Contemporary Robotics

This book book is a collection of 18 chapters written by internationally recognized experts and well-known professionals of the field. Chapters contribute to diverse facets of contemporary robotics and autonomous systems. The volume is organized in four thematic parts according to the main subjects, regarding the recent advances in the contemporary robotics. The first thematic topics of the book are devoted to the theoretical issues. This includes development of algorithms for automatic trajectory generation using redudancy resolution scheme, intelligent algorithms for robotic grasping, modelling approach for reactive mode handling of flexible manufacturing and design of an advanced controller for robot manipulators. The second part of the book deals with different aspects of robot calibration and sensing. This includes a geometric and treshold calibration of a multiple robotic line-vision system, robot-based inline 2D/3D quality monitoring using picture-giving and laser triangulation, and a study on prospective polymer composite materials for flexible tactile sensors. The third part addresses issues of mobile robots and multi-agent systems, including SLAM of mobile robots based on fusion of odometry and visual data, configuration of a localization system by a team of mobile robots, development of generic real-time motion controller for differential mobile robots, control of fuel cells of mobile robots, modelling of omni-directional wheeled-based robots, building of hunter- hybrid tracking environment, as well as design of a cooperative control in distributed population-based multi-agent approach. The fourth part presents recent approaches and results in humanoid and bioinspirative robotics. It deals with design of adaptive control of anthropomorphic biped gait, building of dynamic-based simulation for humanoid robot walking, building controller for perceptual motor control dynamics of humans and biomimetic approach to control mechatronic structure using smart materials

Electric Vehicle Battery Module Dismantling "Analysis and Evaluation of Robotic Dismantling Techniques for Irre- versible Fasteners, including Object Detection of Components."

This thesis examines a study of The Litium-Ion Battery (LIB) from a electric vehicle, and it’s recycling processes. A Battery Module (BM) from the LIB is shredded when considered an End-Of-Life product, and motivates for automated dismantling concepts to separate the components to save raw materials. From State-of-the-art (SoA) research projects and background theory, automatic module dis- mantling concepts have been evaluated for a Volkswagen E-Golf 2019 battery module. The presence of irreversible fasteners make the use off destructive dismantling techniques neces- sary. This study evaluates two different concepts to disconnect laser welds holding together the compressive plates made of steel. A hydraulic actuated concept is first investigated to separate the welded compressive plates within the casing. A FEM analysis with different configurations is performed to evaluate the most effective hydraulic solution when analysing the Von Mises stress. This solution is further compared with another automatic dismantling concept, namely milling. For the purpose of an automated milling concept, manipulators from ABB are assessed and the feasibility is verified based on results from manual milling operation. The proposed dismantling operation is made possible by developing a system architecture combining robotic control and computer vision. Open source software based on Robot Op- erating System (ROS) and MoveIt connect and control an ABB IRB4400 industrial robot whereas the computer vision setup involves a cutting edge 3D camera, Zivid, and object detection algorithm YOLOv5 best suited for this task. Adjustable acquisition settings in services from Zivid’s ROS driver are tested to accomplish the optimal capture configuration. Two datasets generated with RoboFlow were exported in the YOLOv5 PyTorch format. Custom object detection models with annotated components from the BM was trained and tested with image captures. All in all, this study demonstrates that the automatic dismantling of battery modules can be achieved even though they include irreversible fasteners. The proposed methods are verified on a specific battery module (Egolf 2019) but are flexible enough to be easily extended to a large variety of EV battery modules

