Design and integration of a spatio-temporal memory with emotional influences to categorize and recall the experiences of an autonomous mobile robot

Autonomous robots cohabiting with humans will have to achieve recurring tasks while adapting to the changing conditions of the world. A spatio-temporal memory categorizes the experiences of a robot to improve its ability to adapt to its environment. In this paper, we present a spatio-temporal (ST) memory model consisting of a cascade of two adaptive resonance theory (ART) networks: one to categorize spatial events and the other to extract temporal episodes from the robot’s experiences. Artificial emotions are used to dynamically modulate learning and recall of the ART networks based on how the robot is able to carry its task, using a simple model of artificial emotions. Once an episode is recalled, future events can be predicted and used to influence the intentions of the robot. Evaluation of our ST model is done using an autonomous robotic platform that has to deliver objects to people within an office area. Results demonstrate that our model can memorize and recall the experiences of a robot, and that emotional episodes are recalled more often, allowing the robot to use its memory of past experiences early on when repeating a task.     

仿生机器人视觉导航研究分析

视觉导航技术是保证机器人自主移动的关键技术之一。为了从整体上把握当前国际上最新的视觉导航研究动态,全面评述了仿生机器人视觉导航技术的研究进展,重点分析了视觉SLAM(Simultaneous Local-ization and Mapping)、闭环探测、视觉返家三个关键问题的研究现状及存在的问题。提出了一个新的视觉SLAM算法框架,给出了待解决的关键理论问题,并对视觉导航技术发展的难点及未来趋势进行了总结。     

嵌入式移动机器人控制器设计

提出了一种基于数字信号处理器和嵌入式实时操作系统的移动机器人控制器设计方案。本方案通过在TMS320F2812型DSP上移植一个uC/OS-Ⅱ实时内核的方式,在增强系统的实时性和提高性价比的基础上提高了控制器的开放性,简化了应用程序的开发。     

机器人手机编程系统设计

设计了一种基于手机Android系统、机器人ARM核心控制板、蓝牙系统的手机端编程系统。该系统将机器人常见控制指令函数封装成库,存储在机器人控制器内存中,Android手机端使用自主定义的控制指令,通过与机器人的蓝牙连接,将手机编程的指令传输给机器人,存储在机器人的EEPROM中,最后由机器人调取完成相应控制。该系统控制简单,一定程度上摆脱了传统的电脑编程,利用智能手机的便捷性,使得机器人编程变得更加便捷简单,并通过实验证明了设计方法的有效性。     

新型仿生水下子母机器人系统设计

传统的水下子母机器人在水下作业时母机器人会有噪音大、体积大和隐蔽性差的缺点,而且子机器人作为提高水下机器人位置精度和续航时间的重要手段大多采用尾部摆动、机身两侧划水、小型螺旋桨推进等方式,造成运动过程中稳定性差、噪音大而且尺寸难以微型化的缺点.为了克服这些不足,设计一种新型仿生水下子母机器人系统.该系统球形母机器人采用喷水电机进行喷水推进,减少噪音,增加隐蔽性,并为微型子机器人提供控制信号和能源.微型子机器人以樽海鞘为原型基于仿生原理设计,在水下运动透明度高、隐蔽性强、稳定性高.建立球形母机器人的喷水推进器和微型子机器人的微型驱动器的驱动力计算模型,同时建立微型子机器人的水下转向模型.最后制作子母机器人样机并进行子母机器人的水下运动实验,以验证所设计的子母机器人系统的有效性.     

Navigation with constraints for an autonomous mobile robot

This paper describes a navigation planning algorithm for a robot capable of autonomous navigation in a structured, partially known and dynamic environment. This algorithm is applied to a discrete workspace composed of a network of places and roads. The environment specification associates temporal constraints with any element of the network, and recharge or relocalisation possibilities with places. A mission specification associates several constraints with each navigation task (energy, time, position uncertainty and distance).

The algorithm computes an optimal path for each navigation task according to the optimization criterion and constraints. We introduce the notion of efficient path applied to a new best first search algorithm solving a multiple constraints problem. The path determination relies on a state representation adapted to deal with environment constraints. We then prove that the complexity chracteristics of our algorithm are similar to those of the A* algorithm.

The planner described in this paper has been implemented on a Spare station for a Robuter mobile platform equipped with ultra-sonic range sensors and an active stereo vision system. It was developed for the MITHRA family of autonomous surveillance robots as part of project EUREKA EU 110.     

