Deadlock-free Supervisor Design for Robotic Manufacturing Cells With Uncontrollable and Unobservable Events

In this paper,a deadlock prevention policy for robotic manufacturing cells with uncontrollable and unobservable events is proposed based on a Petri net formalism.First,a Petri net for the deadlock control of such systems is defined.Its admissible markings and first-met inadmissible markings(FIMs)are introduced.Next,place invariants are designed via an integer linear program(ILP)to survive all admissible markings and prohibit all FIMs,keeping the underlying system from reaching deadlocks,livelocks,bad markings,and the markings that may evolve into them by firing uncontrollable transitions.ILP also ensures that the obtained deadlock-free supervisor does not observe any unobservable transition.In addition,the supervisor is guaranteed to be admissible and structurally minimal in terms of both control places and added arcs.The condition under which the supervisor is maximally permissive in behavior is given.Finally,experimental results with the proposed method and existing ones are given to show its effectiveness.     

Interleaving Planning and Robot Execution for Asynchronous User Requests

ROGUE is an architecture built on a real robot which provides algorithms for the integration of high-level planning, low-level robotic execution, and learning. ROGUE addresses successfully several of the challenges of a dynamic office gopher environment. This article presents the techniques for the integration of planning and execution.ROGUE uses and extends a classical planning algorithm to create plans for multiple interacting goals introduced by asynchronous user requests. ROGUE translates the planner';s actions to robot execution actions and monitors real world execution. ROGUE is currently implemented using the PRODIGY4.0 planner and the Xavier robot. This article describes how plans are created for multiple asynchronous goals, and how task priority and compatibility information are used to achieve appropriate efficient execution. We describe how ROGUE communicates with the planner and the robot to interleave planning with execution so that the planner can replan for failed actions, identify the actual outcome of an action with multiple possible outcomes, and take opportunities from changes in the environment.ROGUE represents a successful integration of a classical artificial intelligence planner with a real mobile robot.     

基于CAN总线的液压挖掘机轨迹规划系统的研究

介绍了基于CAN总线的液压挖掘机轨迹规划系统,该系统是一个上下位机结构,下位机采用MTC控制器作为硬件平台;采用CAN总线作为MTC与上位机的数据传输通道,很好地满足系统的传输要求.为了实现挖掘自动化,提出了液压挖掘机工作装置运动控制的步骤和方法.为液压挖掘机的自动控制提供了方法和依据.     

Performance analysis of fractional order fuzzy PID controllers applied to a robotic manipulator

A two-link robotic manipulator is a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO), highly nonlinear and coupled system. Therefore, designing an efficient controller for this system is a challenging task for the control engineers. In this paper, the Fractional Order Fuzzy Proportional-Integral-Derivative (FOFPID) controller for a two-link planar rigid robotic manipulator for trajectory tracking problem is investigated. Robustness testing of FOFPID controller for model uncertainties, disturbance rejection and noise suppression is also investigated. To study the effectiveness of FOFPID controller, its performance is compared with other three controllers namely Fuzzy PID (FPID), Fractional Order PID (FOPID) and conventional PID. For tuning of parameters of all the controllers, Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) optimization technique was used. Two performance indices namely Integral of Absolute Error (IAE) and Integral of Absolute Change in Controller Output (IACCO) having equal weightage for both the links are considered for minimization. Numerical simulation results clearly indicate the superiority of FOFPID controller over the other controllers for trajectory tracking, model uncertainties, disturbance rejection and noise suppression.     

Three-Dimensional Robotic Vision Using Ultrasonic Sensors

This article describes a three-dimensional artificial vision system for robotic applications using an ultrasonic sensor array. The array is placed on the robot grip so that it is possible to detect the presence of an object, to direct the robot tool towards it, and to locate the object position. It will provide visual information about the object's surface by means of superficial scanning and it permits the object shape reconstruction. The developed system uses an approximation of the ultrasonic radiation and reception beam shape for calculating the first contact points with the object's surface. On the other hand, the position of the array's sensors has been selected in order to provide the sensorial head with other useful capabilities, such as edge detection and edge tracking. Furthermore, the article shows the structure of the sensorial head for avoiding successive rebounds between the head and the object surface, and for eliminating the mechanical vibrations among sensors.     

