Abs t rac t Much of the focus of the research effort in path planning for mobile robots has centred on the problem of finding a path from a start location to a goal location, while minimising one or more parameters such as length of path, energy consumption or journey time. A path of complete coverage is a planned path in which a robot sweeps all areas of free space in an environment in a systematic and efficient manner. Possible applications for paths of complete coverage include autonomous vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, security robots, land mine detectors etc. This paper will present a solution to this problem based upon an extension to the distance transform path planning methodology. The solution has been implemented on the self-contained autonomous mobile robot called the Yamabico.

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Planning Paths of Complete Coverage of an Unstructured Environment by a Mobile Robot

A novel sonar array is presented that has applications in mobile robotics for localization and mapping of indoor en vironments. The ultrasonic sensor localizes and classifies multiple targets in tw...

Mobile robot sonar for target localization and classification

A robotic vehicle having a body with two or more powered ground-engaging members, e.g., wheels, rotatably coupled thereto. The vehicle may further include a spring member which may be deflected to a first, stored position from a second, extended position. The robotic vehicle may form part of a distributed, multi-robot system. The robotic vehicles may communicate with each other and/or a remote workstation. In some embodiments, the robotic vehicles may mechanically couple to one another to perform certain tasks.

Miniature robotic vehicles and methods of controlling same

Clothoids are very useful for smoothing the motion of a mobile robot moving along a trajectory. This paper addresses the problem of smoothing mobile robot motions when cusps, i.e., changes of motion direction along the trajectory, are imposed. We pinpoint some special curves (that we call "anticlothoids") and we discuss how they can be used together with clothoids in order to smooth a predefined trajectory. >

Primitives for smoothing mobile robot trajectories

Reconnaissance and surveillance are important activities for both military and civilian organizations, for hostage and survivor rescue, drug raids, response to chemical or toxic waste spills etc. We have developed a distributed heterogeneous robotic team that is based mainly on a miniature robotic system. Because some operations require covert action, most of the robots are extremely small. This also allows them to be easily transported and allows for a greater number to be brought into use for a single operation. This makes them expendable without jeopardizing the overall mission. We call these small robots scouts. Their individual components must all be exceedingly small, and their overall design must make maximum use of all available space. They must make efficient use of resources (e.g., batteries). We meet these challenges with an innovative design and creative use of additional support. We team the scouts with larger ranger robots, which can transport the scouts over distances of several kilometers, deploy them rapidly over a large area, coordinate their behavior, and collect and present the resulting data. We present the scouts and rangers, discuss their capabilities along with the associated software, and describe demonstrations conducted to test the innovative aspects of the system. We also discuss related work, analyze our results, and draw conclusions.

Enlisting rangers and scouts for reconnaissance and surveillance

Development of a mobile robot for security guard.

How to describe the mobile robot's sensor-based behavior?

This paper discusses how to control and describe the smooth movement of a mobile robot which has two independent driving wheels (iDWs) that perform both steering and moving functions. Robots which have an IDW leg system can move to any point by using any combinations of two basic operations: revolving and going straight.

It is easy to describe movement with two basic operations only, but this may not be sufficient to guarantee smooth motion. For instance, when the robot is moving, a slight modification to its track direction is impossible without stopping it. Smooth motions are also needed for minimizing the time required to complete the movement.

Theoretically, an IDW leg system can draw a circular track with radius 0 - ≪ if one controls the ratio of the two wheel speeds. This principle underlies much of the design of this control system.

The control system described in this paper uses three basic motion commands, supplemented by other commands that support these. A language has been designed for describing leg control algorithms. Examples of the usage of these commands and the language are shown here.

A locomotion control system for mobile robots

Searching unknown 2-D environment by a mobile robot with a range sensor

本論文は, 自立型移動ロボット山彦9号の走行モジュールに関するものである.コンピュータシステムにおいてはモジュール化の概念が極めて重要であるが, このことはロボット設計においても同様である.山彦9号はハードウエアの面でも, ソフトウエアの面でも, モジュール化が図られている.走行モジュール (LM) はROM, RAM, 2個のタイマ, シリアルインターフェイス, モータ, モータ駆動回路, シャフトエンコーダをもつ独立したマイクロコンピュータシステムであり, PWS方式の台車の移動を制御する.LMは山彦9号の頭システム (BR) とシリアル通信を介して情報交換を行い, BRの奴隷として働く.LM-BR間のインターフェイスとしてコマンド体系が定義されている.それはBRからLMへ送られる移動動作等を指定するコマンドと, LMからBRへ送られる (内部状態を知らせたり, コマンド終了のタイミングを知らせるための) 応答から成っている.移動コマンドはLMの両輪の速度を指定し, それによりLMは所望の軌を跡描き, かつコマンドが指定する終了条件が満たされると動作を終了する.LMのソフトウエアは次の3部分から成る.(1) 移動制御プロセス(2) モータサーボプロセス(3) 通信制御プロセス第1と第2のプロセスは5ms毎に呼ばれ, 実時間で規則正しい処理をし, 第3のプロセスは非同期的に起こるBRとの間の双方向通信を司る.移動制御プロセスは速度計算や終了条件判定を行う.最後には実験結果とLMプログラミングの例が含まれている.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jrsj1983/2/5/2_5_402/_pdf

Jun'ichi Iijima

Papers

Development of a mobile robot for security guard.

How to describe the mobile robot's sensor-based behavior?

A locomotion control system for mobile robots

Searching unknown 2-D environment by a mobile robot with a range sensor

A Locomotion Module for Wheeled Mobile Robots