An earthworm-like micro robot using shape memory alloy actuator

A novel bio-mimetic micro robot with wireless control and wireless power supply using shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator is developed. There have been many kinds of mobile micro robot using the micro actuators such as ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC), micro motors and piezo actuators. These actuators generally require electric cable for power supply, which might highly influence the mobility of the micro robot. Therefore, a perfect wireless micro robot comprising telemetry and batteries is realized using only one SMA spring actuator and one silicone bellow. The SMA actuator and bellow play a role in contraction and extension of an earthworm muscle respectively. Based on theoretical analysis, specifications of a SMA actuator and a bellow are properly selected. For temporal stopping, setae of earthworm mimicked claws are employed. On the issue of control, the proposed robot is controlled according to On/Off signal via wireless communication. The operation is customized through tuning of on-/off-time of an actuator and using different type batteries such as a lithium, silver oxide and alkaline battery. After the design and experiment, we find out that the earthworm-like micro robot without wired power supply and control can move freely without limitation of working space and be fabricated easily.     

Producing alternating gait on uncoupled feline hindlimbs: muscular unloading rule on a biomimetic robot

Studies on decerebrate walking cats have shown that phase transition is strongly related to muscular sensory signals at limbs. To further investigate the role of such signals terminating the stance phase, we developed a biomimetic feline platform. Adopting link lengths and moment arms from an Acinonyx jubatus, we built a pair of hindlimbs connected to a hindquarter and attached it to a sliding strut, simulating solid forelimbs. Artificial pneumatic muscles simulate biological muscles through a control method based on EMG signals from walking cats (Felis catus). Using the bio-inspired muscular unloading rule, where a decreasing ground reaction force triggers phase transition, stable walking on a treadmill was achieved. Finally, an alternating gait is possible using the unloading rule, withstanding disturbances and systematic muscular changes, not only contributing to our understanding on how cats may walk, but also helping develop better legged robots.     

Pneumatic-driven jumping robot with anthropomorphic muscular skeleton structure

Human muscular skeleton structure plays an important role for adaptive locomotion. Understanding of its mechanism is expected to be used for realizing adaptive locomotion of a humanoid robot as well. In this paper, a jumping robot driven by pneumatic artificial muscles is designed to duplicate human leg structure and function. It has three joints and nine muscles, three of them are biarticular muscles. For controlling such a redundant robot, we take biomechanical findings into account: biarticular muscles mainly contribute to joint coordination whereas monoarticular muscles contribute to provide power. Through experiments, we find (1) the biarticular muscles realize coordinated movement of joints when knee and/or hip is extended, (2) the extension of the ankle does not lead to coordinated movement, and (3) we can superpose extension of the knee with that of the hip without losing the joint coordination. The obtained knowledge can be used not only for robots, but may also contribute to understanding of adaptive human mechanism.     

Design and construction of continuous alternate wheels for an omnidirectional mobile robot

Many types of omnidirectional wheels with passive rollers have gaps between rollers. Since these gaps cause a wheel to make discontinuous contact with the ground, they lead to vertical and/or horizontal vibrations during wheel operation. In addition, the radii of passive rollers are related to the height of a bump an omnidirectional wheel can surmount. In this research a new design of the alternate wheel is proposed. Because this wheel makes continuous contact with the ground and has alternating large and small rollers around the wheel, it is termed a continuous alternate wheel (CAW). In this paper a design procedure is also presented to determine the optimum number of rollers, the radii of rollers and the inside inclination angle of an outer roller for given design specifications. The CAW based on this design is compared to the existing alternate wheels in terms of design. Finally, an actual continuous alternate wheel is constructed to verify validity of the design guidelines. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Smooth control of an articulated mobile robot with switching constraints

The paper describes a smooth controller of an articulated mobile robot with switching constraints. The use of switching constraints associated with grounded/lifted wheels is an effective method of controlling various motions; e.g. the avoidance of a moving obstacle. A model of an articulated mobile robot that has active and passive wheels and active joints with switching constraints is derived. A controller that accomplishes the trajectory tracking of the robot’s head and subtasks using smooth joint input is proposed on the basis of the model. Simulations and experiments are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Automatic path planning for a mobile robot among obstacles ofarbitrary shape

A novel and fast path planning method for a mobile robot (MR) among objects of arbitrary shape is described. It comprises two phases. During the first phase, the graph including all possible collision-free paths from a top view of the environment is first obtained. During the second phase, the optimal path for the MR is then selected. For this, the proposed method uses both the fast distance transformation (FDT) and variations of some topological methods as thinning and skeletonization, to obtain the free space skeleton. Unlike conventional methods, the proposed approach is capable to include the MR and the target intrinsically in the path and, at the same time it obtains the collision-free path's graph, taking advantage of the topological concept of hole. We propose to use a logical operator over the FDT instead of the classical morphologic operators over the discrete array (erosion and dilation), to obtain a much faster algorithm. The optimal path (in terms of length) is next selected and smoothed by conventional algorithms. The resultant path is finally used as a reference by the mobile robot     

