服务机器人智能空间软件平台设计与实现——基于UPnP中间件技术

服务机器人与智能空间技术相结合的方法可以扩展机器人的感知和决策能力,减轻其负担。基于UPnP中间件技术搭建了服务机器人智能空间软件平台,采用面向服务架构设计结合多智能体的应用构造模式,以服务为基本单元完成多种智能设备和机器人的实现,并设计中心管理节点对服务机器人智能空间进行全局调度和操作。实验表明,服务机器人智能空间软件平台具有性能稳定、动态自适应性高、设备间耦合度低、可扩展性强等特点,为服务机器人智能空间更深入的研究和推广实用化打下较好的基础。     

Simultaneous design of optimal gait pattern and controller for a bipedal robot

Nowadays, biped robotics becomes an interesting topic for many control researchers. The biped robot is more adaptable than the other mobile robots in a varied environment and can have more diverse possibilities in planning the motion. However, it falls down easily and its control for stable walking is difficult. Therefore, generation of a desired walking pattern for the biped robot in the presence of some model uncertainties is an important problem. The proposed walking pattern should be also achievable by the designed controller. To achieve this aim and to reach the best control performance, the walking pattern and controller should be designed simultaneously rather than separately. In the present study, an optimal walking pattern is proposed to be tracked by a designed sliding mode controller. In this respect, a genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized to determine the walking pattern parameters and controller coefficients simultaneously. Here, high stability, minimum energy consumption, good mobility properties, and actuator limitations are considered as the important indexes in optimization. Simulation results indicate the efficiency of the proposed scheme in walking the understudy biped robot.     

Impact reduction mobile robot and the design of the compliant legs

In most mobile robots, the ability to move from point to point in various types of terrain was the most crucial part to the design. Being able to survive through impact conditions is also essential for robots under hazardous circumstances such as rescue robots or military robots. In this paper, we designed and developed a robot with impact reduction mechanism which is based on the compliant design of its legs. The stiffness of the legs was designed to not only to serve walking purposes but also to help reduce the impact while dropping. An experiment was set to investigate how the radius of curvature of the connecting plate and the compliant leg of the robot play a role in impact absorption. The radius of curvature is one of the key factors which vary the stiffness of the compliant parts. With this design, the robot will gradually press the ground during landing using springlike legs. The compliant legs with nonlinear spring constant help absorb impact energy while the robot hits the ground. During drop-landing motion, the robot also transforms itself from a spherical shape into a legged robot while landing. The legs are extended into a walking mechanism on uneven terrain and retracted to create a ball shaped robot for rolling motion over smooth terrain. The transformation between the spherical shaped robot and the legged robot increase its motion capabilities under various conditions including falling, rolling and walking.     

A roller-skating/walking mode-based amphibious robot

An amphibious spherical robot capable of motion on land as well as underwater is developed to implement the complicated underwater operations in our previous research. In order to improve the speed performance of the spherical robot on a slope or comparatively smooth terrains, we propose a new roller-skating mode for the robot by equipping a passive wheel on each leg to implement the roller-skating motion in this paper. A braking mechanism is designed to transform the state of each passive wheel between free rolling and braking states by compressing and releasing the spring, which is controlled by the vertical servo motor on each leg. Besides, in order to improve the walking stability of the wheeled robot in longitudinal direction, a closed-loop control method is presented to control the stability of the direction of movement while walking. Therefore, we conduct the experiments on smooth terrains and down a slope to evaluate the performance of the roller-skating motion, including gait stability and velocity. Finally, plenty of walking experiments are conducted to evaluate the ability of directional control.     

倒挂式工业行走机器人的运动分配研究

目前工业机器人在机加工领域用中应用广泛,如果被加工零件的尺寸过大,传统的固定式机器人很难满足加工需求,设计了一个全新的机器人系统,在传统的六轴机器人底座添加两个外部行走轴,以扩大工作范围。但如何合理分配行走轴的运动也是一个难点,据此提出针对机器人外部轴的运动分配方法,根据加工范围采用分站式和协同联动式结合的作业模式,以减少机器人关节变化幅度,使机器人运动更加平稳可靠。     

轮式机器人分数阶滑模内模速度控制器设计

在不同路面行走过程中,为了提高轮式机器人的响应速度,降低外部扰动对调速系统的影响,改善系统抖振,根据分数阶微积分原理,结合滑模控制与内模控制策略,提出一种分数阶滑模内模控制(Fractional Order Sliding Mode Internal Mode Control,FOSMIMC)新方法,应用于轮式机器人调...     

