227 results on '"reconfigurable robots"'
Search Results
2. Internal Rehearsals for a Reconfigurable Robot to Improve Area Coverage Performance.
- Author
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SAMARAKOON, S. M. BHAGYA P., MUTHUGALA, M. A. VIRAJ J., and ELARA, MOHAN RAJESH
- Subjects
- *
REHEARSALS , *GENETIC algorithms , *COGNITIVE ability , *ROBOTS , *MOBILE robots - Abstract
Reconfigurable robots are deployed for applications demanding area coverage, such as cleaning and inspections. Reconfiguration per context, considering beyond a small set of predefined shapes, is crucial for area coverage performance. However, the existing area coverage methods of reconfigurable robots are not always effective and require improvements for ascertaining the intended goal. Therefore, this article proposes a novel coverage strategy based on internal rehearsals to improve the area coverage performance of a reconfigurable robot. In this regard, a reconfigurable robot is embodied with the cognitive ability to predict the outcomes of its actions before executing them. A genetic algorithm uses the results of the internal rehearsals to determine a set of the robot's coverage parameters, including positioning, heading, and reconfiguration, to maximize coverage in an obstacle cluster encountered by the robot. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method can significantly improve the area coverage performance of a reconfigurable robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Deep Learning Based Fall Recognition and Forecasting for Reconfigurable Stair-Accessing Service Robots.
- Author
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Ong, Jun Hua, Hayat, Abdullah Aamir, Gomez, Braulio Felix, Elara, Mohan Rajesh, and Wood, Kristin Lee
- Subjects
- *
MACHINE learning , *RECURRENT neural networks , *DEEP learning , *ROBOTS , *STAIRCASES , *FORECASTING - Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive study on fall recognition and forecasting for reconfigurable stair-accessing robots by leveraging deep learning techniques. The proposed framework integrates machine learning algorithms and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM), for fall detection of service robots on staircases. The reconfigurable stair-accessing robot sTetro serves as the platform, and the fall data required for training models are generated in a simulation environment. The two machine learning algorithms are compared and their effectiveness on the fall recognition task is reported. The results indicate that the BiLSTM model effectively classifies falls with a median categorical accuracy of 94.10% in simulation and 90.02% with limited experiments. Additionally, the BiLSTM model can be used for forecasting, which is practically valuable for making decisions well before the onset of a free fall. This study contributes insights into the design and implementation of fall detection systems for service robots used to navigate staircases through deep learning approaches. Our experimental and simulation data, along with the simulation steps, are available for reference and analysis via the shared link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. An Amphibious Fully‐Soft Centimeter‐Scale Miniature Crawling Robot Powered by Electrohydraulic Fluid Kinetic Energy.
- Author
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Xiong, Quan, Zhou, Xuanyi, Li, Dannuo, Ambrose, Jonathan William, and Yeow, Raye Chen‐Hua
- Subjects
- *
KINETIC energy , *ELECTROHYDRAULIC effect , *SEARCH & rescue operations , *PARALLEL robots , *TRANSLATIONAL motion , *ROBOTS - Abstract
Miniature locomotion robots with the ability to navigate confined environments show great promise for a wide range of tasks, including search and rescue operations. Soft miniature locomotion robots, as a burgeoning field, have attracted significant research interest due to their exceptional terrain adaptability and safety features. Here, a fully‐soft centimeter‐scale miniature crawling robot directly powered by fluid kinetic energy generated by an electrohydraulic actuator is introduced. Through optimization of the operating voltage and design parameters, the average crawling velocity of the robot is dramatically enhanced, reaching 16 mm s−1. The optimized robot weighs 6.3 g and measures 5 cm in length, 5 cm in width, and 6 mm in height. By combining two robots in parallel, the robot can achieve a turning rate of ≈3° s−1. Additionally, by reconfiguring the distribution of electrodes in the electrohydraulic actuator, the robot can achieve 2 degrees‐of‐freedom translational motion, improving its maneuverability in narrow spaces. Finally, the use of a soft water‐proof skin is demonstrated for underwater locomotion and actuation. In comparison with other soft miniature crawling robots, this robot with full softness can achieve relatively high crawling velocity as well as increased robustness and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Design and assessment of a reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot: a pilot study.
- Author
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Enming Shi, Wenzhuo Zhi, Wanxin Chen, Yuhang Han, Bi Zhang, and Xingang Zhao
- Subjects
AUTOMATIC pilot (Airplanes) ,SURGICAL robots ,BEHAVIORAL assessment ,ROBOTIC exoskeletons ,WOUNDS & injuries ,HEMIPLEGICS ,LEG ,ANKLE - Abstract
Introduction: For patients with functional motor disorders of the lower limbs due to brain damage or accidental injury, restoring the ability to stand and walk plays an important role in clinical rehabilitation. Lower limb exoskeleton robots generally require patients to convert themselves to a standing position for use, while being a wearable device with limited movement distance. Methods: This paper proposes a reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot that integrates the functions of an exoskeleton robot and an assistive standing wheelchair through a novel mechanism. The new mechanism is based on a four-bar linkage, and through simple and stable conformal transformations, the robot can switch between exoskeleton state, sit-to-stand support state, and wheelchair state. This enables the robot to achieve the functions of assisted walking, assisted standing up, supported standing and wheelchair mobility, respectively, thereby meeting the daily activity needs of sit-to-stand transitions and gait training. The configuration transformation module controls seamless switching between different configurations through an industrial computer. Experimental protocols have been developed for wearable testing of robotic prototypes not only for healthy subjects but also for simulated hemiplegic patients. Results: The experimental results indicate that the gait tracking effect during robot-assisted walking is satisfactory, and there are no sudden speed changes during the assisted standing up process, providing smooth support to the wearer. Meanwhile, the activation of the main force-generating muscles of the legs and the plantar pressure decreases significantly in healthy subjects and simulated hemiplegic patients wearing the robot for assisted walking and assisted standing-up compared to the situation when the robot is not worn. Discussion: These experimental findings demonstrate that the reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot prototype of this study is effective, reducing the muscular burden on the wearer during walking and standing up, and provide effective support for the subject's body. The experimental results objectively and comprehensively showcase the effectiveness and potential of the reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot in the realms of behavioral assistance and rehabilitation training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. An Amphibious Fully‐Soft Centimeter‐Scale Miniature Crawling Robot Powered by Electrohydraulic Fluid Kinetic Energy
- Author
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Quan Xiong, Xuanyi Zhou, Dannuo Li, Jonathan William Ambrose, and Raye Chen‐Hua Yeow
- Subjects
amphibious robots ,design optimization ,electrohydraulic actuators ,reconfigurable robots ,soft crawling robots, underwater actuators ,Science - Abstract
Abstract Miniature locomotion robots with the ability to navigate confined environments show great promise for a wide range of tasks, including search and rescue operations. Soft miniature locomotion robots, as a burgeoning field, have attracted significant research interest due to their exceptional terrain adaptability and safety features. Here, a fully‐soft centimeter‐scale miniature crawling robot directly powered by fluid kinetic energy generated by an electrohydraulic actuator is introduced. Through optimization of the operating voltage and design parameters, the average crawling velocity of the robot is dramatically enhanced, reaching 16 mm s−1. The optimized robot weighs 6.3 g and measures 5 cm in length, 5 cm in width, and 6 mm in height. By combining two robots in parallel, the robot can achieve a turning rate of ≈3° s−1. Additionally, by reconfiguring the distribution of electrodes in the electrohydraulic actuator, the robot can achieve 2 degrees‐of‐freedom translational motion, improving its maneuverability in narrow spaces. Finally, the use of a soft water‐proof skin is demonstrated for underwater locomotion and actuation. In comparison with other soft miniature crawling robots, this robot with full softness can achieve relatively high crawling velocity as well as increased robustness and recovery.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Stretchable Shape‐Sensing Sheets.