Indoor navigation of a non-holonomic mobile robot using a visual memory

When navigating in an unknown environment for the first time, a natural behavior consists on memorizing some key views along the performed path, in order to use these references as checkpoints for a future navigation mission. The navigation framework for wheeled mobile robots presented in this paper is based on this assumption. During a human-guided learning step, the robot performs paths which are sampled and stored as a set of ordered key images, acquired by an embedded camera. The set of these obtained visual paths is topologically organized and provides a visual memory of the environment. Given an image of one of the visual paths as a target, the robot navigation mission is defined as a concatenation of visual path subsets, called visual route. When running autonomously, the robot is controlled by a visual servoing law adapted to its nonholonomic constraint. Based on the regulation of successive homographies, this control guides the robot along the reference visual route without explicitly planning any trajectory. The proposed framework has been designed for the entire class of central catadioptric cameras (including conventional cameras). It has been validated onto two architectures. In the first one, algorithms have been implemented onto a dedicated hardware and the robot is equipped with a standard perspective camera. In the second one, they have been implemented on a standard PC and an omnidirectional camera is considered.

光电导引的四轮移动机器人设计

全国大学生智能车竞赛要求设计一种能按要求快速稳定平移和转向的光电导引的四轮移动机器人系统。因此分别建立了前轮S-D5舵机转向模型和二阶后轮RS540电机驱动数学模型,设计了基于模糊控制的前轮转向算法、基于解析式控制器的智能自适应PID后轮驱动算法、赛道判别算法,改进了线性CCD采集图像处理算法,利用基于二值化的双向跳变沿检测法代替单向跳变沿检测并采用膨胀腐蚀算法滤除噪声。实际调试结果表明：所设计的机器人能快速稳定地沿赛道运动,验证了系统设计的可行性和算法的有效性。     

室外自主移动机器人AMOR的导航技术

在非结构化环境,移动机器人行驶运动规划和自主导航是非常挑战性的问题。基于实时的动态栅格地图,提出了一个快速的而又实效的轨迹规划算法,实现机器人在室外环境的无碰撞运动导航。AMOR是自主研发的室外运动移动机器人,它在2007年欧洲C-ELROB大赛中赢得了野外自主侦察比赛的冠军。它装备了SICK的激光雷达,用来获取机器人运动前方的障碍物体信息,建立实时动态的环境地图。以A*框架为基础的改造算法,能够在众多的路径中快速地找到最佳的安全行驶路径,实现可靠的自主导航。所有的测试和比赛结果表明所提方案是可行的、有效的。     

外骨骼机器人的人体步态感知系统设计

针对下肢负重外骨骼机器人与其穿戴者运动协调的问题,设计一种人体步态感知系统,对人体下肢关键部位的运动状态采集和预测。用6个MTI—30姿态传感器采集人体下肢的姿态数据;以ARM微处理器STM32F407为计算单元,对采集的步态数据解算、预测和传输;用非线性时间序列分析Takens算法预测人体下肢关键部位的旋转运动。实验结果表明：该系统功能稳定,能准确对人体下肢的步态数据采集和预测,预测结果稳定可靠,为外骨骼控制器提供可靠的参考信息。     

Classification of reflectors with an ultrasonic sensor for mobile robot applications

This paper describes a sensor model made up of four ultrasonic transducers able to classify reflectors (wall, edge or corner) in specular environments. The main goal has been to effect the classification from a single reading cycle: emission of ultrasounds and reception of echoes (measuring only times of flight—TOFs). Working from the four TOFs obtained after a single emission of ultrasounds (thereby facilitating its practical implementation in a mobile robot, when readings are taken while the robot is moving), an algorithm has been proposed for discriminating between edge and plane type reflectors. The configuration of the four transducers enabled dependent discriminating functions to be determined directly from the quadratic terms of the TOFs, without the need for previous geometric transformations. Special attention was given to the effect of the separation between the sensor transducers and the reading-associated noise. Finally, some considerations have been pointed out about the possibility of two transducers emitting, so allowing discrimination between walls and corners.     

Study of the internal dynamics of an autonomous mobile robot

The requirement of ideal rolling without sideways slipping for wheels imposes nonholonomic (non-integrable) constraints on the motion of the wheels and consequently on the motion of wheeled mobile robots. From the control point of view, the dynamics of nonholonomic systems can be divided in two parts: external and internal dynamics. The dimension of the external dynamics of nonholonomic systems depends on the number of inputs to the system and the dimension of the internal dynamics depends on the number of independent nonholonomic constraints. For different motion control problems of nonholonomic systems, a smooth (model based) state feedback control law only deals with the system external dynamics; therefore, the system internal dynamics must be examined separately and its stability has to be analyzed and proved.In this paper, the internal dynamics of a three-wheel mobile robot with front wheel steering and driving is investigated. In particular, its internal dynamics stability is analyzed for two different situations, when the mobile robot is moving and when it is stationary.