智能决策改进的四足机器人ZMP爬行步态算法

提出了一种基于反馈控制和贪婪决策的四足机器人爬行步态规划算法。该算法利用机载惯性传感器IMU（Inertial Measurement Unit）来实时计算零力矩点和姿态角,以稳态裕度为指标在支撑平面内实时规划期望零力矩点（Zero Moment Point,ZMP）轨迹,结合非线性反馈控制器实现对机体ZMP点的连续平滑调节,保证机器人在按给定速度矢量进行连续爬行的同时具有抵抗一定外力扰动的能力。步态规划采用动态步态周期,基于机器人结构约束和贪婪决策实现跨腿的自动触发,提高了步态自适应性。最终通过样机行走实验验证了所提算法应用于微型四足机器人中的可行性,机器人实现了在平坦地面上稳定地全向行走和旋转,所提算法同时兼顾了自适应性和稳定裕度。     

Control of an exoskeleton robot arm with sliding mode exponential reaching law

Robots are now working not only in human environments but also interacting with humans, e.g., service robots or assistive robots. A 7DoFs robotic exoskeleton MARSE-7 (motion assistive robotic-exoskeleton for superior extremity) was developed as an assistive robot to provide movement assistance and/or ease daily upper-limb motion. In this paper, we highlight the nonlinear control of MARSE-7 using the modified sliding mode exponential reaching law (mSMERL). Conventional sliding control produces chattering which is undesired for this kind of robotic application as it causes damage to the mechanical structure. Compared to conventional sliding control, our approach significantly reduces chattering and delivers a high dynamic tracking performance. The control architecture was implemented on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) in conjunction with a RT-PC. In experiments, trajectory tracking that corresponds to typical passive arm movement exercises for single and multi joint movements were performed to evaluate the performance of the developed robot and the controller. Experimental results demonstrate that the MARSE-7 can effectively track the desired trajectories.     

利用事件和期限驱动对机器人延时的优化

随着科技的进步,机器人领域得到了飞速发展,为了更好地让机器人适应复杂工作环境,需要进一步提高机器人的感知性能。大多数机器人采用视觉作为感知手段。但由于图像中包含大量数据以及处理这些数据需要花费大量时间,导致了机器人有显著的延时,从而导致机器人性能的下降。因此,为了解决这一问题,提出了一种基于期限驱动和事件驱动控制方法,该方法的核心是把基于模型的控制设计方法的思想应用到基于视觉的自定位算法的机器人运动控制中。同时考虑了一种简单的基于随机样本一致性的定位算法的延时情况。实验结果证明,提出的期限驱动和事件驱动控制设计明显优于传统的周期控制。     

基于改进生物启发神经网络的机器人目标搜索方法

针对未知环境下机器人目标搜索的问题,按照机器人能力不同对搜索区域进行划分,目标点在自己运动的过程中会在局部范围内留下信息素并且这些信息素会随着时间的流失而减少,机器人可以探测到这些信息素的多少进而影响机器人下一个搜索位置的选择。本文采用改进生物启发神经网络选取机器人探索范围内活性值最大的点作为下一个搜索位置。为了防止在连续的时间段内多次选择相同的点,引入禁忌搜索,把多次选择相同的点放入禁忌表中,可以有效防止陷入局部最优点。与随机搜索方式和原始的生物启发神经网络进行对比,验证了该方法对动态目标的搜索具有良好的效果。     

面向全方位双足步行跟随的路径规划

双足步行机器人的足迹规划方法难以满足快速步行条件下的计算效率要求, 并存在步幅变化时运动失稳的风险, 2D环境下点机器人栅格规划则难于生成针对双足步行的高效路径.本文提出针对各向异性特征全方位步行机器人的一种路径规划策略, 将状态网格图方法拓展到全方位移动机器人领域, 基于三项基本假设及基元类型划分给出了系统的运动基元枚举及选择方法, 借助实时修正的增量式AD*搜索算法实现仿人机器人在动态环境下的快速路径规划, 通过合理选择启发函数及状态转移代价, 生成了平滑高效的路径, 为后续足迹生成的动力学优化提供了基础.计算机仿真证实了方法对各类环境的适应性, Robocup避障竞速挑战赛的成功表现证明了方法对于机器人样机部署的可行性及其提高步行效率的潜力.     

