Haptic teleoperation of the youbot with friction compensation for the base

Haptic devices are bringing new possibilities for teleoperation by increasing the level of awareness that the operator can have over the slave. In other words, they create a stronger link between them. Because it is not enough to have a view of the task at hand, it is better to feel what is really happening at the other side. The main goal of the project is to provide the KUKA youBot with an Omega 6 haptic interface. The operator can feel the movement limitations that the arm’s tooltip may be experiencing, resulting in a better driving practice. But with these new capabilities other concerns arise, like the choice of an appropriate control algorithm, the correct coupling of workspaces or the design of a suitable data handling scheme. However, the current setup has not yet been submitted to a proper system validation and so there is still much work to do in order to increase its overall performance. Since friction can have a major role in the control scheme of the system, the latter should be provided with friction compensation. To achieve this, a study of the youBot wheels motor block friction has been carried out. These results are then also incorporated in the robot simulation. Moreover, when identifying this kind of behaviours some important decisions have to be made in order to get the best results from the time invested. Among those are the selection of a friction model, the system identification experiments and the validation of results. In conclusion, it has been proven that the implementation of a haptic interface for the youBot is not only feasible but that it delivers a greater overall teleoperation experience. Also, although the results of this project are an initial version of the system, the friction compensation for the base motor blocks is already working with acceptable performance. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Los dispositivos hápticos están trayendo nuevas posibilidades a la teleoperación, aumentando el nivel de consciencia que el operador puede tener sobre la máquina que dirige. En otras palabras, crean un vínculo más fuerte entre ambos. Y es que a veces no es suficiente visualizar la tarea que se esta realizando, es mejor notar lo que realmente está pasando en el otro lado. El objetivo principal del proyecto es proporcionar al robot youBot de KUKA una interfaz con el dispositivo háptico Omega6. El operador puede notar las limitaciones en los movimientos que la herramienta del brazo robot pueda estar experimentando, resultando así en una mejor experiencia de conducción. Pero con estas nuevas capacidades aparecen otras preocupaciones, como elegir un algoritmo de control apropiado, la correcta unión de los espacios de trabajo o el diseño de un esquema de manejo de datos adecuado. Sin embargo, la instalación actual aún no ha sido sometida a una evaluación de sistema apropiada y por lo tanto todavía hay mucho trabajo por hacer para incrementar el rendimiento general. Ya que la fricción puede tener un rol importante en el esquema de control del sistema, este debería ser provisto con compensación de fricción. Para lograr esto se ha llevado a cabo un estudio de los bloques motor de las ruedas del youBot. Estos resultados se han incorporado también a la simulación del robot. Por otra parte, cuando se identifican esta clase de comportamientos se han de tomar decisiones importantes para obtener los mejores resultados del tiempo empleado. Entre estas están la selección de un modelo de fricción adecuado, los experimentos para identificar el sistema y la validación de los resultados. En conclusión, se ha probado que la implementación del youBot con una interfaz háptica no es solo posible sino que mejora la experiencia general de teleoperación. Además, aunque los resultados del proyecto son una versión inicial del sistema, la compensación de la fricción para los bloques motor de la base ya está funcionando con un rendimiento aceptable.Ingeniería Industria

Investigation of the use of meshfree methods for haptic thermal management of design and simulation of MEMS

This thesis presents a novel approach of using haptic sensing technology combined with virtual environment (VE) for the thermal management of Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) design. The goal is to reduce the development cycle by avoiding the costly iterative prototyping procedure. In this regard, we use haptic feedback with virtua lprototyping along with an immersing environment. We also aim to improve the productivity and capability of the designer to better grasp the phenomena operating at the micro-scale level, as well as to augment computational steering through haptic channels. To validate the concept of haptic thermal management, we have implemented a demonstrator with a user friendly interface which allows to intuitively "feel" the temperature field through our concept of haptic texturing. The temperature field in a simple MEMS component is modeled using finite element methods (FEM) or finite difference method (FDM) and the user is able to feel thermal expansion using a combination of different haptic feedback. In haptic application, the force rendering loop needs to be updated at a frequency of 1Khz in order to maintain continuity in the user perception. When using FEM or FDM for our three-dimensional model, the computational cost increases rapidly as the mesh size is reduced to ensure accuracy. Hence, it constrains the complexity of the physical model to approximate temperature or stress field solution. It would also be difficult to generate or refine the mesh in real time for CAD process. In order to circumvent the limitations due to the use of conventional mesh-based techniques and to avoid the bothersome task of generating and refining the mesh, we investigate the potential of meshfree methods in the context of our haptic application. We review and compare the different meshfree formulations against FEM mesh based technique. We have implemented the different methods for benchmarking thermal conduction and elastic problems. The main work of this thesis is to determine the relevance of the meshfree option in terms of flexibility of design and computational charge for haptic physical model

Musical Haptics

Haptic Musical Instruments; Haptic Psychophysics; Interface Design and Evaluation; User Experience; Musical Performanc

