Robot Manipulators

Robot manipulators are developing more in the direction of industrial robots than of human workers. Recently, the applications of robot manipulators are spreading their focus, for example Da Vinci as a medical robot, ASIMO as a humanoid robot and so on. There are many research topics within the field of robot manipulators, e.g. motion planning, cooperation with a human, and fusion with external sensors like vision, haptic and force, etc. Moreover, these include both technical problems in the industry and theoretical problems in the academic fields. This book is a collection of papers presenting the latest research issues from around the world

Design and control of soft rehabilitation robots actuated by pneumatic muscles: State of the art

Robot-assisted rehabilitation has become a new mainstream trend for the treatment of stroke patients with movement disability. Pneumatic muscle (PM) is one of the most promising actuators for rehabilitation robots, due to its inherent compliance and safety features. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review on the soft rehabilitation robots driven by pneumatic muscles. This review discusses up to date mechanical structures and control strategies for PMs-actuated rehabilitation robots. A variety of state-of-the-art soft rehabilitation robots are classified and reviewed according to the actuation configurations. Special attentions are paid to control strategies under different mechanical designs, with advanced control approaches to overcome PM’s highly nonlinear and time-varying behaviors and to enhance the adaptability to different patients. Finally, we analyze and highlight the current research gaps and the future directions in this field, which is potential for providing a reliable guidance on the development of advanced soft rehabilitation robots

Becoming Human with Humanoid

Nowadays, our expectations of robots have been significantly increases. The robot, which was initially only doing simple jobs, is now expected to be smarter and more dynamic. People want a robot that resembles a human (humanoid) has and has emotional intelligence that can perform action-reaction interactions. This book consists of two sections. The first section focuses on emotional intelligence, while the second section discusses the control of robotics. The contents of the book reveal the outcomes of research conducted by scholars in robotics fields to accommodate needs of society and industry

14th Conference on Dynamical Systems Theory and Applications DSTA 2017 ABSTRACTS

From Preface: This is the fourteen time when the conference “Dynamical Systems – Theory and Applications” gathers a numerous group of outstanding scientists and engineers, who deal with widely understood problems of theoretical and applied dynamics. Organization of the conference would not have been possible without a great effort of the staff of the Department of Automation, Biomechanics and Mechatronics. The patronage over the conference has been taken by the Committee of Mechanics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It is a great pleasure that our invitation has been accepted by so many people, including good colleagues and friends as well as a large group of researchers and scientists, who decided to participate in the conference for the first time. With proud and satisfaction we welcome nearly 250 persons from 38 countries all over the world. They decided to share the results of their research and many years experiences in the discipline of dynamical systems by submitting many very interesting papers. This booklet contains a collection of 375 abstracts, which have gained the acceptance of referees and have been qualified for publication in the conference proceedings [...]

Adaptive Control

Adaptive control has been a remarkable field for industrial and academic research since 1950s. Since more and more adaptive algorithms are applied in various control applications, it is becoming very important for practical implementation. As it can be confirmed from the increasing number of conferences and journals on adaptive control topics, it is certain that the adaptive control is a significant guidance for technology development.The authors the chapters in this book are professionals in their areas and their recent research results are presented in this book which will also provide new ideas for improved performance of various control application problems

Active vibration control of a flexible robot link using piezoelectric actuators

Nuisance vibrations are a concern throughout the engineering realm, and many re-searchers are dedicated to finding a solution to attenuate them. This research primarily focusses upon the suppression of vibrations in a robot system, with the control system being designed so that it is both affordable and lightweight. Such constraints aim to provide a solution that may be utilised in a variety of applications. The utilisation of piezoelectric elements as both actuators and sensors provides several advantages in that they are lightweight, easily integrated into an existing system and have a good force to weight ratio when used as actuators. To read and control these elements a single board computer was employed, in acknowledgement of the constraining parameters of the design. The amalgamation of vibration control and robotics has lent to the re-search being conducted with separate objectives set, isolating certain elements of the overall system design for validation. Ultimately, these separate investigations progress to the integration of the robot and control systems prior to further research concerning nonlinear vibrations, dynamic control and the discrete-time domain modelling of the system.This research first investigates the viability of the chosen components as a vibration attenuation solution. In addition, analytical models of the system have been created, for two types of sensors to determine the most effective; an inertial measurement unit and a collocated pair of piezoelectric sensors. These models are based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and aim to validate the control theory through a comparison of the experimental data. These experiments isolate the vibration problem from a robot system through the investigation of the control of a long slender beam envisioned as a robot manipulator link, but excited using a shaker platform in a sinusoidal manner. An observation of the theory related to the voltage produced by the piezoelectric elements, suggests that even with the application of only proportional control by the system, the controlled output would have components indicative of both proportional and derivative control. This observation and the underlying theory are further analysed within this research.The next objectives are to compare the performance of the control system developed in this research which utilises a Raspberry Pi 3B+ [1] with one that employs a dSPACE MicroLabBox [2], and to determine the suitability of the former for use with robot sys-tems. With the former ensuring that the constraints placed on the design, those which influenced the selection of the components, does not conclude to the dSPACE Micro-LabBox system being overtly preferable. The latter investigates both the impact of the system’s inclusion on the functionality of the system and the system’s perform-ance with respect to the intended application. The KUKA LBR iiwa 7 R800 [3] robot manipulator is utilised to satisfy this objective, wherein the link is mounted on the end effector of the manipulator acting as an eighth link. The final investigation in this research pertains to the attenuation of nonlinear vibrations experienced by a robot manipulator link. Additional components were added to the link to induce a geometric nonlinearity in the system. An analytical model of the amended system was created to validate the theory through comparison with experimental results. The control system was employed for multiple cases to ascertain the level of its performance with regards to the suppression of nonlinear vibrations

