3,296 research outputs found
Level Sets and Stable Manifold Approximations for Perceptually Driven Nonholonomically Constrained Navigation
This paper addresses problems of robot navigation with nonholonomic motion constraints and perceptual cues arising from onboard visual servoing in partially engineered environments. We focus on a unicycle motion model and a variety of artificial beacon constellations motivated by relevance to the autonomous hexapod, RHex. We propose a general hybrid procedure that adapts to the constrained motion setting the standard feedback controller arising from a navigation function in the fully actuated case by switching back and forth between moving down and across the associated gradient field toward the stable manifold it induces in the constrained dynamics. Guaranteed to avoid obstacles in all cases, we provide some reasonably general sufficient conditions under which the new procedure guarantees convergence to the goal. Simulations are provided for perceptual models previously introduced by other authors
Visual Registration and Navigation using Planar Features
This paper addresses the problem of registering the hexapedal robot RHex, relative to a known set of beacons, by real-time visual servoing. A suitably constructed navigation function represents the task, in the sense that for a completely actuated machine in the horizontal plane, the gradient dynamics guarantee convergence to the visually cued goal without ever losing sight of the beacons that define it. Since the horizontal plane behavior of RHex can be represented as a unicycle, feeding back the navigation function gradient avoids loss of beacons, but does not yield an asymptotically stable goal. We address new problems arising from the configuration of the beacons and present preliminary experimental results that illustrate the discrepancies between the idealized and physical robot actuation capabilities
Perception Based Navigation for Underactuated Robots.
Robot autonomous navigation is a very active field of robotics. In this thesis we propose a hierarchical approach to a class of underactuated robots by composing a collection of local controllers with well understood domains of attraction.
We start by addressing the problem of robot navigation with nonholonomic motion constraints and perceptual cues arising from onboard visual servoing in partially engineered environments. We propose a general hybrid procedure that adapts to the constrained motion setting the standard feedback controller arising from a navigation function in the fully actuated case. This is accomplished by switching back and forth between moving "down" and "across" the associated gradient field toward the stable manifold it induces in the constrained dynamics. Guaranteed to avoid obstacles in all cases, we provide conditions under which the new procedure brings initial configurations to within an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the goal. We summarize with simulation results on a sample of visual servoing problems with a few different perceptual models. We document the empirical effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by reporting the results of its application to outdoor autonomous visual registration experiments with the robot RHex guided by engineered beacons.
Next we explore the possibility of adapting the resulting first order hybrid feedback controller to its dynamical counterpart by introducing tunable damping terms in the control law. Just as gradient controllers for standard quasi-static mechanical systems give rise to generalized "PD-style" controllers for dynamical versions of those standard systems, we show that it is possible to construct similar "lifts" in the presence of non-holonomic constraints notwithstanding the necessary absence of point attractors. Simulation results corroborate the proposed lift.
