To reach the local maximum or minimum, the robot simply follows the gradient which is estimated using perturbation/correlation. By introducing the probability of each grid cell, and considering the probability distribution, the robot doesn’t have to visit all the grid cells in the environment while still providing fast and efficient sensing. Robust estimation of the gradient using perturbation/correlation, which is very effective when an analytical solution is not available, is described. To verify the effectiveness of perturbation/correlation based estimation, the simulation results of gradient estimation which were compared to three other numerical methods are presented. The proposed algorithm was performed by the simulation and the comparison of exploration results according to the gradient estimation method is shown. Recommended by Editor Jae-Bok Song. This work was supported by the IT R&D program of MKE/IITA [2008-F-045-01, Development of Obstacle Detection and Indoor Localization System for the Blind] and also by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (NO. R01-2007-000-20977-0). Jungyun Bae received the B.S. and M.S degrees from Hongik University in Seoul, Korea, in 2003 and 2005, respectively. She worked for one year for Division of Applied Robot Technology of Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) in Ansan, Korea. Presently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Texas A&M University. Her interested research areas are Mobile Robotics and Intelligence Robots. Gon Woo Kim received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Chung-Ang University, Korea in 2000, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the School of Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Since 2008, he has been with Wonkwang University, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Division of Electrical Electronic and Information Engineering. He worked as a Researcher with Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) from 2006 to 2008. His research interests include mobile robotics, sensor fusion/integration, map building, and SLAM. Sooyong Lee received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea in 1989, and 1991, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from MIT, Cambridge, MA, in 1996. He worked as a Senior Research Scientist at KIST and then as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He joined Hongik University, Seoul, Korea in 2003 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Mechanical and System Design Engineering Department. His current research includes mobile robot localization and navigation, and active sensing.     

Imitation learning of humanoid locomotion using the direction of landing foot

Since it is quite difficult to create motions for humanoid robots having a fairly large number of degrees of freedom, it would be very convenient indeed if robots could observe and imitate what they want to create. To this end, this paper discusses how humanoid robots can learn through imitation taking into consideration the fact that demonstrator and imitator robots may have different kinematics and dynamics. As part of a wider interest in humanoid motion generation in general, this work mainly investigates how imitator robots adapt a reference locomotion gait copied from a demonstrator robot. Specifically, the self-adjusting adaptor is proposed, where the perceived locomotion pattern is modified to keep the direction of the lower leg contacting the ground identical between the demonstrator and the imitator, and to sustain dynamic stability by controlling the position of the center of mass. The validity of the proposed scheme is verified through simulations on OpenHRP and real experiments. Recommended by Editorial Board member Hyoukryeol Choi under the direction of Editor Jae-Bok Song. This work was conducted as a program for the “Fostering Talent in Emergent Research Fields” in Special Coordination Funds for the Promotion of Science and Technology by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. This work was also supported in part by MIC and IITA of Korea through IT Leading R&D Support Project. [2009-S028-01, Development of Cooperative Network-based Humanoids Technology] Woosung Yang received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Sogang University, Seoul, Korea in 2001 and 2003, and his Ph.D. degree in the School of Information Science from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Ishikawa, Japan in 2007, respectively. Since 2007, he has been a Post-doctoral Researcher in Center for Cognitive Robotics, Korea Institute of Science and Technology. His research interests include intelligent control theory, biologically inspired control and system, humanoids, and actuator controls for small form factor precision devices. Nak Young Chong received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea in 1987, 1989, and 1994, respectively. He was senior researcher at Daewoo Heavy Industries Ltd. (1994–98), visiting researcher at MEL in Tsukuba, Japan (1995–96), and postdoctoral researcher at KIST (1998). From 1998–2007, he was on the research staff of AIST in Tsukuba, Japan. In 2003, he joined the faculty of JAIST as Associate Professor of Information Science. Dr. Chong served as Co-chair of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Networked Robots (2004–06), and the Fujitsu Scientific Systems Robotics WG (2004–06) and Robot Information Processing WG (2006–08), respectively. He visited Northwestern University (2001) and Georgia Tech (2008–09). He is currently serving as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and the International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Systems. He is the Korea Robotics Society director of international cooperation, and a member of IEEE, RSJ, and SICE.     

