Design of a modular assembly of four-footed robots with multiple functions

Modern industries use many types of robots. In addition to general robotic arms, bipedal, tripedal, and quadrupedal robots, which were originally developed as toys, are gradually being used for multiple applications in manufacturing processes. This research begins with establishing the platform for four-footed robots with multiple functions, high sensitivity, and modular assembly and this is how a fundamental model of the industrial robots is constructed. Under additional loads, the four feet of the quadrupedal robot reinforce its carrying ability and reliability compared to bipedal or tripedal robots, which helps it to carry more objects and enhances functionality. Based on different requirements and demands from the manufacturing processes, the highly sensitive four-footed robot provides an expandable interface to add different sensing components. In addition, when combined with a wireless communication module or independent 1.2 GHz radio frequency CCD wireless image transmission system, the user can control the robot remotely and instantly. The design helps the four-footed robot to expand its applications. By assembling and disassembling modules and changing the sensing components, the highly sensitive four-footed robot can be used for different tasks. Moreover, the remote control function of the robot will increase interaction with human beings, so it can become highly become involved in people's lives. The platform of the four-footed robot will become a design reference for the commercialization of different industrial robots, and it will provide the design of industrial robots with more options and useful applications.     

A new artificial life body: biologically inspired dynamic bipedal humanoid robots

Recently, a biologically inspired, bipedal, dynamic, humanoid robot was developed at the Artificial Life and Robotics Laboratory of Oita University. This bipedal humanoid robot is able to walk dynamically and to go up and down stairs. The central pattern generator developed produces various types of walking pattern. This robot has a pair of small CMOS color CCD cameras, a speaker, and a microphone in the head part, and will have a GPS, a portable telephone, and other sensors in the body part, so that the integration of locomotion and behavior to achieve specific demonstrations will be realized. This project develops dynamic mobility and the ability for autonomous recognition and navigation using the biological central nervous system, the brain system, and the real-time control system. Also, the design principles that demonstrate the dynamic interaction between neural and mechanical controls will be clarified. In Phase I, the platform of a small, bipedal, humanoid robot is used to develop autonomous locomotion and autonomous sensing and navigation. In Phase II of the project, an iteration on the platform design for human-size, bipedal, humanoid robots will be performed for operational testing. The development of bipedal humanoid robots that capture biological systems with unique principles and practices could dramatically increase their performance in tasks for national security needs.This work was presented in part at the 8th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 24–26, 2003     

Recognition and movement in an artificial environment with a bipedal robot

However well we control a walking bipedal robot, the images obtained by a camera are tilted to the left or right, and have small irregularities. This complicates the recognition of an environment by using a camera in a walking robot when the robot cannot move smoothly. The reason for using a bipedal robot is to make the robot as similar as possible to a human in body shape and behavior in order to make collaboration easier. This is difficult to attain with other types of robot such as wheel-driven robots (Sato et al. AROB2008; Fujiwara et al. WMSCI2009). In an artificial environment which mainly consists of vertical and horizontal lines, the tilt angle of camera images must be corrected by using the Hough transformation, which detects lines which are nearly vertical (Okutomi et al. 2004; Forsyth and Ponce 2007). As a result, the robot can successfully recognize the environment with stereo vision using images obtained by correcting the tilted ones.     

Dynamic Rolling-Walk Motion by the Limb Mechanism Robot ASTERISK

New dynamic rolling-walk motion for a multi-legged robot with error compensation is proposed. The motion is realized by using the isotropic leg arrangement and the dynamic center of mass control inspired by bipedal robots. By using the preview control of the zero moment point (ZMP) with a cart-table model based on the bipedal robot's technique, the robot's center of mass trajectory is planned for the dynamic motion. The resolved momentum control for manipulating the multi-links robot as a single mass model is also implemented in the system to maintain the stability of the robot. In the new dynamic rolling-walk motion, the robot switches between the two-leg supporting phase and three-leg supporting phase to achieve dynamic motion with the preview control of the ZMP and resolved momentum control as dynamic motion controllers. The authors analyzed the motion and confirmed the feasibility in the Open Dynamics Engine before testing the motion with an actual robot. Due to the difficulties of controlling the ZMP during the two-leg supporting phase, the authors implemented error compensation by using a gyro sensor and compared the results.     

动态双足机器人的控制与优化研究进展

对动态双足机器人的可控周期步态的稳定性、鲁棒性和优化控制策略的国内外研究现状与发展趋势进行了探讨.首先,介绍动态双足机器人的动力学数学模型,进一步,提出动态双足机器人运动步态和控制系统原理;其次,讨论动态双足机器人可控周期步态稳定性现有的研究方法,分析这些方法中存在的缺点与不足;再次,研究动态双足机器人的可控周期步态优化控制策略,阐明各种策略的优缺点;最后,给出动态双足机器人研究领域的难点问题和未来工作,展望动态双足机器人可控周期步态与鲁棒稳定性及其应用的研究思路.     

