Educational training software for modelling and synthesis of controllers for robotic manipulators and robotized manufacturing cells

A general software system aimed at computer-aided design of controllers for robots and robotized technological systems is described in this paper. The software system includes modules for the synthesis of various levels of robot controller as well as controllers of complex robotized technological systems. The software includes simulation of robotic systems within manufacturing cells using various types of models: complete dynamic models, kinematic models and simple models in the form of finite automata. Using these modelsvarious algorithms for all controls levels in robot controllers may be synthesized taking into account the actual interaction between the robot and its environment. The software system enables the solution of the important problem of the interaction between higher and lower levels of controllers. Finally, a general purpose controller as a target system for the proposed software is described. The controller is designed as an open system allowing the user to apply various control laws and to run in conjunction with an actual robot. The general software system together with the controller represents a powerful educational tool in modern robotics.     

Stabilization of robot motion and contact force interaction for third-order motor dynamics

An approach to the synthesis of control laws stabilizing motion and force in contact tasks, based on the exponential stability of the closed-loop control system, is described. When using the synthesized control laws, simultaneous stabilization of both motion and force is achieved with a preset quality of the transient responses. The task is solved in a most general form, taking into account the constraints on robot control, its position and the force of interaction of the robot and the environment, and the external perturbations and inaccuracies of the measuring sensors, when the environment dynamics is being described by nonlinear second-order differential equation, and the robot dynamics includes the third-order equations of the robot actuators dynamics.     

Technical and economic analysis of road lighting solutions based on mesopic vision

Although possessing considerably better colour rendering and more acceptable colour appearance than high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps, for economic reasons metal halide (MH) lamps are still rarely considered in road lighting. The results of previous theoretical and experimental research in the field of mesopic vision encouraged a comprehensive techno-economic analysis which compared financially road lighting solutions realized by MH and HPS lamps. Based on previous findings regarding both perceived brightness and visual performance, the analysis considered all relevant road lighting classes, lighting arrangements and reflection classes. It was proved that for lighting classes characterized by lower luminance levels MH lamps are economically comparative or even more favourable than HPS lamps.     

Decoupled control of robots via asymptotic regulators

A procedure for industrial robot control synthesis based on asymptotic regulator properties is presented. It involves computer linearization of the dynamic manipulator model along a given nominal trajectory and an efficient algorithm for synthesis of a robust linear regulator ensuring the decoupled control of the system.     

Contribution to the Synthesis of Biped Gait

The connection between the dynamics of an object and the algorithmic level has been modified in this paper, based on two-level control. The central modification consists in introducing feedbacks, that is, a system of regulators at the level of the formed typed of gait only. Such a modification originates from the assumption that a very narrow class of gait types needs to be taken into account when generating the gait. In the paper the gait has been formed on the basis of a fixed program having a kinematic-dynamic character. The kinematic part concerns the kinematic programnmed connections for activating the lower extremities, while the dynamic part exposes appropriate changes in the characteristic coordinates of the compensation system. Such a connection with a minimum number of coordinates extends the possibility of solving the problem of equilibrium in motion for one type of gait without any particular algorithm that would take into account the motion coordinates and form out of them a stable motion at a higher algebraic level.     

Software Tool for the Implementation of the Methodology for Revitalization of High-Voltage Overhead Power Lines

In power systems, a large number of OPLs （overhead power lines） are more than 40 years old and some even exceed 50 years old. The key issue for power systems managers, public utilities companies and electrical engineers today concerns the manner in which available financial resources should be invested in these OPLs to provide the greatest impact on the power system as a whole and to address the OPLs that require urgent revitalization. This paper presents the application of the software tool RevOPL, developed using Microsoft Access utilizing the ＂methodology for revitalization of high-voltage OPLs＂. The aim is to present both the methodology and software to objectively evaluate the condition of an OPL and determine its remaining service life. The application of this software tool provides a proposal for the scheduling and scope of planned revitalization activities, which are obtained through the optimization of the technical characteristics while remaining within the available budget.     

Contribution to the indirect decentralized adaptive control of manipulation robots

In this paper, efficient approaches to the synthesis of indirect decentralized adaptive control for manipulation robots are presented. The first part of control synthesis consists of the estimation of unknown dynamic robot parameters using the methods of recursive identification and fast dynamic as well as identification models in a symbolic form. The second part of synthesis includes the self-tuning control strategy which is a basis for adaptive control synthesis according to the estimates of the unknown dynamic parameters. Using the theory of decentralized systems, a new robust algorithm for adaptive control with the ability of adaptation in the feedforward or feedback loop are proposed. A complete stability and convergence analysis is presented. A special part of the paper represents an analysis of practical implementation of the proposed control algorithms on modern microprocessor-based robot controllers. Based on this analysis, an efficient application of indirect adaptive algorithms in real time with high-quality system performance is shown. Adaptive algorithms are verified through simulation of trajectory tracking for an industrial robot with unknown dynamic parameters of payload.     

Control of manipulation robots interacting with dynamicenvironment: Implementation and experiments

In this paper, simulation experiments with different control laws are given, based on a new approach to solving the control tasks for robots in contact with the environment. The comparison of these control laws with the improved versions of the traditional hybrid control are also analyzed. The simulation experiments performed on a real-scale six-degrees-of-freedom industrial robot demonstrate the advantage of the new control concept and improved performances of the robot interacting with a dynamic environment. The tests conducted on industrial robot Manutec r3 are also presented