An enhanced force and contact position sensor for micro-manipulations

In micro-manipulations, force sensing devices play an important role in the control and the assembly of micro-objects. To protect these micro-objects from damage, we must have the ability to detect the value of the minute amount of interactive force (about a few μN) upon contact between the tip and the object. To detect this micro-force, we need an optimized design of force sensor to increase the strain values at the positions we place sensing components. Stress concentration can effectively amplify the strain values measured by the force sensors. This paper investigates the effect that the notches have on increasing the strain values at the positions we attach the sensing elements. In addition, the optimal design with a flexible structure improves the sensitivity of the sensor. An algorithm that can calculate both contact force and contact position on the sensor tip is also mentioned. Besides, an optimal location of strain gauges will ensure the accuracy and stability of the measurement. Finally, analysis and experiment are done to verify the proposed idea. Recommended by Editorial Board member Dong Hwan Kim under the direction of Editor Jae-Bok Song. This research was supported by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Korean Industrial Technology Foundation through the Human Resource Training Project for Strategic Technology. Tri Cong Phung received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the HCM University of Technology, Vietnam in 2004 and the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University in 2007. He is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in Intelligent Robotics and Mechatronic System Laboratory (IRMS Lab), Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include dexterous manipulation and touch sensors. Seung Hwa Ha received the B.S. degree in Korean University of Technology and Education, Korea in 2004. He received the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University in 2008. He is currently working in Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd. His research interests are about strain gauge and high precision control. Yong Seok Ihn received the B.S. degree in School of Mechanical Engineering from the Sungkyunkwan University, Korea in 2006. He received the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Sungkyunkwan University, in 2008. He is currently working toward a Ph. D. degree in the Computer Aided Modeling & Simulation Laboratory (CAMAS Lab), School of Mechanical Engineering at the Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. His research interests are precision mechatronics, dynamic system modeling, and control. Byung June Choi received the B.S. degree in School of Mechanical Engineering from the Sungkyunkwan University, Korea in 2002. He received the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineer-ing from the Sungkyunkwan University, in 2005. He is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in the Intelligent Robotics and Mechatronic System Laboratory (IRMS Lab), School of Mechanical Engineering at the Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. His research interests are mechanisms design, multi-robot system control, cooperation, path planning and task allocation algorithm. Sang Moo Lee was born in Seoul, Korea and educated in Seoul. He received the Ph.D. degree from the Seoul National University in Korea, in 1999. He is currently a Principal Researcher of Division for Applied Robot Technology at Korean Institute of Industrial Technology. His research interests include high-precision robot control, motion field network, and location system in outdoor environment for robots. Ja Choon Koo is an Associate Professor of School of Mechanical Engineering in Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. His major researches are in the field of design, analysis, and control of dynamics systems, especially micro precision mechatronic systems and energy transducers. He was an Advisory Engineer for IBM, San Jose, California, USA and a Staff Engineer for SISA, San Jose, CA, USA. He received the Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the B.S. from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. Hyouk Ryeol Choi received the B.S. degree from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1984, the M.S. degree from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejon, Korea, in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea, in 1994, all in Mechanical Engineering. From 1986 to 1989, he was an Associate Engineer at LG Electronics Central Research Laboratory, Seoul. From 1993 to 1995, he was at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, as a Grantee of scholarship from the Japanese Educational Ministry. From 2000 to 2001, he visited Advanced Institute of Industrial Science Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan, as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) Fellow. Since 1995, he has been with Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, where he is currently a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Intelligent Service Robotics and International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems (IJCAS), and IEEE Transactions on Robotics. His current research interests include dexterous mechanism, field application of robots, and artificial muscle actuators.     

