Planning algorithms are impacting technical disciplines and industries around the world, including robotics, computer-aided design, manufacturing, computer graphics, aerospace applications, drug design, and protein folding. This coherent and comprehensive book unifies material from several sources, including robotics, control theory, artificial intelligence, and algorithms. The treatment is centered on robot motion planning but integrates material on planning in discrete spaces. A major part of the book is devoted to planning under uncertainty, including decision theory, Markov decision processes, and information spaces, which are the “configuration spaces” of all sensor-based planning problems. The last part of the book delves into planning under differential constraints that arise when automating the motions of virtually any mechanical system. Developed from courses taught by the author, the book is intended for students, engineers, and researchers in robotics, artificial intelligence, and control theory as well as computer graphics, algorithms, and computational biology.

Planning Algorithms: Introductory Material

Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Rigid Motions and Homogeneous Transformations. 3. Forward and Inverse Kinematics. 4. Velocity Kinematics-The Jacobian. 5. Path and Trajectory Planning. 6. Independent Joint Control. 7. Dynamics. 8. Multivariable Control. 9. Force Control. 10. Geometric Nonlinear Control. 11. Computer Vision. 12. Vision-Based Control. Appendix A: Trigonometry. Appendix B: Linear Algebra. Appendix C: Dynamical Systems. Appendix D: Lyapunov Stability. Index.

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Robot Modeling and Control

Paper: The internal model principle of control theory

Human skin is a remarkable organ. It consists of an integrated, stretchable network of sensors that relay information about tactile and thermal stimuli to the brain, allowing us to maneuver within our environment safely and effectively. Interest in large-area networks of electronic devices inspired by human skin is motivated by the promise of creating autonomous intelligent robots and biomimetic prosthetics, among other applications. The development of electronic networks comprised of flexible, stretchable, and robust devices that are compatible with large-area implementation and integrated with multiple functionalities is a testament to the progress in developing an electronic skin (e-skin) akin to human skin. E-skins are already capable of providing augmented performance over their organic counterpart, both in superior spatial resolution and thermal sensitivity. They could be further improved through the incorporation of additional functionalities (e.g., chemical and biological sensing) and desired properties (e.g., biodegradability and self-powering). Continued rapid progress in this area is promising for the development of a fully integrated e-skin in the near future.

25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E-Skin): A Brief History, Design Considerations, and Recent Progress

This book, written by two major figures in adaptive control, provides a wealth of material for researchers, practitioners, and students. While some researchers in adaptive control may note the absence of a particular topic, the book‘s scope represents a high-gain instrument. It can be used by designers of control systems to enhance their work through the information on many new theoretical developments, and can be used by mathematical control theory specialists to adapt their research to practical needs. The book is strongly recommended to anyone interested in adaptive control.

Adaptive Control

Usually friction is considered to be a velocity-dependent phenomenon. As a result, most of the available friction models describe friction only as a function of velocity. However, there is also positional dependency which is routinely ignored. Experiments reported in this paper confirm previously published findings of others that friction is position dependent, and that this dependency should not be ignored. Therefore, it is necessary to develop models that describe friction as a function of both position and velocity. Furthermore, available models of nonlinear friction are usually developed by investigating simple cases, such as sliding of two flat surfaces or rolling of a perfectly rounded body on a flat surface. These models do not accurately describe friction generated by mechanisms that have numerous sliding and rolling parts. In this paper, a new spectral-based modeling technique capable of describing nonlinear friction as a function of position and velocity is proposed. This technique identifies the specific contribution to the overall friction of every moving part of the mechanism.

Modeling of friction using spectral analysis

A medical robot for use inside a magnetic resonance imager includes a horizontal motion assembly, a vertical motion assembly and a controller. The horizontal motion assembly includes a motion joint, an ultrasonic motor operably connected to the motion joint and an encoder operably connected to the ultrasonic motor. The motor and encoder are positioned proximate to the joint of the horizontal motion assembly. The vertical motion assembly is operably connected to the horizontal motion assembly and it includes a motion joint, an ultrasonic motor operably connected to the motion joint and an encoder operably connected to the ultrasonic motor. The motor and encoder are positioned proximate to the joint of the vertical motion assembly. The controller is operably connected thereto and is adapted to be powered off when the magnetic resonance imager is being used to collect images. A medical instrument assembly is connectable to the medical robot.

Mri compatible robot with calibration phantom and phantom

Conventional vehicle-mounted mine detector system employ an array of sensor elements to achieve a detection swath. Some systems employ more than one type of sensor technology. These systems, while being very useful, are often expensive, complex and inflexible. A human operator, on the other hand, sweeps a mine detector from side to side while moving forward to cover ground. The operator can follow the ground profile with the detector head close to the ground without hitting the ground or any objects on it. She can also vary the width of sweep to suit a particular situation, and is usually not limited by terrain. In this paper we present the concept and early prototype of a system that incorporates the advantages of the two methods described above while minimizing the disadvantages of both. For example, it will have the flexibility of a manual system with the rapid and safer mechanized scanning of the vehicle-mounted system but at a reduced cost, size and overall system complexity, when compared to existing approaches. Our approach uses an articulated robotic device capable of automatically moving mine detection sensor over natural ground surfaces including roads and tracks in a manner similar to a human operator. The system can also easily be used to place a confirmatory point sensor at a specific location if needed. The early prototype, which incorporates only a metal detector for a mine sensor, implements ground following by using a laser range finder and four ultrasonic sensors.

Articulated robotic scanner for mine detection: a novel approach to vehicle-mounted systems

A modular and reconfigurable robot (MRR) with multiple working modes is developed for performing sophisticated tasks in uncontrolled environments. In the proposed MRR design, each joint module can independently work in active modes with position or torque control, or passive modes with friction compensation. Under a federated control system architecture, not only the MRR configuration can be reconfigured to adapt to various tasks, but also the working mode of each module, which can be switched on-line to satisfy the needs to carry out sophisticated tasks. Three joint modules have been developed, and the proposed method of passive working mode implementation with friction compensation has been tested experimentally. Door opening using a mobile manipulator consisting of the developed joint modules is studied as an application case study of the proposed multiple working mode MRR.

Development of modular and reconfigurable robot with multiple working modes

Presents a robotic system used for detection, sorting and grading of paper objects as a part of an automated paper recycling system. The system uses stereo vision to estimate in real time the spatial position of moving objects on a conveyor to be picked by the robot arm. It was proved in the literature that stereo vision may be successfully used to estimate position of moving objects, with a priori known shape, and generate commands to a robot arm for picking up the object. A special computing architecture is introduced for performing the task in real time. A vector of geometric and textural features is used for sorting the paper, according to its grade. The grading process uses color vision and additional contact ultrasonic sensors. A new data fusion paradigm, based on supervised learning, is used. The data fusion algorithm combines stereo vision and ultrasonic sensors to detect and grade paper objects.

Andrew A. Goldenberg

Papers

Modeling of friction using spectral analysis

Mri compatible robot with calibration phantom and phantom

Articulated robotic scanner for mine detection: a novel approach to vehicle-mounted systems

Development of modular and reconfigurable robot with multiple working modes

An eye-hand system for automated paper recycling