Design and control of SLIDER: an ultra-lightweight, knee-less, low-cost bipedal walking robot

Most state-of-the-art bipedal robots are designed to be highly anthropomorphic and therefore possess legs with knees. Whilst this facilitates more human-like locomotion, there are implementation issues that make walking with straight or near-straight legs difficult. Most bipedal robots have to move with a constant bend in the legs to avoid singularities at the knee joints, and to keep the centre of mass at a constant height for control purposes. Furthermore, having a knee on the leg increases the design complexity as well as the weight of the leg, hindering the robot’s performance in agile behaviours such as running and jumping. We present SLIDER, an ultra-lightweight, low-cost bipedal walking robot with a novel knee-less leg design. This nonanthropomorphic straight-legged design reduces the weight of the legs significantly whilst keeping the same functionality as anthropomorphic legs. Simulation results show that SLIDER’s low-inertia legs contribute to less vertical motion in the center of mass (CoM) than anthropomorphic robots during walking, indicating that SLIDER’s model is closer to the widely used Inverted Pendulum (IP) model. Finally, stable walking on flat terrain is demonstrated both in simulation and in the physical world, and feedback control is implemented to address challenges with the physical robot

Modelling and Design of a Test Rig to investigate the dynamic behaviour of a Servo driven Powertrain

In the present work a simulation model for examining the fundamental dynamic behaviour of a servo driven powertrain is developed. This powertrain consists of a permanent magnet synchronous motor, a cycloidal gearbox and a torque motor to apply a load. On basis of this model the selection of components for the design of a test rig is possible. This leads to the constructive draft of the test rig. In order to model the system, the fundamentals give a brief overview of the components incorporated in the test rig system. With ais of the specified task the simulation purpose is defined and the modelling process enabled. The subsequent system analysis is performed intensively to decompose the system into subsystems, which are then investigated to find the optimal modelling approach for the given simulation task. Particular emphasis is put on the investigation of the cycloidal gearbox subsystem and it shows, that approaches for modelling the dynamic behaviour of the gearbox as a whole have only been published partially. Therefore, the available modelling approaches are analysed and suitable models are developed as conceptual models. Those will be formalised and implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The model is verified and simulation experiments are performed, that help in the selection of suitable test rig components. On basis of a flexible test rig, finally the constructive draft is presented.:1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation 1.2 Procedure 2 Fundamentals 2.1 Definitions 2.2 Modelling 2.3 Servo Drive 2.3.1 Introduction 2.3.2 Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor 2.3.3 Servo Inverter 2.3.4 Control System 2.4 Torque Motor 2.5 Gearbox 3 Specified Task 4 System Analysis 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Servo Inverter 4.3 Control System 4.4 Servo Motor 4.5 Transmission Elements 4.6 Cycloidal Gearbox 5 Model Formalisation 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Servo Inverter 5.3 Control System 5.4 Servo Motor 5.5 Transmission Elements 5.6 Cycloidal Gearbox 6 Model Implementation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Servo Inverter 6.3 Control System 6.4 Servo Motor 6.5 Transmission Elements 6.6 Cycloidal Gearbox 7 Simulation 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Solver 7.3 Verification 7.4 System Evaluation 7.4.1 Sensitivity Analysis 7.4.2 Stability Analysis 8 Design of the Test Rig 8.1 Selection of the components 8.2 Constructive Draft 9 Summary and Outloo

Design of parallel micromechanisms for knotting operation

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Izmir, 2009Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 61-63)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishix, 63 leavesThis thesis covers a study on the design of micromechanisms which are capable of imitating the knotting operation and their applications on carpet manufacturing.For this purpose, motion generation synthesis of a planar two degree-of-freedom serial manipulator is performed for a given path by using interpolation approximation. For a given four points, four design parameters are solved as a result of non-linear equations. Also, analysis of each stages of knotting operation is kinematically performed for the design of a cam-actuated mechanism which is designed as an alternative concept. Results of these analysis are used for the design of cam profiles those of which actuates the manipulators.After design stage of knotting micromechanisms, fully automated carpet loom design is introduced for a real-life experiment of designed mechanisms. Finally, assembly considerations of carpet loom and knotting mechanisms are given for carpet manufacturing purpose

Neural Extended Kalman Filter for State Estimation of Automated Guided Vehicle in Manufacturing Environment

