241 research outputs found
On the motion planning & control of nonlinear robotic systems
In the last decades, we saw a soaring interest in autonomous robots boosted not only by academia and industry, but also by the ever in- creasing demand from civil users. As a matter of fact, autonomous robots are fast spreading in all aspects of human life, we can see them clean houses, navigate through city traffic, or harvest fruits and vegetables. Almost all commercial drones already exhibit unprecedented and sophisticated skills which makes them suitable for these applications, such as obstacle avoidance, simultaneous localisation and mapping, path planning, visual-inertial odometry, and object tracking. The major limitations of such robotic platforms lie in the limited payload that can carry, in their costs, and in the limited autonomy due to finite battery capability. For this reason researchers start to develop new algorithms able to run even on resource constrained platforms both in terms of computation capabilities and limited types of endowed sensors, focusing especially on very cheap sensors and hardware. The possibility to use a limited number of sensors allowed to scale a lot the UAVs size, while the implementation of new efficient algorithms, performing the same task in lower time, allows for lower autonomy. However, the developed robots are not mature enough to completely operate autonomously without human supervision due to still too big dimensions (especially for aerial vehicles), which make these platforms unsafe for humans, and the high probability of numerical, and decision, errors that robots may make. In this perspective, this thesis aims to review and improve the current state-of-the-art solutions for autonomous navigation from a purely practical point of view. In particular, we deeply focused on the problems of robot control, trajectory planning, environments exploration, and obstacle avoidance
Modeling and Robust Control of Flying Robots Using Intelligent Approaches Modélisation et commande robuste des robots volants en utilisant des approches intelligentes
This thesis aims to modeling and robust controlling of a flying robot of quadrotor type. Where
we focused in this thesis on quadrotor unmanned Aerial Vehicle (QUAV). Intelligent
nonlinear controllers and intelligent fractional-order nonlinear controllers are designed to
control. The QUAV system is considered as MIMO large-scale system that can be divided on
six interconnected single-input–single-output (SISO) subsystems, which define one DOF, i.e.,
three-angle subsystems with three position subsystems. In addition, nonlinear models is
considered and assumed to suffer from the incidence of parameter uncertainty. Every
parameters such as mass, inertia of the system are assumed completely unknown and change
over time without prior information. Next, basing on nonlinear, Fractional-Order nonlinear
and the intelligent adaptive approximate techniques a control law is established for all
subsystems. The stability is performed by Lyapunov method and getting the desired output
with respect to the desired input. The modeling and control is done using
MATLAB/Simulink. At the end, the simulation tests are performed to that, the designed
controller is able to maintain best performance of the QUAV even in the presence of unknown
dynamics, parametric uncertainties and external disturbance
MRS Drone: A Modular Platform for Real-World Deployment of Aerial Multi-Robot Systems
This paper presents a modular autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
platform called the Multi-robot Systems (MRS) Drone that can be used in a large
range of indoor and outdoor applications. The MRS Drone features unique
modularity with respect to changes in actuators, frames, and sensory
configuration. As the name suggests, the platform is specially tailored for
deployment within a MRS group. The MRS Drone contributes to the
state-of-the-art of UAV platforms by allowing smooth real-world deployment of
multiple aerial robots, as well as by outperforming other platforms with its
modularity. For real-world multi-robot deployment in various applications, the
platform is easy to both assemble and modify. Moreover, it is accompanied by a
realistic simulator to enable safe pre-flight testing and a smooth transition
to complex real-world experiments. In this manuscript, we present mechanical
and electrical designs, software architecture, and technical specifications to
build a fully autonomous multi UAV system. Finally, we demonstrate the full
capabilities and the unique modularity of the MRS Drone in various real-world
applications that required a diverse range of platform configurations.Comment: 49 pages, 39 figures, accepted for publication to the Journal of
Intelligent & Robotic System
Mars delivery service - development of the electro-mechanical systems of the Sample Fetch Rover for the Mars Sample Return Campaign
This thesis describes the development of the Sample Fetch Rover (SFR), studied for Mars Sample Return (MSR), an international campaign carried out in cooperation between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The focus of this document is the design of the electro-mechanical systems of the rover.
After placing this work into the general context of robotic planetary exploration and summarising the state of the art for what concerns Mars rovers, the architecture of the Mars Sample Return Campaign is presented. A complete overview of the current SFR architecture is provided, touching upon all the main subsystems of the spacecraft. For each area, it is discussed what are the design drivers, the chosen solutions and whether they use heritage technology (in particular from the ExoMars Rover) or new developments. This research focuses on two topics of particular interest, due to their relevance for the mission and the novelty of their design: locomotion and sample acquisition, which are discussed in depth.