Musical Haptics

Haptic Musical Instruments; Haptic Psychophysics; Interface Design and Evaluation; User Experience; Musical Performanc

Designing a New Tactile Display Technology and its Disability Interactions

People with visual impairments have a strong desire for a refreshable tactile interface that can provide immediate access to full page of Braille and tactile graphics. Regrettably, existing devices come at a considerable expense and remain out of reach for many. The exorbitant costs associated with current tactile displays stem from their intricate design and the multitude of components needed for their construction. This underscores the pressing need for technological innovation that can enhance tactile displays, making them more accessible and available to individuals with visual impairments. This research thesis delves into the development of a novel tactile display technology known as Tacilia. This technology's necessity and prerequisites are informed by in-depth qualitative engagements with students who have visual impairments, alongside a systematic analysis of the prevailing architectures underpinning existing tactile display technologies. The evolution of Tacilia unfolds through iterative processes encompassing conceptualisation, prototyping, and evaluation. With Tacilia, three distinct products and interactive experiences are explored, empowering individuals to manually draw tactile graphics, generate digitally designed media through printing, and display these creations on a dynamic pin array display. This innovation underscores Tacilia's capability to streamline the creation of refreshable tactile displays, rendering them more fitting, usable, and economically viable for people with visual impairments

Musical Haptics

This Open Access book offers an original interdisciplinary overview of the role of haptic feedback in musical interaction. Divided into two parts, part I examines the tactile aspects of music performance and perception, discussing how they affect user experience and performance in terms of usability, functionality and perceived quality of musical instruments. Part II presents engineering, computational, and design approaches and guidelines that have been applied to render and exploit haptic feedback in digital musical interfaces. Musical Haptics introduces an emerging field that brings together engineering, human-computer interaction, applied psychology, musical aesthetics, and music performance. The latter, defined as the complex system of sensory-motor interactions between musicians and their instruments, presents a well-defined framework in which to study basic psychophysical, perceptual, and biomechanical aspects of touch, all of which will inform the design of haptic musical interfaces. Tactile and proprioceptive cues enable embodied interaction and inform sophisticated control strategies that allow skilled musicians to achieve high performance and expressivity. The use of haptic feedback in digital musical interfaces is expected to enhance user experience and performance, improve accessibility for disabled persons, and provide an effective means for musical tuition and guidance

Mechatronic Systems

Mechatronics, the synergistic blend of mechanics, electronics, and computer science, has evolved over the past twenty five years, leading to a novel stage of engineering design. By integrating the best design practices with the most advanced technologies, mechatronics aims at realizing high-quality products, guaranteeing at the same time a substantial reduction of time and costs of manufacturing. Mechatronic systems are manifold and range from machine components, motion generators, and power producing machines to more complex devices, such as robotic systems and transportation vehicles. With its twenty chapters, which collect contributions from many researchers worldwide, this book provides an excellent survey of recent work in the field of mechatronics with applications in various fields, like robotics, medical and assistive technology, human-machine interaction, unmanned vehicles, manufacturing, and education. We would like to thank all the authors who have invested a great deal of time to write such interesting chapters, which we are sure will be valuable to the readers. Chapters 1 to 6 deal with applications of mechatronics for the development of robotic systems. Medical and assistive technologies and human-machine interaction systems are the topic of chapters 7 to 13.Chapters 14 and 15 concern mechatronic systems for autonomous vehicles. Chapters 16-19 deal with mechatronics in manufacturing contexts. Chapter 20 concludes the book, describing a method for the installation of mechatronics education in schools

Advanced Knowledge Application in Practice

The integration and interdependency of the world economy leads towards the creation of a global market that offers more opportunities, but is also more complex and competitive than ever before. Therefore widespread research activity is necessary if one is to remain successful on the market. This book is the result of research and development activities from a number of researchers worldwide, covering concrete fields of research

Autonomous Navigation of Automated Guided Vehicle Using Monocular Camera

This paper presents a hybrid control algorithm for Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) consisting of two independent control loops: Position Based Control (PBC) for global navigation within manufacturing environment and Image Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) for fine motions needed for accurate steering towards loading/unloading point. The proposed hybrid control separates the initial transportation task into global navigation towards the goal point, and fine motion from the goal point to the loading/unloading point. In this manner, the need for artificial landmarks or accurate map of the environment is bypassed. Initial experimental results show the usefulness of the proposed approach.COBISS.SR-ID 27383808

Optimization of Operation Sequencing in CAPP Using Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing Approach

In any CAPP system, one of the most important process planning functions is selection of the operations and corresponding machines in order to generate the optimal operation sequence. In this paper, the hybrid GA-SA algorithm is used to solve this combinatorial optimization NP (Non-deterministic Polynomial) problem. The network representation is adopted to describe operation and sequencing flexibility in process planning and the mathematical model for process planning is described with the objective of minimizing the production time. Experimental results show effectiveness of the hybrid algorithm that, in comparison with the GA and SA standalone algorithms, gives optimal operation sequence with lesser computational time and lesser number of iterations