Running synthesis and control for monopods and bipeds with articulated

Bibliography: p. 179-20

Dynamics simulation of human box delivering task

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2018The dynamic optimization of a box delivery motion is a complex task. The key component is to achieve an optimized motion associated with the box weight, delivering speed, and location. This thesis addresses one solution for determining the optimal delivery of a box. The delivering task is divided into five subtasks: lifting, transition step, carrying, transition step, and unloading. Each task is simulated independently with appropriate boundary conditions so that they can be stitched together to render a complete delivering task. Each task is formulated as an optimization problem. The design variables are joint angle profiles. For lifting and carrying task, the objective function is the dynamic effort. The unloading task is a byproduct of the lifting task, but done in reverse, starting with holding the box and ending with it at its final position. In contrast, for transition task, the objective function is the combination of dynamic effort and joint discomfort. The various joint parameters are analyzed consisting of joint torque, joint angles, and ground reactive forces. A viable optimization motion is generated from the simulation results. It is also empirically validated. This research holds significance for professions containing heavy box lifting and delivering tasks and would like to reduce the chance of injury.Chapter 1 Introduction -- Chapter 2 Skeletal Human Modeling -- Chapter 3 Kinematics and Dynamics -- Chapter 4 Lifting Simulation -- Chapter 5 Carrying Simulation -- Chapter 6 Delivering Simulation -- Chapter 7 Conclusion and Future Research -- Reference

Planning and Control Strategies for Motion and Interaction of the Humanoid Robot COMAN+

Despite the majority of robotic platforms are still confined in controlled environments such as factories, thanks to the ever-increasing level of autonomy and the progress on human-robot interaction, robots are starting to be employed for different operations, expanding their focus from uniquely industrial to more diversified scenarios. Humanoid research seeks to obtain the versatility and dexterity of robots capable of mimicking human motion in any environment. With the aim of operating side-to-side with humans, they should be able to carry out complex tasks without posing a threat during operations. In this regard, locomotion, physical interaction with the environment and safety are three essential skills to develop for a biped. Concerning the higher behavioural level of a humanoid, this thesis addresses both ad-hoc movements generated for specific physical interaction tasks and cyclic movements for locomotion. While belonging to the same category and sharing some of the theoretical obstacles, these actions require different approaches: a general high-level task is composed of specific movements that depend on the environment and the nature of the task itself, while regular locomotion involves the generation of periodic trajectories of the limbs. Separate planning and control architectures targeting these aspects of biped motion are designed and developed both from a theoretical and a practical standpoint, demonstrating their efficacy on the new humanoid robot COMAN+, built at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. The problem of interaction has been tackled by mimicking the intrinsic elasticity of human muscles, integrating active compliant controllers. However, while state-of-the-art robots may be endowed with compliant architectures, not many can withstand potential system failures that could compromise the safety of a human interacting with the robot. This thesis proposes an implementation of such low-level controller that guarantees a fail-safe behaviour, removing the threat that a humanoid robot could pose if a system failure occurred

Robust Cascade Controller for Nonlinearly Actuated Biped Robots: Experimental Evaluation

In this paper we consider the postural stability problem for nonlinearly actuated quasi-static biped robots, both with respect to the joint angular positions and also with reference to the gripping effect between the foot/feet against the ground during robot locomotion. Zero moment point based mathematical models are developed to establish a relationship between the robot state variables and the stability margin of the foot (feet) contact surface and the supporting ground. Then, in correspondence with the developed dynamical model and its associated uncertainty, and in the presence of non-modeled robot mechanical structure vibration modes, we propose a robust control architecture that uses two cascade regulators. The overall robust control system consists of a nonlinear robust variable structure controller in an inner feedback loop for joint trajectory tracking, and anH∞ linear robust regulator in an outer, direct zero moment point feedback loop to ensure the foot-ground contact stability. The effectiveness of this cascade controller is evaluated using a simplified prototype of a nonlinearly actuated biped robot in double support placed on top of a one-degree-of-freedom mobile platform and subjected to external disturbances. The achieved experimental results have revealed that the simplified prototype is successfully stabilized.In this paper we consider the postural stability problem for nonlinearly actuated quasi-static biped robots, both with respect to the joint angular positions and also with reference to the gripping effect between the foot/feet against the ground during robot locomotion. Zero moment point based mathematical models are developed to establish a relationship between the robot state variables and the stability margin of the foot (feet) contact surface and the supporting ground. Then, in correspondence with the developed dynamical model and its associated uncertainty, and in the presence of non-modeled robot mechanical structure vibration modes, we propose a robust control architecture that uses two cascade regulators. The overall robust control system consists of a nonlinear robust variable structure controller in an inner feedback loop for joint trajectory tracking, and anH∞ linear robust regulator in an outer, direct zero moment point feedback loop to ensure the foot-ground contact stability. The effectiveness of this cascade controller is evaluated using a simplified prototype of a nonlinearly actuated biped robot in double support placed on top of a one-degree-of-freedom mobile platform and subjected to external disturbances. The achieved experimental results have revealed that the simplified prototype is successfully stabilized

