Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: ● Formulations and Numerical Methods ● Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications ● Flexible Multibody Dynamics ● Contact Dynamics and Constraints ● Multiphysics and Coupled Problems ● Control and Optimization ● Software Development and Computer Technology ● Aerospace and Maritime Applications ● Biomechanics ● Railroad Vehicle Dynamics ● Road Vehicle Dynamics ● Robotics ● Benchmark ProblemsPostprint (published version

Force Control of a Unilateral Master-Slave System Using a SCARA Robot Arm

Industrial manipulators have several applications in a multitude of disciplines. The use of industrial manipulators has increased rapidly, and they are more refined in many applications due to advances such as fast response time, high precision, quick speed and a high level of performance. Most industrial manipulators are position-controlled; usually vision and force sensors are not integrated in most commercial industrial robots. Therefore, the addition of force and vision sensing mechanisms is required to successfully automate advanced tasks, and to enable robots to avoid high contact forces while working in applications that require contact with environments. The objective of this thesis is to implement a unilateral master-slave system for medical applications. In this thesis, a Polaris Vicra® optical tracking device is used to represent the master system, while a four degree of freedom (DOF) position-controlled SCARA manipulator from Epson is used to represent the slave system. The manipulator is equipped with a force-torque sensor to facilitate operation in unknown environments. In addition, MapleSim is used to find the dynamic model for the SCARA manipulator. Furthermore, MapleSim is also used to validate the control algorithm prior to implementation on the hardware. Three force control techniques are used in this research and the robot's performance are evaluated. The control techniques are impedance control, admittance control and fuzzy logic control. The admittance and fuzzy logic controllers are applied to the proposed master-slave system while the impedance control is applied to the manipulator model, which was obtained from MapleSim. In order to validate the presented control algorithms, several experiments and simulations were carried out. The experimental results show the ability of the presented controllers (admittance and fuzzy logic) to track the operator signal while keeping the force within the desired range. The simulation and animation of the impedance controller on the other hand, shows that the robot's performance can be evaluated through software

A framework for digitisation of manual manufacturing task knowledge using gaming interface technology

Intense market competition and the global skill supply crunch are hurting the manufacturing industry, which is heavily dependent on skilled labour. Companies must look for innovative ways to acquire manufacturing skills from their experts and transfer them to novices and eventually to machines to remain competitive. There is a lack of systematic processes in the manufacturing industry and research for cost-effective capture and transfer of human skills. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a framework for digitisation of manual manufacturing task knowledge, a major constituent of which is human skill. The proposed digitisation framework is based on the theory of human-workpiece interactions that is developed in this research. The unique aspect of the framework is the use of consumer-grade gaming interface technology to capture and record manual manufacturing tasks in digital form to enable the extraction, decoding and transfer of manufacturing knowledge constituents that are associated with the task. The framework is implemented, tested and refined using 5 case studies, including 1 toy assembly task, 2 real-life-like assembly tasks, 1 simulated assembly task and 1 real-life composite layup task. It is successfully validated based on the outcomes of the case studies and a benchmarking exercise that was conducted to evaluate its performance. This research contributes to knowledge in five main areas, namely, (1) the theory of human-workpiece interactions to decipher human behaviour in manual manufacturing tasks, (2) a cohesive and holistic framework to digitise manual manufacturing task knowledge, especially tacit knowledge such as human action and reaction skills, (3) the use of low-cost gaming interface technology to capture human actions and the effect of those actions on workpieces during a manufacturing task, (4) a new way to use hidden Markov modelling to produce digital skill models to represent human ability to perform complex tasks and (5) extraction and decoding of manufacturing knowledge constituents from the digital skill models

Investigation of a mechatronic device for the remedial treatment of brain injured children.

To speed the recovery of brain injured children using the method of patterning; it must be made efficient. Efficiency can be achieved by automating the manual method, which will provide the patients with the necessary stimuli needed to help them enhance/restore their natural mobility. This thesis describes research into a novel moderate-cost single-axis Mechatronics device for the remedial treatment of brain injured patients. The device will enhance and/or improve their natural mobility by stimulating the undamaged brain cells responsible for mobility in the central nervous system through physical activity. A detailed review of rehabilitation robotics was undertaken, covering more than seventy projects relating to disabled people. This review helped to identify the main areas of this research regarding the most suitable structure of the machine and setting up the design specifications for the device. A critical investigation of past and present patterning machines and workstations helped avoid the mistakes made by previous designers in not including brain-injured patients in the initial stages of the design. Use of high technology video equipment has made practicable the development of mathematical expressions based on experimental data for the movements of human arms, feet and head. Measurements taken and ergonomic data used made it possible to implement a realistic practical novel kinematic arrangement for the patterning machine. A thorough review of direct drive electrical actuators, and surveys and measurements of the human body with respect to the kinematic arrangements, resulted in the selection of the most appropriate actuator for each axis. The selection of the motor and gearbox was based on the mass of each part of the human body in the prone position, the criteria of high peak torque to motor ratio, low cost, minimum maintenance, safety and compatibility. A computer model of the kinematic arrangement designed was created including the necessary motion constrains, using ADAMS and 3D Working Model simulation packages to test, verify and analyse the static and dynamic stability of the kinematic arrangements and the force interaction between the system and the patient. The simulation results led to some modification in the design regarding the kinematics and dynamic stability of the system by varying different design variables. A walking model of a human was created to simulate the real patient. The model was placed on two units where the feet were the only contact points with the moving belts; the model torso was supported by a harness to hold it in the upright standing position. The results obtained showed the movements of both feet (knees. hips and ankles) in addition to the right and left elbows. The system hardware was designed and implemented using custom-made safety critical software to control the device to carry out the desired tasks. Safety is considered to be one of the main issues that this research program has developed and implemented. An optimal control strategy was developed to drive the prototype. Smooth movements of the system were achieved through a PD control system enhanced with velocity feed forward gain with position accuracy of ± 0.168 mm. The desired positional accuracy of the Patterner Machine was ± 0.632 mm

What do Collaborations with the Arts Have to Say About Human-Robot Interaction?

This is a collection of papers presented at the workshop What Do Collaborations with the Arts Have to Say About HRI , held at the 2010 Human-Robot Interaction Conference, in Osaka, Japan

Intelligent strategies for mobile robotics in laboratory automation

In this thesis a new intelligent framework is presented for the mobile robots in laboratory automation, which includes: a new multi-floor indoor navigation method is presented and an intelligent multi-floor path planning is proposed; a new signal filtering method is presented for the robots to forecast their indoor coordinates; a new human feature based strategy is proposed for the robot-human smart collision avoidance; a new robot power forecasting method is proposed to decide a distributed transportation task; a new blind approach is presented for the arm manipulations for the robots

Multibody dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: Formulations and Numerical Methods, Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications, Flexible Multibody Dynamics, Contact Dynamics and Constraints, Multiphysics and Coupled Problems, Control and Optimization, Software Development and Computer Technology, Aerospace and Maritime Applications, Biomechanics, Railroad Vehicle Dynamics, Road Vehicle Dynamics, Robotics, Benchmark Problems. The conference is organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona. The organizers would like to thank the authors for submitting their contributions, the keynote lecturers for accepting the invitation and for the quality of their talks, the awards and scientific committees for their support to the organization of the conference, and finally the topic organizers for reviewing all extended abstracts and selecting the awards nominees.Postprint (published version

Advanced Automation for Space Missions

The feasibility of using machine intelligence, including automation and robotics, in future space missions was studied