Nonlinear dynamics and chaotic motions in feedback-controlled two- and three-degree-of-freedom robots

The dynamics of a feedback-controlled rigid robot is most commonly described by a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. In this paper we analyze these equations, representing the feedback-controlled motion of two- and three-degrees-of-freedom rigid robots with revolute (R) and prismatic (P) joints in the absence of compliance, friction, and potential energy, for the possibility of chaotic motions. We first study the unforced or inertial motions of the robots, and show that when the Gaussian or Riemannian curvature of the configuration space of a robot is negative, the robot equations can exhibit chaos. If the curvature is zero or positive, then the robot equations cannot exhibit chaos. We show that among the two-degrees-of-freedom robots, the PP and the PR robot have zero Gaussian curvature while the RP and RR robots have negative Gaussian curvatures. For the three-degrees-of-freedom robots, we analyze the two well-known RRP and RRR configurations of the Stanford arm and the PUMA manipulator respectively, and derive the conditions for negative curvature and possible chaotic motions. The criteria of negative curvature cannot be used for the forced or feedback-controlled motions. For the forced motion, we resort to the well-known numerical techniques and compute chaos maps, Poincare maps, and bifurcation diagrams. Numerical results are presented for the two-degrees-of-freedom RP and RR robots, and we show that these robot equations can exhibit chaos for low controller gains and for large underestimated models. From the bifurcation diagrams, the route to chaos appears to be through period doubling.

Modeling of wheeled mobile robots using dextrous manipulation kinematics

Abstract—This document introduces a new kinematic simulation of a wheeled mobile robot operating on uneven terrain. Our modeling method borrows concepts from dextrous manipulation. This allows for an accurate simulation of the way 3-dimensional wheels roll over a smooth ground surface. The purpose of the simulation is to validate a new concept for design of off-road wheel suspensions, called Passive Variable Camber (PVC). We show that PVC eliminates kinematic slip for an outdoor robot. Both forward and inverse kinematics are discussed and simulation results are presented.

Un entorno de programación multinivel y control modular de robots

En este proyecto final de carrera se van a tratar los aspectos referentes a la ampliación de robots. Para ello se utilizará una placa Arduino que se comunicará con el robot por puerto serie. Esta placa, servirá de plataforma de comunicación entre un PC y el robot, ofreciendo una interfaz del robot anterior con la capacidad de ampliación de la placa Arduino. En el transcurso del proyecto se ha realizado una capa intermedia de código C++ que gestiona el uso de la placa Arduino y del robot iRobot Create a través de la misma. Con objeto de dar también soporte a la programación del robot iRobot Create, se ha elegido un simulador y se le ha dado soporte en la capa anteriormente citada.

Análisis de sensibilidad en los procedimientos de calibración de robots de cinemática paralela Aplicación al mecanismo 5R

[ES]Este proyecto investigador tiene como objetivo el ayudar con la calibración del mecanismo de cinco pares de rotación montado en el taller de Ingeniería Mecánica de la ETSI de Bilbao. En primer lugar se estudiarán los algoritmos de optimización prestando especial atención a la comparativa entre Levenberg-Marquart y Gauss-Newton. Se realizarán estudios en Matlab para concluir cuál de los dos es más eficaz tanto en rapidez como en precisión. El que sea más adecuado se implementará en un programa para la calibración del mecanismo 5R. En segundo lugar se estudiarán los índices de observabilidad. Los estudios que se han realizado sobre ellos hasta ahora son poco concluyentes asique se intentará aclarar su utilidad y determinar cuál es el que conviene utilizar en este caso. Para ello se deberá programar la resolución del problema cinemático inverso. Por último se presentarán los resultados y las conclusiones correspondientes. Se propondrá también un plan de desarrollo de una línea de investigación futura que partirá con este trabajo como base.

Análisis cinemático de robots antropomórficos con cuaterniones duales

[ES]Este documento presenta una teoría de análisis cinemático capaz de unificar posición/orientación describiendo el movimiento de la herramienta de un robot mediante un cuaternión dual que envuelve traslación y rotación. Se desarrolla la cinemática directa de dos robots, uno redundante y otro no redundante a fin de evaluar la validez del método en ambos casos. Por último, se comparan los resultados de dicha teoría con los resultados que ofrece la conocida teoría de las matrices de transformación homogéneas.

Elaboración de una herramienta informática de análisis dinámico para el diseño mecánico de robots 5R

El objeto del proyecto es la creación de una herramienta informática que permita analizar un mecanismo paralelo de 2 g.d.l. Para ello se ha planteado primeramente el tipo de mecanismo a analizar, se han realizado los cálculos necesarios para un mecanismo genérico y por último se han implementado sobre una plataforma informática, con el fin de automatizar los cálculos para distintos datos de entrada. El mecanismo paralelo más sencillo de estudiar es el mecanismo 5R, llamado así por estar formado por 5 pares de rotación. Su construcción similar a un paralelogramo articulado pero con un segmento más, hace de este mecanismo un caso sencillo de estudio con 2 g.d.l. por lo que poseerá un movimiento plano.