- Author
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Shah, Dylan, Woodman, Stephanie J., Sanchez-Botero, Lina, Liu, Shanliangzi, and Kramer-Bottiglio, Rebecca
- Subjects
SOFT robotics ,STRAIN sensors ,WEARABLE technology ,MECHANICAL models ,PROPRIOCEPTION - Abstract
Soft robot deformations are typically estimated using strain sensors to infer change from a nominal shape while taking a robot‐specific mechanical model into account. This approach performs poorly during buckling and when material properties change with time, and is untenable for shape‐changing robots that don't have a well‐defined resting (unactuated) shape. Herein, these limitations are overcome using stretchable shape sensing (S3) sheets that fuse orientation measurements to estimate 3D surface contours without making assumptions about the underlying robot geometry or material properties. The S3 sheets can estimate the shape of target objects to an accuracy of ≈3 mm for an 80 mm long sheet. The authors show the S3 sheets estimating their shape while being deformed in 3D space and also attached to the surface of a silicone three‐chamber pneumatic bladder, highlighting the potential for shape‐sensing sheets to be applied, removed, and reapplied to soft robots for shape estimation. Finally, the S3 sheets detecting their own stretch up to 30% strain is demonstrated. The approach introduced herein provides a generalized method for measuring the shape of objects without making strong assumptions about the objects, thus achieving a modular, mechanics model‐free approach to proprioception for wearable electronics and soft robotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. A metaheuristic approach to optimal morphology in reconfigurable tiling robots.
- Author
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Kalimuthu, Manivannan, Pathmakumar, Thejus, Hayat, Abdullah Aamir, Elara, Mohan Rajesh, and Wood, Kristin Lee
- Subjects
METAHEURISTIC algorithms ,GRIDS (Cartography) ,ROBOTS ,MORPHOLOGY ,ENERGY consumption - Abstract
Reconfigurable robots are suitable for cleaning applications due to their high flexibility and ability to change shape according to environmental needs. However, continuous change in morphology is not an energy-efficient approach, with the limited battery capacity. This paper presents a metaheuristic-based framework to identify the optimal morphology of a reconfigurable robot, aiming to maximize the area coverage and minimize the energy consumption in the given map. The proposed approach exploits three different metaheuristic algorithms, namely, SMPSO, NSGA-II, and MACO, to generate the optimal morphology for every unique layout of a two-dimensional grid map by considering the path-length as the energy consumption. The novel feature of our approach is the implementation of the footprint-based Complete Coverage Path Planning (CCPP) adaptable for all possible configurations of reconfigurable robots. We demonstrate the proposed method in simulations and experiments using a Tetris-inspired robot with four blocks named Smorphi, which can reconfigure into an infinite number of configurations by varying its hinge angle. The optimum morphologies were identified for three settings, i.e., 2D indoor map with obstacles and free spaces. The optimum morphology is compared with the standard Tetris shapes in the simulation and the real-world experiment. The results show that the proposed framework efficiently produces non-dominated solutions for choosing the optimal energy-efficient morphologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. Deep Learning Based Fall Recognition and Forecasting for Reconfigurable Stair-Accessing Service Robots
- Author
-
Jun Hua Ong, Abdullah Aamir Hayat, Braulio Felix Gomez, Mohan Rajesh Elara, and Kristin Lee Wood
- Subjects
reconfigurable robots ,deep learning ,fall detection ,design principles ,recurrent neural network ,LSTM ,Mathematics ,QA1-939 - Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive study on fall recognition and forecasting for reconfigurable stair-accessing robots by leveraging deep learning techniques. The proposed framework integrates machine learning algorithms and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM), for fall detection of service robots on staircases. The reconfigurable stair-accessing robot sTetro serves as the platform, and the fall data required for training models are generated in a simulation environment. The two machine learning algorithms are compared and their effectiveness on the fall recognition task is reported. The results indicate that the BiLSTM model effectively classifies falls with a median categorical accuracy of 94.10% in simulation and 90.02% with limited experiments. Additionally, the BiLSTM model can be used for forecasting, which is practically valuable for making decisions well before the onset of a free fall. This study contributes insights into the design and implementation of fall detection systems for service robots used to navigate staircases through deep learning approaches. Our experimental and simulation data, along with the simulation steps, are available for reference and analysis via the shared link.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. A metaheuristic approach to optimal morphology in reconfigurable tiling robots
- Author
-
Manivannan Kalimuthu, Thejus Pathmakumar, Abdullah Aamir Hayat, Mohan Rajesh Elara, and Kristin Lee Wood
- Subjects
Reconfigurable robots ,Path planning ,Area coverage ,Metaheuristics algorithms ,Design principles ,Electronic computers. Computer science ,QA75.5-76.95 ,Information technology ,T58.5-58.64 - Abstract
Abstract Reconfigurable robots are suitable for cleaning applications due to their high flexibility and ability to change shape according to environmental needs. However, continuous change in morphology is not an energy-efficient approach, with the limited battery capacity. This paper presents a metaheuristic-based framework to identify the optimal morphology of a reconfigurable robot, aiming to maximize the area coverage and minimize the energy consumption in the given map. The proposed approach exploits three different metaheuristic algorithms, namely, SMPSO, NSGA-II, and MACO, to generate the optimal morphology for every unique layout of a two-dimensional grid map by considering the path-length as the energy consumption. The novel feature of our approach is the implementation of the footprint-based Complete Coverage Path Planning (CCPP) adaptable for all possible configurations of reconfigurable robots. We demonstrate the proposed method in simulations and experiments using a Tetris-inspired robot with four blocks named Smorphi, which can reconfigure into an infinite number of configurations by varying its hinge angle. The optimum morphologies were identified for three settings, i.e., 2D indoor map with obstacles and free spaces. The optimum morphology is compared with the standard Tetris shapes in the simulation and the real-world experiment. The results show that the proposed framework efficiently produces non-dominated solutions for choosing the optimal energy-efficient morphologies.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
11. Stretchable Shape‐Sensing Sheets
- Author
-
Dylan Shah, Stephanie J. Woodman, Lina Sanchez-Botero, Shanliangzi Liu, and Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
- Subjects
reconfigurable robots ,robotic skins ,soft robotics ,stretchable electronics ,Computer engineering. Computer hardware ,TK7885-7895 ,Control engineering systems. Automatic machinery (General) ,TJ212-225 - Abstract
Soft robot deformations are typically estimated using strain sensors to infer change from a nominal shape while taking a robot‐specific mechanical model into account. This approach performs poorly during buckling and when material properties change with time, and is untenable for shape‐changing robots that don't have a well‐defined resting (unactuated) shape. Herein, these limitations are overcome using stretchable shape sensing (S3) sheets that fuse orientation measurements to estimate 3D surface contours without making assumptions about the underlying robot geometry or material properties. The S3 sheets can estimate the shape of target objects to an accuracy of ≈3 mm for an 80 mm long sheet. The authors show the S3 sheets estimating their shape while being deformed in 3D space and also attached to the surface of a silicone three‐chamber pneumatic bladder, highlighting the potential for shape‐sensing sheets to be applied, removed, and reapplied to soft robots for shape estimation. Finally, the S3 sheets detecting their own stretch up to 30% strain is demonstrated. The approach introduced herein provides a generalized method for measuring the shape of objects without making strong assumptions about the objects, thus achieving a modular, mechanics model‐free approach to proprioception for wearable electronics and soft robotics.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
12. ROBOMINER: Development of a Highly Configurable and Modular Scaled-Down Prototype of a Mining Robot.
- Author
-
Gomez, Virgilio, Hernando, Miguel, Aguado, Esther, Sanz, Ricardo, and Rossi, Claudio
- Subjects
ROBOTS ,ROBOTICS ,MODULAR design ,ARTIFICIAL intelligence ,MINERAL industries ,PROTOTYPES ,AUTOMATION - Abstract
Historically, mining operations have faced numerous challenges, including safety hazards, inefficiencies, and environmental concerns. However, recent advances in robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence have presented opportunities for the mining industry. The ROBOMINERS project, a Horizon 2020 European Union initiative, aims to revolutionize the mining ecosystem by implementing disruptive robotic concepts. One such concept is resilience, which involves enabling mining robots to reconfigure morphologically during operation. This article presents the development of a modular robotic system that focuses on modularity and self-assembly to provide insight into developing a highly adaptable and compact solution for future mining robots. The robotic system is composed of a set of highly configurable modular robotic platforms that can be reconfigured with other robotic modules or submodules to form more complex systems to perform different tasks. Several module configurations are presented, and different locomotion experiments were carried out to test the ability of the modules to navigate unstructured environments. The modules exhibited great maneuverability in unstructured terrain and demonstrated self-assembly and reconfiguration capabilities during operation. This is a foundational step towards the long-term goal of developing compact autonomous agents capable of self-assembly and mining task execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
