Development of exchangeable microforceps for a micromanipulator system

The development of an articulated transporter/manipulator system was undertaken to meet the navigational and manipulation needs expected in confined areas associated with the nuclear power industry. Initially, the mobility concept was examined. An articulated vehicle was conceived that could conceptually meet the expected navigational requirements. This concept consists of several (up to 12) segments attached to each other by two revolute and two prismatic degrees of freedom. The joints are configured so that all mechanical connections are simple revolute or prismatic joints which yields an overall simple mechanical design. Research was undertaken to develop the concept. Actuation schemes were examined with respect to torque capacity and controllability. Further refinement lead to improvements in structural design with respect to stiffness and weight reduction. Two iterations have been performed on the design of the segment, with the latest iteration utilizing composite materials and a distributed structure to improve stiffness and minimize weight.     

Controlling Ensembles of Robots via a Supervisory Aerial Robot

We consider the task of controlling a large team of non-holonomic ground robots with an unmanned aerial vehicle in a decentralized manner that is invariant to the number of ground robots. The central idea is the development of an abstraction for the team of ground robots that allows the aerial platform to control the team without any knowledge of the specificity of individual vehicles. This happens in much the same way as a human operator can control a single robot vehicle by simply commanding the forward and turning velocities without a detailed knowledge of the specifics of the robot. The abstraction includes a gross model of the shape of the formation of the team, and information about the position and orientation of the team in the plane. We derive controllers that allow the team of robots to move in formation while avoiding collisions and respecting the abstraction commanded by the aerial platform. We propose strategies for controlling the physical spread of the ensemble of robots by splitting and merging the team based on distributed techniques. We provide simulation and experimental results using a team of indoor mobile robots and a three-dimensional, cable-controlled, parallel robot which serves as our indoor unmanned aerial platform.     

Intuitive Bilateral Teleoperation of a Cable-driven Parallel Robot Controlled by a Cable-driven Parallel Robot

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - Intuitive remote multiple degrees of freedom (DOF) robot control has distinct advantages in field robotics applications, especially for a...     

Object Touch by a Humanoid Robot Avatar Induces Haptic Sensation in the Real Hand

Humanoid robot embodiment is a recently developed form of mediated embodiment. In 2 studies, we report and quantify a new haptic (touch) illusion during embodiment of a humanoid robot. Around 60% of the users in our studies reported haptic sensations in their real hand when they observed their robot avatar touching a curtain with its hand. Critically, our study shows for the first time that users can experience haptic sensations from a nonanthropomorphic embodied limb/agent with visual feedback alone (i.e. no haptic feedback provided). The results have important implications for the understanding of the cognitive processes governing mediated embodiment and the design of avatar scenarios.     

Dynamic Analysis and Control Synthesis of Grasping and Slippage of an Object Manipulated by a Robot

Grasping an object by a cooperating system such as multi-fingered hands and multi-manipulator robotic system has received much attention. Research has focused on analysis of force-closure grasps and the synthesis of optimal grasping, when there is no slipping condition. Although the control system is designed to keep the contact force in the friction cone and avoid the slipping condition, slippage can occur for many reasons. In this research, dynamics analysis and control synthesis of a manipulator moving an object on a horizontal surface using the contact force of an end-effector are performed considering the slipping condition. Equality and inequality equations of frictional contact conditions are replaced by a single second-order differential equation with switching coefficients in order to facilitate the dynamic modeling. Accuracy of this modeling is verified by comparing the results of the model with those of SimMech. Using this modeling of friction, a set of reduced order form is obtained for equations of motion of the system. A new method is proposed to control the object motion and the end-effector undesired slippage based on the reduced form. Finally, performance of the method is evaluated both numerically and experimentally.     

