Accuracy Enhancement for High Precision Gantry Stage

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Identification and compensation of friction for a dual stage positioning system

Motion control systems are usually designed to track trajectories and/or regulate about a desired point. Most of the other objectives, like minimizing the tracking time or minimizing the energy expended, are secondary which quantify the above described objectives. The control problem in hard disk drives is tracking and seeking the desired tracks. Recent increase in the storage capacity demands higher accuracy of the read/write head. Dual stage actuators as compared to conventional single actuator increases the accuracy of the read/write head in hard disk drives. A scaled up version of the dual stage actuator is considered as the test bed for this thesis. Friction is present in all electromechanical systems. This thesis deals with modelling of the dual stage actuator test bed. A linear model predicts the behavior of the fine stage. Friction is significant in the coarse stage. Considerable time has been spent to model the coarse stage as a friction based model. Initially, static friction models were considered to model the friction. Dynamic models, which describe friction better when crossing zero velocity were considered. By analyzing several experimental data it was concluded that the friction was dependent on position and velocity as compared to conventional friction models which are dependent on the direction of motion. Static and Coulomb friction were modelled as functions of velocity and position. This model was able to predict the behavior of the coarse stage satisfactorily for various initial conditions. A friction compensation scheme based on the modelled friction is used to linearize the system based on feedback linearization techniques

Development of Rotary Variable Damping and Stiffness Magnetorheological Dampers and their Applications on Robotic Arms and Seat Suspensions

This thesis successfully expanded the idea of variable damping and stiffness (VSVD) from linear magnetorheological dampers (MR) to rotary magnetorheological dampers; and explored the applications of rotary MR dampers on the robotic arms and seat suspension. The idea of variable damping and stiffness has been proved to be able to reduce vibration to a large degree. Variable damping can reduce the vibration amplitude and variable stiffness can shift the natural frequency of the system from excitation and prevent resonance. Linear MR dampers with the capacity of variable damping and stiffness have been studied by researchers. However, Linear MR dampers usually require larger installation space than rotary MR dampers, and need more expensive MR fluids to fill in their chambers. Furthermore, rotary MR dampers are inherently more suitable than linear MR dampers in rotary motions like braking devices or robot joints. Hence, rotary MR dampers capable of simultaneously varying the damping and stiffness are very attractive to solve angular vibration problems. Out of this motivation, a rotary VSVD MR damper was designed, prototyped, with its feature of variable damping and stiffness verified by experimental property tests in this thesis. Its mathematical model was also built with the parameters identified. The experimental tests indicated that it has a 141.6% damping variation and 618.1% stiffness variation. This damper’s successful development paved the way for the applications of rotary MR dampers with the similar capability of variable damping and stiffness

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

Advanced Strategies for Robot Manipulators

Amongst the robotic systems, robot manipulators have proven themselves to be of increasing importance and are widely adopted to substitute for human in repetitive and/or hazardous tasks. Modern manipulators are designed complicatedly and need to do more precise, crucial and critical tasks. So, the simple traditional control methods cannot be efficient, and advanced control strategies with considering special constraints are needed to establish. In spite of the fact that groundbreaking researches have been carried out in this realm until now, there are still many novel aspects which have to be explored

