Workshop on "Robotic assembly of 3D MEMS".

Proceedings of a workshop proposed in IEEE IROS'2007.The increase of MEMS' functionalities often requires the integration of various technologies used for mechanical, optical and electronic subsystems in order to achieve a unique system. These different technologies have usually process incompatibilities and the whole microsystem can not be obtained monolithically and then requires microassembly steps. Microassembly of MEMS based on micrometric components is one of the most promising approaches to achieve high-performance MEMS. Moreover, microassembly also permits to develop suitable MEMS packaging as well as 3D components although microfabrication technologies are usually able to create 2D and "2.5D" components. The study of microassembly methods is consequently a high stake for MEMS technologies growth. Two approaches are currently developped for microassembly: self-assembly and robotic microassembly. In the first one, the assembly is highly parallel but the efficiency and the flexibility still stay low. The robotic approach has the potential to reach precise and reliable assembly with high flexibility. The proposed workshop focuses on this second approach and will take a bearing of the corresponding microrobotic issues. Beyond the microfabrication technologies, performing MEMS microassembly requires, micromanipulation strategies, microworld dynamics and attachment technologies. The design and the fabrication of the microrobot end-effectors as well as the assembled micro-parts require the use of microfabrication technologies. Moreover new micromanipulation strategies are necessary to handle and position micro-parts with sufficiently high accuracy during assembly. The dynamic behaviour of micrometric objects has also to be studied and controlled. Finally, after positioning the micro-part, attachment technologies are necessary

Categorizing Admittance Control Parameters for the Ranger 8-DOF Tele-operated Space Manipulator

Position-based admittance control of a robotic manipulator is a strategy that allows the manipulator to achieve compliance without sacrificing positional accuracy or modifying the underlying position controller. Desired manipulator stiffness and damping can be specified so that the tool tip behaves as a spring-dashpot system. This work characterizes the range of parameters that allows stable task execution in contact with an environment of varying stiffness for the Ranger dexterous manipulator. A classical stability analysis and simulation of the controller is conducted to predict its response in contact. The manipulator's behavior is then observed during a series of simple tasks involving contact in one and two degrees of freedom. Suitable gains are chosen such that interaction forces at the tool tip are kept low. A compliant peg-in-hole insertion task is successfully accomplished. The work also outlines the implementation of an algorithm that removes unwanted gravity forces measured at the tool tip

Collision Detection and Reaction: A Contribution to Safe Physical Human-Robot Interaction

In the framework of physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI), methodologies and experimental tests are presented for the problem of detecting and reacting to collisions between a robot manipulator and a human being. Using a lightweight robot that was especially designed for interactive and cooperative tasks, we show how reactive control strategies can significantly contribute to ensuring safety to the human during physical interaction. Several collision tests were carried out, illustrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach. While a subjective “safety” feeling is experienced by users when being able to naturally stop the robot in autonomous motion, a quantitative analysis of different reaction strategies was lacking. In order to compare these strategies on an objective basis, a mechanical verification platform has been built. The proposed collision detection and reactions methods prove to work very reliably and are effective in reducing contact forces far below any level which is dangerous to humans. Evaluations of impacts between robot and human arm or chest up to a maximum robot velocity of 2.7 m/s are presented

Improving the safety and efficiency of rail yard operations using robotics

textSignificant efforts have been expended by the railroad industry to make operations safer and more efficient through the intelligent use of sensor data. This work proposes to take the technology one step further to use this data for the control of physical systems designed to automate hazardous railroad operations, particularly those that require humans to interact with moving trains. To accomplish this, application specific requirements must be established to design self-contained machine vision and robotic solutions to eliminate the risks associated with existing manual operations. Present-day rail yard operations have been identified as good candidates to begin development. Manual uncoupling, in particular, of rolling stock in classification yards has been investigated. To automate this process, an intelligent robotic system must be able to detect, track, approach, contact, and manipulate constrained objects on equipment in motion. This work presents multiple prototypes capable of autonomously uncoupling full-scale freight cars using feedback from its surrounding environment. Geometric image processing algorithms and machine learning techniques were implemented to accurately identify cylindrical objects in point clouds generated in real-vi time. Unique methods fusing velocity and vision data were developed to synchronize a pair of moving rigid bodies in real-time. Multiple custom end-effectors with in-built compliance and fault tolerance were designed, fabricated, and tested for grasping and manipulating cylindrical objects. Finally, an event-driven robotic control application was developed to safely and reliably uncouple freight cars using data from 3D cameras, velocity sensors, force/torque transducers, and intelligent end-effector tooling. Experimental results in a lab setting confirm that modern robotic and sensing hardware can be used to reliably separate pairs of rolling stock up to two miles per hour. Additionally, subcomponents of the autonomous pin-pulling system (APPS) were designed to be modular to the point where they could be used to automate other hazardous, labor-intensive tasks found in U.S. classification yards. Overall, this work supports the deployment of autonomous robotic systems in semi-unstructured yard environments to increase the safety and efficiency of rail operations.Mechanical Engineerin

Trust-Based Control of Robotic Manipulators in Collaborative Assembly in Manufacturing