Mobile Robot with Eyeball Expression as the Preliminary-Announcement and Display of the Robot’s Following Motion

This paper explains the PMR-2R (prototype mobile robot –2 revised), the mobile robot with the eyeball expression as the preliminary-announcement and display of the robots following motion. Firstly, we indicate the importance of the preliminary-announcement and display function of the mobile robots following motion for the informational affinity between human being and a robot, with explaining the conventional methods and the related works. We show the proposed four methods which are categorized into two types: one type which indicates a state just after the moment and the other type which displays from the present to some future time continuously. Then we introduce the PMR-2R, which has the omni-directional display, the magicball, on which the eyeball expresses the robots following direction of motion and the speed of motion at the same time. From the evaluation experiment, we confirmed the efficiency of the eyeball expression to transfer the information. We also obtained the announcement at around one or two second before the actual motion may be appropriate. And finally we compare the four types of eyeball expression: the one-eyeball type, the two-eyeball type, the will-o-the-wisp type, and the armor-helmet type. From the evaluation experiment, we have declared the importance to make the robots front more intelligible especially to announce the robots direction of motion.Takafumi Matsumaru is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Shizuoka University where he established the Bio-Robotics & Human-Mechatronics Laboratory. His research interests include remote operation of human-friendly robot, learning system on mechatronics, measurement and analysis of human movement, and feature and motion on humanoid robot. He is a member of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ), the Society of Biomechanisms (SOBIM), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He received M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Waseda University in 1987 and 1998, respectively.Kazuya Iwase received his Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shizuoka University in 2003. He is currently a master course student. His research focuses on the combination control of manual operation and autonomous motion on remote-operated mobile robot.Kyohei Akiyama received his Bachelor Degree from Kinki University in 2002, and the Master of Science Degree from Shizuoka University in 2004 both in Mechanical Engineering. During his masters research he was involved in the environmental recognition using range sensor and its application to remote-operated mobile robot. He is currently working at Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.Takashi Kusada received his Bachelor Degree in 2002 and Master of Science Degree in 2004 from Shizuoka University in Mechanical Engineering. During his masters research he was involved in the human interface for remote operation of mobile robot and the adjustment of preliminary-announcement to actual motion on remote-operated mobile robot with announcement function. He is currently working at DENSO Co.Tomotaka Ito is a Research Associate of Mechanical Engineering at Shizuoka University. His research interests include the adaptive impedance control for master-slave manipulator, human-machine cooperative system, intelligent learning on robot control, and oil-pressure servo system. He is a member of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He received M.S. and Ph.D. in Electro-Mechanical Engineering from Nagoya University in 1994 and 2000, respectively.     

Object-spatial layout-route based hybrid map and global localization for mobile robots

This paper presents new object-spatial layout-route based hybrid map representation and global localization approaches using a stereo camera. By representing objects as high-level features in a map, a robot can deal more effectively with different contexts such as dynamic environments, human-robot interaction, and semantic information. However, the use of objects alone for map representation has inherent problems. For example, it is difficult to represent empty spaces for robot navigation, and objects are limited to readily recognizable things. One way to overcome these problems is to develop a hybrid map that includes objects and the spatial layout of a local space. The map developed in this research has a hybrid structure that combines a global topological map and a local hybrid map. The topological map represents the spatial relationships between local spaces. The local hybrid map combines the spatial layout of the local space with the objects found in that space. Based on the proposed map, we suggest a novel coarse-to-fine global localization method that uses object recognition, point cloud fitting and probabilistic scan matching. This approach can accurately estimate robot pose with respect to the correct local space. Recommended by Editor Jae-Bok Song. This research was performed for the Intelligent Robotics Development Program, one of the 21st Century Frontier R&D Programs funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy of Korea. Soonyong Park received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea, in 2001 and 2003, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Since 2001, he has been a student researcher in the Center for Cognitive Robotics Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, Korea. His research interests include mobile robot navigation and computer vision. Mignon Park received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronics from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in 1973 and 1977, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in University of Tokyo, Japan, 1982. He was a researcher with the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan, from 1972 to 1982, as well as at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and the University of California Berkeley, in 1982. He was a visiting researcher in Robotics Division, Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Tsukuba, Japan, from 1986 to 1987. He has been a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in Yonsei University, since 1982. His research interests include fuzzy control and application, robotics, and fuzzy biomedical system. Sung-Kee Park is a principal research scientist for Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Design and Production Engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1987 and 1989, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree (2000) from Korea Advanced Institue of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea, in the area of computer vision. Since then, he has been working for the center for cognitive robotics research at KIST. During his period at KIST, he held a visiting position at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in 2005, where he did research on object recognition. His recent work has been on cognitive visual processing, object recognition, visual navigation, and human-robot interaction.     

