On a Jansen leg with multiple gait patterns for reconfigurable walking platforms

Legged robots are able to move across irregular terrains and those based on 1-degree-of-freedom planar linkages can be energy efficient, but are often constrained by a limited range of gaits which can limit their locomotion capabilities considerably. This article reports the design of a novel reconfigurable Theo Jansen linkage that produces a wide variety of gait cycles, opening new possibilities for innovative applications. The suggested mechanism switches from a pin-jointed Grübler kinematic chain to a 5-degree-of-freedom mechanism with slider joints during the reconfiguration process. It is shown that such reconfigurable linkage significantly extend the capabilities of the original design, while maintaining its mechanical simplicity during normal operation, to not only produce different useful gait patterns but also to realize behaviors beyond locomotion. Experiments with an implemented prototype are presented, and their results validate the proposed approach

Distance-based formulations for the position analysis of kinematic chains

This thesis addresses the kinematic analysis of mechanisms, in particular, the position analysis of kinematic chains, or linkages, that is, mechanisms with rigid bodies (links) interconnected by kinematic pairs (joints). This problem, of completely geometrical nature, consists in finding the feasible assembly modes that a kinematic chain can adopt. An assembly mode is a possible relative transformation between the links of a kinematic chain. When an assignment of positions and orientations is made for all links with respect to a given reference frame, an assembly mode is called a configuration. The methods reported in the literature for solving the position analysis of kinematic chains can be classified as graphical, analytical, or numerical. The graphical approaches are mostly geometrical and designed to solve particular problems. The analytical and numerical methods deal, in general, with kinematic chains of any topology and translate the original geometric problem into a system of kinematic analysis of all the Assur kinematic chains resulting from replacing some of its revolute joints by slider joints. Thus, it is concluded that the polynomials of all fully-parallel planar robots can be derived directly from that of the widely known 3-RPR robot. In addition to these results, this thesis also presents an efficient procedure, based on distance and oriented area constraints, and geometrical arguments, to trace coupler curves of pin-jointed Gr¨ubler kinematic chains. All these techniques and results together are contributions to theoretical kinematics of mechanisms, robot kinematics, and distance plane geometry. equations that defines the location of each link based, mainly, on independent loop equations. In the analytical approaches, the system of kinematic equations is reduced to a polynomial, known as the characteristic polynomial of the linkage, using different elimination methods —e.g., Gr¨obner bases or resultant techniques. In the numerical approaches, the system of kinematic equations is solved using, for instance, polynomial continuation or interval-based procedures. In any case, the use of independent loop equations to solve the position analysis of kinematic chains, almost a standard in kinematics of mechanisms, has seldom been questioned despite the resulting system of kinematic equations becomes quite involved even for simple linkages. Moreover, stating the position analysis of kinematic chains directly in terms of poses, with or without using independent loop equations, introduces two major disadvantages: arbitrary reference frames has to be included, and all formulas involve translations and rotations simultaneously. This thesis departs from this standard approach by, instead of directly computing Cartesian locations, expressing the original position problem as a system of distance-based constraints that are then solved using analytical and numerical procedures adapted to their particularities. In favor of developing the basics and theory of the proposed approach, this thesis focuses on the study of the most fundamental planar kinematic chains, namely, Baranov trusses, Assur kinematic chains, and pin-jointed Gr¨ubler kinematic chains. The results obtained have shown that the novel developed techniques are promising tools for the position analysis of kinematic chains and related problems. For example, using these techniques, the characteristic polynomials of most of the cataloged Baranov trusses can be obtained without relying on variable eliminations or trigonometric substitutions and using no other tools than elementary algebra. An outcome in clear contrast with the complex variable eliminations require when independent loop equations are used to tackle the problem. The impact of the above result is actually greater because it is shown that the