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

Robotic manipulators for single access surgery

This thesis explores the development of cooperative robotic manipulators for enhancing surgical precision and patient outcomes in single-access surgery and, specifically, Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery (TEM). During these procedures, surgeons manipulate a heavy set of instruments via a mechanical clamp inserted in the patient’s body through a surgical port, resulting in imprecise movements, increased patient risks, and increased operating time. Therefore, an articulated robotic manipulator with passive joints is initially introduced, featuring built-in position and force sensors in each joint and electronic joint brakes for instant lock/release capability. The articulated manipulator concept is further improved with motorised joints, evolving into an active tool holder. The joints allow the incorporation of advanced robotic capabilities such as ultra-lightweight gravity compensation and hands-on kinematic reconfiguration, which can optimise the placement of the tool holder in the operating theatre. Due to the enhanced sensing capabilities, the application of the active robotic manipulator was further explored in conjunction with advanced image guidance approaches such as endomicroscopy. Recent advances in probe-based optical imaging such as confocal endomicroscopy is making inroads in clinical uses. However, the challenging manipulation of imaging probes hinders their practical adoption. Therefore, a combination of the fully cooperative robotic manipulator with a high-speed scanning endomicroscopy instrument is presented, simplifying the incorporation of optical biopsy techniques in routine surgical workflows. Finally, another embodiment of a cooperative robotic manipulator is presented as an input interface to control a highly-articulated robotic instrument for TEM. This master-slave interface alleviates the drawbacks of traditional master-slave devices, e.g., using clutching mechanics to compensate for the mismatch between slave and master workspaces, and the lack of intuitive manipulation feedback, e.g. joint limits, to the user. To address those drawbacks a joint-space robotic manipulator is proposed emulating the kinematic structure of the flexible robotic instrument under control.Open Acces

Energy-Optimal Control of Over-Actuated Systems - with Application to a Hybrid Feed Drive

Over-actuated (or input-redundant) systems are characterized by the use of more actuators than the degrees of freedom to be controlled. They are widely used in modern mechanical systems to satisfy various control requirements, such as precision, motion range, fault tolerance, and energy efficiency. This thesis is particularly motivated by an over-actuated hybrid feed drive (HFD) which combines two complementary actuators with the aim to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing positioning accuracy in precision manufacturing. This work addresses the control challenges in achieving energy optimality without sacrificing control performance in so-called weakly input-redundant systems, which characterize the HFD and most other over-actuated systems used in practice. Using calculus of variations, an optimal control ratio/subspace is derived to specify the optimal relationship among the redundant actuators irrespective of external disturbances, leading to a new technique termed optimal control subspace-based (OCS) control allocation. It is shown that the optimal control ratio/subspace is non-causal; accordingly, a causal approximation is proposed and employed in energy-efficient structured controller design for the HFD. Moreover, the concept of control proxy is proposed as an accurate causal measurement of the deviation from the optimal control ratio/subspace. The proxy enables control allocation for weakly redundant systems to be converted into regulation problems, which can be tackled using standard controller design methodologies. Compared to an existing allocation technique, proxy-based control allocation is shown to dynamically allocate control efforts optimally without sacrificing control performance. The relationship between the proposed OCS control allocation and the traditional linear quadratic control approach is discussed for weakly input redundant systems. The two approaches are shown to be equivalent given perfect knowledge of disturbances; however, the OCS control allocation approach is shown to be more desirable for practical applications like the HFD, where disturbances are typically unknown. The OCS control allocation approach is validated in simulations and machining experiments on the HFD; significant reductions in control energy without sacrificing positioning accuracy are achieved.PHDMechanical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146104/1/molong_1.pd

Advanced Mobile Robotics: Volume 3

Mobile robotics is a challenging field with great potential. It covers disciplines including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, cognitive science, and social science. It is essential to the design of automated robots, in combination with artificial intelligence, vision, and sensor technologies. Mobile robots are widely used for surveillance, guidance, transportation and entertainment tasks, as well as medical applications. This Special Issue intends to concentrate on recent developments concerning mobile robots and the research surrounding them to enhance studies on the fundamental problems observed in the robots. Various multidisciplinary approaches and integrative contributions including navigation, learning and adaptation, networked system, biologically inspired robots and cognitive methods are welcome contributions to this Special Issue, both from a research and an application perspective

Lewis Structures Technology, 1988. Volume 1: Structural Dynamics

The specific purpose of the symposium was to familiarize the engineering structures community with the depth and range of research performed by the Structures Division of the Lewis Research Center and its academic and industrial partners. Sessions covered vibration control, fracture mechanics, ceramic component reliability, parallel computing, nondestructive testing, dynamical systems, fatigue and damage, wind turbines, hot section technology, structural mechanics codes, computational methods for dynamics, structural optimization, and applications of structural dynamics