结合历史运动状态的机器人高效沿墙算法研究

针对目前室内移动机器人沿墙走算法过于复杂、路径易重复、不能完全遍历、效率低等问题, 采用室内未知环境下结合历史状态的机器人沿墙高效遍历研究来解决这些问题. 该算法由移动机器人的上一个周期历史环境运动状态(分8类)、当前环境运动状态(分8类)和旋向信息(分2类)建立运动规则库, 沿墙行走时移动机器人时时采集这三类信息(上一个周期历史环境运动状态、当前环境运动状态和旋向信息)决定移动机器人当前的运动方向, 如此循环直到完成指定的沿墙任务. 最后对该算法进行了仿真与实际实验, 实验结果证明该算法可以在不同的、复杂的环境中高效、快速地完成沿墙走的任务, 并且对室内未知环境有很好的适应性.     

Design and analysis of a wall-climbing robot for passive adaptive movement on variable-curvature metal facades

To facilitate the safe adsorption and stable motion of robots on curved metal surfaces, a wall-climbing robot with a wheeled-type mobile mechanism that can passively self-adapt to walls with different curvature is proposed. The robot is composed of two relatively independent passive adaptive mobile mechanisms and overrunning permanent magnetic adsorption devices to achieve effective fitting of the driving wheels to the wall surface and adaptive surface motion. The overall design is based on a double-hinged connection scheme and gap-type permanent magnetic adsorption. The minimum adsorption force required for the robot to achieve stable climbing motion with no risk of slipping or capsizing is determined by developing a static analysis model. The effects of air-gap size and wall thickness on the adsorption force are analyzed by means of magnetic circuit design studies and parametric simulations on the permanent magnet adsorption device, as well as design optimization of the permanent magnet device. The motion performance test of the fabricated prototype shows that the robot can achieve adaptive curvature motion with self-attitude adjustment, and has a certain load capacity, obstacle crossing capability, and good surface adaptivity.     

Design and Realization of the Claw Gripper System of a Climbing Robot

Climbing robots are widely used to inspect smooth walls, such as glass curtain walls and ceramic tile surfaces. However, a good adsorption method for inspecting a cliff face and dusty high-altitude buildings with small-amplitude vibration has not been found. In this study, a new adsorption method using grasping claw grippers to adhere to rough walls is proposed and applied. A mechanical model for the interaction between the gripper and the uplifts on rough walls is also established to analyze the critical state of force balance of the gripper. In addition, MATLAB is used in a simulation, and an experimental prototype is designed to test the grasp stability of the gripper. Simulation and experiment results indicate that the gripper can adequately achieve grasping adsorption on a rough concrete wall. The findings provide a foundation for constructing a system for a rough-wall-climbing robot.     

Probabilistic state estimation of dynamic objects with a moving mobile robot

Mobile service robots are designed to operate in dynamic and populated environments. To plan their missions and to perform them successfully, mobile robots need to keep track of relevant changes in the environment. For example, office delivery or cleaning robots must be able to estimate the state of doors or the position of waste-baskets in order to deal with the dynamics of the environment. In this paper we present a probabilistic technique for estimating the state of dynamic objects in the environment of a mobile robot. Our method matches real sensor measurements against expected measurements obtained by a sensor simulation to efficiently and accurately identify the most likely state of each object even if the robot is in motion. The probabilistic approach allows us to incorporate the robot’s uncertainty in its position into the state estimation process. The method has been implemented and tested on a real robot. We present different examples illustrating the efficiency and robustness of our approach.     

基于遥感GIS信息融合的测绘机器人滑动模跟踪控制系统

测绘机器人是实现测绘自动化的执行设备,测绘机器人的工作空间更为复杂,给机器人的跟踪控制工作带来较大挑战。为提高测绘机器人跟踪控制效果,设计了基于遥感GIS信息融合的测绘机器人滑动模跟踪控制系统。加设遥感信息采集器和GIS信息采集器,改装遥感GIS信息处理器以及滑动模跟踪控制器,完成硬件系统的优化设计。考虑信息结构以及信息之间的逻辑关系,构建系统数据库,为遥感GIS信息提供充足的存储空间。根据测绘任务生成机器人滑动模移动轨迹,作为机器人的控制目标。采集测绘机器人实时遥感与GIS信息,利用遥感GIS信息融合技术跟踪机器人实时位姿,比对位姿跟踪结果与生成的控制目标,计算滑动模跟踪控制量,完成系统的测绘机器人滑动模跟踪控制软件功能优化。系统测试结果表明:设计系统的控制误差平均值为1.9 m,抖振幅值为0.8 dB,具有较好的控制效果。     