characteristic polynomial of a Baranov truss, derived using the proposed distance-based techniques, contains all the necessary and sufficient information for solving the positionEsta tesis aborda el problema de análisis de posición de cadenas cinemáticas, mecanismos con cuerpos rígidos (enlaces) interconectados por pares cinemáticos (articulaciones). Este problema, de naturaleza geométrica, consiste en encontrar los modos de ensamblaje factibles que una cadena cinemática puede adoptar. Un modo de ensamblaje es una transformación relativa posible entre los enlaces de una cadena cinemática. Los métodos reportados en la literatura para la solución del análisis de posición de cadenas cinemáticas se pueden clasificar como gráficos, analíticos o numéricos. Los enfoques gráficos son geométricos y se diseñan para resolver problemas particulares. Los métodos analíticos y numéricos tratan con cadenas cinemáticas de cualquier topología y traducen el problema geométrico original en un sistema de ecuaciones cinemáticas que define la ubicación de cada enlace, basado generalmente en ecuaciones de bucle independientes. En los enfoques analíticos, el sistema de ecuaciones cinemáticas se reduce a un polinomio, conocido como el polinomio característico de la cadena cinemática, utilizando diferentes métodos de eliminación. En los métodos numéricos, el sistema se resuelve utilizando, por ejemplo, la continuación polinomial o procedimientos basados en intervalos. En cualquier caso, el uso de ecuaciones de bucle independientes, un estándar en cinemática de mecanismos, rara vez ha sido cuestionado a pesar de que el sistema resultante de ecuaciones es bastante complicado, incluso para cadenas simples. Por otra parte, establecer el análisis de la posición de cadenas cinemáticas directamente en términos de poses, con o sin el uso de ecuaciones de bucle independientes, presenta dos inconvenientes: sistemas de referencia arbitrarios deben ser introducidos, y todas las fórmulas implican traslaciones y rotaciones de forma simultánea. Esta tesis se aparta de este enfoque estándar expresando el problema de posición original como un sistema de restricciones basadas en distancias, en lugar de directamente calcular posiciones cartesianas. Estas restricciones son posteriormente resueltas con procedimientos analíticos y numéricos adaptados a sus particularidades. Con el propósito de desarrollar los conceptos básicos y la teoría del enfoque propuesto, esta tesis se centra en el estudio de las cadenas cinemáticas planas más fundamentales, a saber, estructuras de Baranov, cadenas cinemáticas de Assur, y cadenas cinemáticas de Grübler. Los resultados obtenidos han demostrado que las técnicas desarrolladas son herramientas prometedoras para el análisis de posición de cadenas cinemáticas y problemas relacionados. Por ejemplo, usando dichas técnicas, los polinomios característicos de la mayoría de las estructuras de Baranov catalogadas se puede obtener sin realizar eliminaciones de variables o sustituciones trigonométricas, y utilizando solo álgebra elemental. Un resultado en claro contraste con las complejas eliminaciones de variables que se requieren cuando se utilizan ecuaciones de bucle independientes. El impacto del resultado anterior es mayor porque se demuestra que el polinomio característico de una estructura de Baranov, derivado con las técnicas propuestas, contiene toda la información necesaria y suficiente para resolver el análisis de posición de las cadenas cinemáticas de Assur que resultan de la sustitución de algunas de sus articulaciones de revolución por articulaciones prismáticas. De esta forma, se concluye que los polinomios de todos los robots planares totalmente paralelos se pueden derivar directamente del polinomio característico del conocido robot 3-RPR. Adicionalmente, se presenta un procedimiento eficaz, basado en restricciones de distancias y áreas orientadas, y argumentos geométricos, para trazar curvas de acoplador de cadenas cinemáticas de Grübler. En conjunto, todas estas técnicas y resultados constituyen contribuciones a la cinemática teórica de mecanismos, la cinemática de robots, y la geometría plana de distancias. Barcelona 13

A Task-based Design Methodology for Robotic Exoskeletons

This study is aimed at developing a task-based methodology for the design of robotic exoskeletons. This is in contrast to prevailing research efforts, which attempt to mimic the human limb, where each human joint is given an exoskeleton counter-joint. Rather, we present an alternative systematic design approach for the design of exoskeletons that can follow the complex three-dimensional motions of the human body independent of anatomical measures and landmarks. With this approach, it is not necessary to know the geometry of the targeted limb but rather to have a description of its motion at the point of attachment.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::3 - Salut i BenestarPostprint (published version