To navigate autonomously in a manufacturing environment Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) needs the ability to infer its pose. This paper presents the implementation of the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) coupled with a feedforward neural network for the Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (VSLAM). The neural extended Kalman filter (NEKF) is applied on-line to model error between real and estimated robot motion. Implementation of the NEKF is achieved by using mobile robot, an experimental environment and a simple camera. By introducing neural network into the EKF estimation procedure, the quality of performance can be improved

Prediction of Robot Execution Failures Using Neural Networks

In recent years, the industrial robotic systems are designed with abilities to adapt and to learn in a structured or unstructured environment. They are able to predict and to react to the undesirable and uncontrollable disturbances which frequently interfere in mission accomplishment. In order to prevent system failure and/or unwanted robot behaviour, various techniques have been addressed. In this study, a novel approach based on the neural networks (NNs) is employed for prediction of robot execution failures. The training and testing dataset used in the experiment consists of forces and torques memorized immediately after the real robot failed in assignment execution. Two types of networks are utilized in order to find best prediction method - recurrent NNs and feedforward NNs. Moreover, we investigated 24 neural architectures implemented in Matlab software package. The experimental results confirm that this approach can be successfully applied to the failures prediction problem, and that the NNs outperform other artificial intelligence techniques in this domain. To further validate a novel method, real world experiments are conducted on a Khepera II mobile robot in an indoor structured environment. The obtained results for trajectory tracking problem proved usefulness and the applicability of the proposed solution

Weak and strong comets in the solar wind

When within the inner solar system, comets possess gaseous atmospheres. The gases therein are ionized, and eventually join the solar wind. This thesis describes an investigation of the interaction of comets with the solar wind. The work begins with an overview of the processes involved in the comet-solar wind interaction region, and the domains and boundaries that exist in the region. A review of remote observations of cometary ions is given. The characteristics of visible plasma features are summarized, together with the theories proposed to explain them. An overview of the Giotto spacecraft and its instruments, and a description of its mission to two comets are presented. Ground-based observations were obtained of the ion features present in Comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake. The morphologies and motions of the comet's plasma features are described. The formation of tail rays was captured during a high temporal resolution image sequence. A gas production rate estimate is derived from the observations, and a model of ray morphologies is proposed, based partly upon observational evidence. 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova and C/1996 Q1 Tabur were also observed; however, no strong ion features were detected. An analysis of the plasma features of 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup then follows. A description of the solar wind conditions at that comet during the Giotto encounter is given, and an estimate of its production rate is made. Ground-based observations of Grigg-Skjellerup are compared to in-situ Giotto data. Morphological features were detected in ground-based images; it is proposed that they could have been linked to certain solar wind discontinuities. A qualitative description of a model of ion ray formation then follows. The thesis concludes with a summary of the main results

Towards High Performance Robotic Actuation

The main objective of this thesis is to enable development of high performance actuation for legged, limbed and mobile robots. Due to the fact that such robots need to support their own weight, their actuators need to be light weight, compact and efficient. Furthermore, a dynamics analysis, shows that the actuators' design may have significant impact on a robot's dynamics sensitivity. These consideration motivate improvements in all actuator design aspects. First, the application-specific design of outer rotor motors with concentrated windings is considered. It is shown that an intrinsic design trade-off exists between a motor's copper loss, core loss and mass, which allows development of motors with superior performance for a particular application. The three main application categories of interest are: electric vehicles, drones and robotic joints. Due to their outstanding torque density, high pole count outer rotor motors are analysed in terms of their design and optimization for robotic applications. Motor design scaling modes are also described in order to outline the main challenges in the implementation of high torque motors. Next, the design of gearboxes for robotic actuation is discussed. A novel type of high reduction Bearingless Planetary Gearbox is introduced which allows large range of reduction ratios to be achieved in a compound planetary stage. In this concept, all gear components float in an unconstrained manner as the planet carrier is substituted with a secondary sun gear. The advantages of the Bearingless Planetary Gearbox over current approaches in terms of improved robustness, load distribution, manufacturability, and assembly are outlined. Finally, analysis, design, and prototyping of rotary planar springs for rotary series elastic actuators is described. A mathematical model, based on curved beam theory, that allows rapid design, analysis, and comparison of rotary springs is developed. Mass reduction techniques based on composite arm structures are introduced and internal arm contact modeling is presented. Motivated by strain energy density analysis, an optimization based spring design approach is developed that allows significant increase in the torque and torque density.</p