Adaptive Finite-Time Model Estimation and Control for Manipulator Visual Servoing using Sliding Mode Control and Neural Networks

The image-based visual servoing without models of system is challenging since it is hard to fetch an accurate estimation of hand-eye relationship via merely visual measurement. Whereas, the accuracy of estimated hand-eye relationship expressed in local linear format with Jacobian matrix is important to whole system's performance. In this article, we proposed a finite-time controller as well as a Jacobian matrix estimator in a combination of online and offline way. The local linear formulation is formulated first. Then, we use a combination of online and offline method to boost the estimation of the highly coupled and nonlinear hand-eye relationship with data collected via depth camera. A neural network (NN) is pre-trained to give a relative reasonable initial estimation of Jacobian matrix. Then, an online updating method is carried out to modify the offline trained NN for a more accurate estimation. Moreover, sliding mode control algorithm is introduced to realize a finite-time controller. Compared with previous methods, our algorithm possesses better convergence speed. The proposed estimator possesses excellent performance in the accuracy of initial estimation and powerful tracking capabilities for time-varying estimation for Jacobian matrix compared with other data-driven estimators. The proposed scheme acquires the combination of neural network and finite-time control effect which drives a faster convergence speed compared with the exponentially converge ones. Another main feature of our algorithm is that the state signals in system is proved to be semi-global practical finite-time stable. Several experiments are carried out to validate proposed algorithm's performance.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure

Survey of Visual and Force/Tactile Control of Robots for Physical Interaction in Spain

Sensors provide robotic systems with the information required to perceive the changes that happen in unstructured environments and modify their actions accordingly. The robotic controllers which process and analyze this sensory information are usually based on three types of sensors (visual, force/torque and tactile) which identify the most widespread robotic control strategies: visual servoing control, force control and tactile control. This paper presents a detailed review on the sensor architectures, algorithmic techniques and applications which have been developed by Spanish researchers in order to implement these mono-sensor and multi-sensor controllers which combine several sensors

Sliding mode control for robust and smooth reference tracking in robot visual servoing

