Oscillation Damping Control of Pendulum-like Manipulation Platform using Moving Masses

This paper presents an approach to damp out the oscillatory motion of the pendulum-like hanging platform on which a robotic manipulator is mounted. To this end, moving masses were installed on top of the platform. In this paper, asymptotic stability of the platform (which implies oscillation damping) is achieved by designing reference acceleration of the moving masses properly. A main feature of this work is that we can achieve asymptotic stability of not only the platform, but also the moving masses, which may be challenging due to the under-actuation nature. The proposed scheme is validated by the simulation studies.Comment: IFAC Symposium on Robot Control (SYROCO) 201

Passive Compliance Control of Aerial Manipulators

This paper presents a passive compliance control for aerial manipulators to achieve stable environmental interactions. The main challenge is the absence of actuation along body-planar directions of the aerial vehicle which might be required during the interaction to preserve passivity. The controller proposed in this paper guarantees passivity of the manipulator through a proper choice of end-effector coordinates, and that of vehicle fuselage is guaranteed by exploiting time domain passivity technique. Simulation studies validate the proposed approach.Comment: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 201

Asynchronous Behavior Trees with Memory aimed at Aerial Vehicles with Redundancy in Flight Controller

Complex aircraft systems are becoming a target for automation. For successful operation, they require both efficient and readable mission execution system. Flight control computer (FCC) units, as well as all important subsystems, are often duplicated. Discrete nature of mission execution systems does not allow small differences in data flow among redundant FCCs which are acceptable for continuous control algorithms. Therefore, mission state consistency has to be specifically maintained. We present a novel mission execution system which includes FCC state synchronization. To achieve this result we developed a new concept of Asynchronous Behavior Tree with Memory and proposed a state synchronization algorithm. The implemented system was tested and proven to work in a real-time simulation of High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) mission.Comment: Accepted to IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019), IEEE copyrigh

Whole-Body Bilateral Teleoperation of a Redundant Aerial Manipulator

Attaching a robotic manipulator to a flying base allows for significant improvements in the reachability and versatility of manipulation tasks. In order to explore such systems while taking advantage of human capabilities in terms of perception and cognition, bilateral teleoperation arises as a reasonable solution. However, since most telemanipulation tasks require visual feedback in addition to the haptic one, real-time (task-dependent) positioning of a video camera, which is usually attached to the flying base, becomes an additional objective to be fulfilled. Since the flying base is part of the kinematic structure of the robot, if proper care is not taken, moving the video camera could undesirably disturb the end-effector motion. For that reason, the necessity of controlling the base position in the null space of the manipulation task arises. In order to provide the operator with meaningful information about the limits of the allowed motions in the null space, this paper presents a novel haptic concept called Null-Space Wall. In addition, a framework to allow stable bilateral teleoperation of both tasks is presented. Numerical simulation data confirm that the proposed framework is able to keep the system passive while allowing the operator to perform time-delayed telemanipulation and command the base to a task-dependent optimal pose.Comment: to be published in 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA

Web Sonification Sandbox - an Easy-to-Use Web Application for Sonifying Data and Equations

Auditory and multimodal presentation of data (“auditory graphs”) can allow for discoveries in a data set that are sometimes impossible with visual-only inspection. At the same time, multimodal graphs can make data, and the STEM fields that rely on them, more accessible to a much broader range of people, including many with disabilities. There have been a variety of software tools developed to turn data into sound, including the widely-used Sonification Sandbox, but there remains a need for simple, powerful, and more accessible tool for the construction and manipulation of multimodal graphs. Web-based audio functionality is now at the point where it can be leveraged to provide just such a tool. Thus, we developed a web application, the Web Sonification Sandbox (or simply the Web Sandbox), that allows users to create and manipulate multimodal graphs that convey information through both sonification and visualization. The Web Sandbox is designed to be usable by individuals with no technical or musical expertise, which separates it from existing software. The easy-to-use nature of the Web Sandbox, combined with its multimodal nature, allow it to be a maximally accessible application by a diverse audience of users. Nevertheless, the application is also powerful and flexible enough to support advanced users

Inteligência tecnológica : impactos e projeções da manufatura aditiva no setor metalomecânico

As tecnologias de manufatura aditiva vêm assumindo mais relevância dentro do setor industrial. A grande versatilidade desta tecnologia pode causar fortes impactos dentro do setor metalomecânico. Portanto, do ponto de vista estratégico, sua evolução e seus possíveis impactos devem ser estudados e sistematicamente analisados para que as empresas do setor de manufatura consigam tomar as melhores decisões em relação aos projetos futuros. Tendo isso em vista, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo entender como acontecerá a evolução da tecnologia de manufatura aditiva, identificando aspectos críticos para a evolução e difusão da mesma. Para isso, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática de artigos e vídeos sobre impressão 3D e o futuro da manufatura, além de entrevistas com profissionais da área de manufatura. Como resultado, foi gerado um modelo de Technology Roadmapping com prospecções sobre o futuro da tecnologia de manufatura aditiva. Destacaram-se no modelo prospecções nas áreas de mercado (manufatura, automóveis e medicina), tecnologia (manufatura aditiva, materiais, software e hardware) e conhecimento (regulamentações, educação e parcerias)