Manufacturability analysis for non-feature-based objects

This dissertation presents a general methodology for evaluating key manufacturability indicators using an approach that does not require feature recognition, or feature-based design input. The contributions involve methods for computing three manufacturability indicators that can be applied in a hierarchical manner. The analysis begins with the computation of visibility, which determines the potential manufacturability of a part using material removal processes such as CNC machining. This manufacturability indicator is purely based on accessibility, without considering the actual machine setup and tooling. Then, the analysis becomes more specific by analyzing the complexity in setup planning for the part; i.e. how the part geometry can be oriented to a cutting tool in an accessible manner. This indicator establishes if the part geometry is accessible about an axis of rotation, namely, whether it can be manufactured on a 4th-axis indexed machining system. The third indicator is geometric machinability, which is computed for each machining operation to indicate the actual manufacturability when employing a cutting tool with specific shape and size. The three manufacturability indicators presented in this dissertation are usable as steps in a process; however they can be executed alone or hierarchically in order to render manufacturability information. At the end of this dissertation, a Multi-Layered Visibility Map is proposed, which would serve as a re-design mechanism that can guide a part design toward increased manufacturability

오프셋 곡선 및 곡면의 자가 교차 검출 및 제거

학위논문(박사)--서울대학교 대학원 :공과대학 컴퓨터공학부,2020. 2. 김명수.Offset curves and surfaces have many applications in computer-aided design and manufacturing, but the self-intersections and redundancies must be trimmed away for their practical use. We present a new method for offset curve and surface trimming that detects the self-intersections and eliminates the redundant parts of an offset curve and surface that are closer than the offset distance to the original curve and surface. We first propose an offset trimming method based on constructing geometric constraint equations. We formulate the constraint equations of the self-intersections of an offset curve and surface in the parameter domain of the original curve and surface. Numerical computations based on the regularity and intrinsic properties of the given input curve and surface is carried out to compute the solution of the constraint equations. The method deals with numerical instability around near-singular regions of an offset surface by using osculating tori that can be constructed in a highly stable way, i.e., by offsetting the osculating torii of the given input regular surface. We reveal the branching structure and the terminal points from the complete self-intersection curves of the offset surface. From the observation that the trimming method based on the multivariate equation solving is computationally expensive, we also propose an acceleration technique to trim an offset curve and surface. The alternative method constructs a bounding volume hierarchy specially designed to enclose the offset curve and surface and detects the self-collision of the bounding volumes instead. In the case of an offset surface, the thickness of the bounding volumes is indirectly determined based on the maximum deviations of the positions and the normals between the given input surface patches and their osculating tori. For further acceleration, the bounding volumes are pruned as much as possible during self-collision detection using various geometric constraints imposed on the offset surface. