基于改进人工势场法的移动机器人路径规划

针对势场法的障碍物附近目标不可达的问题,改进了传统人工势场斥力函数,确保目标点是机器人的势场全局最小点,使得机器人顺利到达目标点。针对势场法的局部最小值问题,提出了一种连接局部最小值区域障碍物的方法,建立了机器人离散传感器模型,使机器人快速走出局部最小值区域。改进后的人工势场法适用于复杂室内环境下的机器人路径规划。仿真结果证明了该方法的有效性。     

基于改进人工势场法的移动机器人路径规划

基于传统人工势场法的机器人路径规划存在障碍物附近目标不可达和局部极小点的问题。在研究该问题产生原因的基础上,提出了一种基于改进人工势场法的移动机器人路径规划算法。该算法在斥力函数中引入了机器人和目标点之间的距离,在极小点附近自主建立虚拟目标牵引点并隔离原有目标点,解决了传统人工势场法的局部极小点问题,使机器人到达了目标点。仿真结果说明了改进后算法的有效性。     

基于势场法的移动机器人路径规划仿真研究

针对势场法的障碍物附近目标不可达（GNRON）问题,采用改进斥力势场函数,把机器人和目标的相对距离考虑进去,从而确保目标点为整个势场的全局最小点,使得机器人能够顺利到达目标。针对局部极小引起的陷阱区域问题,提出了增加引导点的方法,使得机器人能够快速走出陷阱区域,向目标点移动。通过仿真实验,还实现了机器人在限定区域内漫游。改进后的势场法适用于复杂环境下的移动机器人路径规划。仿真结果证明了此方法的有效性。     

宏-微机器人: 概念、动态、控制及几点看法

宏－微机器人即一小机械手附在一大机械手的末端构成的机器人系统，这种机器人有减小末端有效惯量、扩充频带的特性．本文介绍了这种机器人的概念、国外研究动态、控制方法，并对这一机器人的研究提出了我们的几点看法．     

宏-微机器人: 概念、动态、控制及几点看法

宏－微机器人即一小机械手附在一大机械手的末端构成的机器人系统，这种机器人有减小末端有效惯量、扩充频带的特性．本文介绍了这种机器人的概念、国外研究动态、控制方法，并对这一机器人的研究提出了我们的几点看法．     

RoboCup比赛环境下足球机器人路径规划研究

RoboCup中型组足球机器人比赛具有高度的对抗性和实时性．比赛中机器人需要针对不同的比赛态势进行角色切换和任务选择．在这种环境下，应用传统人工势场或一般改进型人工势场的路径规划方法都无法得到令人满意的结果．将障碍物与机器人之间的相对速度矢量以及目标与机器人之间的相对速度矢量分别引入人工势场法中，对传统的势场函数进行了改进；并根据机器人的不同角色和任务，采用模糊逻辑方法对势场函数进行修正，提出一种处理多角色多任务环境的改进型人工势场法机器人路径规划方法．仿真试验和实际应用验证了此算法存足球机器人比赛系统中的可行性．     

基于新人工势场函数的机器人动态避障规划

人工势场法是进行机器人路径规划时常用的方法,但若用圆锥曲线函数作为引力场数学模型时,在目标点会产生抖动问题.本文在分析抖动产生原因的基础上,增加一个指数项到引力场函数中,从而消除了奇异值点,避免了抖动现象.然后将一敏感度参数引入斥力场函数,以便灵活控制运动过程中机器人与障碍物距离的大小.通过对敏感度的调节,还可以克服传统势场法中目标点在斥力作用范围内时,机器人无法到达目标点的缺陷.最后给出新势场法的仿真.     

改进人工势场法在机器人路径规划中的应用

针对传统人工势场法中存在的一些局部极小点问题,提出了一种基于偏转角度的改进人工势场法。针对在传统的人工势场法中,障碍物在目标点附近使得机器人不能到达目标点问题,通过加入机器人与目标点之间距离参数的方法,使得移动机器人顺利到达指定目标点。对于机器人在行进过程中,产生局部极小点问题,即出现合力为零的时候,在机器人因受斥力和引力的作用下沿正常角度行驶时给其加入一个偏转角度,有效解决了路径规划失败的问题,规划出一条平滑无碰撞路径。通过仿真实验,可以验证算法改进的有效性。     

改进人工势场法在机器人路径规划中的应用

为解决传统人工势场法用于机器人路径规划时会出现规划失败的问题,分析了由于局部极小点问题而导致规划失败的原因。在已改进人工势场函数的基础上,提出了通过增加虚拟目标点和原目标点共同对机器人产生引力的方法来解决传统人工势场法中出现的局部极小点问题。在Mobotsim中对算法的仿真结果表明了该方法的可行性和有效性。     

