Development of a Modular Crawler for Tracked Robots

This paper presents the design and experiments for a novel crawler module, in which a planetary gear reducer is employed as the transmission device and provides two outputs in different forms with only one actuator. This underactuated crawler can absorb impact energy that might be transmitted to the actuator when it moves in a rough environment. To enable the use of this crawler more widely in robot systems, a modular design for the crawler is, thus, proposed and its mechanical model is developed. Experiments demonstrate that a single-crawler module can effectively perform the proposed three locomotion modes.     

Miniature Pneumatic Curling Rubber Actuator Generating Bidirectional Motion with One Air-Supply Tube

Soft actuators driven by pneumatic pressure are promising actuators for mechanical systems in medical, biological, agriculture, welfare fields and so on, because they can ensure high safety for fragile objects from their low mechanical impedance. In this study, a new rubber pneumatic actuator made from silicone rubber was developed. Composed of one chamber and one air-supply tube, it can generate curling motion in two directions by using positive and negative pneumatic pressure. The rubber actuator, for generating bidirectional motion, was designed to achieve an efficient shape by nonlinear finite element method analysis, and was fabricated by a molding and rubber bonding process using excimer light. The fabricated actuator was able to generate curling motion in two directions successfully. The displacement and force characteristics of the actuator were measured by using a motion capture system and a load cell. As an example application of the actuator, a robotic soft hand with three actuators was constructed and its effectiveness was confirmed by experiments.     

Motion capture-based wearable interaction system and its application to a humanoid robot,AMIO

In this paper, we present a wearable interaction system to enhance interaction between a human user and a humanoid robot. The wearable interaction system assists the user and enhances interaction with the robot by intuitively imitating the user motion while expressing multimodal commands to the robot and displaying multimodal sensory feedback. AMIO, the biped humanoid robot of the AIM Laboratory, was used in experiments to confirm the performance and effectiveness of the proposed system, including the overall performance of motion tracking. Through an experimental application of this system, we successfully demonstrated human and humanoid robot interactions.     

On Climbing Winding Stairs in an Open Mode for a New Robotic Wheelchair

This paper presents the mechanical design, locomotion and associated dynamic models of a new robotic wheelchair on climbing winding stairs. The prototype stair-climbing robotic wheelchair is constructed comprising a pair of rotational multi-limbed structures pivotally mounted on opposite sides of a support base so that the robotic wheelchair can ascend and descend stairs; in particular, the capability of climbing winding stairs is addressed. Based on the skid-steering analysis, the dynamic models for climbing winding stairs are developed for the trajectory planning and motion analyses. These models are required to ensure a passenger's safety in such a way that the robotic wheelchair is operated in an open mode. Moreover, an equivalent constraint method is proposed for the prescribed motion of the robotic wheelchair on climbing winding stairs. The results of the simulation and maneuver are reported that show the behavior of the prototype as it climbs winding stairs in a dynamic turning.     

Design Optimization of a Bionic Fish with Multi-Joint Fin Rays

This paper aims to design a novel bionic fish propelled by oscillating paired pectoral fins. Flapping motion deformation of the nature sample, the cow-nosed ray, is realized with simple mechanical structure through optimization. Locomotion analysis of the nature sample under linear cruise swimming conditions is carried out. Simplified mathematical models of the pectoral fin are obtained to be the design foundation of the bionic fin rays and the bionic fish. The number of fin rays is decided according to the passing kinematic wave shape and number. Distance and structure parameters are optimized, and determined by the minimum area error method. A novel two-stage slide–rocker mechanism is designed to fulfill the driving requirements with only one servo motor. System design of a new bionic fish robot is presented, including the mechanical design and the control method. Main bionic characteristics extracted from the cow-nosed ray are fulfilled by the prototype and verified by experiments.     

A new inverse kinematics algorithm for binary manipulators with many actuators

In this paper we present a new, and extremely fast, algorithm for the inverse kinematics of discretely actuated manipulator arms with many degrees of freedom. Our only assumption is that the arm is macroscopically serial in structure, meaning that the overall structure is a serial cascade of units with each unit having either a serial or parallel kinematic structure. Our algorithm builds on previous works in which the authors and coworkers have used the workspace density function in a breadthfirst search for solving the inverse kinematics problem. The novelty of the method presented here is that only the 'mean' of this workspace density function is used. Hence the requirement of storing a sampled version of the workspace density function (which is a function on a six-dimensional space in the case of a spatial manipulator) is circumvented. We illustrate the technique with both planar revolute and variable-geometry-truss manipulators, and briefly describe a new manipulator design for which this algorithm is applicable.     

Robust motion control with the consideration algorithm of joint torque saturation for a redundant manipulator

As each joint actuator of a robot manipulator has a limit value of torque, the motion control system should consider the torque saturation. In order to consider the torque saturation in a transient state, this paper proposes a new redundant motion control system using the autonomous consideration algorithm on torque saturation. A Jacobian matrix of a redundant robot manipulator can select the optimal one considering its motion energy in the steady state. When the motion control system carries out fast motion and quick disturbance suppression, a high joint torque is required in a transient state. In the experimental results, under the condition of having a large payload torque and a fast motion reference, the proposed redundant manipulator control realizes the quick robot motion robustly and smoothly.     

PARKER 6K2运动控制器数据通讯连接和故障解析

某高压绕线机采用6K2两轴运动控制与TQ10SD排线控制器、主轴变频控制器(ABB)、WIN98工控电脑及VB6.0软体执行界面,因在生产过程中有时会出现死机和开机时发生6K2通讯故障现象,给生产带来诸多不便。通过对Parker 6k2控制器的数据通讯控制线的连接、功能命令和通讯程序进行分析,同时对所产生的故障信息作出分析、处理,解决了问题。     

Sensor-based probabilistic roadmaps: experiments with an eye-in-hand system

We present a real implemented eye-in-hand test-bed system for sensor-based collision-free motion planning for articulated robot arms. The system consists of a PUMA 560 with a triangulation-based area-scan laser range finder (the eye) mounted on its wrist. The framework for our planning approach is inspired by recent motion planning research for the classical model-based case (known environment) and incrementally builds a roadmap that represents the connectivity of the free configuration space, as the robot senses the physical environment. We present some experimental results with our sensor-based planner running on this real test-bed. The robot is started in completely unknown and cluttered environments. Typically, the planner is able to reach (planning as it senses) the goal configuration in about 7-25 scans (depending on the scene complexity), while avoiding collisions with the obstacles throughout.