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new trimming method using several non-trivial test examples of offset trimming. Lastly, we investigate the problem of computing the Voronoi diagram of a freeform surface using the offset trimming technique for surfaces. By trimming the offset surface with a gradually changing offset radius, we compute the boundary of the Voronoi cells that appear in the concave side of the given input surface. In particular, we interpret the singular and branching points of the self-intersection curves of the trimmed offset surfaces in terms of the boundary elements of the Voronoi diagram.오프셋 곡선 및 곡면은 computer-aided design (CAD)와 computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)에서 널리 이용되는 연산들 중 하나이다. 하지만 실용적인 활용을 위해서는 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면에서 생기는 자가 교차를 찾고 이를 기준으로 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면에서 원래의 곡선 및 곡면에 가까운 불필요한 영역을 제거하여야한다. 본 논문에서는 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면에서 생기는 자가 교차를 계산하고, 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면에서 생기는 불필요한 영역을 제거하는 알고리즘을 제안한다. 본 논문은 우선 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면의 자가 교차점들과 그 교차점들이 기인한 원래 곡선 및 곡면의 점들이 이루는 평면 이등변 삼각형 관계로부터 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면의 자가 교차점의 제약 조건을 만족시키는 방정식들을 세운다. 이 제약식들은 원래 곡선 및 곡면의 변수 공간에서 표현되며, 이 방정식들의 해는 다변수 방정식의 해를 구하는 solver를 이용하여 구한다. 오프셋 곡면의 경우, 원래 곡면의 주곡률 중 하나가 오프셋 반지름의 역수와 같을 때 오프셋 곡면의 법선이 정의가 되지 않는 특이점이 생기는데, 오프셋 곡면의 자가 교차 곡선이 이 부근을 지날 때는 자가 교차 곡선의 계산이 불안정해진다. 따라서 자가 교차 곡선이 오프셋 곡면의 특이점 부근을 지날 때는 오프셋 곡면을 접촉 토러스로 치환하여 더 안정된 방법으로 자가 교차 곡선을 구한다. 계산된 오프셋 곡면의 자가 교차 곡선으로부터 교차 곡선의 $xyz$-공간에서의 말단 점, 가지 구조 등을 밝힌다. 본 논문은 또한 바운딩 볼륨 기반의 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면의 자가 교차 곡선 검출을 가속화하는 방법을 제시한다. 바운딩 볼륨은 기저 곡선 및 곡면을 단순한 기하로 감싸고 기하 연산을 수행함으로써 가속화에 기여한다. 오프셋 곡면의 자가 교차 곡선을 구하기 위하여, 본 논문은 오프셋 곡면의 바운딩 볼륨 구조를 기저 곡면의 바운딩 볼륨과 기저 곡면의 법선 곡면의 바운딩 볼륨의 구조로부터 계산하며 이때 각 바운딩 볼륨의 두께를 계산한다. 또한, 바운딩 볼륨 중에서 실제 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면의 자가 교차에 기여하지 않는 부분을 깊은 재귀 전에 찾아서 제거하는 여러 조건들을 나열한다. 한편, 자가 교차가 제거된 오프셋 곡선 및 곡면은 기저 곡선 및 곡면의 보로노이 구조와 깊은 관련이 있는 것이 알려져 있다. 본 논문에서는 자유 곡면의 연속된 오프셋 곡면들로부터 자유 곡면의 보로노이 구조를 유추하는 방법을 제시한다. 특히, 오프셋 곡면의 자가 교차 곡선 상에서 나타나는 가지 점이나 말단 점과 같은 특이점들이 자유 곡면의 보로노이 구조에서 어떻게 해석되는지 제시한다.1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background and Motivation 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Approach 7 1.3 Contributions and Thesis Organization 11 2. Preliminaries 14 2.1 Curve and Surface Representation 14 2.1.1 Bezier Representation 14 2.1.2 B-spline Representation 17 2.2 Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces 19 2.2.1 Differential Geometry of Curves 19 2.2.2 Differential Geometry of Surfaces 21 3. Previous Work 23 3.1 Offset Curves 24 3.2 Offset Surfaces 27 3.3 Offset Curves on Surfaces 29 4. Trimming Offset Curve Self-intersections 32 4.1 Experimental Results 35 5. Trimming Offset Surface Self-intersections 38 5.1 Constraint Equations for Offset Self-Intersections 38 5.1.1 Coplanarity Constraint 39 5.1.2 Equi-angle Constraint 40 5.2 Removing Trivial Solutions 40 5.3 Removing Normal Flips 41 5.4 Multivariate Solver for Constraints 43 5.A Derivation of f(u,v) 46 5.B Relationship between f(u,v) and Curvatures 47 5.3 Trimming Offset Surfaces 50 5.4 Experimental Results 53 5.5 Summary 57 6. Acceleration of trimming offset curves and surfaces 62 6.1 Motivation 62 6.2 Basic Approach 67 6.3 Trimming an Offset Curve using the BVH 70 6.4 Trimming an Offset Surface using the BVH 75 6.4.1 Offset Surface BVH 75 6.4.2 Finding Self-intersections in Offset Surface Using BVH 87 6.4.3 Tracing Self-intersection Curves 98 6.5 Experimental Results 100 6.6 Summary 106 7. Application of Trimming Offset Surfaces: 3D Voronoi Diagram 107 7.1 Background 107 7.2 Approach 110 7.3 Experimental Results 112 7.4 Summary 114 8. Conclusion 119 Bibliography iDocto