13. Computational Systems Design of Low-Cost Lightweight Robots.
- Author
-
Sathuluri, Akhil, Sureshbabu, Anand Vazhapilli, Frank, Jintin, Amm, Maximilian, and Zimmermann, Markus
- Subjects
INDUSTRIAL robots ,MULTIDISCIPLINARY design optimization ,SYSTEMS design ,ROBOTS ,ALUMINUM tubes ,ROBOT design & construction - Abstract
With the increased demand for customisation, developing task-specific robots for industrial and personal applications has become essential. Collaborative robots are often preferred over conventional industrial robots in human-centred production environments. However, fixed architecture robots lack the ability to adapt to changing user demands, while modular, reconfigurable robots provide a quick and affordable alternative. Standardised robot modules often derive their characteristics from conventional industrial robots, making them expensive and bulky and potentially limiting their wider adoption. To address this issue, the current work proposes a top-down multidisciplinary computational design strategy emphasising the low cost and lightweight attributes of modular robots within two consecutive optimisation problems. The first step employs an informed search strategy to explore the design space of robot modules to identify a low-cost robot architecture and controller. The second step employs dynamics-informed structural optimisation to reduce the robot's net weight. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a set of example requirements, illustrating that (1) the robot modules allow exploring non-intuitive robot architectures, (2) the structural mass of the resulting robot is 16 % lower compared to a robot designed using conventional aluminium tubes, and (3) the designed modules ensure the physical feasibility of the robots produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
14. Decentralized position–force zero-sum approximate optimal control for reconfigurable robots with unmodeled dynamic.
- Author
-
Zhu, Xinye, An, Tianjiao, and Wang, Gang
- Subjects
- *
ROBOT control systems , *ZERO sum games , *DYNAMIC programming , *DYNAMIC models , *EQUATIONS of state , *SPACE robotics , *ADAPTIVE control systems - Abstract
In this paper, the position–force–based approximate optimal control method is developed for reconfigurable robots using zero-sum game strategy. By utilizing the Newton–Euler iteration technique, the robotic system's dynamic model is formulated and the state space equation is derived. According to adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and neural network algorithm, the trajectory tracking control problem is transformed into a zero-sum game-based optimal control issue. The optimal control policy and worst disturbance policy are obtained by Hamilton–Jacobi–Issacs (HJI) function, respectively. Unlike the conventional learning–based robotic control method, the proposed zero-sum game-based method no need extra sub-controller that can reduce the computational burden. The reconfigurable robot system's tracking error is uniformly ultimately bounded by the Lyapunov theorem. Finally, simulation experiments demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
15. Hybrid Wheel-Leg Locomotion in Rough Terrain
- Author
-
Silva, Bhanuka, Perera, Uvindu, Thilakarathna, Thilina, Athapattu, Isuru, Jayasekara, Peshala, Lalitharatne, Thilina, Kottege, Navinda, Bandyopadhyay, Tirthankar, Siciliano, Bruno, Series Editor, Khatib, Oussama, Series Editor, Antonelli, Gianluca, Advisory Editor, Fox, Dieter, Advisory Editor, Harada, Kensuke, Advisory Editor, Hsieh, M. Ani, Advisory Editor, Kröger, Torsten, Advisory Editor, Kulic, Dana, Advisory Editor, Park, Jaeheung, Advisory Editor, and Laschi, Cecilia, editor
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
16. ROBOMINER: Development of a Highly Configurable and Modular Scaled-Down Prototype of a Mining Robot
- Author
-
Virgilio Gomez, Miguel Hernando, Esther Aguado, Ricardo Sanz, and Claudio Rossi
- Subjects
modular robots ,reconfigurable robots ,robotic systems ,mining robots ,Mechanical engineering and machinery ,TJ1-1570 - Abstract
Historically, mining operations have faced numerous challenges, including safety hazards, inefficiencies, and environmental concerns. However, recent advances in robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence have presented opportunities for the mining industry. The ROBOMINERS project, a Horizon 2020 European Union initiative, aims to revolutionize the mining ecosystem by implementing disruptive robotic concepts. One such concept is resilience, which involves enabling mining robots to reconfigure morphologically during operation. This article presents the development of a modular robotic system that focuses on modularity and self-assembly to provide insight into developing a highly adaptable and compact solution for future mining robots. The robotic system is composed of a set of highly configurable modular robotic platforms that can be reconfigured with other robotic modules or submodules to form more complex systems to perform different tasks. Several module configurations are presented, and different locomotion experiments were carried out to test the ability of the modules to navigate unstructured environments. The modules exhibited great maneuverability in unstructured terrain and demonstrated self-assembly and reconfiguration capabilities during operation. This is a foundational step towards the long-term goal of developing compact autonomous agents capable of self-assembly and mining task execution.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
17. Conceptualization and Implementation of a Reconfigurable Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Emulated Agricultural Tasks.
- Author
-
Saeed, Raza A., Tomasi, Giacomo, Carabin, Giovanni, Vidoni, Renato, and von Ellenrieder, Karl D.
- Abstract
Small-to-medium sized systems able to perform multiple operations are a promising option for use in agricultural robotics. With this in mind, we present the conceptualization and implementation of a versatile and modular unmanned ground vehicle prototype, which is designed on top of a commercial wheeled mobile platform, in order to test and assess new devices, and motion planning and control algorithms for different Precision Agriculture applications. Considering monitoring, harvesting and spraying as target applications, the developed system utilizes different hardware modules, which are added on top of a mobile platform. Software modularity is realized using the Robot Operating System ( R O S ). Self- and ambient-awareness, including obstacle detection, are implemented at different levels. A novel extended Boundary Node Method is used for path planning and a modified Lookahead-based Line of Sight guidance algorithm is used for path following. A first experimental assessment of the system's capabilities in an emulated orchard scenario is presented here. The results demonstrate good path-planning and path-following capabilities, including cases in which unknown obstacles are present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
18. Computational Systems Design of Low-Cost Lightweight Robots
- Author
-
Akhil Sathuluri, Anand Vazhapilli Sureshbabu, Jintin Frank, Maximilian Amm, and Markus Zimmermann
- Subjects
modular robots ,reconfigurable robots ,top-down design ,robot systems ,structural optimisation ,Mechanical engineering and machinery ,TJ1-1570 - Abstract
With the increased demand for customisation, developing task-specific robots for industrial and personal applications has become essential. Collaborative robots are often preferred over conventional industrial robots in human-centred production environments. However, fixed architecture robots lack the ability to adapt to changing user demands, while modular, reconfigurable robots provide a quick and affordable alternative. Standardised robot modules often derive their characteristics from conventional industrial robots, making them expensive and bulky and potentially limiting their wider adoption. To address this issue, the current work proposes a top-down multidisciplinary computational design strategy emphasising the low cost and lightweight attributes of modular robots within two consecutive optimisation problems. The first step employs an informed search strategy to explore the design space of robot modules to identify a low-cost robot architecture and controller. The second step employs dynamics-informed structural optimisation to reduce the robot’s net weight. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a set of example requirements, illustrating that (1) the robot modules allow exploring non-intuitive robot architectures, (2) the structural mass of the resulting robot is 16 % lower compared to a robot designed using conventional aluminium tubes, and (3) the designed modules ensure the physical feasibility of the robots produced.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
19. Active Exploitation of Redundancies in Reconfigurable Multirobot Systems.
- Subjects
- *
REDUNDANCY in engineering , *PLANETARY exploration , *SPACE robotics , *ROBOT kinematics , *SYSTEMS design , *ROBOTICS - Abstract
While traditional robotic systems come with a monolithic system design, reconfigurable multirobot systems can share and shift physical resources in an on-demand fashion. Multirobot operations can benefit from this flexibility by actively managing system redundancies depending on current tasks and having more options to respond to failure events. To support this active exploitation of redundancies in robotic systems, this article details an organization model as basis for planning with reconfigurable multirobot systems. The model allows us to exploit redundancies when optimizing a multirobot system’s probability of survival with respect to a desired mission. The resulting planning approach trades safety against efficiency in robotic operations and thereby offers a new perspective and tool to design and improve multirobot missions. We use a simulated multirobot planetary exploration mission to evaluate this approach and highlight an exemplary performance landscape. Our implementation of the organization model is open-source available (https://github.com/rock-knowledge-reasoning/knowledge-reasoning-moreorg). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. Shake and Take: Fast Transformation of an Origami Gripper.
