Control and simulation of robotic swarms in heterogeneous environments

Simulation provides a low cost method of initial testing of control for robotic swarms. The expansion of robotic swarms to heterogeneous environments drives the need to model cooperative operation in those environments. The Autonomous Control Engineering center at The University of Texas at San Antonio is investigating methods of simulation techniques and simulation environments. This paper presents results from adapting simulation tools for diverse environments.<br /

LEGO LIBRARIAN: Book Carrier

Artificial Intelligence is seen as a potential contributor in many industries and also in everyone’s life. Transporting heavy loads is indeed difficult for humans to perform especially for elderly. This project focuses on solving the problem in the library of University Teknologi PETRONAS. An inexpensive, mobile and efficient robot is proposed to perform in this project. The robot is able to carry books and pass it to Book Sorter to place the books on the shelves. In this report, the functionalities of the robot have been discussed in detail. Moreover, the proposed design of the robot has also been attached. A study of load balancing, the speed of the robot surface type are conducted. The design has been tested with three parameters to obtain the optimum design of the robot. The design was further enhanced as it is necessary to meet the objectives of this project

Behavior-based Fuzzy Control For A Mobile Robot With Non-holonomic Constraints

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2005Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2005Bu çalışmada robotik alanında yeni yaklaşımlar olan davranış temelli robotik ve bulanık mantık konuları gerçek zamanda mobil robot uygulamaları bakımından incelenmiş, dört ilerlemeli, dört yönelmeli bir mobil robot için Engelden Sakın , Hedefe Git , Duvarı İzle , Yola Teğet İlerle , Avare Gez davranışları oluşturulmuştur. Bu davranışların içinden Engelden Sakın , Hedefe Git ve Duvarı İzle davranışları için sonar sensör matematik modelleri oluşturulmuş ve bu davranışların yapısında bulanık mantık yaklaşımı kullanılmıştır. Mobil robot, kinetik ve dinamik olarak holonomik olmayan kısıtları kullanılarak modellenmiştir ve simülasyon sırasında mobil robotun pozisyonu, tekerlek ve robot yönelimleri, tekerlek ve robot hızları, tekerlek torkları gibi parametreler izlenebilmektedir. Davranışlar da, simülasyon ortamında kazanımları, bulanık mantık işleme yapıları, gerçek zaman uygulanabilirliği ve davranışların koordine edilmeleri bakımından incelenmiştir. Bu çalışma gerçek bir robotta yapılacak deneyler için temel teşkil etmektedir.In this study, the new approaches to the robotics subject, behavior-based robotics and fuzzy logic control are investigated for the real-time applications of mobile robots, Avoid Obstacle , Move to Goal , Wall Following , Head-on , Wander behaviors are built up for a four-wheel driven and four-wheel steered mobile robot. Sonar sensor mathematical models are formed for Avoid Obstacle , Move to Goal and Wall Following behaviors and fuzzy logic concepts are used in the structure of these behaviors. The mobile robot is modelled kinematically and dynamically considering the non-holonomic constraints. The posture and speed of the robot and the configurations, speeds and torques of the wheels can be obtained from the simulation. The behaviors are investigated regarding their gains, fuzzy inference structures, real-time applicabilities and thein coordination. This study constitutes basis for the experiments on a real mobile robot.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

LEGO LIBRARIAN: Book Carrier

Artificial Intelligence is seen as a potential contributor in many industries and also in everyone’s life. Transporting heavy loads is indeed difficult for humans to perform especially for elderly. This project focuses on solving the problem in the library of University Teknologi PETRONAS. An inexpensive, mobile and efficient robot is proposed to perform in this project. The robot is able to carry books and pass it to Book Sorter to place the books on the shelves. In this report, the functionalities of the robot have been discussed in detail. Moreover, the proposed design of the robot has also been attached. A study of load balancing, the speed of the robot surface type are conducted. The design has been tested with three parameters to obtain the optimum design of the robot. The design was further enhanced as it is necessary to meet the objectives of this project

Path planning for autonomous vehicles

In this study, we first address the problem of visibility-based target tracking for a team of mobile observers trying to track a team of mobile targets. Initially, we introduce the notion of pursuit fields for a single observer to track a single target around a corner based on the previous work. Pursuit fields are used to generate navigation strategies for a single observer. In order to account for the scenario with the presence of more than one observer or target, we propose a hierarchical approach. At first a ranking and aggregation technique is used for allocating each observer to a target. Subsequently, each observer computes its navigation strategy based on the results of the single observer-single target problem, thereby, decomposing a large multi-agent problem into numerous 2-agent problems. Based on the aforementioned analysis, we present a scalable algorithm that can accommodate an arbitrary number of observers and targets. The performance of this algorithm is evaluated based on simulation and implementation. To implement the strategy in reality, we further propose a setup of omni-directional camera, which can be used to get the visual information of the surroundings. With the help of this setup, we apply a position estimation technique for the pursuer to locate the evader. Experimental results show that the error has considerable effect when the measuring distance is very large. Due to this reason, the aforementioned tracking strategy is modified to keep the evader in an effective range for estimation. Finally, based on the error in position estimation, we present PID controllers for the pursuer to track the evader along a straight line. The responses of the proposed controllers are given by simulations. Considering the situation that pursuer does not have an on board vision sensor, we propose a novel tracking strategy based on the information on social network. We first introduce the notion of common agents, who take pictures around and share them on social network website. In order to take advantage of these images, a network evolution algorithm and an image scanning algorithm are presented. Based on the information from these images, evader can be located accordingly. Implementation results are presented to validate the feasibility. In the rest of the thesis, we address the scheduling and motion planning problem for an autonomous grain cart serving multiple combines. In the first part, we present the mathematical models of both combine harvester and grain cart. Based on the models, we propose a scheduling scheme which allows grain cart to unload all the combines without interruption in the harvesting activity. The proposed scheme is generalized to an arbitrary number of combines. In the second part, we present path planning analysis for the grain cart to switch between two combines. A numerical approach and a primitive-based approach are considered to obtain the time-optimal solution. The former approach needs a value function corresponding to the goal position to be computed beforehand. Based on the value function, a time-optimal path can be obtained accordingly. In the latter approach, path consists of singular primitives and regular primitives which ensure local time optimality. Finally, simulation results are presented to validate the feasibility of the proposed techniques

Real-time Knowledge-based Fuzzy Logic Model for Soft Tissue Deformation

In this research, the improved mass spring model is presented to simulate the human liver deformation. The underlying MSM is redesigned where fuzzy knowledge-based approaches are implemented to determine the stiffness values. Results show that fuzzy approaches are in very good agreement to the benchmark model. The novelty of this research is that for liver deformation in particular, no specific contributions in the literature exist reporting on real-time knowledge-based fuzzy MSM for liver deformation