Human-Machine Interface for Tele-Robotic Operation: Mapping of Tongue Movements Based on Aural Flow Monitoring

2004 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), October, 2004 (Awarded “Best Paper in Conference”

Locomation strategies for amphibious robots-a review

In the past two decades, unmanned amphibious robots have proven the most promising and efficient systems ranging from scientific, military, and commercial applications. The applications like monitoring, surveillance, reconnaissance, and military combat operations require platforms to maneuver on challenging, complex, rugged terrains and diverse environments. The recent technological advancements and development in aquatic robotics and mobile robotics have facilitated a more agile, robust, and efficient amphibious robots maneuvering in multiple environments and various terrain profiles. Amphibious robot locomotion inspired by nature, such as amphibians, offers augmented flexibility, improved adaptability, and higher mobility over terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial mediums. In this review, amphibious robots' locomotion mechanism designed and developed previously are consolidated, systematically The review also analyzes the literature on amphibious robot highlighting the limitations, open research areas, recent key development in this research field. Further development and contributions to amphibious robot locomotion, actuation, and control can be utilized to perform specific missions in sophisticated environments, where tasks are unsafe or hardly feasible for the divers or traditional aquatic and terrestrial robots

Marine Vessel Inspection as a Novel Field for Service Robotics: A Contribution to Systems, Control Methods and Semantic Perception Algorithms.

This cumulative thesis introduces a novel field for service robotics: the inspection of marine vessels using mobile inspection robots. In this thesis, three scientific contributions are provided and experimentally verified in the field of marine inspection, but are not limited to this type of application. The inspection scenario is merely a golden thread to combine the cumulative scientific results presented in this thesis. The first contribution is an adaptive, proprioceptive control approach for hybrid leg-wheel robots, such as the robot ASGUARD described in this thesis. The robot is able to deal with rough terrain and stairs, due to the control concept introduced in this thesis. The proposed system is a suitable platform to move inside the cargo holds of bulk carriers and to deliver visual data from inside the hold. Additionally, the proposed system also has stair climbing abilities, allowing the system to move between different decks. The robot adapts its gait pattern dynamically based on proprioceptive data received from the joint motors and based on the pitch and tilt angle of the robot's body during locomotion. The second major contribution of the thesis is an independent ship inspection system, consisting of a magnetic wall climbing robot for bulkhead inspection, a particle filter based localization method, and a spatial content management system (SCMS) for spatial inspection data representation and organization. The system described in this work was evaluated in several laboratory experiments and field trials on two different marine vessels in close collaboration with ship surveyors. The third scientific contribution of the thesis is a novel approach to structural classification using semantic perception approaches. By these methods, a structured environment can be semantically annotated, based on the spatial relationships between spatial entities and spatial features. This method was verified in the domain of indoor perception (logistics and household environment), for soil sample classification, and for the classification of the structural parts of a marine vessel. The proposed method allows the description of the structural parts of a cargo hold in order to localize the inspection robot or any detected damage. The algorithms proposed in this thesis are based on unorganized 3D point clouds, generated by a LIDAR within a ship's cargo hold. Two different semantic perception methods are proposed in this thesis. One approach is based on probabilistic constraint networks; the second approach is based on Fuzzy Description Logic and spatial reasoning using a spatial ontology about the environment

The Design and Development of a Mobile Colonoscopy Robot

The conventional colonoscopy is a common procedure used to access the colon. Despite it being considered the Gold Standard procedure for colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment, it has a number of major drawbacks, including high patient discomfort, infrequent but serious complications and high skill required to perform the procedure. There are a number of potential alternatives to the conventional colonoscopy, from augmenting the colonoscope to using Computed Tomography Colonography (CTC) - a completely non-invasive method. However, a truly effective, all-round alternative has yet to be found. This thesis explores the design and development of a novel solution: a fully mobile colonoscopy robot called “RollerBall”. Unlike current passive diagnostic capsules, such as PillCam, this device uses wheels at the end of adjustable arms to provide locomotion through the colon, while providing a stable platform for the use of diagnostic and therapeutic tools. The work begins by reviewing relevant literature to better understand the problem and potential solutions. RollerBall is then introduced and its design described in detail. A robust prototype was then successfully fabricated using a 3D printing technique and its performance assessed in a series of benchtop experiments. These showed that the mechanisms functioned as intended and encouraged the further development of the concept. Next, the fundamental requirement of gaining traction on the colon was shown to be possible using hexagonal shaped, macro-scale tread patterns. A friction coefficient ranging between 0.29 and 0.55 was achieved with little trauma to the tissue substrate. The electronics hardware and control were then developed and evaluated in a series of tests in silicone tubes. An open-loop strategy was first used to establish the control algorithm to map the user inputs to motor outputs (wheel speeds). These tests showed the efficacy of the locomotion technique and the control algorithm used, but they highlighted the need for autonomy. To address this, feedback was included to automate the adjusting of the arm angle and amount of force applied by the device; a forward facing camera was also used to automate the orientation control by tracking a user-defined target. Force and orientation control were then combined to show that semi-autonomous control was possible and as a result, it was concluded that clinical use may be feasible in future developments