Human-robot interaction (HRI) is vastly addressed in the field of automation and manufacturing. Most of the HRI literature in manufacturing explored physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) and invested in finding means for ensuring safety and optimized effort sharing amongst a team of humans and robots. The recent emergence of safe, lightweight, and human-friendly robots has opened a new realm for human-robot collaboration (HRC) in collaborative manufacturing. For such robots with the new HRI functionalities to interact closely and effectively with a human coworker, new human-centered controllers that integrate both physical and social interaction are demanded. Social human-robot interaction (sHRI) has been demonstrated in robots with affective abilities in education, social services, health care, and entertainment. Nonetheless, sHRI should not be limited only to those areas. In particular, we focus on human trust in robot as a basis of social interaction. Human trust in robot and robot anthropomorphic features have high impacts on sHRI. Trust is one of the key factors in sHRI and a prerequisite for effective HRC. Trust characterizes the reliance and tendency of human in using robots. Factors within a robotic system (e.g. performance, reliability, or attribute), the task, and the surrounding environment can all impact the trust dynamically. Over-reliance or under-reliance might occur due to improper trust, which results in poor team collaboration, and hence higher task load and lower overall task performance. The goal of this dissertation is to develop intelligent control algorithms for the manipulator robots that integrate both physical and social HRI factors in the collaborative manufacturing. First, the evolution of human trust in a collaborative robot model is identified and verified through a series of human-in-the-loop experiments. This model serves as a computational trust model estimating an objective criterion for the evolution of human trust in robot rather than estimating an individual\u27s actual level of trust. Second, an HRI-based framework is developed for controlling the speed of a robot performing pick and place tasks. The impact of the consideration of the different level of interaction in the robot controller on the overall efficiency and HRI criteria such as human perceived workload and trust and robot usability is studied using a series of human-in-the-loop experiments. Third, an HRI-based framework is developed for planning and controlling the robot motion in performing hand-over tasks to the human. Again, series of human-in-the-loop experimental studies are conducted to evaluate the impact of implementation of the frameworks on overall efficiency and HRI criteria such as human workload and trust and robot usability. Finally, another framework is proposed for the cooperative manipulation of a common object by a team of a human and a robot. This framework proposes a trust-based role allocation strategy for adjusting the proactive behavior of the robot performing a cooperative manipulation task in HRC scenarios. For the mentioned frameworks, the results of the experiments show that integrating HRI in the robot controller leads to a lower human workload while it maintains a threshold level of human trust in robot and does not degrade robot usability and efficiency

Human-robot interaction for assistive robotics

This dissertation presents an in-depth study of human-robot interaction (HRI) withapplication to assistive robotics. In various studies, dexterous in-hand manipulation is included, assistive robots for Sit-To-stand (STS) assistance along with the human intention estimation. In Chapter 1, the background and issues of HRI are explicitly discussed. In Chapter 2, the literature review introduces the recent state-of-the-art research on HRI, such as physical Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), robot STS assistance, dexterous in hand manipulation and human intention estimation. In Chapter 3, various models and control algorithms are described in detail. Chapter 4 introduces the research equipment. Chapter 5 presents innovative theories and implementations of HRI in assistive robotics, including a general methodology of robotic assistance from the human perspective, novel hardware design, robotic sit-to-stand (STS) assistance, human intention estimation, and control

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

Sensors for Robotic Hands: A Survey of State of the Art

Recent decades have seen significant progress in the field of artificial hands. Most of the surveys, which try to capture the latest developments in this field, focused on actuation and control systems of these devices. In this paper, our goal is to provide a comprehensive survey of the sensors for artificial hands. In order to present the evolution of the field, we cover five year periods starting at the turn of the millennium. At each period, we present the robot hands with a focus on their sensor systems dividing them into categories, such as prosthetics, research devices, and industrial end-effectors.We also cover the sensors developed for robot hand usage in each era. Finally, the period between 2010 and 2015 introduces the reader to the state of the art and also hints to the future directions in the sensor development for artificial hands

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

Designing a robotic port system for laparo-endoscopic single-site surgery

Current research and development in the field of surgical interventions aim to reduce the invasiveness by using few incisions or natural orifices in the body to access the surgical site. Considering surgeries in the abdominal cavity, the Laparo-Endoscopic Single-site Surgery (LESS) can be performed through a single incision in the navel, reducing blood loss, post-operative trauma, and improving the cosmetic outcome. However, LESS results in less intuitive instrument control, impaired ergonomic, loss of depth and haptic perception, and restriction of instrument positioning by a single incision. Robot-assisted surgery addresses these shortcomings, by introducing highly articulated, flexible robotic instruments, ergonomic control consoles with 3D visualization, and intuitive instrument control algorithms. The flexible robotic instruments are usually introduced into the abdomen via a rigid straight port, such that the positioning of the tools and therefore the accessibility of anatomical structures is still constrained by the incision location. To address this limitation, articulated ports for LESS are proposed by recent research works. However, they focus on only a few aspects, which are relevant to the surgery, such that a design considering all requirements for LESS has not been proposed yet. This partially originates in the lack of anatomical data of specific applications. Further, no general design guidelines exist and only a few evaluation metrics are proposed. To target these challenges, this thesis focuses on the design of an articulated robotic port for LESS partial nephrectomy. A novel approach is introduced, acquiring the available abdominal workspace, integrated into the surgical workflow. Based on several generated patient datasets and developed metrics, design parameter optimization is conducted. Analyzing the surgical procedure, a comprehensive requirement list is established and applied to design a robotic system, proposing a tendon-driven continuum robot as the articulated port structure. Especially, the aspects of stiffening and sterile design are addressed. In various experimental evaluations, the reachability, the stiffness, and the overall design are evaluated. The findings identify layer jamming as the superior stiffening method. Further, the articulated port is proven to enhance the accessibility of anatomical structures and offer a patient and incision location independent design