改进人工势场法的机器人避障及路径规划

针对机器人在传统人工势场避障过程中出现目标不可达和陷入极值点导致停滞不前的问题,通过改进传统人工势场的斥力场结构,解决目标不可达问题。在传统人工势场原有目标点产生的吸引力前提下,提出一种对比阀值,建立虚拟牵引点的方法,解决局部极小问题,增加快速函数提高机器人的运动速率,以克服机器人在障碍物附近出现的反复震荡或停止不前。为了验证上述方法的有效性,用MATLAB软件进行仿真,结果表明机器人运动轨迹平滑,接近最优路径。     

Safe and efficient motion planning of multiple mobile robots based on artificial potential for human behavior and robot congestion

In order for robots to exist together with humans, safety for the humans has to be strictly ensured. On the other hand, safety might decrease working efficiency of robots. Namely, this is a trade-off problem between human safety and robot efficiency in a field of human–robot interaction. For this problem, we propose a novel motion planning technique of multiple mobile robots. Two artificial potentials are presented for generating repulsive force. The first potential is provided for humans. The von Mises distribution is used to consider the behavioral property of humans. The second potential is provided for the robots. The Kernel density estimation is used to consider the global robot congestion. Through simulation experiments, the effectiveness of the behavior and congestion potentials of the motion planning technique for human safety and robot efficiency is discussed. Moreover, a sensing system for humans in a real environment is developed. From experimental results, the significance of the behavior potential based on the actual humans is discussed. For the coexistence of humans and robots, it is important to evaluate a mutual influence between them. For this purpose, a virtual space is built using projection mapping. Finally, the effectiveness of the motion planning technique for the human–robot interaction is discussed from the point of view of not only robots but also humans.     

Generation of feasible set points and control of a cable robot

Cable-suspended robots are structurally similar to parallel-actuated robots, but with the fundamental difference that cables can only pull the end-effector, but not push it. These input constraints make feedback control of cable-suspended robots a lot more challenging than their counterpart parallel-actuated robots. In this paper, we present a computationally efficient control design procedure for a cable robot with six cables, which is kinematically determined as long as all cables are in tension. The control strategy is based on dynamic aspects of statically feasible workspace. The basic idea suggested in this paper is to represent the reachable domain in terms of achievable set points under a specified control law that respects the input constraints. This computational framework is recursively used to find a set of reachable domains, using which, we are able to expand the region of feasibility by connecting adjacent domains through common points. The salient feature of the technique is that it is computationally efficient, or online implementable, for the control of a cable robot with positive input constraints. However, due to the complexity of the dynamics of general motion of a cable robot, we consider only translations. No cable interference is considered in this paper. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by numerical simulations and laboratory experiments on a six-degree-of-freedom cable-suspended robot.     

Decentralized Motion Planning for Multiple Mobile Robots: The Cocktail Party Model

This paper presents an approach for decentralized real-time motion planning for multiple mobile robots operating in a common 2-dimensional environment with unknown stationary obstacles. In our model, a robot can see (sense) the surrounding objects. It knows its current and its target's position, is able to distinguish a robot from an obstacle, and can assess the instantaneous motion of another robot. Other than this, a robot has no knowledge about the scene or of the paths and objectives of other robots. There is no mutual communication among the robots; no constraints are imposed on the paths or shapes of robots and obstacles. Each robot plans its path toward its target dynamically, based on its current position and the sensory feedback; only the translation component is considered for the planning purposes. With this model, it is clear that no provable motion planning strategy can be designed (a simple example with a dead-lock is discussed); this naturally points to heuristic algorithms. The suggested strategy is based on maze-searching techniques. Computer simulation results are provided that demonstrate good performance and a remarkable robustness of the algorithm (meaning by this a virtual impossibility to create a dead-lock in a random scene).     

Robot Navigation Based on Discrimination of Artificial Fields: Application to Single Robots

The paper introduces a method for local navigation of mobile robots based on the discrimination of multiple artificial fields, which correspond to targets, obstacles, robots and, if this is the case, robot collectives. Instead of just adding up all potentials, the robot discerns the pertinent potentials at its location and applies a set of motion decisions at each moment. Satisfactory results are obtained. This is the first paper of a more extensive work dealing with individual robots, unorganized groups of robot and robot formations. Here, the method is introduced, with examples for a single robot and for several independent robots.     

Collision detection between the wrists of two robot arms in a common workspace

Detecting collisions for planning collision-free motion of the wrists of two robot arms in a common workspace is discussed in this paper. A collision-free motion can be obtained by detecting collisions along the preplanned trajectories using a sphere model for the wrist of each robot and then modifying the paths and/or trajectories of one or both robots to avoid the collision. In this paper, a collision detection algorithm is described and its role in collision avoidance is discussed. Collision detection is based on the premise that (1) the wrists of robots move monotonically on their preplanned straight line trajectories and (2) collisions never occur between the two wrists at the beginning points or end points.Research supported by the NASA-Langley Research Center under Grants #NAG-1-632 and #NAG-1-772 and the AT&T Foundation.     