[EN] An approach based on sliding mode is proposed in this work for reference tracking in robot visual servoing. In particular, 2 sliding mode controls are obtained depending on whether joint accelerations or joint jerks are considered as the discontinuous control action. Both sliding mode controls are extensively compared in a 3D-simulated environment with their equivalent well-known continuous controls, which can be found in the literature, to highlight their similarities and differences. The main advantages of the proposed method are smoothness, robustness, and low computational cost. The applicability and robustness of the proposed approach are substantiated by experimental results using a conventional 6R industrial manipulator (KUKA KR 6 R900 sixx [AGILUS]) for positioning and tracking tasks.Spanish Government, Grant/Award Number: BES-2010-038486; Generalitat Valenciana, Grant/Award Number: BEST/2017/029 and APOSTD/2016/044Muñoz-Benavent, P.; Gracia, L.; Solanes, JE.; Esparza, A.; Tornero, J. (2018). Sliding mode control for robust and smooth reference tracking in robot visual servoing. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control. 28(5):1728-1756. https://doi.org/10.1002/rnc.3981S17281756285Hutchinson, S., Hager, G. D., & Corke, P. I. (1996). A tutorial on visual servo control. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 12(5), 651-670. doi:10.1109/70.538972Chaumette, F., & Hutchinson, S. (2008). Visual Servoing and Visual Tracking. Springer Handbook of Robotics, 563-583. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-30301-5_25Corke, P. (2011). Robotics, Vision and Control. 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On improving robot image-based visual servoing based on dual-rate reference filtering control strategy. Robotica, 34(12), 2842-2859. doi:10.1017/s0263574715000454Elena M Cristiano M Damiano F Bonfe M Variable structure PID controller for cooperative eye-in-hand/eye-to-hand visual servoing 2003 Istanbul, Turkey https://doi.org/10.1109/CCA.2003.1223145Hashimoto, K., Ebine, T., & Kimura, H. (1996). Visual servoing with hand-eye manipulator-optimal control approach. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 12(5), 766-774. doi:10.1109/70.538981Chan A Leonard S Croft EA Little JJ Collision-free visual servoing of an eye-in-hand manipulator via constraint-aware planning and control 2011 San Francisco, CA, USA https://doi.org/10.1109/ACC.2011.5991008Allibert, G., Courtial, E., & Chaumette, F. (2010). Visual Servoing via Nonlinear Predictive Control. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, 375-393. doi:10.1007/978-1-84996-089-2_20Kragic, D., & Christensen, H. I. (2003). Robust Visual Servoing. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 22(10-11), 923-939. doi:10.1177/027836490302210009Mezouar Y Chaumette F Path planning in image space for robust visual servoing 2000 San Francisco, CA, USA https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOT.2000.846445Morel, G., Zanne, P., & Plestan, F. (2005). Robust visual servoing: bounding the task function tracking errors. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 13(6), 998-1009. doi:10.1109/tcst.2005.857409Hammouda, L., Kaaniche, K., Mekki, H., & Chtourou, M. (2015). Robust visual servoing using global features based on random process. International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics, 5(2), 138. doi:10.1504/ijcvr.2015.068803Yang YX Liu D Liu H Robot-self-learning visual servoing algorithm using neural networks 2002 Beijing, China https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMLC.2002.1174473Sadeghzadeh, M., Calvert, D., & Abdullah, H. A. (2014). Self-Learning Visual Servoing of Robot Manipulator Using Explanation-Based Fuzzy Neural Networks and Q-Learning. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 78(1), 83-104. doi:10.1007/s10846-014-0151-5Lee AX Levine S Abbeel P Learning Visual Servoing With Deep Features and Fitted Q-Iteration 2017Fakhry, H. H., & Wilson, W. J. (1996). A modified resolved acceleration controller for position-based visual servoing. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 24(5-6), 1-9. doi:10.1016/0895-7177(96)00112-4Keshmiri, M., Wen-Fang Xie, & Mohebbi, A. (2014). Augmented Image-Based Visual Servoing of a Manipulator Using Acceleration Command. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 61(10), 5444-5452. doi:10.1109/tie.2014.2300048Edwards, C., & Spurgeon, S. (1998). Sliding Mode Control. doi:10.1201/9781498701822Zanne P Morel G Piestan F Robust vision based 3D trajectory tracking using sliding mode control 2000 San Francisco, CA, USAOliveira TR Peixoto AJ Leite AC Hsu L Sliding mode control of uncertain multivariable nonlinear systems applied to uncalibrated robotics visual servoing 2009 St. Louis, MO, USAOliveira, T. R., Leite, A. C., Peixoto, A. J., & Hsu, L. (2014). Overcoming Limitations of Uncalibrated Robotics Visual Servoing by means of Sliding Mode Control and Switching Monitoring Scheme. Asian Journal of Control, 16(3), 752-764. doi:10.1002/asjc.899Li, F., & Xie, H.-L. (2010). Sliding mode variable structure control for visual servoing system. 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Switch-Based Sliding Mode Control for Position-Based Visual Servoing of Robotic Riveting System. Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 139(4). doi:10.1115/1.4034681Moosavian, S. A. A., & Papadopoulos, E. (2007). Modified transpose Jacobian control of robotic systems. Automatica, 43(7), 1226-1233. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2006.12.029Sagara, S., & Taira, Y. (2008). Digital control of space robot manipulators with velocity type joint controller using transpose of generalized Jacobian matrix. Artificial Life and Robotics, 13(1), 355-358. doi:10.1007/s10015-008-0584-7Khalaji, A. K., & Moosavian, S. A. A. (2015). Modified transpose Jacobian control of a tractor-trailer wheeled robot. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 29(9), 3961-3969. doi:10.1007/s12206-015-0841-3Utkin, V., Guldner, J., & Shi, J. (2017). Sliding Mode Control in Electro-Mechanical Systems. doi:10.1201/9781420065619Utkin, V. (2016). Discussion Aspects of High-Order Sliding Mode Control. 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Chattering avoidance by second-order sliding mode control. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 43(2), 241-246. doi:10.1109/9.661074Siciliano, B., Sciavicco, L., Villani, L., & Oriolo, G. (2009). Robotics. Advanced Textbooks in Control and Signal Processing. doi:10.1007/978-1-84628-642-1Deo, A. S., & Walker, I. D. (1995). Overview of damped least-squares methods for inverse kinematics of robot manipulators. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 14(1), 43-68. doi:10.1007/bf01254007WHEELER, G., SU, C.-Y., & STEPANENKO, Y. (1998). A Sliding Mode Controller with Improved Adaptation Laws for the Upper Bounds on the Norm of Uncertainties. Automatica, 34(12), 1657-1661. doi:10.1016/s0005-1098(98)80024-1Yu-Sheng Lu. (2009). Sliding-Mode Disturbance Observer With Switching-Gain Adaptation and Its Application to Optical Disk Drives. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 56(9), 3743-3750. doi:10.1109/tie.2009.2025719Chen, X., Shen, W., Cao, Z., & Kapoor, A. (2014). A novel approach for state of charge estimation based on adaptive switching gain sliding mode observer in electric vehicles. Journal of Power Sources, 246, 667-678. doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.08.039Cong, B. L., Chen, Z., & Liu, X. D. (2012). On adaptive sliding mode control without switching gain overestimation. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 24(3), 515-531. doi:10.1002/rnc.2902Taleb, M., Plestan, F., & Bououlid, B. (2014). An adaptive solution for robust control based on integral high-order sliding mode concept. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 25(8), 1201-1213. doi:10.1002/rnc.3135Zhu, J., & Khayati, K. (2016). On a new adaptive sliding mode control for MIMO nonlinear systems with uncertainties of unknown bounds. 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Brain over Brawn -- Using a Stereo Camera to Detect, Track and Intercept a Faster UAV by Reconstructing Its Trajectory