New Approaches in Automation and Robotics

The book New Approaches in Automation and Robotics offers in 22 chapters a collection of recent developments in automation, robotics as well as control theory. It is dedicated to researchers in science and industry, students, and practicing engineers, who wish to update and enhance their knowledge on modern methods and innovative applications. The authors and editor of this book wish to motivate people, especially under-graduate students, to get involved with the interesting field of robotics and mechatronics. We hope that the ideas and concepts presented in this book are useful for your own work and could contribute to problem solving in similar applications as well. It is clear, however, that the wide area of automation and robotics can only be highlighted at several spots but not completely covered by a single book

Projeto do sistema de controle de um exoesqueleto do membro inferior direito

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, 2017.Nesta pesquisa o modelo de um exoesqueleto do membro inferior direita para melhorar a mobilidade do usuário e seu sistema de controle foram desenvolvidos. O projeto físico do modelo do exoesqueleto consiste em três partes principais: um quadril e a parte superior e inferior da perna conectados um com o outro por juntas revolutas. Cada uma das juntas é atuado por um motor Brushless DC (BLDC) com caixa de redução para aumentar torque. Os motores a serem usados na construção possuem sensores de velocidade e de posição para fornecer os dados necessários para o sistema de controle. Solidworks Computer Aided Design (CAD) software é usado para desenvolver o modelo do exoesqueleto, que é salvo em formato extensible markup language (XML) para depois ser importado em Simmechanics, permitindo a integração de modelos de corpos físicos com componentes de Simulink. A cinemática inversa do exoesqueleto é desenvolvido e projetado em Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) usando aritmética em ponto flutuante para ser executado a partir de um dispositivo Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Quatro representações diferentes do projeto de hardware do modelo cinematico do exoesqueleto foram desenvolvidos fazendo análise de erro com Mean Square Error (MSE) e Average Relative Error (ARE). Análise de trade-off de desempenho e área em FPGA é feito. A estratégia de controle Proportional-Integrative-Derivative (PID) é escolhido para desenvolver o sistema de controle do exoesqueleto por ser relativamente simples e eficiente para desenvolver e por ser amplamente usado em muitas áreas de aplicação. Duas estratégias de sistemas de controle combinado de posiçaõ e velocidade são desenvolvidos e comparados um com o outro. Cada sistema de controle consiste em dois controladores de velocidade e dois de posição. Os parâmetros PID são calculados usando os métodos de sintonização Ziegler-Nichols e Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). PSO é um método de sintonização relativamente simples porém eficiente que é aplicado em muitos problemas de otimização. PSO é baseado no comportamento supostamente inteligente de cardumes de peixes e bandos de aves em procura de alimento. O algoritmo, junto com o método Ziegler-Nichols, é usado para achar parâmetros PID apropriados para os blocos de controle nas duas estratégias te controle desenvolvidos. A resposta do sistema de controle é avaliada, analisando a resposta a um step input. Simulação da marcha humana é também feito nos dois modelos de sistema de controle do exoesqueleto fornecendo dados de marcha humana ao modelo e analisando visualmente os movimentos do exoesqueleto em Simulink. Os dados para simulação da marcha humana são extraídos de uma base de dados existente e adaptados para fazer simulações nos modelos de sistema de controle do exoesqueleto.In this research a model of an exoskeleton of the right lower limb for user mobility enhancement and its control system are designed. The exoskeleton design consists of three major parts: a hip, an upper leg and a lower leg part, connected to one another with revolute joints. The joints will each be actuated by Brushless DC (BLDC) Motors equipped with gearboxes to increase torque. The motors are also equipped with velocity and position sensors which provide the necessary data for the designed control systems. Solidworks Computer Aided Design (CAD) software is used to develop a model of the exoskeleton which is then exported in extensible markup language (XML) format to be imported in Simmechanics, enabling the integration of physical body components with Simulink components. The inverse kinematics of the exoskeleton model is calculated and designed in Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) using floating-point numbers, to be executed from a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Device. Four different bit width representations of the hardware design of the kinematics model of the exoskeleton are developed, performing error analysis with the Mean Square Error (MSE) and the Average Relative Error (ARE) approaches. Trade-off analysis is then performed against performance and area on FPGA. The Proportional-Integrative-Derivative (PID) control strategy is chosen to develop the control system for the exoskeleton for its relatively simple design and proven efficient implementation in a very broad range of real life application areas. Two control system strategies are developed and compared to one another. Each control system design is comprised of two velocity- and two position controllers. PID parameters are calculated using the Ziegler-Nichols method and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). PSO is a relatively simple yet powerful optimization method that is applied in many optimization problem areas. It is based on the seemingly intelligent behaviour of fish schools and bird flocks in search of food. The algorithm, alongside the Ziegler-Nichols method, is used to find suitable PID parameters for control system blocks in the two designs. The system response of the control systems is evaluated analyzing step response. Human gait simulation is also performed on the developed exoskeleton control systems by observing the exoskeleton model movements in Simulink. The gait simulation data is extracted from a human gait database and adapted to be fed as input to the exoskeleton control system models

Sliding Mode Control

The main objective of this monograph is to present a broad range of well worked out, recent application studies as well as theoretical contributions in the field of sliding mode control system analysis and design. The contributions presented here include new theoretical developments as well as successful applications of variable structure controllers primarily in the field of power electronics, electric drives and motion steering systems. They enrich the current state of the art, and motivate and encourage new ideas and solutions in the sliding mode control area