Optimal Robot Speed Trajectory by Minimization of the Actuator Motor Electromechanical Losses

This paper considers the control problem of a robotic manipulator with separately excited dc motor drives as actuators. An innovative method is proposed which achieves robot speed-control requirements, with simultaneous minimization of total electromechanical losses, while the drives follow the desired speed profiles of the robot joints under various loads and random load disturbances. If there is no demand for a specific speed profile, the optimal speed trajectory is determined by minimizing an electromechanical losses criterion. Controllable energy losses, such as armature copper losses, armature iron losses, field copper losses, stray load losses, brush load losses, friction and windage losses, can be expressed proportionally to the squares of the armature and the field (exciting) currents, the angular velocity and the magnetic field flux. The controllable energy loss term is also included in the optimal control integral quadratic performance index, defined for the whole operation period. Thus the appropriate control signals required for following the desired trajectory by simultaneous energy loss minimization for the whole operation interval are achieved. Two case studies of optimal robot control with and without minimization of actuator energy losses are presented and compared, showing the energy savings that can be achieved by the proposed methodology.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">HumanPT</Emphasis>: An Open-source,HumanPT Architecture-based,Robotic Application for Low Cost Robotic Tasks

In this paper, first HumanPT architecture for low cost robotic applications is presented. HumanPT architecture differs than other architectures because it is implemented on existing robotic systems (robot  robotic controller) and exploits the minimum communication facilities for real-time control that these systems provide. It is based on well-known communication methods like serial communication (USB, RS232, IEEE-1394) and windows sockets (server–client model) and permits an important number of different type of components like actuators, sensors and particularly vision systems to be connected in a robotic system. The operating system (OS) used is Microsoft Windows, the most widely spread OS. The proposed architecture exploits features of this OS that is not a real-time one, to ensure – in case that the robotic system provide such a facility – control and real time communication with the robotic system controller and to integrate by means of sensors and actuators an important number of robotic tasks and procedures. As implementation of this architecture, HumanPT robotic application and experimental results concerning its performance and its implementation in real tasks are provided. HumanPT robotic application, developed in Visual C++, is an integrated, but simultaneously an open-source software that can be adapted in different types of robotic systems. An important number of robotic tasks or procedures including sensors and particularly vision systems can be generated and executed. Small enterprises by means of the proposed architecture and the open source software can be automated at low cost enhancing in this way their production.     

An open-source multi-DOF articulated robotic educational platform for autonomous object manipulation

This research presents an autonomous robotic framework for academic, vocational and training purpose. The platform is centred on a 6 Degree Of Freedom (DOF) serial robotic arm. The kinematic and dynamic models of the robot have been derived to facilitate controller design. An on-board camera to scan the arm workspace permits autonomous applications development. The sensory system consists of position feedback from each joint of the robot and a force sensor mounted at the arm gripper. External devices can be interfaced with the platform through digital and analog I/O ports of the robot controller. To enhance the learning outcome for beginners, higher level commands have been provided. Advanced users can tailor the platform by exploiting the open-source custom-developed hardware and software architectures. The efficacy of the proposed platform has been demonstrated by implementing two experiments; autonomous sorting of objects and controller design. The proposed platform finds its potential to teach technical courses (like Robotics, Control, Electronics, Image-processing and Computer vision) and to implement and validate advanced algorithms for object manipulation and grasping, trajectory generation, path planning, etc. It can also be employed in an industrial environment to test various strategies prior to their execution on actual manipulators.     

适用于RPA工具的卷积序列推荐算法

在机器人流程自动化(Robotic Process Automation, RPA)软件中,经常采用序列推荐系统让机器人完成判断、选择等人工处理的任务。然而常用的序列推荐系统受限于序列信息的提取困难等问题,难以得到广泛应用。为了解决这一问题,构建一种基于Inception的卷积序列推荐模型,把时间和潜在空间中的用户行为序列信息嵌入进一幅“图像”中,并通过动态和静态2种不同的卷积层提取其中的局部特征,全面地提取用户的短期兴趣偏好,同时将用户嵌入矩阵作为用户的长期兴趣偏好嵌入到卷积层的输出中,共同构建完整的用户兴趣偏好,提升推荐性能。通过在3种公开数据集MovieLens 1M、Gowalla、Steam上分别进行实验,验证了基于Inception的卷积序列推荐模型的性能优于最新的序列推荐模型,在Top-N序列推荐的3种评价指标中（精确率、召回率、平均AP值）,平均提升幅度在10%左右,单个指标上的最大提升幅度为14%。     

六自由度检修机械臂合理路径规划系统设计

为减少六自由度检修机械臂抓取动作花费的时间,设计一种六自由度检修机械臂合理路径规划系统.此次研究的系统硬件部分主要包含主控制器、伺服电机控制器与通信模块.系统软件部分,计算出机器人与障碍物之间的距离,并计算出所有机器人上点与障碍物之间的距离,采用设置虚拟障碍物的创新型人工势场法进行路径规划,避免传统人工势场法的弊端,以...