Templates and anchors for antenna-based wall following in cockroaches and robots

The interplay between robotics and neuromechanics facilitates discoveries in both fields: nature provides roboticists with design ideas, while robotics research elucidates critical features that confer performance advantages to biological systems. Here, we explore a system particularly well suited to exploit the synergies between biology and robotics: high-speed antenna-based wall following of the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana). Our approach integrates mathematical and hardware modeling with behavioral and neurophysiological experiments. Specifically, we corroborate a prediction from a previously reported wall-following template - the simplest model that captures a behavior - that a cockroach antenna-based controller requires the rate of approach to a wall in addition to distance, e.g., in the form of a proportional-derivative (PD) controller. Neurophysiological experiments reveal that important features of the wall-following controller emerge at the earliest stages of sensory processing, namely in the antennal nerve. Furthermore, we embed the template in a robotic platform outfitted with a bio-inspired antenna. Using this system, we successfully test specific PD gains (up to a scale) fitted to the cockroach behavioral data in a "real-world" setting, lending further credence to the surprisingly simple notion that a cockroach might implement a PD controller for wall following. Finally, we embed the template in a simulated lateral-leg-spring (LLS) model using the center of pressure as the control input. Importantly, the same PD gains fitted to cockroach behavior also stabilize wall following for the LLS model. © 2008 IEEE.

Towards soft self-reconfigurable robots

Modular self-reconfigurable robots have previously demonstrated that automatic control of their own body shapes enriches their behavioural functions. However, having predefined rigid modules technically limits real-world systems from being hyper-redundant and compliant. Encouraged by recent progress using elastically deformable material for robots, we propose the concept of soft self-reconfigurable robots which may become hyper-flexible during interaction with the environment. As the first attempt towards this goal, the paper proposes a novel approach using viscoelastic material Hot-Melt Adhesives (HMAs): for physical connection and disconnection control between bodies that are not necessarily predefined rigid modules. We present a model that characterizes the temperature dependency of the strength of HMA bonds, which is then validated and used in a feedback controller for automatic connection and disconnection. Using a minimalistic robot platform that is equipped with two devices handling HMAs, the performance of this method is evaluated in a pick-and-place experiment with aluminium and wooden parts. © 2012 IEEE.

Twitching in sensorimotor development from sleeping rats to robots.

It is still not known how the 'rudimentary' movements of fetuses and infants are transformed into the coordinated, flexible and adaptive movements of adults. In addressing this important issue, we consider a behavior that has been perennially viewed as a functionless by-product of a dreaming brain: the jerky limb movements called myoclonic twitches. Recent work has identified the neural mechanisms that produce twitching as well as those that convey sensory feedback from twitching limbs to the spinal cord and brain. In turn, these mechanistic insights have helped inspire new ideas about the functional roles that twitching might play in the self-organization of spinal and supraspinal sensorimotor circuits. Striking support for these ideas is coming from the field of developmental robotics: when twitches are mimicked in robot models of the musculoskeletal system, the basic neural circuitry undergoes self-organization. Mutually inspired biological and synthetic approaches promise not only to produce better robots, but also to solve fundamental problems concerning the developmental origins of sensorimotor maps in the spinal cord and brain.

AI in locomotion: Challenges and perspectives of underactuated robots

This article discusses the issues of adaptive autonomous navigation as a challenge of artificial intelligence. We argue that, in order to enhance the dexterity and adaptivity in robot navigation, we need to take into account the decentralized mechanisms which exploit physical system-environment interactions. In this paper, by introducing a few underactuated locomotion systems, we explain (1) how mechanical body structures are related to motor control in locomotion behavior, (2) how a simple computational control process can generate complex locomotion behavior, and (3) how a motor control architecture can exploit the body dynamics through a learning process. Based on the case studies, we discuss the challenges and perspectives toward a new framework of adaptive robot control. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.

Theoretical and experimental research on time-optimal trajectory planning and control of industrial robots

提出了一种用于工业机器人时间最优轨迹规划及轨迹控制的新方法，它可以确保在关节位移、速度、加速度以及二阶加速度边界值的约束下，机器人手部沿笛卡尔空间中规定路径运动的时间阳短。在这种方法中，所规划的关节轨迹都采用二次多项式加余弦函数的形式，不仅可以保证各关节运动的位移、速度 、加速度连续而且还可以保证各关节运动的二阶加速度连续。采用这种方法，既可以提高机器人的工作效率又可以延长机器人的工作寿命以PUMA560机器人为对象进行了计算机仿真和机器人实验，结果表明这种方法是正确的有效的。它为工业机器人在非线性运动学约束条件下的时间最优轨迹规划及控制问题提供了一种较好的解决方案。