MFR (Multipurpose Field Robot) for installing construction materials

The objective of the study was to propose a MFR (Multipurpose Field Robot) in hazardous operation environments. This system combines a basic system composed of a multi-DOF (Degree Of Freedom) manipulator and a mobile platform with an additional module for construction, national defense and emergency-rescue. According to an additional module type combined with a basic system, it can be used in a various fields. In this study, we describe a prototype of construction robot which helps a human operator handle easily construction materials in case of using the cooperation system on construction site. This study introduces an additional module for construction and a robot control algorithm for a HRC (Human-Robot Cooperation). In addition, it proposes a novel construction method to install construction materials with robot on construction site. Seung Yeol Lee received the B.S. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Myungji University, Seoul, Korea in 2002, and the M.S. degree from the Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea in 2005. He is a Ph.D. degree candidate from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. From 2003, He is currently a visiting researcher in the Research Institute of Technology, Construction Group at the Samsung Corporation, Korea conducting the design and implementation of construction robot and automation system for construction project. His research interests include design, control, and application of construction robots, field robotic systems and ergonomic design of robotic systems. He is a member of the Korea Society of Mechanical Engineers, Architectural Institute of Korea, and Ergonomics Society of Korea. Yong Seok Lee received the B.S. degree from the Department of Precision Mechanical Engineering, Kunsan national University, Kunsan, Korea in 2002, and the M.S. degree from the Department of Precision Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea in 2005. Currently, he is the Post Master in Hanyang University, Korea. His major interests include design and kinematic/dynamic analysis on multi-purpose field robots and service robots. He is a member of the Architectural Institute of Korea. Bum Seok Park received the B.S. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan, Kyung-gi Do, Korea in 1993, and the M.S. degree from the Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea in 1998. He is a Ph.D. from the Department of Mechatronics System Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea From 2006. He is currently the post-doctor in Hanyang University, Korea. His major interests include embedded robot control system on multi-purpose field robot and service robot. He is a member of the Korea Society of Mechanical Engineers, Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers. Sang Heon Lee graduated with the B.S. degree in Precision Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea in 1992. He received the M.S. degree in Precision Engineering from KAIST, Taejon, Korea in 1994 and the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from KAIST in 2001. Currently, he is a senior researcher in Samsung Corporation, Korea. His major interests include the kinematic/dynamic analysis on multi-body system, application of field robots, and automation in construction. ChangSoo Han received the B.S. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University Technology, Seoul, Korea in 1983, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, in 1985 and 1989, respectively. From May 1988 to September 1989, he was a Research Assistant, Robotics Lab in Mechanical Engineering about manufacturing of the high resolution micro manipulator module. In March 1990, he joined Hanyang University, Ansan, Kyungki-Do, Korea as a Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering. From March 1993 to February 1995, he was a Vice President, The Research Institute of Engineering & Technology of the Hanyang University. From August 1996 to July 1997, he was a Visiting Professor, Univ. of California at Berkeley. From September 1997 to February 1999, he was a Director, Hanyang Business Incubator. In August 2000, he joined a Branch President, The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers. In January 2002, he joined a Committee Member, The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers. From January 2001 to December 2001, he was an International Cooperation Director, The Institute of Control, Automation and Systems, Korea. His research interests include design, control, and application of robot, automation systems, and advanced vehicle.     

Sliding mode control for trajectory tracking of mobile robot in the RFID sensor space

This paper presents a sliding mode control method for wheeled mobile robots. Because of the nonlinear and nonholonomic properties, it is difficult to establish an appropriate model of the mobile robot system for trajectory tracking. A robust control law which is called sliding mode control is proposed for asymptotically stabilizing the mobile robot to a desired trajectory. The posture of the mobile robot (including the position and heading direction) is presented and the kinematics equations are established in the two-dimensional coordinates. According to the kinematics equations, the controller is designed to find an acceptable control law so that the tracking error will approximate 0 as the time approaches infinity with an initial error. The RFID sensor space is used to estimate the real posture of the mobile robot. Simulation and experiment demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed system for robust tracking of mobile robots. Recommended by Sooyong Lee under the direction of Editor Jae-Bok Song. This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government (MOST) (No. R01-2007-000-10171-0). Jun Ho Lee received the M.S degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pusan National University. His research interests include factory automation and sliding mode control. Cong Lin received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Jilin University and the M.S degree in Electrical Engineering from Pusan National University. His research interests include neural network and sliding mode control. Hoon Lim is currently a M.S student in Electrical Engineering of Pusan National University. His research interests include mobile manipulator and sliding mode control. Jang Myung Lee received the B.S. and M.S degrees in Electronics Engineering from Seoul National University, Korea. He received the Ph.D. degree in Computer from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Now, he is a Professor in Pusan National University. His research interests include integrated manufacturing systems and intelligent control.     