- Author
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Liu, Chang, Wohlever, Samuel J., Ou, Maria B., Padir, Taskin, and Felton, Samuel M.
- Subjects
- *
ORIGAMI , *SIMPLE machines , *RANGE of motion of joints , *PNEUMATICS , *CHEMICAL templates , *ROBOTS - Abstract
Origami structures can transform their form and function by changing the direction of their folds. This reconfiguration can enable multifunctional robots, but doing so requires a fast, robust, and repeatable actuation method. In this article, we present an origami gripper that uses dynamic transformation to change its kinematic behavior in less than a second. We characterize individual vertices to show that the transformation is predictable and repeatable for different designs and orientations. We then apply it to a multivertex template that is capable of a wide range of shapes and motion patterns, indicating that transformation can be generalized to complex and functional machines. To demonstrate this, we built a transforming origami gripper on a robotic arm to pick up multiple objects. Demonstrations show that the gripper can quickly reconfigure between three different grasping modes and has sufficient stiffness to engage with and lift multiple objects with distinct geometries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
21. Reconfiguration During Locomotion by Pavement Sweeping Robot With Feedback Control From Vision System
- Author
-
Lim Yi, Anh Vu Le, Abdullah Aamir Hayat, Charan Satya Chandra Sairam Borusu, Rajesh Elara Mohan, Nguyen Huu Khanh Nhan, and Prathap Kandasamy
- Subjects
Reconfigurable robots ,mechanism design ,feedback control ,sensor fusion ,pavement sweeping robot ,Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering ,TK1-9971 - Abstract
Routine cleaning the pavement is an essential requirement to maintain a sustainable environment for social life. The different width and type of pavements raise the challenges for autonomous vehicles with fixed shape to operate effectively. In this paper, we introduce the vision based reconfiguration of self-reconfigurable pavement sweeping robot called Panthera, which can adjust its frame width to ease the cleaning tasks to become friendly with different pavement geometry. The expansion and compression operations of the Panthera width are implemented by rotating one high torque motor connecting with the lead screw rod to change the opening angle of linkage hinges. The Panthera cleaning and locomotion operations are synchronized with changing the robot width according to the output of detected pavement width. To this end, the segmented pavement leveraged on the masked based deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) is used as input for the proposed closed-loop feedback control method, enabling the robot to adjust the requirement of changing the width during locomotion accurately. The proposed PID scheme takes into account the robot kinematic design with the flexibility of width changing modes. The experiments were carried out in real environments demonstrated the autonomous reconfiguration robot width with various locomotion scenarios on pavements of varying width.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. Conceptualization and Implementation of a Reconfigurable Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Emulated Agricultural Tasks
- Author
-
Raza A. Saeed, Giacomo Tomasi, Giovanni Carabin, Renato Vidoni, and Karl D. von Ellenrieder
- Subjects
UGVs ,reconfigurable robots ,mechatronic design ,field robotics ,path and trajectory planning ,Mechanical engineering and machinery ,TJ1-1570 - Abstract
Small-to-medium sized systems able to perform multiple operations are a promising option for use in agricultural robotics. With this in mind, we present the conceptualization and implementation of a versatile and modular unmanned ground vehicle prototype, which is designed on top of a commercial wheeled mobile platform, in order to test and assess new devices, and motion planning and control algorithms for different Precision Agriculture applications. Considering monitoring, harvesting and spraying as target applications, the developed system utilizes different hardware modules, which are added on top of a mobile platform. Software modularity is realized using the Robot Operating System (ROS). Self- and ambient-awareness, including obstacle detection, are implemented at different levels. A novel extended Boundary Node Method is used for path planning and a modified Lookahead-based Line of Sight guidance algorithm is used for path following. A first experimental assessment of the system’s capabilities in an emulated orchard scenario is presented here. The results demonstrate good path-planning and path-following capabilities, including cases in which unknown obstacles are present.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. An Output Feedback Based Robust Saturated Controller Design for Pavement Sweeping Self-Reconfigurable Robot.
- Author
-
Rayguru, Madan Mohan, Mohan, Rajesh Elara, Parween, Rizuwana, Yi, Lim, Le, Anh Vu, and Roy, Spandan
- Abstract
Mobile robots play a crucial role in cleaning, maintenance, and surveillance applications. This article advocates for the use of a novel robust output feedback based path following controller, for a class of self-reconfigurable mobile robot under actuator saturation. The reconfigurability property of such platforms is captured via an uncertain Euler–Lagrange dynamics. The proposed control framework estimates the unmeasurable states and the uncertain dynamics terms through two extended high gain observers, whereas the actuator limits are honored via a fast dynamic compensator. The closed-loop stability is analyzed via contraction theory, which, compared to the conventional Lyapunov based approaches, avoids the requirement of arbitrarily large controller and observer gains. Such a feature is of particular interest in view of actuator saturation. The experimental results with PANTHERA self-reconfigurable robot validate the effectiveness of the proposed technique over the state of the art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. Reconfigurable Pavement Sweeping Robot and Pedestrian Cohabitant Framework by Vision Techniques
- Author
-
Anh Vu Le, Abdullah Aamir Hayat, Mohan Rajesh Elara, Nguyen Huu Khanh Nhan, and Kandasamy Prathap
- Subjects
Reconfigurable robots ,mechanism design ,kinematics ,sensor fusion ,pavement sweeping robot ,Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering ,TK1-9971 - Abstract
The periodic cleaning pavement is a requirement for a clean environment in urban areas. The robot named Panthera introduced in this paper has the ability to change the width of the frame to help the cleaning tasks become suitable for different pavement types and friendly with the activities of the pedestrian. The Panthera cleaning operations which allow pedestrian walks freely on the pavement is modeled as a pedestrian robot cohabitant framework. To this end, the mask based deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) is used to archive segmented label maps of pedestrians in color image, then the distance from detected objects to the robot is estimated and tracked by averaging filtered depth values in the corresponding region in the refined depth image. The width and the distance from the robot to the approaching pedestrians are used to adjust the robot width. The enlarging and squeezing operations of the Panthera width are conducted by rotating one motor to change the length of the lead screw rod and the angle linkage hinges from the information of encoders sensors. The experiments carried out on real environments demonstrated the autonomous avoiding pedestrians ability by the kinematic model of Panthera.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. Soft pneumatic actuator-driven origami-inspired modular robotic "pneumagami".
