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.

/pdf/robot-modeling-and-control-2n3memrp6g.pdf

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

Presents the application of an image registration method for a mobile manipulator. The robot is used for scanning natural terrain and detecting metal objects hidden beneath the terrain surface (e.g., landmines) using a metal detector. The range image may be interpreted for visual servoing, map building and path planning, or object recognition. In the work, the image is used to build a terrain map for obstacle free path planning. Because the working area of the robot is extremely dynamic (i.e., not only the robot travels but also the environment is also subject to change) an active range sensing method is selected to provide the range image. The range values are acquired using a laser range finder with a rotating mirror for scanning so that sensor fusion in the form of collecting sensor readings over an extended period of time is required. In addition, range readings of two ultrasonic range finders are fused at signal level to tackle both sensor imperfection and environmental illumination that induce uncertainty at the system. We explain the use of a real-time programming platform that executes an online map-building process in parallel for robot manipulation and control.

Map building for a terrain scanning robot

A general algebraic framework for control analysis of constrained and compliant motion is presented. The author reviews the theory of screws, operators, and indefinite inner products to establish a mathematical formulation for a task space decomposition suitable for synthesis of constrained and compliant motion. Four components of the space of screws are identified and their mathematical properties are presented. The proposed decomposition generalizes the original hybrid force and position control. Applications to contact kinematics and system dynamics are given for illustration. The main contribution is to shed light on the issue of the hybrid control assumption of presumed orthogonality between constraint and freedom subspaces. >

Indefinite inner product-based decomposition and application to control of force and position of robot manipulators

Model Identification of a High Performance Hydrostatic Actuation System

We consider the problem of nonholonomic motion planning. We present an efficient paradigm for planning and stabilization of motion in a class of multivariable nonlinear (nonholonomic) systems, and apply this control paradigm to a planar free-flying manipulator. The controller architecture designed in the paper is based on the radial basis function (RBF) network approximation of an optimal control program for any desired motion and sampled-data feedback stabilization. The proposed RBF-based control technique overcomes certain problems associated with other control approaches recently proposed for nonholonomic systems. The presented simulation results reveal a promising potential of the proposed control paradigm. This paradigm can be extended to a broader class of nonlinear control problems.

Andrew A. Goldenberg

Papers

Map building for a terrain scanning robot

Indefinite inner product-based decomposition and application to control of force and position of robot manipulators

Model Identification of a High Performance Hydrostatic Actuation System

On-line approximation of control programs for a class of nonlinear free-floating systems

On the bilateral control of master-slave teleoperators