一种虚拟环境温度触觉再现仿真系统设计

分析了温度触觉感知特性,提出了手指和物体接触时各自表面的温度变化过程,结合单热源温度触觉再现装置设计了一种基于三维力反馈手控器的虚拟环境温度触觉再现仿真系统。手控器可控制虚拟手的动作,对虚拟物体进行温度和力的感知。仿真系统中能再现手指与不同热属性物体接触时的温度变化和力变化,且视觉效果逼真,体现了温度触觉再现的实时性和有效性。     

基于机器人运动模型的EKF-SLAM算法改进

针对两轮驱动机器人运动模型定向误差的累积问题,提出改进的三轮驱动机器人运动模型,对EKF-SLAM算法的一致性进行改进;该模型通过对机器人车轮线速度的解耦运算,将机器人运动过程中的旋转角速度提取出来并作为系统的控制输入之一,从而可以直接得到各个控制时间间隔内的机器人姿态角变化,很好地避免了机器人定向误差的累积;最后,基于归一化估计方差的检验标准进行实验,验证了三轮驱动机器人运动模型有效提高了EKF-SLAM算法的一致性。     

Fluid-Filled Soft-Bodied Amoeboid Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold

This paper presents a fluid-filled soft-bodied amoeboid robot inspired by the plasmodium of the true slime mold. The significant features of this robot are 2-fold. (i) The robot has a fluid circuit (i.e., cylinders and nylon tubes filled with fluid), and a truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs — the former seals protoplasm to induce global physical interaction between the body parts and the latter is used for elastic actuators. (ii) A fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with a completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the global physical interaction between the body parts stemming from the fluid circuit. The experimental results show that this robot exhibits adaptive locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on the design scheme for autonomous decentralized control systems.     

以虚拟机器人手臂开展之方法对障碍空间施予两段式逐步型之群集化(英文)

A region filled with stationary and non-stationary obstacles always needs a path,based on clustering all the obstacles,for moving of autonomous robots.This paper provides a method,called"two-phase stepwise clustering" to solve this problem.Phase I uses Dendrogram as an approach for the preliminary clustering in the beginning to avoid misleading of the path start.Phase II links piecewise segments from centers of triangles deployed by neural discrimination.In the simulation,two paths constructed from longitudinal deployment and lateral deployment links each other and thus forms a robot path and also an envelope as clustering obstacles.     

应用神经网络改善足球机器人传感系统

为了解决足球机器人单一传感器所提供的定位数据的精度及稳定性不足以满足控制系统要求的问题,本文利用BP神经网络算法的学习功能,将目标足球及机器人自身状态信息作为标定数据,将视觉、加速度计、电子罗盘等多个传感器信息作为网络输入,以神经网络输出辅助足球机器人对目标足球的捕捉.实验仿真结果表明,神经网络算法提高了对目标足球的定位以及机器人自定位的精度,起到了预期的效果.滤波平均相对误差优于传统的卡尔曼滤波.     

基于循环抑制CPG模型控制的蛇形机器人蜿蜒运动

根据生物蛇和蛇形机器人的结构及运动特点,应用循环抑制CPG建模理论构建了蛇形机器人神经网络模型;利用蛇形机器人模型,仿真验证了CPG模型对蜿蜒运动控制的有效性;提出并仿真验证了实现有目的转弯控制的CPG参数调节方法。最后,给出了今后的研究方向。     

Fractional Control of a Humanoid Robot Reduced Model with Model Disturbances

There is an open discussion between those who defend mass-distributed models for humanoid robots and those in favor of simple concentrated models. Even though each of them has its advantages and disadvantages, little research has been conducted analyzing the control performance due to the mismatch between the model and the real robot, and how the simplifications affect the controller’s output. In this article we address this problem by combining a reduced model of the humanoid robot, which has an easier mathematical formulation and implementation, with a fractional order controller, which is robust to changes in the model parameters. This controller is a generalization of the well-known proportional–integral–derivative (PID) structure obtained from the application of Fractional Calculus for control, as will be discussed in this article. This control strategy guarantees the robustness of the system, minimizing the effects from the assumption that the robot has a simple mass distribution. The humanoid robot is modeled and identified as a triple inverted pendulum and, using a gain scheduling strategy, the performances of a classical PID controller and a fractional order PID controller are compared, tuning the controller parameters with a genetic algorithm.     