- Author
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Robertson, Matthew A, Kara, Ozdemir Can, and Paik, Jamie
- Subjects
- *
ROBOTICS , *PNEUMATIC actuators , *MOTION capture (Human mechanics) , *CONSTRUCTION materials , *ACTUATORS , *MARKETING channels - Abstract
This article presents a new modular robotic platform for enabling reconfigurable, actively controlled, high-degree-of-freedom (high-DoF) systems with compact form factor. The robotic modules exploit the advantages of origami-inspired construction methods and materials, and soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) to achieve an actuator embedded, parallel kinematic mechanism with three independently controlled "waterbomb" base legs. The multi-material, layer-fabricated body of the modules features selectively compliant flexure hinge elements between rigid panels that define the module as a kinematic 6R spherical joint. The precision layer-fabrication technique is also used to form embedded distribution channels within the module base to connect actuators to onboard control hardware. A decentralized control architecture is applied by integrating each module with small-scale solenoid valves, communication electronics, and sensors. This design approach enables a single pneumatic supply line to be shared between modules, while still allowing independent control of each leg joint, driven by soft, inflatable pouch actuators. A passive pneumatic relay is also designed and incorporated in each module to leverage the coupled, inverted inflation, and exhaust states between antagonistic actuator pairs allowing both to be controlled by a single solenoid valve. A prototype module is presented as the first demonstration of integrated modular origami and SPA design, or pneumagami, which allows predefined kinematic structural mechanisms to locally prescribe specific motions by active effect, not just through passive compliance, to dictate task space and motion. The design strategy facilitates the composition of lightweight, high-strength robotic structures with many DoFs that will benefit various fields such as wearable robotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Towards Reconfigurable and Adaptive Soft Robots via Hybrid Materials, Designs and Mechanisms
- Author
-
Jiang, Mingsong
- Subjects
Robotics ,Mechanical engineering ,Engineering ,Adpative Robots ,Hybrid Robot Designs ,Inflatable Robots ,Reconfigurable Mechanisms ,Reconfigurable Robots ,Soft Robots - Abstract
Inspired by biological systems, soft robotics has become a new research field that builds compliance and conformability into soft machines and devices. Soft robots are capable of functions that traditional rigid robots cannot achieve. The implementation of intrinsically soft materials allows for deformable robot bodies and adaptable robot kinematics, enabling applications such as flexible sensing technologies, robust grasping systems, and safe human-machine interactions. However, soft robots also face challenges associated with their compliance: lack of precision in kinematics, lack of reconfigurability, and lack of structural strength can all hinder soft robot capabilities. While significant research has focused on the control of actively tunable material properties and soft actuation methods for soft robots, in this work we focus on the design of soft reconfigurable robot architectures that utilize highly manipulatable soft materials and rigid components into hybrid soft/rigid building blocks. In this dissertation, the author provides new design paradigms for future reconfigurable and adaptive soft robots via the development of hybrid materials, designs, and mechanisms. This topic is addressed through three main design principles: a) Geometric reconfiguration of two-dimensional rigid and soft materials leading to variable stiffness change, and multifunctional robot laminates. b) Additive manufacturing combined with flexible laminates to achieve hybrid three-dimensional rigid and soft structures for on-demand stiffening and adaptive robot grasping and locomotion. c) Pinching of soft tubular structures enforced by rigid constraints to achieve on demand formation of reconfigurable virtual joints. Through these studies, the author seeks to present novel reconfigurable mechanisms that utilize combinations of passively compliant and rigid materials and simple activation approaches exploiting these materials. These same design paradigms can be extended to nonlinear programmable material properties enhancing robot performances in the future.
- Published
- 2021
27. Design and assessment of a reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot: a pilot study.
- Author
-
Shi E, Zhi W, Chen W, Han Y, Zhang B, and Zhao X
- Abstract
Introduction: For patients with functional motor disorders of the lower limbs due to brain damage or accidental injury, restoring the ability to stand and walk plays an important role in clinical rehabilitation. Lower limb exoskeleton robots generally require patients to convert themselves to a standing position for use, while being a wearable device with limited movement distance., Methods: This paper proposes a reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot that integrates the functions of an exoskeleton robot and an assistive standing wheelchair through a novel mechanism. The new mechanism is based on a four-bar linkage, and through simple and stable conformal transformations, the robot can switch between exoskeleton state, sit-to-stand support state, and wheelchair state. This enables the robot to achieve the functions of assisted walking, assisted standing up, supported standing and wheelchair mobility, respectively, thereby meeting the daily activity needs of sit-to-stand transitions and gait training. The configuration transformation module controls seamless switching between different configurations through an industrial computer. Experimental protocols have been developed for wearable testing of robotic prototypes not only for healthy subjects but also for simulated hemiplegic patients., Results: The experimental results indicate that the gait tracking effect during robot-assisted walking is satisfactory, and there are no sudden speed changes during the assisted standing up process, providing smooth support to the wearer. Meanwhile, the activation of the main force-generating muscles of the legs and the plantar pressure decreases significantly in healthy subjects and simulated hemiplegic patients wearing the robot for assisted walking and assisted standing-up compared to the situation when the robot is not worn., Discussion: These experimental findings demonstrate that the reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot prototype of this study is effective, reducing the muscular burden on the wearer during walking and standing up, and provide effective support for the subject's body. The experimental results objectively and comprehensively showcase the effectiveness and potential of the reconfigurable behavioral assistive robot in the realms of behavioral assistance and rehabilitation training., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Shi, Zhi, Chen, Han, Zhang and Zhao.)
- Published
- 2024
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28. A DESIGNATION OF MODULAR MOBILE RECONFIGURABLE PLATFORM SYSTEM.
- Author
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LIU, YUBIN, WEI, RUOPENG, DONG, HUIJUAN, ZHU, YANHE, and ZHAO, JIE
- Subjects
- *
MOBILE operating systems , *MOBILE robots , *ROBOT design & construction , *SWARM intelligence , *MEDICAL equipment , *MODULAR design - Abstract
Mobile robots working in special environment have to adapt for unknown and complex environment characteristics, so high mobility, functional versatility and robustness of mobile robots are required. Different from specialized robot designed for single function in single environment, single unit of modular reconfigurable robots has simple mechanical structure, flexible movement and maneuverability; meanwhile, the combination of multiple units has flexible and versatile configuration, combined with distributed control and swarm intelligence algorithm to gain environmental adaptability and functional versatility of the entire reconfigurable robot system. Single unit of modular mobile reconfigurable robots could complete lightweight tasks such as transporting medicines, distributing and accompanying nurses. Meanwhile, the combination of multiple units could complete heavyweight tasks such as transporting patients and large medical equipment. Modular mobile reconfigurable robot system has broad application prospects in the field of medical auxiliary robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
29. Drone Reconfigurable Architecture (DRA): a Multipurpose Modular Architecture for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
- Author
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da Silva Ferreira, Murillo Augusto, Begazo, Maria Fernanda Tejada, Lopes, Guilherme Cano, de Oliveira, Alexandre Felipe, Colombini, Esther Luna, and da Silva Simões, Alexandre
- Abstract
This work proposes the Drone Reconfigurable Architecture (D R A ), which is a modular architecture for UAVs with electrical, mechanical, and computational specifications. The theoretical aspects of the architecture are introduced through a case study with practical implementations aiming to design a multi-rotor UAV, which also includes the manufacturing steps of a functional prototype. Our proposal can be used in a scenario where the capacity of physical reconfiguration of a UAV would confer an enormous advantage to these aircraft in terms of applicability. This happens in the case where each task typically requires a robot with a particular physical architecture (number and position of propellers, autonomy, thrust, sensors, and communication). Results of a set of tests with an aircraft assembly are presented to verify the versatility of the proposed architecture, demonstrating the better performance of these aircraft when compared with conventional UAVs. The proposed methodology allows applications in a variety of scenarios like cargo transportation, support, agriculture, publicity, pest control, surveillance, inspection, and entertainment, between others. In these scenarios, although a software with some generic components could easily control drones to perform all of them, it is unthinkable to consider that a single drone with a particular physical structure would be able to be adapted to all of the tasks necessary (as path following, localization, and mapping). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. A HIERARCHICAL MODULAR ARCHITECTURE FOR RECONFIGURABLE MOBILE ROBOTS.