Design and control of a loader mechanism for the NMBU agricultural robot

Despite the development of new technologies, manual labour still continuous to play a large role within most modern agricultural operations, especially during harvest. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for new machines to reduce labour as a mean to limit costs, while increasing efficiency in a sustainable manner. This thesis concern itself with the design of a mechanism and control system for a robot arm that can substitute workers in logistical operations during strawberry harvest. More specifically, by lifting berry crates onto a robot platform and transporting them from the fields and to the packaging facilities. The robot arm is to be mounted on the platform composing a vehicle- manipulator system. As this thesis is connected to a general research project on agricultural robotics at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the chosen platform is the associated field robot Thorvald II. The thesis is divided into two parts, where Part I concerns the mechanical design of the robot arm, while Part II propose a system for controlling the mechanism. The design development process has involved assessments of available solutions before selecting components on the basis of controllability, mechanical properties and costs. The process of selection in Part II is however, based on finding solutions that are compatible with the robot platform’s network (Controller Area Network) and operating system (Robotic Operating System). Part I: Design and Mechanics The design of the robot arm presented in this thesis begun with a preliminary feasibility study conducted by Bjurbeck in September 2016. Following the assessment of this study, the robot arm is designed to have two degrees of freedom operating in the xz-plane. When mounted on the platform, the arm will be free to operate in a 3-dimensional space, as the platform moves in x and y-direction, and rotates around the z-axis. The arm is assembled from two parallel link pairs made from rectangular aluminium tubes, and a revolute and prismatic joint. Both joints are actuated by LinAk LA36 linear electric actuators. The end effector of the arm is a gripper head designed to grasp the handles of the strawberry crate. The gripper head is self-aligning with the crate’s orientation in order to reduce the precision of control needed to envelop and grasp the crate. The frame of the gripper head is made from aluminium angle profiles and sheet metal. A worm drive DC motor actuate the gripper claws via a double link mechanism. Part II: Modeling and Control The geometry of the design presented in Part I is modelled mathematically and the inverse kinematics solved analytically. The kinematics will be used in future implementation of a position control system. Two RoboteQ SDC2160 dual-channel controllers are chosen to control all four actuator mo- tors. The linear actuators are controlled in closed loop position tracking mode with absolute feedback. The gripper motor is controlled in open loop mode with end stop switches detecting the position of the claws. Experiments was conducted to match the controllers with the actuator motors. The experiments revealed firmware issues with the controller. The experiments also affirmed the controller need a script to operate the actuators efficiently. The thesis provides the foundations to build a prototype and write an operating script to test the mechanical design and control system.Til tross for den stadige utviklingen av ny teknologi spiller manuelt arbeid fortsatt en stor rolle i moderne landbruk, særlig i innhøsting. På grunn av den store arbeidkraften som trengs er det en stadig større etterspørsel etter nye maskiner som kan redusere behovet for manuelt arbeid for å redusere utgifter og effektivisere gårdsbruk på en bærekraftig måte. Denne masteroppgaven omhandler det mekaniske designet og reguleringssystemet til en robotarm laget for å kunne erstatte arbeidere i oppgaver tilknyttet logistikk ved innhøsting av jordbær. Dette gjøres ved at armen løfter kasser med bær opp på en robotplattform som transporterer kassene fra jordet og til et pakkeri. Robotarmen er da montert oppå plattformen. Siden oppgaven er tilknyttet et forskningsprosjekt i landbruksrobotikk ved Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet, var det naturlig å velge den universitetets robot Thorvald II som plattform.submittedVersionM-MP

Flexible robotic device for spinal surgery

Surgical robots have proliferated in recent years, with well-established benefits including: reduced patient trauma, shortened hospitalisation, and improved diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic outcome. Despite these benefits, many challenges in their development remain, including improved instrument control and ergonomics caused by rigid instrumentation and its associated fulcrum effect. Consequently, it is still extremely challenging to utilise such devices in cases that involve complex anatomical pathways such as the spinal column. The focus of this thesis is the development of a flexible robotic surgical cutting device capable of manoeuvring around the spinal column. The target application of the flexible surgical tool is the removal of cancerous tumours surrounding the spinal column, which cannot be excised completely using the straight surgical tools in use today; anterior and posterior sections of the spine must be accessible for complete tissue removal. A parallel robot platform with six degrees of freedom (6 DoFs) has been designed and fabricated to direct a flexible cutting tool to produce the necessary range of movements to reach anterior and posterior sections of the spinal column. A flexible water jet cutting system and a flexible mechanical drill, which may be assembled interchangeably with the flexible probe, have been developed and successfully tested experimentally. A model predicting the depth of cut by the water jet was developed and experimentally validated. A flexion probe that is able to guide the surgical cutting device around the spinal column has been fabricated and tested with human lumber model. Modelling and simulations show the capacity for the flexible surgical system to enable entering the posterior side of the human lumber model and bend around the vertebral body to reach the anterior side of the spinal column. A computer simulation with a full Graphical User Interface (GUI) was created and used to validate the system of inverse kinematic equations for the robot platform. The constraint controller and the inverse kinematics relations are both incorporated into the overall positional control structure of the robot, and have successfully established a haptic feedback controller for the 6 DoFs surgical probe, and effectively tested in vitro on spinal mock surgery. The flexible surgical system approached the surgery from the posterior side of the human lumber model and bend around the vertebral body to reach the anterior side of the spinal column. The flexible surgical robot removed 82% of mock cancerous tissue compared to 16% of tissue removed by the rigid tool.Open Acces