The work presented in this paper demonstrates our approach to intercepting a faster intruder UAV, inspired by the MBZIRC2020 Challenge 1. By leveraging the knowledge of the shape of the intruder's trajectory we are able to calculate the interception point. Target tracking is based on image processing by a YOLOv3 Tiny convolutional neural network, combined with depth calculation using a gimbal-mounted ZED Mini stereo camera. We use RGB and depth data from ZED Mini to extract the 3D position of the target, for which we devise a histogram-of-depth based processing to reduce noise. Obtained 3D measurements of target's position are used to calculate the position, the orientation and the size of a figure-eight shaped trajectory, which we approximate using lemniscate of Bernoulli. Once the approximation is deemed sufficiently precise, measured by Hausdorff distance between measurements and the approximation, an interception point is calculated to position the intercepting UAV right on the path of the target. The proposed method, which has been significantly improved based on the experience gathered during the MBZIRC competition, has been validated in simulation and through field experiments. The results confirmed that an efficient visual perception module which extracts information related to the motion of the target UAV as a basis for the interception, has been developed. The system is able to track and intercept the target which is 30% faster than the interceptor in majority of simulation experiments. Tests in the unstructured environment yielded 9 out of 12 successful results.Comment: To be published in Field Robotics. UAV-Eagle dataset available at: https://github.com/larics/UAV-Eagl

