Teleoperation of passivity-based model reference robust control over the internet

This dissertation offers a survey of a known theoretical approach and novel experimental results in establishing a live communication medium through the internet to host a virtual communication environment for use in Passivity-Based Model Reference Robust Control systems with delays. The controller which is used as a carrier to support a robust communication between input-to-state stability is designed as a control strategy that passively compensates for position errors that arise during contact tasks and strives to achieve delay-independent stability for controlling of aircrafts or other mobile objects. Furthermore the controller is used for nonlinear systems, coordination of multiple agents, bilateral teleoperation, and collision avoidance thus maintaining a communication link with an upper bound of constant delay is crucial for robustness and stability of the overall system. For utilizing such framework an elucidation can be formulated by preparing site survey for analyzing not only the geographical distances separating the nodes in which the teleoperation will occur but also the communication parameters that define the virtual topography that the data will travel through. This survey will first define the feasibility of the overall operation since the teleoperation will be used to sustain a delay based controller over the internet thus obtaining a hypothetical upper bound for the delay via site survey is crucial not only for the communication system but also the delay is required for the design of the passivity-based model reference robust control. Following delay calculation and measurement via site survey, bandwidth tests for unidirectional and bidirectional communication is inspected to ensure that the speed is viable to maintain a real-time connection. Furthermore from obtaining the results it becomes crucial to measure the consistency of the delay throughout a sampled period to guarantee that the upper bound is not breached at any point within the communication to jeopardize the robustness of the controller. Following delay analysis a geographical and topological overview of the communication is also briefly examined via a trace-route to understand the underlying nodes and their contribution to the delay and round-trip consistency. To accommodate the communication channel for the controller the input and output data from both nodes need to be encapsulated within a transmission control protocol via a multithreaded design of a robust program within the C language. The program will construct a multithreaded client-server relationship in which the control data is transmitted. For added stability and higher level of security the channel is then encapsulated via an internet protocol security by utilizing a protocol suite for protecting the communication by authentication and encrypting each packet of the session using negotiation of cryptographic keys during each session

An Integrated Software-based Solution for Modular and Self-independent Networked Robot

An integrated software-based solution for a modular and self-independent networked robot is introduced. The wirelessly operatable robot has been developed mainly for autonomous monitoring works with full control over web. The integrated software solution covers three components : a) the digital signal processing unit for data retrieval and monitoring system; b) the externally executable codes for control system; and c) the web programming for interfacing the end-users with the robot. It is argued that this integrated software-based approach is crucial to realize a flexible, modular and low development cost mobile monitoring apparatus.Comment: 9 pages, Proceeding of the 10th International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Visio

Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation for Evaluating Communication Impacts on the Wireless-Network-Controlled Robots

More and more robot automation applications have changed to wireless communication, and network performance has a growing impact on robotic systems. This study proposes a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) simulation methodology for connecting the simulated robot platform to real network devices. This project seeks to provide robotic engineers and researchers with the capability to experiment without heavily modifying the original controller and get more realistic test results that correlate with actual network conditions. We deployed this HiL simulation system in two common cases for wireless-network-controlled robotic applications: (1) safe multi-robot coordination for mobile robots, and (2) human-motion-based teleoperation for manipulators. The HiL simulation system is deployed and tested under various network conditions in all circumstances. The experiment results are analyzed and compared with the previous simulation methods, demonstrating that the proposed HiL simulation methodology can identify a more reliable communication impact on robot systems.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures, to appear in 48th Annual Conference of the Industrial Electronics Society IECON 2022 Conferenc

AGNI: an API for the control of automomous service robots

With the continuum growth of Internet connected devices, the scalability of the protocols used for communication between them is facing a new set of challenges. In robotics these communications protocols are an essential element, and must be able to accomplish with the desired communication. In a context of a multi-­‐‑agent platform, the main types of Internet communication protocols used in robotics, mission planning and task allocation problems will be revised. It will be defined how to represent a message and how to cope with their transport between devices in a distributed environment, reviewing all the layers of the messaging process. A review of the ROS platform is also presented with the intent of integrating the already existing communication protocols with the ServRobot, a mobile autonomous robot, and the DVA, a distributed autonomous surveillance system. This is done with the objective of assigning missions to ServRobot in a security context