Worker selection of safe speed and idle condition in simulated monitoring of two industrial robots

Industrial robots often operate at high speed, with unpredictable motion patterns and erratic idle times. Serious injuries and deaths have occurred due to operator misperception of these robot design and performance characteristics. The main objective of the research project was to study human perceptual aspects of hazardous robotics workstations. Two laboratory experiments were designed to investigate workers' perceptions of two industrial robots with different physical configurations and performance capabilities. Twenty-four subjects participated in the study. All subjects were chosen from local industries, and had had considerable exposure to robots and other automated equipment in their working experience. Experiment 1 investigated the maximum speed of robot arm motions that workers, who were experienced with operation of industrial robots, judged to be 'safe' for monitoring tasks. It was found that the selection of safe speed depends on the size of the robot and the speed with which the robot begins its operation. Speeds of less than 51 cm/s and 63 cm/s for large and small robots, respectively, were perceived as safe, i.e., ones that did not result in workers feeling uneasy or endangered when working in close proximity to the robot and monitoring its actions. Experiment 2 investigated the minimum value of robot idle time (inactivity) perceived by industrial workers as system malfunction, and an indication of the 'safe-to-approach' condition. It was found that idle times of 41 s and 28 s or less for the small and large robots, respectively, were perceived by workers to be a result of system malfunction. About 20% of the workers waited only 10 s or less before deciding that the robot had stopped because of system malfunction. The idle times were affected by the subjects' prior exposure to a simulated robot accident. Further interpretations of the results and suggestions for operational limitations of robot systems are discussed.     

基于Sigmoid函数的机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制系统设计

为了保证机器人能够在保持稳定的情况下,按照规划轨迹执行工作任务,从硬件和软件两个方面,设计了基于Sigmoid函数的机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制系统。装设机器人传感器与状态观测器,改装机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制器,完成系统硬件设计;综合机器人结构、运动机理和动力机制3个方面,构建机器人数学模型;根据状态数据采集结果与规划轨迹之间的偏差,计算机器人跟踪控制量;依据滑模运动与切换方程,利用Sigmoid函数生成机器人鲁棒滑模控制律,将生成控制指令作用在机器人执行元件上,实现系统的鲁棒滑模跟踪控制功能;在系统测试与分析中,所设计控制系统的平均位置跟踪控制误差为0.93 mm,与设定轨迹目标基本重合,机器人姿态角跟踪控制误差为0.06 mm,具有较好的鲁棒滑模跟踪控制效果,能够有效提高机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制精度。     

人体步行规律与仿人机器人步态规划

从仿生学角度分析了人体的步行运动规律,提出了一种基于人体运动规律的仿人机器人步态参数设定方法.首先对人体步行运动数据进行捕捉并分析,得出人体各步态参数间的函数关系,以人体步行相似性作为评价指标,提出仿人机器人步态参数的设定方法.其次,通过分析人体在步行过程中的补偿支撑脚偏航力矩的基本原理,提出了基于双臂及腰关节协调运动的仿人机器人偏航力矩补偿算法,以提高仿人机器人行走的稳定性.最后通过仿真及实验验证了所提出的步态规划方法的正确性及有效性.     

Application of axiomatic design method in in-pipe robot design

The traction ability of existing in-pipe robots is coupled with the velocity and up limited by the friction between robot and the inner wall of pipeline. In order to deal with this problem, this paper applies the Axiomatic design (AD) theory in evaluation of existing in-pipe robots, and then presents a new concept of in-pipe robot as well as its complete AD based design process. The traditional paradox was found to be caused by non-uncoupled designs. The maximum traction ability of proposed in-pipe robot was calculated and compared with that of the others in order to demonstrate the improved capability. The preliminary results of this work exhibit a successful application of AD in in-pipe robot design, which makes it possible that the moving velocity and traction ability can be designed or adjusted individually. As a result, the traction ability breaks the traditional superior limit.