Posture/Walking Control for Humanoid Robot Based on Kinematic Resolution of CoM Jacobian With Embedded Motion

This paper proposes the walking pattern generation method, the kinematic resolution method of center of mass (CoM) Jacobian with embedded motions, and the design method of posture/walking controller for humanoid robots. First, the walking pattern is generated using the simplified model for bipedal robot. Second, the kinematic resolution of CoM Jacobian with embedded motions makes a humanoid robot balanced automatically during movement of all other limbs. Actually, it offers an ability of whole body coordination to humanoid robot. Third, the posture/walking controller is completed by adding the CoM controller minus the zero moment point controller to the suggested kinematic resolution method. We prove that the proposed posture/walking controller brings the disturbance input-to-state stability for the simplified bipedal walking robot model. Finally, the effectiveness of the suggested posture/walking control method is shown through experiments with regard to the arm dancing and walking of humanoid robot.     

Transformative CAD based industrial robot program generation

Industrial robots are widely used in various processes of surface manufacturing, such as spray painting, spray forming, rapid tooling, spray coating, and polishing. Robot programming for these applications is still time consuming and costly. Typical teaching methods are not cost effective and efficient. There are many off-line programming methods developed to reduce the robot programming effort. However, these methods suffer many practical issues, such as cable/hose tangling, robot configuration, collision, and reachability. To solve these problems, this paper discusses a new method to generate robot programs. Since industrial robots have been used in production for decades, there are many robot programs for different parts generated by the robot programmers. These robot programs, which contain not only the robot paths, but also the programmers' knowledge and process parameters, can be transformed to generate new robot programs for similar parts. In this paper, a transformative robot program generation method is developed based on the existing ones in the database. Experiments were performed to validate the developed methodology. The results are very promising in reducing the programming efforts in surface manufacturing.     

Development of a leg part of a humanoid robot-design of a biped walking robot having antagonistic driven joints using a nonlinear spring mechanism

The authors are engaged in studies of biped walking robots from the following two viewpoints. One is a viewpoint as a human science. The other is a viewpoint towards the development of humanoid robots. In the current research concerning a biped walking robot, there is no developed example of a life-size biped walking robot with antagonistically driven joints by which the human musculo-skeletal system is imitated in the lower limbs. Humans are considered to exhibit walking behavior which is both efficient and capable of flexibly coping with contact with the outside environment. However, developed biped walking robots cannot realize human walking. The human joint is driven by two or more antagonistic muscle groups. Humans can vary the joint stiffness, using nonlinear spring characteristics possessed by the muscles themselves. The function is an indispensable function for a humanoid. Therefore, the authors designed and built an anthropomorphic biped walking robot having antagonistic driven joints. In this paper, the authors introduce the design method of the robot. The authors performed walking experiments with the robot. As a result, a quasi-dynamic biped walking using antagonist driven joint was realized. The walking speed was 7.68 s per step with a 0.1 m step length.     

Modeling and design of a humanoid robotic face based on an active drive points model

This study develops a face robot with human-like appearance for making facial expressions similar to a specific subject. First, an active drive points (ADPs) model is proposed for establishing a robotic face with less active degree of freedom for bipedal humanoid robots. Then, a robotic face design method is proposed, with the robot possessing similar facial appearance and expressions to that of a human subject. A similarity evaluation method is presented to evaluate the similarity of facial expressions between a robot and a specific human subject. Finally, the proposed facial model and the design methods are verified and implemented on a humanoid robot platform.     

教学型双足步行机器人的结构及其控制电路设计

教学型双足机器人的研究制作是桌上型的重量很轻的作实验用的小型双足步行机器人。研究舵机的驱动控制方法、框架的设计以及制作能通过伺服电机控制运动的一种经济型的双足步行机器人。用单片机与CPLD控制伺服电机,通过预先给定机器人各个部位的运动轨迹,运算确定好各关节的旋转角度及控制系统的控制算法,以实现机器人的实际行走过程。     

基于LLWin模块化语言与嵌入式设计的机器人控制系统设计

在工业机器人现代设计过程中,可以采用基于模型的嵌入式设计方法,进行机器人系统设计;在完成机器人总体方案设计后,用“慧鱼创意组合模型”拼装成机器人模型,采用LLWin模块化编程语言编制控制程序,对机器人进行控制,可以使机器人系统控制设计得到一个真实的验证,缩短设计周期,从而使控制系统设计优化。     

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.     