- Author
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Andreev, Victor, Kim, Valerii, and Pryanichnikov, Valentin
- Subjects
- *
ARCHITECTURE , *MOBILE robots , *RAPID prototyping , *ROBOT programming , *COMPUTATIONAL complexity , *MICROCONTROLLERS , *ROBOTS - Abstract
In this paper we investigate a common issues associated with growth of computational complexity of mobile robots navigation algorithms. It is also shown that a realization of a particular robot application is usually slowed down because of lack of interchangeable and unified robot components. We propose a hierarchical modular architecture for reconfigurable mobile robots as a solution to these problems. In this architecture a mobile robot considered as a combination of modules, which in turn consist of more simple units - sub-modules. Each submodule incorporates a low performance microcontroller and is responsible for only basic functions. A set of sub-modules are then combined into a module – transport platform, robot leg, arm etc. Besides of this one of the main goals of the study is to provide a framework based on this architecture for a rapid robot prototyping with modules that can be assembled in a plug-and-play way. In this paper we mostly consider hardware modules and prototypes that have been already manufactured. We also briefly investigate a robot transport module structure for a motion on a rough terrain in an unstructured environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
31. Computational Systems Design of Low-Cost Lightweight Robots
- Author
-
Zimmermann, Akhil Sathuluri, Anand Vazhapilli Sureshbabu, Jintin Frank, Maximilian Amm, and Markus
- Subjects
modular robots ,reconfigurable robots ,top-down design ,robot systems ,structural optimisation - Abstract
With the increased demand for customisation, developing task-specific robots for industrial and personal applications has become essential. Collaborative robots are often preferred over conventional industrial robots in human-centred production environments. However, fixed architecture robots lack the ability to adapt to changing user demands, while modular, reconfigurable robots provide a quick and affordable alternative. Standardised robot modules often derive their characteristics from conventional industrial robots, making them expensive and bulky and potentially limiting their wider adoption. To address this issue, the current work proposes a top-down multidisciplinary computational design strategy emphasising the low cost and lightweight attributes of modular robots within two consecutive optimisation problems. The first step employs an informed search strategy to explore the design space of robot modules to identify a low-cost robot architecture and controller. The second step employs dynamics-informed structural optimisation to reduce the robot’s net weight. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a set of example requirements, illustrating that (1) the robot modules allow exploring non-intuitive robot architectures, (2) the structural mass of the resulting robot is 16 % lower compared to a robot designed using conventional aluminium tubes, and (3) the designed modules ensure the physical feasibility of the robots produced.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
32. A System-of-Systems Bio-Inspired Design Process: Conceptual Design and Physical Prototype of a Reconfigurable Robot Capable of Multi-Modal Locomotion
- Author
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Ning Tan, Zhenglong Sun, Rajesh Elara Mohan, Nishann Brahmananthan, Srinivasan Venkataraman, Ricardo Sosa, and Kristin Wood
- Subjects
bio-inspired design ,system-of-systems ,multi-model locomotion ,reconfigurable robots ,mobile robotics ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
Modern engineering problems require solutions with multiple functionalities in order to meet their practical needs to handle a variety of applications in different scenarios. Conventional design paradigms for single design purpose may not be able to satisfy this requirement efficiently. This paper proposes a novel system-of-systems bio-inspired design method framed in a solution-driven bio-inspired design paradigm. The whole design process consists of eight steps, that is, (1) biological solutions identification, (2) biological solutions definition/champion biological solutions, (3) principle extraction from each champion biological solution, (4) merging of extracted principles, (5) solution reframing, (6) problem search, (7) problem definition, and (8) principles application & implementation. The steps are elaborated and a case study of reconfigurable robots is presented following these eight steps. The design originates from the multimodal locomotion capabilities of two species (i.e., spiders and primates) and is analyzed based on the Pugh analysis. The resulting robotic platform could be potentially used for urban patrolling purposes.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
33. Advances in Reconfigurable Vectorial Thrusters for Adaptive Underwater Robots
- Author
-
Henrique Fagundes Gasparoto, Olivier Chocron, Mohamed Benbouzid, and Pablo Siqueira Meirelles
- Subjects
underwater propulsion ,underwater robots ,vectorial thrust ,reconfigurable thrusters ,reconfigurable robots ,magnetic coupling ,Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering ,VM1-989 ,Oceanography ,GC1-1581 - Abstract
Manoeuvrability is one of the essential keys in the development of improved autonomous underwater vehicles for challenging missions. In the last years, more researches were dedicated to the development of new hulls shapes and thrusters to assure more manoeuvrability. The present review explores various enabling technologies used to implement the vectorial thrusters (VT), based on water-jet or propellers. The proposals are analysed in terms of added degrees of freedom, mechanisms, number of necessary actuators, water-tightness, electromagnetomechanical complexity, feasibility, etc. The usage of magnetic coupling thrusters (conventional or reconfigurable) is analysed in details since they can assure the development of competitive full waterproof reconfigurable thrusters, which is a frictionless, flexible, safe, and low-maintenance solution. The current limitations (as for instance the use of non conductive hull) are discussed and ideas are proposed for the improvement of this new generation of underwater thrusters, as extending the magnetic coupling usage to obtain a fully contactless vector thrust transmission.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
34. VEHICULAR ACOUSTIC DOPPLER VELOCIMETRY BASED ON RECONFIGURABLE ANALOG AND DIGITAL DESIGN: THEORETICAL APPROACH AND REVIEW.
- Author
-
Bouzid, Ahmed and Vásárhelyi, József
- Subjects
VELOCIMETRY ,RECONFIGURABLE robots ,ULTRASONIC transducers ,DOPPLER effect ,DIGITAL signal processing - Abstract
Velocities of vehicles in slow movement are difficult to be determined because of noise and technological limitations. The paper introduces a novel method for estimating velocities that can be implemented in vehicles at low speeds. For ADV (Acoustic Doppler Velocimetry) a couple of ultrasonic transducers are used. The paper presents a review about ADV (or Ultrasonic Ground Speed Sensor) and a theoretical approach method that consists of using ultrasonic velocimetery based on Doppler effect. The solution takes advantage of reconfigurability to prepare the analog signal on FPAA (Field Programmable Analog Array) and process the IF (Instantaneous Frequency) by DSP (digital signal processing) on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
35. Lessons Learned in Designing User-Configurable Modular Robotics
- Author
-
Lund, Henrik Hautop, Kacprzyk, Janusz, Series editor, Kim, Jong-Hwan, editor, Matson, Eric T ., editor, Myung, Hyun, editor, Xu, Peter, editor, and Karray, Fakhri, editor
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
36. An Energy-Efficient Integrated Programmable Array Accelerator and Compilation Flow for Near-Sensor Ultralow Power Processing.
- Author
-
Das, Satyajit, Martin, Kevin J. M., Coussy, Philippe, Rossi, Davide, and Benini, Luca
- Subjects
- *
SOFTWARE radio , *RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ADAPTIVE computing systems , *ACCELERATOR magnets , *SYSTOLIC array circuits - Abstract
In this paper, we give a fresh look to coarse grained reconfigurable arrays (CGRAs) as ultralow power accelerators for near-sensor processing. We present a general-purpose integrated programmable-array accelerator (IPA) exploiting a novel architecture, execution model, and compilation flow for application mapping that can handle kernels containing complex control flow, without the significant energy overhead incurred by state of the art predication approaches. To optimize the performance and energy efficiency, we explore the IPA architecture with special focus on shared memory access, with the help of the flexible compilation flow presented in this paper. We achieve a maximum energy gain of $2{\times }$ , and performance gain of $1.33{\times }$ and $1.8{\times }$ compared with state of the art partial and full predication techniques, respectively. The proposed accelerator achieves an average energy efficiency of 1617 MOPS/mW operating at 100 MHz, 0.6 V in 28 nm UTBB FD-SOI technology, over a wide range of near-sensor processing kernels, leading to an improvement up to $18{\times }$ , with an average of $9.23{\times }$ (as well as a speed-up up to $20.3{\times }$ , with an average of $9.7{\times }$) compared to a core specialized for ultralow power near-sensor processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
37. Run-time timing prediction for system reconfiguration on many-core embedded systems.
- Author
-
Li, Zheng and He, Shuibing
- Subjects
- *
RUN time systems (Computer science) , *RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ADAPTIVE computing systems , *EMBEDDED computer systems , *SUPERVISION - Abstract
Abstract Many-core embedded systems usually have real-time constrains, which may work in hostile environment and operate continuously without supervision. However, system execution mode change and hardware malfunction could alter deployed applications' response time and result in the violation of system's real-time constraints. To accommodate such incidents, run-time system reconfiguration, which invokes dynamic application migration, needs to be supported on many-core embedded systems. As different migration strategies will impact system's timing behaviors in different manners, it is vital to choose an appropriate one such that the system's timing performance after the migration is still acceptable. The focus of this research is to predict system's timing change induced by any migration strategy, which can be utilized to select the optimal migration strategy among all the possible choices. To be more specific, a two-stage timing prediction approach is investigated in this paper, where the offline stage is to train the initial model using historical data and the online stage is to fine tune the model at run-time. Extensive experiments have been conducted and the results validate the effectiveness of our proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
38. A review of coupling mechanism designs for modular reconfigurable robots.
- Author
-
Saab, Wael, Racioppo, Peter, and Ben-Tzvi, Pinhas
- Subjects
- *
RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ROBOTICS , *MODULES (Algebra) , *SENSOR networks , *SELF diagnosis - Abstract
SUMMARY: With the increasing demands for versatile robotic platforms capable of performing a variety of tasks in diverse and uncertain environments, the needs for adaptable robotic structures have been on the rise. These requirements have led to the development of modular reconfigurable robotic systems that are composed of a numerous self-sufficient modules. Each module is capable of establishing rigid connections between multiple modules to form new structures that enable new functionalities. This allows the system to adapt to unknown tasks and environments. In such structures, coupling between modules is of crucial importance to the overall functionality of the system. Over the last two decades, researchers in the field of modular reconfigurable robotics have developed novel coupling mechanisms intended to establish rigid and robust connections, while enhancing system autonomy and reconfigurability. In this paper, we review research contributions related to robotic coupling mechanism designs, with the aim of outlining current progress and identifying key challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. By presenting notable design approaches to coupling mechanisms and the most relevant efforts at addressing the challenges of sensorization, misalignment tolerance, and autonomous reconfiguration, we hope to provide a useful starting point for further research into the field of modular reconfigurable robotics and other applications of robotic coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
39. Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Efficient Tiling Path Planning in a Tetris-Inspired Self-Reconfigurable Cleaning Robot.
