An iconic programming language for sensor-based robots

In this paper we describe an iconic programming language called Onika for sensor-based robotic systems. Onika is both modular and reconfigurable and can be used with any system architecture and real-time operating system. Onika is also a multi-level programming environment wherein tasks are built by connecting a series of icons which, in turn, can be defined in terms of other icons at the lower levels. Expert users are also allowed to use control block form to define servo tasks. The icons in Onika are both shape and color coded, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, thus providing a form of error control in the development of high level applications

Real-time edge tracking using a tactile sensor

Object recognition through the use of input from multiple sensors is an important aspect of an autonomous manipulation system. In tactile object recognition, it is necessary to determine the location and orientation of object edges and surfaces. A controller is proposed that utilizes a tactile sensor in the feedback loop of a manipulator to track along edges. In the control system, the data from the tactile sensor is first processed to find edges. The parameters of these edges are then used to generate a control signal to a hybrid controller. Theory is presented for tactile edge detection and an edge tracking controller. In addition, experimental verification of the edge tracking controller is presented

RAVE: A Real and Virtual Environment for Multiple Mobile Robot Systems

This paper was presented at the 1999 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'99), Kyongju, Korea, October 17-21. The definitive paper is located at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org (DOI: 10.1109/IROS.1999.811669). © IEEE.To focus on the research issues surrounding collaborative behavior in multiple mobile-robotic systems, a great amount of low-level infrastructure is required. To facilitate our on-going research into multi-robot systems, we have developed RAVE, a software framework that provides a Real And Virtual Environment for running and managing multiple heterogeneous mobile-robot systems. This framework simplifies the implementation and development of collaborative robotic systems by providing the following capabilities: the ability to run systems off-line in simulation, user-interfaces for observing and commanding simulated and real robots, transparent transference of simulated robot programs to real robots, the ability to have simulated robots interact with real robots, and the ability to place virtual sensors on real robots to augment or experiment with their performance

Millibots: The Development of a Framework and Algorithms for a Distributed Heterogeneous Robot Team

The definitive article was published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 4, located at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ (DOI: 10.1109/MRA.2002.1160069) © Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Heterogeneous Teams of Modular Robots for Mapping and Exploration

The definitive article is published in Autonomous Robots. It is available at http://www.springerlink.com (DOI: DOI: 10.1023/A:1008933826411). © Springer-VerlagIn this article, we present the design of a team of heterogeneous, centimeter-scale robots that collaborate to map and explore unknown environments. The robots, called Millibots, are configured from modular components that include sonar and IR sensors, camera, communication, computation, and mobility modules. Robots with different configurations use their special capabilities collaboratively to accomplish a given task. For mapping and exploration with multiple robots, it is critical to know the relative positions of each robot with respect to the others. We have developed a novel localization system that uses sonar-based distance measurements to determine the positions of all the robots in the group. With their positions known, we use an occupancy grid Bayesian mapping algorithm to combine the sensor data from multiple robots with different sensing modalities. Finally, we present the results of several mapping experiments conducted by a user-guided team of five robots operating in a room containing multiple obstacles

DETC2002/CIE-xx SUPPORTING DESIGN REFINEMENT IN MEMS DESIGN

ABSTRACT We present a framework to support design refinement during the virtual prototyping of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). By instantiating MEMS components and connecting them to each other via ports, the designer can both configure complex systems and simulate them. We examine design refinement in the context of ease of use and representation of the virtual prototype. We propose the use of a common, formal grammar representation for the design entities in the virtual prototypeMEMS components, behavioral models and CAD models. We show that the formal grammar approach leads to easy creation of virtual prototypes. In this paper, we focus on portsthe fundamental building blocks of a virtual prototype. Ports mediate all interactions within and between aspects of the virtual prototype. For even moderately complex designs, there can be many interactions present. The representation and organization of all possible ports is important in the context of design refinement. We provide a set-theoretic formalism that defines the algebra of ports. We present a formal grammar for ports that represents a port as a set of attributes, and provide a design refinement mechanism that involves adding or modifying attributes in the port. We illustrate our framework with a MEMS example. We demonstrate that the MEMS designer can evaluate multiple design alternatives quickly and accurately with our framework. KEYWORDS Design methodology, MEMS, Simulation-based design, attribute grammars, port-based modeling, Modelica INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION Virtual prototyping can shorten the design cycle of MEMS products by reducing the need for expensive and timeconsuming physical prototyping. The designer can evaluate more design alternatives to obtain a better quality design. In this paper, we propose to support the process of virtual prototyping of multi-disciplinary MEMS systems. We focus our attention on those aspects of virtual prototyping that are particularly important in the context of design refinement. Specifically, we further the current state-of-the-art with respect to representation and ease of use. The system-level design process is usually top-down. The designer begins with a high-level functional description that he decomposes into sub-functions. These sub-functions are assigned to a system architecture as a configuration of components that contain both design specifications and simulation models. When further decomposition or component assignment is not desired, the designer composes the components to create a system-level configuration that is evaluated to verify the function. In this process, there are three recurring themes: composition, or combining subcomponents to create a compound component; reuse, or replacing a componen