Development of the multi-functional indoor service robot PSR systems

This paper discusses the development of the multi-functional indoor service robot PSR (Public Service Robots) systems. We have built three versions of PSR systems, which are the mobile manipulator PSR-1 and PSR-2, and the guide robot Jinny. The PSR robots successfully accomplished four target service tasks including a delivery, a patrol, a guide, and a floor cleaning task. These applications were defined from our investigation on service requirements of various indoor public environments. This paper shows how mobile-manipulator typed service robots were developed towards intelligent agents in a real environment. We identified system integration, multi-functionality, and autonomy considering environmental uncertainties as key research issues. Our research focused on solving these issues, and the solutions can be considered as the distinct features of our systems. Several key technologies were developed to satisfy technological consistency through the proposed integration scheme. Woojin Chung was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1970. He received the B.S. at the department of mechanical design and production engineering, Seoul National University in 1993. He received the M.S. degree in 1995 and Ph.D degree in 1998 at the department of Mechano-Informatics, the University of Tokyo. He was a senior research scientist at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology from 1998 to 2005. He joined the department of mechanical engineering, Korea University in 2005 as an assistant professor. He received an excellent paper award from the Robotics Society of Japan in 1996 and a best transactions paper award from the IEEE robotics and automation society in 2002. His research interests include the design and control of nonholonomic underactuated mechanical systems, trailer system design and control, mobile robot navigation, a dexterous robot hand and a system integration of intelligent robots. He is a member of the IEEE, the robotics society of Japan, the institute of control, automation and systems engineers and the Korea robotics society. Gunhee Kim received the B.S. and M.S. degrees at the department of mechanical engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea, in 1999 and 2001, respectively. He was a research scientist in Intelligent Robotics Research Center, at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Korea, from 2001 to 2006. Currently, he is a graduate student in the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests include computer vision, artificial intelligence, mobile robot navigation, and discrete event systems. He is a member of the IEEE. Munsang Kim received the B.S. and M.S degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Seoul National University in 1980 and 1982 respectively and the Dr.-Ing. degree in Robotics from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany in 1987. Since 1987 he has been working as a research scientist at Korea Institute of Science and Technology. He has led the Intelligent Robotics Research Center since 2000 and became the director of the “Intelligent Robot—The Frontier 21 Program” since Oct. 2003. His current research interests are design and control of novel mobile manipulation systems, haptic device design and control, and sensor application to intelligent robots.     

Feasibility Study on an Excavation-Type Demining Robot

In this study, we propose a design of an excavation-type demining robot that rids a farm of mines efficiently and safely. In the dangerous area, the robot automatically takes in soil in which mines are laid. The entire soil surface, including mines, is crushed, separated and discharged. Therefore, the demining ratio is high; also, the soil becomes clean and cultivated. The robot has a large bucket on its front. The robot moves forward, maintaining the height of the bucket from the ground by the vertical motion of the bucket and the forward motion of the body. The possibility of that motion is confirmed through simulations and experiments. The crush process and the proper depth of the excavation are also discussed.Yoshikazu Mori has a Ph.D. degree in information science from Tohoku University (Japan). he is a research associate in the Department of Precision Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University. His research focuses on a welfare robot, and won the 2004 Presentation Award from The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Robotics and Mechatronics Division. He is also interested in an autonomous agent that lives with the human.Kazuhiro Takayama has a Masters Degree from the Department of precision Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. He is an acoustic engineer of Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Tochigi R&D Center.Takeshi Adachi has a Bachelors Degree from the Department of Precision Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Currently he is studying a bipedal robot with jack legs for carrying a heavy load.Shintaro Omote has a Bachelors Degree from the Department of Precision Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. He is currently studying a partner robot and trying to let it recognize human mental characters.Tatsuya Nakamura received the B.E. degree in aeronautics, the M.S. degree in physics and D. E. degree in robotics in 1965, 1967 and 1983, respectively, from Nagoya University. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, AIST, MITI in 1967. He was engaged in advanced robotics project there. In 1992, he became a professor at Mie University. Since 1997, he has been a Professor in the Department of Precision Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University. His research topics include micromanipulation using magnetic technologies and intelligent welfare robots.     