- Author
-
Kouzehgar, Maryam, Rajesh Elara, Mohan, Ann Philip, Mahima, Arunmozhi, Manimuthu, and Prabakaran, Veerajagadheswar
- Subjects
MULTIPLE criteria decision making ,RECONFIGURABLE robots ,POLYOMINOES - Abstract
In this study, we aim to optimize and improve the efficiency of a Tetris-inspired reconfigurable cleaning robot. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is utilized as a powerful tool to target this aim by introducing the best solution among others in terms of lower energy consumption and greater area coverage. Regarding the Tetris-inspired structure, polyomino tiling theory is utilized to generate tiling path-planning maps which are evaluated via MCDM to seek a solution that can deliver the best balance between the two mentioned key issues; energy and area coverage. In order to obtain a tiling area that better meets the requirements of polyomino tiling theorems, first, the whole area is decomposed into five smaller sub-areas based on furniture layout. Afterward, four tetromino tiling theorems are applied to each sub-area to give the tiling sets that govern the robot navigation strategy in terms of shape-shifting tiles. Then, the area coverage and energy consumption are calculated and eventually, these key values are considered as the decision criteria in a MCDM process to select the best tiling set in each sub-area, and following the aggregation of best tiling path-plannings, the robot navigation is oriented towards efficiency and improved optimality. Also, for each sub-area, a preference order for the tiling sets is put forward. Based on simulation results, the tiling theorem that can best serve all sub-areas turns out to be the same. Moreover, a comparison between a fixed-morphology mechanism with the current approach further advocates the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
40. Accomplishing high-level tasks with modular robots.
- Author
-
Jing, Gangyuan, Tosun, Tarik, Yim, Mark, and Kress-Gazit, Hadas
- Subjects
RECONFIGURABLE robots ,FEEDBACK control systems ,DESIGN libraries ,SIMULATION methods & models ,FUNCTIONALISM in design - Abstract
The advantage of modular self-reconfigurable robot systems is their flexibility, but this advantage can only be realized if appropriate configurations (shapes) and behaviors (controlling programs) can be selected for a given task. In this paper, we present an integrated system for addressing high-level tasks with modular robots, and demonstrate that it is capable of accomplishing challenging, multi-part tasks in hardware experiments. The system consists of four tightly integrated components: (1) a high-level mission planner, (2) a large design library spanning a wide set of functionality, (3) a design and simulation tool for populating the library with new configurations and behaviors, and (4) modular robot hardware. This paper builds on earlier work by Jing et al. (in: Robotics: science and systems,
2016 ), extending the original system to include environmentally adaptive parametric behaviors, which integrate motion planners and feedback controllers with the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
41. Multi-Sensor Orientation Tracking for a Façade-Cleaning Robot
- Author
-
Manuel Vega-Heredia, Ilyas Muhammad, Sriharsha Ghanta, Vengadesh Ayyalusami, Siti Aisyah, and Mohan Rajesh Elara
- Subjects
reconfigurable robots ,glass-façade-cleaning robots ,multi-sensor integration ,robot heading tracking ,orientation tracking ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
Glass-façade-cleaning robots are an emerging class of service robots. This kind of cleaning robot is designed to operate on vertical surfaces, for which tracking the position and orientation becomes more challenging. In this article, we have presented a glass-façade-cleaning robot, Mantis v2, who can shift from one window panel to another like any other in the market. Due to the complexity of the panel shifting, we proposed and evaluated different methods for estimating its orientation using different kinds of sensors working together on the Robot Operating System (ROS). For this application, we used an onboard Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), wheel encoders, a beacon-based system, Time-of-Flight (ToF) range sensors, and an external vision sensor (camera) for angular position estimation of the Mantis v2 robot. The external camera is used to monitor the robot’s operation and to track the coordinates of two colored markers attached along the longitudinal axis of the robot to estimate its orientation angle. ToF lidar sensors are attached on both sides of the robot to detect the window frame. ToF sensors are used for calculating the distance to the window frame; differences between beam readings are used to calculate the orientation angle of the robot. Differential drive wheel encoder data are used to estimate the robot’s heading angle on a 2D façade surface. An integrated heading angle estimation is also provided by using simple fusion techniques, i.e., a complementary filter (CF) and 1D Kalman filter (KF) utilizing the IMU sensor’s raw data. The heading angle information provided by different sensory systems is then evaluated in static and dynamic tests against an off-the-shelf attitude and heading reference system (AHRS). It is observed that ToF sensors work effectively from 0 to 30 degrees, beacons have a delay up to five seconds, and the odometry error increases according to the navigation distance due to slippage and/or sliding on the glass. Among all tested orientation sensors and methods, the vision sensor scheme proved to be better, with an orientation angle error of less than 0.8 degrees for this application. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed techniques in this orientation tracking, which has never applied in this specific application of cleaning robots.
- Published
- 2020
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- View/download PDF
42. Metamorphic Structure Representation: Designing and Evaluating Anatomies of Metamorphic Manipulators
- Author
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Valsamos, Charalampos, Moulianitis, Vassilis C., Aspragathos, Nikos, Dai, Jian S, editor, Zoppi, Matteo, editor, and Kong, Xianwen, editor
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
43. Partial Reconfiguration of Concurrent Logic Controllers Implemented in FPGA Devices.
- Author
-
Wiśniewski, Remigiusz, Grobelna, Iwona, and Stefanowicz, Łukasz
- Subjects
- *
FIELD programmable gate arrays , *MILLING (Metalwork) , *CHEMICAL decomposition , *RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ADAPTIVE computing systems - Abstract
Reconfigurable systems are recently used in many domains. Although the concept of multi-context logic controllers is relatively new, it may be noticed that the subject is receiving a lot of attention, especially in the industry. The work constitutes a stepping stone in design of reconfigurable logic controllers implemented in an FPGA device. An approach of designing of logic controllers oriented for further partial reconfiguration is proposed. A case study of a milling machine is used for an illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
44. Advances of Machine Design in Italy 2022.
- Author
-
Ceccarelli, Marco, Carbone, Giuseppe, Ceccarelli, Marco, and Gasparetto, Alessandro
- Subjects
History of engineering & technology ,Mechanical engineering & materials ,Technology: general issues ,Boundary Elements Methods ,Cohen's kappa ,UAV transportation ,UGVs ,accelerometer ,analytic Jacobian ,applied mechanics ,artificial intelligence ,automatic machines ,biofuel ,configuration-dependent substructuring ,confusion matrix ,design optimization ,design space exploration ,diesel blends ,discriminant analysis ,drone-based package delivery ,dynamics of linkages ,elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication ,embedded payload ,feeding ,field robotics ,finite-element analysis ,five bar linkage ,friction ,functional synthesis ,gas micro-turbine ,heavy vehicles ,history of mms ,history of teaching ,human-in-the-loop ,human-robot collaboration ,hypoid gears ,instant center ,inverse kinematics ,italian history of mechanism design ,italian mechanism collections ,kerosene ,kinematics ,lightweight gears ,load transfer ratio ,lubrication ,machine design ,manipulability ,mechanical design ,mechatronic design ,mobile manipulation ,models of mechanisms ,motion planning ,multibody simulation ,n/a ,obstacle avoidance ,off-road applications ,packaging ,path and trajectory planning ,planar mechanism ,planar parallel mechanism ,precision agriculture ,predictive algorithms ,quick-release system ,reconfigurable robots ,rollover detection ,rotary device ,rotor dynamics ,seal instability ,singular configuration ,squeeze film damper ,statistical index ,three-points linkage ,transmission error ,tribology ,vibration reduction ,vibrational analysis ,vibrations ,virtual reality ,wear - Abstract
Summary: This reprint contains a Special Issue of the MDPI journal Machines on Italian advances in mechanism and machines science through a collection of selected papers from the Fourth International Conference of IFToMM Italy, IFIT 2022. The included papers belong to a broad range of disciplines in MMS, with research and design results that can be of interest not only to scholars in the field of MMS and mechanical engineering but also to professionals and even students, broadening their understanding of the problems and solutions under development, mainly, but not only, from the Italian community.