Vision-Aided Navigation for GPS-Denied Environments Using Landmark Feature Identification

In recent years, unmanned autonomous vehicles have been used in diverse applications because of their multifaceted capabilities. In most cases, the navigation systems for these vehicles are dependent on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Many applications of interest, however, entail operations in environments in which GPS is intermittent or completely denied. These applications include operations in complex urban or indoor environments as well as missions in adversarial environments where GPS might be denied using jamming technology. This thesis investigate the development of vision-aided navigation algorithms that utilize processed images from a monocular camera as an alternative to GPS. The vision-aided navigation approach explored in this thesis entails defining a set of inertial landmarks, the locations of which are known within the environment, and employing image processing algorithms to detect these landmarks in image frames collected from an onboard monocular camera. These vision-based landmark measurements effectively serve as surrogate GPS measurements that can be incorporated into a navigation filter. Several image processing algorithms were considered for landmark detection and this thesis focuses in particular on two approaches: the continuous adaptive mean shift (CAMSHIFT) algorithm and the adaptable compressive (ADCOM) tracking algorithm. These algorithms are discussed in detail and applied for the detection and tracking of landmarks in monocular camera images. Navigation filters are then designed that employ sensor fusion of accelerometer and rate gyro data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) with vision-based measurements of the centroids of one or more landmarks in the scene. These filters are tested in simulated navigation scenarios subject to varying levels of sensor and measurement noise and varying number of landmarks. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are provided regarding the implementation of this vision-aided navigation approach for autonomous vehicle navigation systems

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

Realistic tool-tissue interaction models for surgical simulation and planning

Surgical simulators present a safe and potentially effective method for surgical training, and can also be used in pre- and intra-operative surgical planning. Realistic modeling of medical interventions involving tool-tissue interactions has been considered to be a key requirement in the development of high-fidelity simulators and planners. The soft-tissue constitutive laws, organ geometry and boundary conditions imposed by the connective tissues surrounding the organ, and the shape of the surgical tool interacting with the organ are some of the factors that govern the accuracy of medical intervention planning.\ud \ud This thesis is divided into three parts. First, we compare the accuracy of linear and nonlinear constitutive laws for tissue. An important consequence of nonlinear models is the Poynting effect, in which shearing of tissue results in normal force; this effect is not seen in a linear elastic model. The magnitude of the normal force for myocardial tissue is shown to be larger than the human contact force discrimination threshold. Further, in order to investigate and quantify the role of the Poynting effect on material discrimination, we perform a multidimensional scaling study. Second, we consider the effects of organ geometry and boundary constraints in needle path planning. Using medical images and tissue mechanical properties, we develop a model of the prostate and surrounding organs. We show that, for needle procedures such as biopsy or brachytherapy, organ geometry and boundary constraints have more impact on target motion than tissue material parameters. Finally, we investigate the effects surgical tool shape on the accuracy of medical intervention planning. We consider the specific case of robotic needle steering, in which asymmetry of a bevel-tip needle results in the needle naturally bending when it is inserted into soft tissue. We present an analytical and finite element (FE) model for the loads developed at the bevel tip during needle-tissue interaction. The analytical model explains trends observed in the experiments. We incorporated physical parameters (rupture toughness and nonlinear material elasticity) into the FE model that included both contact and cohesive zone models to simulate tissue cleavage. The model shows that the tip forces are sensitive to the rupture toughness. In order to model the mechanics of deflection of the needle, we use an energy-based formulation that incorporates tissue-specific parameters such as rupture toughness, nonlinear material elasticity, and interaction stiffness, and needle geometric and material properties. Simulation results follow similar trends (deflection and radius of curvature) to those observed in macroscopic experimental studies of a robot-driven needle interacting with gels