Potential field method to navigate several mobile robots

Navigation of mobile robots remains one of the most challenging functions to carry out. Potential Field Method (PFM) is rapidly gaining popularity in navigation and obstacle avoidance applications for mobile robots because of its elegance. Here a modified potential field method for robots navigation has been described. The developed potential field function takes care of both obstacles and targets. The final aim of the robots is to reach some pre-defined targets. The new potential function can configure a free space, which is free from any local minima irrespective of number of repulsive nodes (obstacles) in the configured space. There is a unique global minimum for an attractive node (target) whose region of attraction extends over the whole free space. Simulation results show that the proposed potential field method is suitable for navigation of several mobile robots in complex and unknown environments. Saroj Kumar Pradhan is faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department with N.I.T., Hamirpur, HP, India. He has received his B.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Utkal University and M.E. in Machine Design and Analysis from NIT Rourkela. He has published more than 17 technical papers in international journals and conference proceedings. His areas of research include mobile robots navigation and vibration of multilayred beams. Dayal R. Parhi is working as Assistant Professor at NIT Rourkela, India. He has obtained his first Ph.D. degree in “Mobile Robotics” from United Kingdom and Second Ph.D. in “Mechanical Vibration” from India. He has visited CMU, USA as a “Visiting Scientist” in the field of “Mobile Robotics”. His main areas of current research are “Robotics” and “Mechanical Vibration”. He is supervising five Ph.D. students in the fields of Robotics and Vibration. Email: dayalparhi@yahoo.com. Anup Kumar Panda Received his M.Tech degree from IIT, Kharagpur in 1993 and Ph.D. degree from Utkal University in 2001. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. His areas of research include robotics, Machine Drives, harmonics and power quality. He has published more than 30 technical papers in journals and conference proceedings. He is now involved in two R&D projects funded by Government of India. R. K. Behera is a Senior Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. He has been working as lecturer for more than 10 years. He obtained his BE degree from IGIT, Sarang, of Utkal University. He obtained his ME and Ph.D degrees, both in the field of mechanical engineering from NIT Rourkela.     

移动机器人扩展卡尔曼滤波定位与传感器误差建模

针对里程计在定位过程中存在累积误差的问题,建立了一种通用的移动机器人里程计误差模型,对里程计误差进行实时反馈补偿.在利用激光雷达进行环境特征提取过程中,根据激光雷达原始数据存在的误差,建立了激光雷达的观测误差模型,并根据环境特征和机器人的相对位置关系,建立了移动机器人观测模型.最后,结合里程计和激光雷达误差模型,利用扩展卡尔曼滤波(EKF)实现了基于环境特征跟踪的移动机器人定位.实验结果验证了里程计和激光雷达误差模型的引入,在增加较短定位时间的情况下,可以有效地提高移动机器人的定位精度.     

Climbing Robots’ Mobility for Inspection and Maintenance of 3D Complex Environments

