Molecular Robotics: A New Paradigm for Artifacts

The rapid progress of molecular nanotechnology has opened the door to molecular robotics, which uses molecules as robot components. In order to promote this new paradigm, the Molecular Robotics Research Group was established in the Systems and Information Division of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) in 2010. The group consists of researchers from various fields including chemistry, biophysics, DNA nanotechnology, systems science and robotics, challenging this emerging new field. Last year, the group proposed a research project focusing on molecular robotics, and it was recently awarded a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (FY2012-16), one of the large-scale research projects in Japan, by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, JAPAN). Here, we wish to clarify the fundamental concept and research direction of molecular robotics. For this purpose, we present a comprehensive view of molecular robotics based on the discussions held in the Molecular Robotics Research Group.     

Pheromone Robotics

We describe techniques for coordinating the actions of large numbers of small-scale robots to achieve useful large-scale results in surveillance, reconnaissance, hazard detection, and path finding. We exploit the biologically inspired notion of a virtual pheromone, implemented using simple transceivers mounted atop each robot. Unlike the chemical markers used by insect colonies for communication and coordination, our virtual pheromones are symbolic messages tied to the robots themselves rather than to fixed locations in the environment. This enables our robot collective to become a distributed computing mesh embedded within the environment, while simultaneously acting as a physical embodiment of the user interface. This leads to notions of world-embedded computation and world-embedded displays that provide different ways to think about robot colonies and the types of distributed computations that such colonies might perform.     

基于MATLAB Robotics Toolbox的机器人学仿真实验教学

简要介绍MATLAB Robotics Toolbox在机器人学仿真实验教学中的基本应用,具体内容包括齐次坐标变换、机器人对象构建、机器人运动学求解以及轨迹规划等。该工具箱可以对机器人进行图形仿真,并能分析真实机器人控制时的实验数据结果,因此非常适宜于机器人学的教学和研究。     

Robotics software systems

A robotics software “system” is defined here as one which allows robot users to program robot tasks in terms of key states of the task, instead of manipulator motions. It consists of two subsystems: a language system and a planning system. The language system involves the design of syntax and semantics of a robot programming language whereas the planning system determines specific manipulator movements for a given task defined in a task-level language. This paper describes the major components of a robotics software system and reviews principal research findings in the related aspects including programming languages, manipulator and world modelings, motion planning, and graphic simulation. Underlying research issues are addressed at the end.     

Robotics in Education

Collision avoidance is essential for safe robot manipulation. Especially with humans around, robots should work only when safety can be robustly guaranteed. In this paper, we propose using virtual impedance control for reactive, smooth, and consistent collision avoidance that interferes minimally with the original task. The virtual impedance control operates in the risk space, a vector space describing the possibilities of all forthcoming collisions, and is designed to elude all risks in a consistent response in order to create assuring human-robot interaction experiences. The proposed scheme intrinsically handles kinematic singularity and the activation of avoidance using a boundary layer defined on the spectrum of Jacobian. In cooperation with the original controller, the proposed avoidance scheme provides a proof of convergence if the original controller is stable with and without projection. In simulations and experiments, we verified the characteristics of the proposed control scheme and integrated the system with Microsoft Kinect to monitor the workspace for real-time collision detection and avoidance. The results show that the proposed approach is suitable for robot operation with humans nearby.     

Robotics developments and industrial applications

comau, a Fiat Group Company, designs and builds machining systems and integrated, automatic metalworking assembly, welding, storage and handling installations.In this paper we describe the robots manufactured by comau: smart and mast families.The smart is a six axis, all-electric industrial robot.The smart applications are in spotwelding (the largest) and automatic unloading and loading.The mast is a family robot whose oustanding characteristic is modularity: the number and type of arms in the system can be tailored to the application.smart and mast family robots have the same Control System and the same high level language.As a special application a smart Laser has been developed by comau, which includes inside the mechanical parts the beam delivery system.     