A Fast Approach for Robot Motion Planning

This paper describes a new approach to robot motion planning that combines the end-point motion planning with joint trajectory planning for collision avoidance of the links. Local and global methods are proposed for end-point motion planning. The joint trajectory planning is achieved through a pseudoinverse kinematic formulation of the problem. This approach enables collision avoidance of the links by a fast null-space vector computation. The power of the proposed planner derives from: its speed; the good properties of the potential function for end-point motion planning; and from the simultaneous avoidance of the links collision, kinematic singularities, and local minima of the potential function. The planner is not defined over computationally expensive configuration space and can be applied for real-time applications. The planner shows to be faster than many previous planners and can be applied to robots with many degrees of freedom. The effectiveness of the proposed local and global planning methods as well as the general robot motion planning approach have been experimented using the computer-simulated robots. Some of the simulation results are included in this paper.     

Autonomous multi-mobile robot system: simulation and implementation using fuzzy logic

In an autonomous multi-mobile robot environment, path planning and collision avoidance are important functions used to perform a given task collaboratively and cooperatively. This study considers these important and challenging problems. The proposed approach is based on a potential field method and fuzzy logic system. First, a global path planner selects the paths of the robots that minimize the potential value from each robot to its own target using a potential field. Then, a local path planner modifies the path and orientation from the global planner to avoid collisions with static and dynamic obstacles using a fuzzy logic system. In this paper, each robot independently selects its destination and considers other robots as dynamic obstacles, and there is no need to predict the motion of obstacles. This process continues until the corresponding target of each robot is found. To test this method, an autonomous multi-mobile robot simulator (AMMRS) is developed, and both simulation-based and experimental results are given. The results show that the path planning and collision avoidance strategies are effective and useful for multi-mobile robot systems.     

Few-experiential learning system of robotic picking task with selective dual-arm grasping

Recently, robots are introduced to warehouses and factories for automation and are expected to execute dual-arm manipulation as human does and to manipulate large, heavy and unbalanced objects. We focus on target picking task in the cluttered environment and aim to realize a robot picking system which the robot selects and executes proper grasping motion from single-arm and dual-arm motion. In this paper, we propose a few-experiential learning-based target picking system with selective dual-arm grasping. In our system, a robot first learns grasping points and object semantic and instance label with automatically synthesized dataset. The robot then executes and collects grasp trial experiences in the real world and retrains the grasping point prediction model with the collected trial experiences. Finally, the robot evaluates candidate pairs of grasping object instance, strategy and points and selects to execute the optimal grasping motion. In the experiments, we evaluated our system by conducting target picking task experiments with a dual-arm humanoid robot Baxter in the cluttered environment as warehouse.     

Augmented reality-assisted robot programming system for industrial applications

Robots are important in high-mix low-volume manufacturing because of their versatility and repeatability in performing manufacturing tasks. However, robots have not been widely used due to cumbersome programming effort and lack of operator skill. One significant factor prohibiting the widespread application of robots by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is the high cost and necessary skill of programming and re-programming robots to perform diverse tasks. This paper discusses an Augmented Reality (AR) assisted robot programming system (ARRPS) that provides faster and more intuitive robot programming than conventional techniques. ARRPS is designed to allow users with little robot programming knowledge to program tasks for a serial robot. The system transforms the work cell of a serial industrial robot into an AR environment. With an AR user interface and a handheld pointer for interaction, users are free to move around the work cell to define 3D points and paths for the real robot to follow. Sensor data and algorithms are used for robot motion planning, collision detection and plan validation. The proposed approach enables fast and intuitive robotic path and task programming, and allows users to focus only on the definition of tasks. The implementation of this AR-assisted robot system is presented, and specific methods to enhance the performance of the users in carrying out robot programming using this system are highlighted.     

Stepping over obstacles with humanoid robots

The wide potential applications of humanoid robots require that the robots can walk in complex environments and overcome various obstacles. To this end, we address the problem of humanoid robots stepping over obstacles in this paper. We focus on two aspects, which are feasibility analysis and motion planning. The former determines whether a robot can step over a given obstacle, and the latter discusses how to step over, if feasible, by planning appropriate motions for the robot. We systematically examine both of these aspects. In the feasibility analysis, using an optimization technique, we cast the problem into global optimization models with nonlinear constraints, including collision-free and balance constraints. The solutions to the optimization models yield answers to the possibility of stepping over obstacles under some assumptions. The presented approach for feasibility provides not only a priori knowledge and a database to implement stepping over obstacles, but also a tool to evaluate and compare the mobility of humanoid robots. In motion planning, we present an algorithm to generate suitable trajectories of the feet and the waist of the robot using heuristic methodology, based on the results of the feasibility analysis. We decompose the body motion of the robot into two parts, corresponding to the lower body and upper body of the robot, to meet the collision-free and balance constraints. This novel planning method is adaptive to obstacle sizes, and is, hence, oriented to autonomous stepping over by humanoid robots guided by vision or other range finders. Its effectiveness is verified by simulations and experiments on our humanoid platform HRP-2.