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationHumans generally have difficulty performing precision tasks with their unsupported hands. To compensate for this difficulty, people often seek to support or rest their hand and arm on a fixed surface. However, when the precision task needs to be performed over a workspace larger than what can be reached from a fixed position, a fixed support is no longer useful. This dissertation describes the development of the Active Handrest, a device that expands its user's dexterous workspace by providing ergonomic support and precise repositioning motions over a large workspace. The prototype Active Handrest is a planar computer-controlled support for the user's hand and arm. The device can be controlled through force input from the user, position input from a grasped tool, or a combination of inputs. The control algorithm of the Active Handrest converts the input(s) into device motions through admittance control where the device's desired velocity is calculated proportionally to the input force or its equivalent. A robotic 2-axis admittance device was constructed as the initial Planar Active Handrest, or PAHR, prototype. Experiments were conducted to optimize the device's control input strategies. Large workspace shape tracing experiments were used to compare the PAHR to unsupported, fixed support, and passive moveable support conditions. The Active Handrest was found to reduce task error and provide better speedaccuracy performance. Next, virtual fixture strategies were explored for the device. From the options considered, a virtual spring fixture strategy was chosen based on its effectiveness. An experiment was conducted to compare the PAHR with its virtual fixture strategy to traditional virtual fixture techniques for a grasped stylus. Virtual fixtures implemented on the Active Handrest were found to be as effective as fixtures implemented on a grasped tool. Finally, a higher degree-of-freedom Enhanced Planar Active Handrest, or E-PAHR, was constructed to provide support for large workspace precision tasks while more closely following the planar motions of the human arm. Experiments were conducted to investigate appropriate control strategies and device utility. The E-PAHR was found to provide a skill level equal to that of the PAHR with reduced user force input and lower perceived exertion

Master of Science

thesisTraditionally, hand rests are used to reduce muscle fatigue and to improve precision in small-workspace dexterous tasks. Dynamic hand rests have been shown to be beneficial for large-workspace planar tasks. However, providing high-bandwidth support in the vertical direction proves to be more challenging than in the horizontal plane. One must decouple the gravitational support of the arm from the intended vertical motion of the user. A vertically moving device, called the Vertical Active Handrest (VAHR), is presented in this thesis. This device dynamically supports the weight of the user's arm over a large workspace to add stability for precision dexterous tasks while providing gravitational support to the arm to reduce fatigue. The goal in developing the VAHR is to integrate its capabilities with the current Active Handrest, which provides dynamic support in the horizontal plane, thus creating a three degree-of-freedom active support device. The VAHR takes control inputs from a force sensor embedded in its armrest and from the tracked position of a tool. Studies were conducted with a variety of controllers and user input strategies to evaluate the VAHR's effectiveness at assisting participants in a single-axis tracking task. An initial pilot test with the VAHR shows no statistical improvements in tracking performance using force input control modes over conditions in which the arm is unsupported, or is supported by a static rest surface. The main experiment presented in this thesis focuses on either pure stylus position input or a combination of position and force inputs. Tracking accuracy significantly improves compared to the unsupported condition while using stylus position input control. Poor performance under pure force control is attributed to the required activation of large muscle groups in the arm to provide force input to the VAHR's instrumented armrest. These large muscle groups are poorly suited for the agile tracking task used for experimentation. It is theorized that the better performance when using the stylus position control modes is because inputs from smaller, more dexterous muscle groups in the hand are utilized, allowing the position of the arm to be controlled by muscles that are already adept at precision control