45. Reconfigurable Multilevel Inverter With Fault-Tolerant Ability.
- Author
-
Jahan, Hossein Khoun, Panahandeh, Farhad, Abapour, Mehdi, and Tohidi, Sajjad
- Subjects
- *
RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ELECTRIC inverters , *FAULT-tolerant computing , *ELECTRIC power system faults , *ELECTRICAL conductors - Abstract
The cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (CMI) is one of the most popular converters, especially in renewabale energy applications. Beyond offering some significant benefits, this inverter suffers from the drawback of employing great number of components which reduces the reliability of the inverter. Thus, designing a scheme to enhance reliability in this kind of inverter is of crucial importance. In this paper, a fault-tolerant structure for the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is designed. Failure rates of the switches and diodes are calculated. Then, by using the Markov method, reliability and mean time to failure (MTTF) of the mentioned inverter, before and after employing the suggested scheme, are evaluated. In order to prove proper performance of the suggested scheme, a laboratory built prototype is employed. The results show that employing the suggested scheme significantly enhances reliability and MTTF of the inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
46. An efficient finite element approach for shape prediction in flexibly-reconfigurable roll forming process.
- Author
-
Ghiabakloo, Hadi, Kim, Jeong, and Kang, Beom-Soo
- Subjects
- *
FINITE element method , *RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ROLL forming (Metalwork) , *SHEET metal , *WHEELS , *PHYSICAL constants - Abstract
Flexibly-reconfigurable roll forming (FRRF) process is recently introduced for the production of doubly-curved sheet metal surfaces with convenient change of the curvatures for each part. In FRRF, the sheet metal is deformed by a pair of small-diameter bent rollers with non-constant roll gap distribution from center to edge locations; the resulted part has two curvatures in transverse and in longitudinal directions. In this process, the sheet experiences a bending deformation before rolling, a plane strain compression during rolling, and another bending deformation after rolling. The previous finite element (FE) simulations of FRRF have been performed using 3D solid elements. In the present study, in order to increase the efficiency and accuracy of shape prediction process, the domain is decomposed into three subdomains of pre-rolling, rolling, and post-rolling deformation steps; each subdomain is solved separately by hiring an appropriate method for it. The pre-rolling and rolling deformation steps are solved only one time as the deformation is steady-state in these subdomains. For the post-rolling deformation step in which the sheet undergoes unknown curvature changes, an elastoplastic FEM with curvilinear shell elements is used with an initial stress state and accumulative plastic strain fields recorded from the other subdomains. The mathematical foundation of the method, the numerical computation procedure, and the sensitivity analysis of the method to different parameters are presented. In order to validate the numerical method with experimental data, several specimens with various dimensions are processed by FRRF and the results are compared to the numerical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
47. Reconfigurable Tolerant Control of Uncertain Mechanical Systems With Actuator Faults: A Sliding Mode Observer-Based Approach.
- Author
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Xiao, Bing, Yin, Shen, and Gao, Huijun
- Subjects
FAULT-tolerant control systems ,ACTUATOR testing ,CLOSED loop systems ,RECONFIGURABLE robots ,SYSTEM dynamics ,ROBUST control - Abstract
This paper studies a key issue of developing reconfigurable fault-tolerant control to retain a nominal feedback controller and simultaneously handles actuator faults and system uncertainty, while the closed-loop system is stabilized with all control objectives achieved. A theoretical architecture of a reconfigurable control design is presented for a class of uncertain mechanical systems by using an observer technique. As a stepping stone, a nonlinear observer-based estimation mechanism is designed to reconstruct uncertain dynamics and actuator faults with the estimation error converging to zero within finite time. A reconfigurable control effort is then synthesized from the reconstructed knowledge. This control power operates as a compensation control part, and it is added to the nominal control part to accommodate system uncertainties and actuator faults. It is proved that the overall system resulted from the developed control framework has the same control performance of the nominal closed-loop system, including certain system dynamics and the nominal control effort. The effectiveness of the scheme is validated on a serial robotic manipulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
48. Optimal Energy Consumption for Mobile Manipulators Executing Door-Opening Task.
- Author
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Ma, Changyou, Gao, Haibo, Ding, Liang, Tao, Jianguo, Xia, Kerui, Yu, Haitao, and Deng, Zongquan
- Subjects
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NUCLEAR power plants , *ENERGY consumption , *POLYNOMIALS , *RECONFIGURABLE robots , *TRAJECTORIES (Mechanics) - Abstract
As a substitute for humans, the mobile manipulator has become increasingly vital for on-site rescues at Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in recent years. The high energy efficiency of the mobile manipulator when executing specific rescue tasks is of great importance for the mobile manipulator. This paper focuses on the energy consumption of a robot executing the door-opening task, in a scenario mimicking an NPP rescue. We present an energy consumption optimization scheme to determine the optimal base position and joint motion of the manipulator. We developed a two-step procedure to solve the optimization problem, taking the quadric terms of the joint torques as the objective function. Firstly, the rotational motion of the door is parameterized by using piecewise fifth-order polynomials, and the parameters of the polynomials are optimized by minimizing the joint torques at the specified base position using the Quasi-Newton method. Second, the global optimal movement of the manipulator for executing the door-opening task is acquired by means of searching a grid for feasible base positions. Comprehensive door-opening experiments using a mobile manipulator platform were conducted. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been demonstrated by the results of physical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
49. Design of a reconfigurable front‐end for a multistandard receiver for the frequency range of 800 MHz to 2.5 GHz.
- Author
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Zare Fatin, G., Koozehkanani, Z. D., Fotowat‐Ahmady, Ali, Sobhi, Jafar, and Farrell, Ronan
- Subjects
- *
RADIO frequency , *RADIO measurements , *RECONFIGURABLE robots , *ADAPTIVE computing systems , *WIRELESS LANs - Abstract
Summary: In this paper, a reconfigurable receiver front‐end for the frequency range of 800 MHz to 2.5 GHz is presented. The radio frequency front‐end is realized in wideband form with reconfigurable baseband filter. The proposed front‐end targets the GSM, WLAN, WCDMA, and GPS standards residing in the aimed frequency range. The necessary specifications for each individual standard have been revisited and recalculated. The interaction of the different standards and their interoperability has been thoroughly investigated and extra specifications derived for the multistandard receiver. The multistandard receiver has been designed, layouted, and simulated in RFCMOS 0.18‐μm process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
50. A review of gap-surface plasmon metasurfaces: fundamentals and applications.
- Author
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Ding, Fei, Yang, Yuanqing, Deshpande, Rucha A., and Bozhevolnyi, Sergey I.
- Subjects
PLASMONS (Physics) ,RECONFIGURABLE robots ,POLARIZATION (Electricity) - Abstract
Plasmonic metasurfaces, which can be considered as the two-dimensional analog of metal-based metamaterials, have attracted progressively increasing attention in recent years because of the ease of fabrication and unprecedented control over the reflected or transmitted light while featuring relatively low losses even at optical wavelengths. Among all the different design approaches, gap-surface plasmon metasurfaces – a specific branch of plasmonic metasurfaces – which consist of a subwavelength thin dielectric spacer sandwiched between an optically thick metal film and arrays of metal subwavelength elements arranged in a strictly or quasi-periodic fashion, have gained awareness from researchers working at practically any frequency regime as its realization only requires a single lithographic step, yet with the possibility to fully control the amplitude, phase, and polarization of the reflected light. In this paper, we review the fundamentals, recent developments, and opportunities of gap-surface plasmon metasurfaces. Starting with introducing the concept of gap-surface plasmon metasurfaces, we present three typical gap-surface plasmon resonators, introduce generalized Snell’s law, and explain the concept of Pancharatnam-Berry phase. We then overview the main applications of gap-surface plasmon metasurfaces, including beam-steerers, flat lenses, holograms, absorbers, color printing, polarization control, surface wave couplers, and dynamically reconfigurable metasurfaces. The review is ended with a short summary and outlook on possible future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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