Unlimited-wokspace teleoperation

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Izmir, 2012Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 100-105)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxiv, 109 leavesTeleoperation is, in its brief description, operating a vehicle or a manipulator from a distance. Teleoperation is used to reduce mission cost, protect humans from accidents that can be occurred during the mission, and perform complex missions for tasks that take place in areas which are difficult to reach or dangerous for humans. Teleoperation is divided into two main categories as unilateral and bilateral teleoperation according to information flow. This flow can be configured to be in either one direction (only from master to slave) or two directions (from master to slave and from slave to master). In unlimited-workspace teleoperation, one of the types of bilateral teleoperation, mobile robots are controlled by the operator and environmental information is transferred from the mobile robot to the operator. Teleoperated vehicles can be used in a variety of missions in air, on ground and in water. Therefore, different constructional types of robots can be designed for the different types of missions. This thesis aims to design and develop an unlimited-workspace teleoperation which includes an omnidirectional mobile robot as the slave system to be used in further researches. Initially, an omnidirectional mobile robot was manufactured and robot-operator interaction and efficient data transfer was provided with the established communication line. Wheel velocities were measured in real-time by Hall-effect sensors mounted on robot chassis to be integrated in controllers. A dynamic obstacle detection system, which is suitable for omnidirectional mobility, was developed and two obstacle avoidance algorithms (semi-autonomous and force reflecting) were created and tested. Distance information between the robot and the obstacles was collected by an array of sensors mounted on the robot. In the semi-autonomous teleoperation scenario, distance information is used to avoid obstacles autonomously and in the force-reflecting teleoperation scenario obstacles are informed to the user by sending back the artificially created forces acting on the slave robot. The test results indicate that obstacle avoidance performance of the developed vehicle with two algorithms is acceptable in all test scenarios. In addition, two control models were developed (kinematic and dynamic control) for the local controller of the slave robot. Also, kinematic controller was supported by gyroscope

Development of Teleoperation Software for Wheeled Mobile Robot

Wireless technology in our daily lives is giving a way to more and more inter connected devices. More increasingly innovative applications are being developed for daily usage ranging from simple sensing devices to autonomous robots. With all these extra additions, the burden on wireless technologies such as WLAN and 3G/4G/LTE is leading to the development of new network architectures and protocols. Teleoperation of remote devices are finding their way into common places using those technologies. In this thesis work a teleoperation software was developed to use wireless serial devices to control a remote robot over the network and perform autonomous tasks under the supervision of an operator. The robot is an indoor wheeled mobile robot and operator’s device is a computer, both running on Windows OS. This system is similar to a Wireless Sensor Networks with actuators and sensors being on the robot device while the control brain is on a remote computer. The full system has several components like graphics for robot parameters, settings for communications, modes of operations for operator and robot’s own localization and safety tasks. Field tests validated the full functionality of the system but in four out of nine trials failure of wireless devices caused complete system paralysis. An autonomous trajectory following operation was implemented to study the effects of packet loss in communication, it was found that control was reliable even with 26 percent drop. With a linear driving test it was also observed that robot’s free moving wheel was causing an orientation error adding an extra 0.06 degree when moving backwards. A continuous transmission of data packets in the network ensures reliability in the system, this is very important from operator’s perspective

A Development of Low Cost Wi-Fi Robot for Teaching Aid

A low-cost Wi-Fi robot as a teaching equipment is developed. The robot can be used to teach students in the subjects related to robotics system and internet of things (IoT). A Wi-Fi robot is a robot equipped with a Wi-Fi communication system for connecting to the internet. Integrating the robot with an IoT platform makes the robot able to communicate with other devices. The developed Wi-Fi robot in this study is a three-wheeled robot type. A NodeMCU ESP-12, which is a microcontroller equipped with Wi-Fi module, is applied in the robot. The robot is connected to the Blynk IoT platform and paired to a smartphone. It results in communication between the robot and the smartphone through the internet. The communication is demonstrated by remotely operating the robot using the smartphone. Mechanical structure and electronic wiring of the robot are simple such that the robot is easily built. Moreover, the cost of required components for building the robot is quite cheap as less than USD 20.A low-cost Wi-Fi robot as a teaching equipment is developed. The robot can be used to teach students in the subjects related to robotics system and internet of things (IoT). A Wi-Fi robot is a robot equipped with a Wi-Fi communication system for connecting to the internet. Integrating the robot with an IoT platform makes the robot able to communicate with other devices. The developed Wi-Fi robot in this study is a three-wheeled robot type. A NodeMCU ESP-12, which is a microcontroller equipped with Wi-Fi module, is applied in the robot. The robot is connected to the Blynk IoT platform and paired to a smartphone. It results in communication between the robot and the smartphone through the internet. The communication is demonstrated by remotely operating the robot using the smartphone. Mechanical structure and electronic wiring of the robot are simple such that the robot is easily built. Moreover, the cost of required components for building the robot is quite cheap as less than USD 20