一种多功能虚拟示波器的设计及系统改进

基于虚拟仪器平台LabWindows/CVI开发设计了一种多功能虚拟示波器,同时介绍了该示波器的数据采集系统的设置方法和系统软件的总体设计,并采取数字滤波的方式进行软件抗干扰设计,满足了系统测量精度的要求。通过仿真分析证明,设计的虚拟示波器基本完成了传统示波器的功能,且人机界面友好。     

基于循环抑制CPG 模型控制的蛇形机器人三维运动

具有三维运动能力和独特的节律运动方式,使生物蛇能在复杂的地形环境中生存. 大多数动物节律运动是由中央模式发生器(Central pattern generator, CPG) 控制的. 以此为理论依据, 首次以循环抑制建模机理构建蛇形机器人组合关节运动控制的CPG 模型. 证明该模型是节律输出型CPG 中微分方程维数最少的. 采用单向激励方式连接该类CPG 构建蛇形机器人三维运动神经网络控制体系,给出该CPG 网络产生振荡输出的必要条件. 应用蛇形机器人动力学模型仿真得到控制三维运动的CPG 神经网络参数,利用该CPG 网络的输出使\勘查者"成功实现三维运动. 该结果为建立未探明的生物蛇神经网络模型提供了一种全新的方法.     

System Integration for Cognitive Model of a Robot Partner

This paper introduces the integrated system of a smart-device-based cognitive robot partner called iPhonoid-C. Interaction with a robot partner requires many elements, including verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and embodiment as well. A robot partner should be able to understand human sentences, as well as nonverbal information such as human gestures. In the proposed system, the robot has an emotional model connecting the input information from the human with the robot’s behavior. Since emotions are involved in human natural communication, and emotion has a significant impact on humans’ actions, it is important to develop an emotional model for the robot partner to enhance human robot interaction. In our proposed system, human sentences and gestures influence the robot’s emotional state, and then the robot will perform gestural and facial expressions and generate sentences according to its emotional state. The proposed cognitive method is validated using a real robot partner.     

A Multilayer Perceptrons Model for the Stability of a Bipedal Robot

A neural network model is proposed as a means of controlling the dynamical equilibrium of a walking bipedal robot. As a criterion to determine the stability of such a robot in relation with the organization of the sensorimotor system, we have been making use of the ZMP (Zero Momentum Point). Simulations are used to check the convergence of the algorithm. In the generalization phase, it is shown that the neural network has the ability to stabilise the robot for motions which have not previously been learned. An extended model is proposed, which seeks to closely inspect the physiology of the cerebellar cortex.     

OBS通用仿真模型的设计与实现

仿真是通信网络技术研究中一种非常有效的分析手段,但对于光突发交换（OBS）这种新型的光交换技术,目前还缺乏一种通用的仿真模型.该文在总结现有光突发交换技术的基础上,以OPNET Modeler为工具建立了一种通用的OBS仿真模型.提出了一种在不损失精度的条件下对OBS网络体系结构进行简化设计的方案,并根据仿真需要对OBS关键设备边缘节点和核心节点的逻辑结构进行了重新设计,同时为增加模型的灵活性,增设了数据源节点和初始化节点.目的是要建立一种灵活、易用、可扩展性强的通用OBS仿真模型.     

滑模控制实现一类连续时间混沌系统同步

针对一类连续时间混沌系统,将滑模控制技术应用于混沌系统同步控制器的设计。分析了滑动模态的存在可达性,以及滑模控制器实现一类混沌同步的渐进稳定性。并对控制器性能进行了仿真,结果表明了其有效性和可行性。     

基于动力学与控制统一模型的蛇形机器人速度跟踪控制方法研究

对带有被动轮的蛇形机器人进行速度跟踪控制时,利用传统的动力学建模方法得到的动力学方程复杂且不利于控制器的设计. 本文基于微分几何的方法将带有被动轮的蛇形机器人动力学投影到速度分布空间中, 得到了动力学与控制统一模型, 更有利于速度跟踪控制器的设计. 考虑到蛇形机器人在进行速度跟踪时容易出现奇异位形, 提出增加头部扰动速度的方法. 基于头部扰动速度和统一模型, 提出避免奇异位形的速度跟踪控制方法, 最后通过逆向动力学得到控制力矩. 文中对速度跟踪控制进行了数值仿真和实验验证. 仿真和实验结果表明, 提出的速度跟踪控制方法能够跟踪想要方向的速度, 并且在跟踪过程中可以有效地避免奇异位形.     

一种提高样板匹配精度的实现算法

通过对传统样板匹配算法的分析，指出了它们在匹配精度方面存在的缺陷。通过对传统算法的改进，文章介绍了一种可以提高匹配精度的新算法。并对这种算法的实验结果进行了讨论。