Pattern identification of different human joints for different human walking styles using inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor

Artificial Intelligence Review - A bipedal walking robot is a kind of humanoid robot. It is suppose to mimics human behavior and designed to perform human specific tasks. Currently, humanoid robots...     

Effects of form and motion on judgments of social robots׳ animacy,likability, trustworthiness and unpleasantness

One of robot designers׳ main goals is to make robots as sociable as possible. Aside from improving robots׳ actual social functions, a great deal of effort is devoted to making them appear lifelike. This is often achieved by endowing the robot with an anthropomorphic body. However, psychological research on the perception of animacy suggests another crucial factor that might also contribute to attributions of animacy: movement characteristics. In the current study, we investigated how the combination of bodily appearance and movement characteristics of a robot can alter people׳s attributions of animacy, likability, trustworthiness, and unpleasantness. Participants played games of Tic-Tac-Toe against a robot which (1) either possessed a human form or did not, and (2) either exhibited smooth, lifelike movement or did not. Naturalistic motion was judged to be more animate than mechanical motion, but only when the robot resembled a human form. Naturalistic motion improved likeability regardless of the robot׳s appearance. Finally, a robot with a human form was rated as more disturbing when it moved naturalistically. Robot designers should be aware that movement characteristics play an important role in promoting robots׳ apparent animacy.     

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.     

Biologically inspired design of a parallel actuated humanoid robot

This paper presents the comparison for the role of bi-articular and mono-articular actuators in human and bipedal robot legs, in particular the hip and knee joint, for driving the design of a humanoid robot with inspirations from the biological system. The various constraints driving the design of both systems are also compared. Additional factors particular to robotic system are identified and incorporated in the design process. To do this, a dynamic simulation is used to determine loading conditions and the forces and power produced by each actuator under various arrangements. It is shown that while the design principles of humans and humanoids are similar, other constraints ensure that robots are still merely inspired by humans, and not direct copies. A simple design methodology that captures the complexity and constraints of such a system in this paper is proposed. Finally, a full-size humanoid robot that demonstrates the newfound principle is highlighted.     

Minimal design for human–agent communication

Robots have been envisaged as both workers and partners of humans from the earliest period in their history. Therefore, robots should become artificial entities that can socially interact with human beings in social communities. Recent advances in technology have added various functions to robots. The development of actuators and grippers show us infinite possibilities for factory automation, and robots can now walk and perform very smoothly. All of these functions have been developed as solutions for improving robot movement and performance. However, there are many remaining problems in the communication between robots and humans. Communication robots provide one approach to the realization of embodied interfaces. Furthermore, the unsolved problems of human–robot communication can be clarified by adopting the concept of subtractive methods. In this article, we consider the minimal design of robots from the viewpoint of designing communication. By minimal design, we mean eliminating the nonessential portions and keeping only the most fundamental functions. We expect that the simple and clean nature of minimally designed objects will allow humans to interact with these robots without becoming uninterested too quickly. By exploiting the fact that humans have “a natural dislike for the absence of reasoning,” artificial entities built according to minimal design principles can extract the human drive to relate with others. We propose a method of designing a robot that has “character” and is situated in a social context from the viewpoint of minimal design. This work was presented in part at the 10th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 4–6, 2005     

Design and Quasi-Static Locomotion Analysis of the Rolling Disk Biped Hybrid Robot

Motivated by the need for greater speed, efficiency, and adaptability in climbing and walking robots, we have developed a bipedal planar robot that complements its walking and climbing capabilities with rolling. Rolling capabilities are provided by an innovative morphology, without the need for additional resources beyond those required by walking and climbing. Herein, we present the design of this robot, the development of a quasi-static rolling controller, and a comparison of experimentally obtained speed and energy data for walking versus rolling locomotion. We show that rolling can significantly improve energy efficiency over walking—as much as a factor of 5.5. We also demonstrate the ability to roll up slopes and roll over obstacles.      

Reflexive stability control framework for humanoid robots

In this paper we propose a general control framework for ensuring stability of humanoid robots, determined through a normalized zero-moment-point (ZMP). The proposed method is based on the modified prioritized kinematic control, which allows smooth and continuous transition between priorities. This, as long as the selected criterion is met, allows arbitrary joint movement of a robot without any regard of the consequential movement of the ZMP. On the other hand, it constrains the movement when the criterion approaches a critical condition. The critical condition thus triggers a reflexive, subconscious behavior, which has a higher priority than the desired, conscious movement. The transition between the two is smooth and reversible. Furthermore, the switching is encapsulated in a single modified prioritized task control equation. We demonstrate the properties of the algorithm on two human-inspired robots developed in our laboratory; a human-inspired leg-robot used for imitating human movement and a skiing robot.