Climbing and Walking Robots

Nowadays robotics is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific researches. The shift of robotics researches from manufacturing to services applications is clear. During the last decades interest in studying climbing and walking robots has been increased. This increasing interest has been in many areas that most important ones of them are: mechanics, electronics, medical engineering, cybernetics, controls, and computers. Today’s climbing and walking robots are a combination of manipulative, perceptive, communicative, and cognitive abilities and they are capable of performing many tasks in industrial and non- industrial environments. Surveillance, planetary exploration, emergence rescue operations, reconnaissance, petrochemical applications, construction, entertainment, personal services, intervention in severe environments, transportation, medical and etc are some applications from a very diverse application fields of climbing and walking robots. By great progress in this area of robotics it is anticipated that next generation climbing and walking robots will enhance lives and will change the way the human works, thinks and makes decisions. This book presents the state of the art achievments, recent developments, applications and future challenges of climbing and walking robots. These are presented in 24 chapters by authors throughtot the world The book serves as a reference especially for the researchers who are interested in mobile robots. It also is useful for industrial engineers and graduate students in advanced study

Palm-sized humanoid robot.

Chung, Wing Kwong.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-101).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Related Work --- p.3Chapter 1.2.1 --- History of Humanoid Robots --- p.3Chapter 1.2.2 --- The Study of Humanoid Robots --- p.5Chapter 1.3 --- Thesis Overview --- p.6Chapter 2 --- Architecture --- p.8Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.8Chapter 2.2 --- Mechanical Design --- p.8Chapter 2.3 --- Hardware Platform --- p.11Chapter 2.4 --- Software Platform --- p.14Chapter 3 --- Kinematics --- p.15Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.15Chapter 3.2 --- Forward Kinematics --- p.15Chapter 3.2.1 --- Lower Limb --- p.17Chapter 3.2.2 --- Upper Limb --- p.19Chapter 3.3 --- Inverse Kinematics --- p.21Chapter 3.3.1 --- Lower Limb --- p.21Chapter 3.3.2 --- Upper Limb --- p.24Chapter 4 --- Gait Synthesis --- p.29Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.29Chapter 4.1.1 --- Difference Between Human and Robot Joints --- p.29Chapter 4.1.2 --- Difference Types of Gait for Humanoid Robots --- p.30Chapter 4.2 --- Related Works --- p.31Chapter 4.3 --- Gait Frame --- p.33Chapter 4.3.1 --- Analysis of Human Gait --- p.33Chapter 4.3.2 --- Gait Frame for PHR --- p.34Chapter 4.4 --- Gait Synthesis --- p.36Chapter 4.4.1 --- Mathematic Description of Bezier Curve --- p.36Chapter 4.4.2 --- Reasons for Using Bezier Curve for Gait Synthesis --- p.37Chapter 4.4.3 --- Gait Synthesis Using Bezier Curve Interpolation --- p.37Chapter 4.5 --- Experiments --- p.40Chapter 4.5.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.40Chapter 4.5.2 --- Results --- p.40Chapter 4.6 --- Discussion --- p.43Chapter 4.7 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.44Chapter 5 --- Balance Algorithm for PHR --- p.45Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.45Chapter 5.2 --- Related Works --- p.45Chapter 5.3 --- Balance Algorithm --- p.47Chapter 5.4 --- Experiments --- p.51Chapter 5.4.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.51Chapter 5.4.2 --- Results --- p.51Chapter 5.5 --- Discussion --- p.54Chapter 5.6 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.54Chapter 6 --- Human-robot Interaction System through Hand Gestures --- p.55Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.55Chapter 6.2 --- Related Works --- p.55Chapter 6.3 --- Flow of Hand Gesture Recognition --- p.57Chapter 6.4 --- Database Establishment --- p.60Chapter 6.4.1 --- Hand Detection and Preprocessing --- p.60Chapter 6.4.2 --- Extraction of Features --- p.62Chapter 6.4.3 --- Storage of Features --- p.68Chapter 6.5 --- Hand Gesture Recognition --- p.69Chapter 6.6 --- Experiments --- p.72Chapter 6.6.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.72Chapter 6.6.2 --- Recognition Results --- p.73Chapter 6.7 --- Discussion --- p.75Chapter 6.8 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.75Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.76Chapter 7.1 --- Research Summary --- p.76Chapter 7.2 --- Future Work --- p.78Chapter A --- Forward Kinematics of PHR --- p.79Chapter A.1 --- Lower Limb --- p.79Chapter A.2 --- Upper Limb --- p.82Chapter B --- Inverse Kinematics of PHR --- p.85Chapter B.1 --- Lower Limb --- p.85Chapter B.2 --- Upper Limb --- p.88Chapter C --- Zero Moment Point --- p.91Chapter D --- User Interface of PHR --- p.9

A sensory-based adaptive walking control algorithm for variable speed biped robot gaits

A balance scheme for handling variable speed gaits was implemented on an experimental biped. The control scheme used pre-planned but adaptive motion sequences in combination with closed loop reactive control. CMAC neural networks were responsible for the adaptive control of side-to-side and front-to-back balance. The biped performance improved with neural network training. The biped was able to walk with variable speed gaits, and to change gait speeds on the fly. The slower gait speeds required statically balanced walking, while the faster speeds required dynamically balanced walking. It was not necessary to distinguish between the two balance modes within the controller. Following training, the biped was able to walk with continuous motion on flat, non-slippery surfaces at forward progression velocities in the range of 21 cm/min to 72 cm/min, with average stride lengths of 6.5 cm