Enhanced Image-Based Visual Servoing Dealing with Uncertainties

Nowadays, the applications of robots in industrial automation have been considerably increased. There is increasing demand for the dexterous and intelligent robots that can work in unstructured environment. Visual servoing has been developed to meet this need by integration of vision sensors into robotic systems. Although there has been significant development in visual servoing, there still exist some challenges in making it fully functional in the industry environment. The nonlinear nature of visual servoing and also system uncertainties are part of the problems affecting the control performance of visual servoing. The projection of 3D image to 2D image which occurs in the camera creates a source of uncertainty in the system. Another source of uncertainty lies in the camera and robot manipulator's parameters. Moreover, limited field of view (FOV) of the camera is another issues influencing the control performance. There are two main types of visual servoing: position-based and image-based. This project aims to develop a series of new methods of image-based visual servoing (IBVS) which can address the nonlinearity and uncertainty issues and improve the visual servoing performance of industrial robots. The first method is an adaptive switch IBVS controller for industrial robots in which the adaptive law deals with the uncertainties of the monocular camera in eye-in-hand configuration. The proposed switch control algorithm decouples the rotational and translational camera motions and decomposes the IBVS control into three separate stages with different gains. This method can increase the system response speed and improve the tracking performance of IBVS while dealing with camera uncertainties. The second method is an image feature reconstruction algorithm based on the Kalman filter which is proposed to handle the situation where the image features go outside the camera's FOV. The combination of the switch controller and the feature reconstruction algorithm can not only improve the system response speed and tracking performance of IBVS, but also can ensure the success of servoing in the case of the feature loss. Next, in order to deal with the external disturbance and uncertainties due to the depth of the features, the third new control method is designed to combine proportional derivative (PD) control with sliding mode control (SMC) on a 6-DOF manipulator. The properly tuned PD controller can ensure the fast tracking performance and SMC can deal with the external disturbance and depth uncertainties. In the last stage of the thesis, the fourth new semi off-line trajectory planning method is developed to perform IBVS tasks for a 6-DOF robotic manipulator system. In this method, the camera's velocity screw is parametrized using time-based profiles. The parameters of the velocity profile are then determined such that the velocity profile takes the robot to its desired position. This is done by minimizing the error between the initial and desired features. The algorithm for planning the orientation of the robot is decoupled from the position planning of the robot. This allows a convex optimization problem which lead to a faster and more efficient algorithm. The merit of the proposed method is that it respects all of the system constraints. This method also considers the limitation caused by camera's FOV. All the developed algorithms in the thesis are validated via tests on a 6-DOF Denso robot in an eye-in-hand configuration

Robust Position-based Visual Servoing of Industrial Robots

Recently, the researchers have tried to use dynamic pose correction methods to improve the accuracy of industrial robots. The application of dynamic path tracking aims at adjusting the end-effector’s pose by using a photogrammetry sensor and eye-to-hand PBVS scheme. In this study, the research aims to enhance the accuracy of industrial robot by designing a chattering-free digital sliding mode controller integrated with a novel adaptive robust Kalman filter (ARKF) validated on Puma 560 model on simulation. This study includes Gaussian noise generation, pose estimation, design of adaptive robust Kalman filter, and design of chattering-free sliding mode controller. The designed control strategy has been validated and compared with other control strategies in Matlab 2018a Simulink on a 64bits PC computer. The main contributions of the research work are summarized as follows. First, the noise removal in the pose estimation is carried out by the novel ARKF. The proposed ARKF deals with experimental noise generated from photogrammetry observation sensor C-track 780. It exploits the advantages of adaptive estimation method for states noise covariance (Q), least square identification for measurement noise covariance (R) and a robust mechanism for state variables error covariance (P). The Gaussian noise generation is based on the collected data from the C-track when the robot is in a stationary status. A novel method for estimating covariance matrix R considering both effects of the velocity and pose is suggested. Next, a robust PBVS approach for industrial robots based on fast discrete sliding mode controller (FDSMC) and ARKF is proposed. The FDSMC takes advantage of a nonlinear reaching law which results in faster and more accurate trajectory tracking compared to standard DSMC. Substituting the switching function with a continuous nonlinear reaching law leads to a continuous output and thus eliminating the chattering. Additionally, the sliding surface dynamics is considered to be a nonlinear one, which results in increasing the convergence speed and accuracy. Finally, the analysis techniques related to various types of sliding mode controller have been used for comparison. Also, the kinematic and dynamic models with revolutionary joints for Puma 560 are built for simulation validation. Based on the computed indicators results, it is proven that after tuning the parameters of designed controller, the chattering-free FDSMC integrated with ARKF can essentially reduce the effect of uncertainties on robot dynamic model and improve the tracking accuracy of the 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot

Visual Servoing

The goal of this book is to introduce the visional application by excellent researchers in the world currently and offer the knowledge that can also be applied to another field widely. This book collects the main studies about machine vision currently in the world, and has a powerful persuasion in the applications employed in the machine vision. The contents, which demonstrate that the machine vision theory, are realized in different field. For the beginner, it is easy to understand the development in the vision servoing. For engineer, professor and researcher, they can study and learn the chapters, and then employ another application method