Distance-based formulations for the position analysis of kinematic chains

Tesis presentada por Nicolás Rojas a través del programa de doctorado "Automàtica, Robòtica i Visió" y realizada en el Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC.This thesis addresses the kinematic analysis of mechanisms, in particular, the position analysis of kinematic chains, or linkages, that is, mechanisms with rigid bodies (links) interconnected by kinematic pairs (joints). This problem, of completely geometrical nature, consists in finding the feasible assembly modes that a kinematic chain can adopt. An assembly mode is a possible relative transformation between the links of a kinematic chain. When an assignment of positions and orientations is made for all links with respect to a given reference frame, an assembly mode is called a configuration. The methods reported in the literature for solving the position analysis of kinematic chains can be classified as graphical, analytical, or numerical. The graphical approaches are mostly geometrical and designed to solve particular problems. The analytical and numerical methods deal, in general, with kinematic chains of any topology and translate the original geometric problem into a system of kinematic analysis of all the Assur kinematic chains resulting from replacing some of its revolute joints by slider joints. Thus, it is concluded that the polynomials of all fully-parallel planar robots can be derived directly from that of the widely known 3-RPR robot. In addition to these results, this thesis also presents an efficient procedure, based on distance and oriented area constraints, and geometrical arguments, to trace coupler curves of pin-jointed Gr¨ubler kinematic chains. All these techniques and results together are contributions to theoretical kinematics of mechanisms, robot kinematics, and distance plane geometry. equations that defines the location of each link based, mainly, on independent loop equations. In the analytical approaches, the system of kinematic equations is reduced to a polynomial, known as the characteristic polynomial of the linkage, using different elimination methods —e.g., Gr¨obner bases or resultant techniques. In the numerical approaches, the system of kinematic equations is solved using, for instance, polynomial continuation or interval-based procedures. In any case, the use of independent loop equations to solve the position analysis of kinematic chains, almost a standard in kinematics of mechanisms, has seldom been questioned despite the resulting system of kinematic equations becomes quite involved even for simple linkages. Moreover, stating the position analysis of kinematic chains directly in terms of poses, with or without using independent loop equations, introduces two major disadvantages: arbitrary reference frames has to be included, and all formulas involve translations and rotations simultaneously. This thesis departs from this standard approach by, instead of directly computing Cartesian locations, expressing the original position problem as a system of distance-based constraints that are then solved using analytical and numerical procedures adapted to their particularities.In favor of developing the basics and theory of the proposed approach, this thesis focuses on the study of the most fundamental planar kinematic chains, namely, Baranov trusses, Assur kinematic chains, and pin-jointed Gr¨ubler kinematic chains. The results obtained have shown that the novel developed techniques are promising tools for the position analysis of kinematic chains and related problems. For example, using these techniques, the characteristic polynomials of most of the cataloged Baranov trusses can be obtained without relying on variable eliminations or trigonometric substitutions and using no other tools than elementary algebra. An outcome in clear contrast with the complex variable eliminations require when independent loop equations are used to tackle the problem. The impact of the above result is actually greater because it is shown that the characteristic polynomial of a Baranov truss, derived using the proposed distance-based techniques, contains all the necessary and sufficient information for solving the positionMy doctoral studies and the research reported in this thesis have been partially developed under the activities of: The Catalonian Reference Network in Advanced Production Technologies (XaRTAP), and have been partially supported by: The Colombian Ministry of Communications and Colfuturo through the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) National Plan of Colombia,.Peer Reviewe

3-D surface modelling of the human body and 3-D surface anthropometry

This thesis investigates three-dimensional (3-D) surface modelling of the human body and 3-D surface anthropometry. These are two separate, but closely related, areas. 3-D surface modelling is an essential technology for representing and describing the surface shape of an object on a computer. 3-D surface modelling of the human body has wide applications in engineering design, work space simulation, the clothing industry, medicine, biomechanics and animation. These applications require increasingly realistic surface models of the human body. 3-D surface anthropometry is a new interdisciplinary subject. It is defined in this thesis as the art, science, and technology of acquiring, modelling and interrogating 3-D surface data of the human body. [Continues.