The early SFR locomotion concepts are summarised, covering the initial trade-offs and discarded designs for higher traverse performance. Once a consolidated architecture was reached, the locomotion subsystem was developed further, defining the details of the suspension, actuators, deployment mechanisms and wheels. This technology is presented here in detail, including some key analysis and test results that support the design and demonstrate how it responds to the mission requirements.
Another major electro-mechanical system developed as part of this work is the one dedicated to sample tube acquisition. The concept of operations of this machinery was defined to be robust against the unknown conditions that characterise the mission. The design process led to a highly automated robotic system which is described here in its main components: vision system, robotic arm and tube storage
Digital Inclusion of the Farming Sector Using Drone Technology
Agriculture continues to be the primary source of income for most rural people in the developing economy. The world’s economy is also strongly reliant on agricultural products, which accounts for a large number of its exports. Despite its growing importance, agriculture is still lagging behind to meet the demands due to crop failure caused by bad weather conditions and unmanaged insect problems. As a result, the quality and quantity of agricultural products are occasionally affected to reduce the farm income. Crop failure could be predicted ahead of time and preventative measures could be taken through a combination of conventional farming practices with contemporary technologies such as agri-drones to address the difficulties plaguing the agricultural sectors. Drones are actually unmanned aerial vehicles that are used for imaging, soil and crop surveillance, and a variety of other purposes in agricultural sectors. Drone technology is now becoming an emerging technology for large-scale applications in agriculture. Although the technology is still in its infancy in developing nations, numerous research and businesses are working to make it easily accessible to the farming community to boost the agricultural productivity
A Comprehensive Review of AI-enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Trends, Vision , and Challenges
In recent years, the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) has brought about advancements in various areas. This
comprehensive analysis explores the changing landscape of AI-powered UAVs and
friendly computing in their applications. It covers emerging trends, futuristic
visions, and the inherent challenges that come with this relationship. The
study examines how AI plays a role in enabling navigation, detecting and
tracking objects, monitoring wildlife, enhancing precision agriculture,
facilitating rescue operations, conducting surveillance activities, and
establishing communication among UAVs using environmentally conscious computing
techniques. By delving into the interaction between AI and UAVs, this analysis
highlights the potential for these technologies to revolutionise industries
such as agriculture, surveillance practices, disaster management strategies,
and more. While envisioning possibilities, it also takes a look at ethical
considerations, safety concerns, regulatory frameworks to be established, and
the responsible deployment of AI-enhanced UAV systems. By consolidating
insights from research endeavours in this field, this review provides an
understanding of the evolving landscape of AI-powered UAVs while setting the
stage for further exploration in this transformative domain
Visual and Camera Sensors
This book includes 13 papers published in Special Issue ("Visual and Camera Sensors") of the journal Sensors. The goal of this Special Issue was to invite high-quality, state-of-the-art research papers dealing with challenging issues in visual and camera sensors
An AI-in-Loop Fuzzy-Control Technique for UAV’s Stabilization and Landing
In this paper, an adaptable fuzzy control mechanism for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to manipulate its mechanical actuators is provided. The mission (landing) for the UAV is defined to track (land on) an object that is detected by a deep learning object detection algorithm. The inputs of the controller are the location and speed of the UAV that have been calculated based on the location of the detected object. Two separate fuzzy controllers are proposed to control the UAV’s motor throttle and its roll and pitch over the mission and landing time. Fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is an intelligent controller that can be used to compensate for the non-linearity behaviour of the UAV by designing a specific fuzzy rule base. These rules will be utilized to adjust the control parameters during the mission and landing period in runtime. To add the effect of the ground for tuning the FLC membership function over the landing operation, a computational flow dynamic (CFD) modeling has been investigated. The proposed techniques is evaluated on MATLAB/Simulink simulation platform and real environment. Statistical analysis of the UAV location reported during stabilization and landing process, on both simulation and real platform, show that the proposed technique outperforms the similar state-of-art control techniques for both mission and landing control.</p
Mining Technologies Innovative Development
The present book covers the main challenges, important for future prospects of subsoils extraction as a public effective and profitable business, as well as technologically advanced industry. In the near future, the mining industry must overcome the problems of structural changes in raw materials demand and raise the productivity up to the level of high-tech industries to maintain the profits. This means the formation of a comprehensive and integral response to such challenges as the need for innovative modernization of mining equipment and an increase in its reliability, the widespread introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies in the activities of mining enterprises, the transition to "green mining" and the improvement of labor safety and avoidance of man-made accidents. The answer to these challenges is impossible without involving a wide range of scientific community in the publication of research results and exchange of views and ideas. To solve the problem, this book combines the works of researchers from the world's leading centers of mining science on the development of mining machines and mechanical systems, surface and underground geotechnology, mineral processing, digital systems in mining, mine ventilation and labor protection, and geo-ecology. A special place among them is given to post-mining technologies research
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