For complex climbing robots, which work in difficult 3D outdoor environments, the gravity force has an important influence with respect the robots changes during its motion. This type of climbing robots is self-supported in the complex 3D structures (bridges, skeleton of the buildings, etc.) which require periodic, manually performed inspections and maintenance. The use of non-conventional climbing robots for this type of operation is highly appropriate. Their locomotion system commonly comprises arms/legs that permit the robots 3D mobility (gait). These mechanisms also enable the robot to support itself and guarantee its stability. This paper presents the main features of non-conventional climbing robots mobility on complex 3D environments: power supply, number of DOFs, lightweight structure, gait, speed, secure grasp, etc. It also covers the general theory underlying the design of climbing robots, their kinematics, with its specific, unconventional mobility. The paper not only describes the climbing robot mobility theory but also provides several examples taken from the ROMA and MATS robots families. The developed robots have high degree of autonomy with totally on-board control system. These autonomous robots demonstrate in the course of real experimentation that the criteria for design, control strategy and path planning are accurate. Finally, the paper examines trends in climbing robot technology.Carlos Balaguer received his Ph.D. in Automation from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), Spain in 1983. From 1983–1994 he was with the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation of the UPM as Associated Professor. Since 1994, he has been a Full Professor of the Robotics Lab at the University Carlos III of Madrid. Prof. Balaguers research has included robot design and development, robot control, path & task planning, force-torque control, assistive and service robots, climbing robots, legged and humanoid robots, and human-robot interaction. He has published more than 120 papers in journals and conference proceedings, and several books in the field of robotics. He is a member of IEEE and IFAC, and former President of IAARC.Antonio Gimenez studied Electrical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and received his PhD from the University Carlos III of Madrid in 2000. Currently he is Associated Professor at the Robotics Lab atthe University Carlos III of Madrid. He participated in numerous national and international R&D projects in robotics and automation. His research interest includes design and robot development, rehabilitation robots, climbing robots, and automation in construction. Recently he is very active in the field of computer-aided mechatronics design. He has published numerous refereed publications in international journals, and conference proceedings.Alberto Jardón Huete is currently finishing his Ph.D. degree in Automation Engineering. He received his B.Sc. in electronics engineering (1998) and is graduated in Electrical Engineering (2002) at University Carlos III of Madrid. He is an active member of the Robotics Lab since 1997, and has collaborated in the development of the climbing robots ROMA I, ROMA II, and other research projects of relevance. Currently he is focused in the design and development of light weight service robots. His interests include assistive robotic design, mechatronics, robotic research, the development of tools to perform this research and the transfer of robotics technology to industry.     

Multisensor Demining Robot

The paper describes an advanced multisensor demining robot. The robot transport system is based on a simple structure using pneumatic drive elements. The robot has robust design and can carry demining equipment up to 100 kg over rough terrains. Due to the adaptive possibilities of pedipulators to obstacles, the robot can adjust the working position of the demining sensors while searching for mines. The detection block consists of a metal detector, an infrared detector, and a chemical explosive sensor. The robot is controlled by means of an on-board processor and by an operator remote station in an interactive mode. Experimental results of the transport, control, and detection systems of the robot are presented.Michael Yu. Rachkov is Professor of Automation at the Moscow State Industrial University. He graduated in Automatic Control Systems from Moscow Higher Technical School, 1979. He held academic posts at the Institute for Problems in Mechanics, Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1986 he completed his PhD in industrial robotics and received his DSc in mobile robotics in 1997. Professor Rachkov has been leading in several international projects like EUREKA and REMAPHOS. He has published over 170 papers and several books in the field of automation, robotics and optimal control. He is a member of Russian Cosmonautics Academy and International Informatization Academy.Lino Marques is a research engineer at the Institute of Systems and Robotics of the University of Coimbra. He received the Engineering and MsC. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Science and Technology of this University in 1992 and 1997 respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree and teaching in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His current research interests include sensors, mechatronics, mobile robotics and industrial automation.Anábal T. De Almeida graduated in Electrical Engineering, University of Porto, 1972, and received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, from Imperial College, University of London, 1977. Currently he is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Coimbra, and he is the Director of the Institute of Systems and Robotics since 1993. Professor De Almeida is a consultant of the European Commission Framework Programmes. He is the co-author of five books and more than one hundred papers in international journals, meetings and conferences. He has coordinated several European and national research projects.     

Application of Localization Based on the DC Magnetic Field that Occurs in the Environment on Wheel-Type Mobile Agricultural Robots

A wheel-type mobile robot is simply able to localize with odometry. However, for mobile agricultural robots, it is necessary to consider that the environment is uneven terrain. Therefore, odometry is unreliable and it is necessary to augment the odometry by measuring the position of the robot relative to known objects in the environments. This paper describes the application of localization based on the DC magnetic field that occurs in the environment on mobile agricultural robots. In this research, a magnetic sensor is applied to scan the DC magnetic field to build a magnetic database. The robot localizes by matching magnetic sensor readings against the magnetic database. The experimental results indicate that the robot is able to localize accurately with the proposed method and the cumulative error can be eliminated by applying the localization results to compensate for the odometry.