蓬勃发展的空间机器人技术与应用

随着人类太空探索的深入,机器人已经在空间各领域得到了广泛应用,尤其是为载人航天、月球与深空探测、小天体采样返回等航天任务提供了重要的支撑。空间机器人可代替或协助人类在空间环境中进行各种作业,在成本、效率、安全等方面具有突出优势,但空间的大温差、高真空、强辐射、大时延、微重力等苛刻环境,以及航天器的质量、体积、功耗、寿命、可靠性等因素的约束,对空间机器人的研发和应用提出了极大的挑战。面向未来空间大型设施在轨构建、航天器在轨维护维修、宇宙资源就位开发利用等任务,越来越多的新型空间机器人概念被提出,多种样机被开发出来进行地面验证和在轨试验以推进空间机器人技术的发展。 迄今为止,空间机器人的研究主要面向在轨服务（on-orbit servicing,OOS）机器人和星球探测车（planetary rover）两大领域,涉及到新型机器人结构与机构设计、动力学、运动规划与控制、目标定位和捕获、空间遥操作、人机交互、多机协同等核心技术。就目前的研究现状来看,空间机器人仍然存在许多不足之处。(1) 当前空间机器人承担的任务仍然比较简单。对于在轨操作类机器人来说,高速目标捕获、精密装配、多臂协调或多机器人协同操作等任务目前仍大多处于地面实验阶段,仅有少量在轨应用;对于星球探测机器人,机器人在复杂地面环境上进行高速移动探测,以及对深层坚硬样品自主采集等任务尚存在一定困难。(2) 当前机器人的空间环境适应能力不足。高精度、高承载工况下的长寿命传动与润滑、极端高低温环境下的材料适应能力及长时间无光照条件下的能源供给问题亟需解决。(3) 当前空间机器人自主性较低。目前常用的预编程自动控制或遥操作执行效率低,机器人缺乏自主性,主要应用于已知的、结构化环境。这些难题仍需要世界各国的研究者共同探索解决。 近年来,物联网、云计算、人工智能等技术的飞速发展,推动空间机器人技术发生深刻的变化,空间机器人逐渐向构形多样化、执行任务复杂化、在轨服务对象多元化、操控模式自主化的方向发展。这也对空间机器人的研发和应用提出了更多要求。未来面向太空探索,考虑到任务和环境的多样性,充分利用机械、感知、控制、材料、力学、人工智能等方面的最新科技成果,促进空间机器人理论和技术的快速发展,提高机器人的环境感知能力成为重中之重。一方面,要使空间机器人能够进行更为精细复杂的操作,实现自然灵活的人机交互,完成由半自主向自主操作的转变。另一方面,共享型、协同化、智能化成为空间机器人发展的必然趋势,机器人有望能自主识别和重构出新一代的模块化航天器、能实现多机和多人协同操作、能够就位利用空间资源、能完成自主学习和决策,为人类的深空探索做出更大的贡献。     

Evolved and Designed Self-Reproducing Modular Robotics

Long-term physical survivability of most robotic systems today is achieved through durable hardware. In contrast, most biological systems are not made of robust materials; long-term sustainability and evolutionary adaptation in nature are provided through processes of self-repair and, ultimately, self-reproduction. Here we demonstrate a large space of possible robots capable of autonomous self-reproduction. These robots are composed of actuated modules equipped with electromagnets to selectively control the morphology of the robotic assembly. We show a variety of 2-D and 3-D machines from 3 to 2n modules, and two physical implementations that each achieves two generations of reproduction. We show both automatically generated and manually designed morphologies     

Robotics research and development in Poland

Robotics is an active area of research in Poland. Teaching programs are similar to those in Western European countries. Research activities are basically supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research (SCSR) and European agencies. The author provides an overview of seven different academic institutions in Poland     

Institute for Robotics and System Dynamics

Examines various aspects of the Institution's work. Its core skills are in mechatronics, computer-integrated control and dynamic engineering. Telerobotics, robot learning, robot vision and the use in terrestrial applications of technology developed for use in Space are also considered