Finally we present an implementation of a fully autonomous navigation application for a legged robot. The robot adapts its leg trajectory parameters by recourse to a discrete gradient descent algorithm, while managing its experiments and outcome measurements autonomously via the navigation visual servoing algorithms proposed in this thesis.Ph.D.Electrical Engineering: SystemsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58412/1/glopes_1.pd
Rigid body visual servoing using navigation functions
Visual servo controllers in the literature rarely achieve provably large domains of attraction, and seldom address two important sensor limitations: (i) susceptibility to self-occlusions and (ii) finite field of view (FOV). We tackle the problem of global, occlusion-free visual servoing of a fully actuated rigid body by recourse to navigation functions on a compact manifold which encode these restrictions as control obstacles. For occlusion free rigid body servoing, the manifold of interest is the visible set of rigid body configurations, that is, those for which the feature points are within the field of view and unoccluded by the body. For a set of coplanar feature points on one face of a convex polyhedron, we show that a slightly conservative subset of the visible set has a simple topology amenable to analytical construction of a navigation function. We construct the controller via a closed form coordinate transformation from our problem domain into the topological model space and conclude with simulation results
Entropy Maximization in the Presence of Higher-Curvature Interactions
Within the context of the entropic principle, we consider the entropy of
supersymmetric black holes in N=2 supergravity theories in four dimensions with
higher-curvature interactions, and we discuss its maximization at points in
moduli space at which an excess of hypermultiplets becomes massless. We find
that the gravitational coupling function F^(1) enhances the maximization at
these points in moduli space. In principle, this enhancement may be modified by
the contribution from higher F^(g)-couplings. We show that this is indeed the
case for the resolved conifold by resorting to the non-perturbative expression
for the topological free energy.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, AMS-LaTe
Automated Gait Adaptation for Legged Robots
Gait parameter adaptation on a physical robot is an error-prone, tedious and time-consuming process. In this paper we present a system for gait adaptation in our RHex series of hexapedal robots that renders this arduous process nearly autonomous. The robot adapts its gait parameters by recourse to a modified version of Nelder-Mead descent while managing its self-experiments and measuring the outcome by visual servoing within a partially engineered environment. The resulting performance gains extend considerably beyond what we have managed with hand tuning. For example, the hest hand tuned alternating tripod gaits never exceeded 0.8 m/s nor achieved specific resistance helow 2.0. In contrast, Nelder-Mead based tuning has yielded alternating tripod gaits at 2.7 m/s (well over 5 body lengths per second) and reduced specific resistance to 0.6 while requiring little human intervention at low and moderate speeds. Comparable gains have been achieved on the much larger ruggedized version of this machine
Black hole entropy functions and attractor equations
The entropy and the attractor equations for static extremal black hole
solutions follow from a variational principle based on an entropy function. In
the general case such an entropy function can be derived from the reduced
action evaluated in a near-horizon geometry. BPS black holes constitute special
solutions of this variational principle, but they can also be derived directly
from a different entropy function based on supersymmetry enhancement at the
horizon. Both functions are consistent with electric/magnetic duality and for
BPS black holes their corresponding OSV-type integrals give identical results
at the semi-classical level. We clarify the relation between the two entropy
functions and the corresponding attractor equations for N=2 supergravity
theories with higher-derivative couplings in four space-time dimensions. We
discuss how non-holomorphic corrections will modify these entropy functions.Comment: 21 pages,LaTeX,minor change
Black hole partition functions and duality
The macroscopic entropy and the attractor equations for BPS black holes in
four-dimensional N=2 supergravity theories follow from a variational principle
for a certain `entropy function'. We present this function in the presence of
R^2-interactions and non-holomorphic corrections. The variational principle
identifies the entropy as a Legendre transform and this motivates the
definition of various partition functions corresponding to different ensembles
and a hierarchy of corresponding duality invariant inverse Laplace integral
representations for the microscopic degeneracies. Whenever the microscopic
degeneracies are known the partition functions can be evaluated directly. This
is the case for N=4 heterotic CHL black holes, where we demonstrate that the
partition functions are consistent with the results obtained on the macroscopic
side for black holes that have a non-vanishing classical area. In this way we
confirm the presence of a measure in the duality invariant inverse Laplace
integrals. Most, but not all, of these results are obtained in the context of
semiclassical approximations. For black holes whose area vanishes classically,
there remain discrepancies at the semiclassical level and beyond, the nature of
which is not fully understood at present.Comment: 36 pages, Late
Alkaline electrochemical reduction of a magnesium ferrospinel into metallic iron for the valorisation of magnetite-based metallurgical waste
The electrochemical reduction of iron oxides in alkaline media arises as a novel approach for ironmaking and iron-rich waste valorisation. Strong advantages and attractive aspects of alkaline electroreduction include lower electric energy consumption, absence of CO2 emissions, and non-polluting valuable by-products such as H2 and O2. Another potential advantage originates from the compatibility of this concept with intermittent renewable energies. However, to bring this technology to a competitive level, especially compared to the traditional steelmaking, innovative approaches and developments in materials processing and their appropriate integration into the electrolysis process are required. This research work explores the prospects for electrochemical reduction of a magnesium-containing ferrospinel, as a potential component in iron-containing wastes. The experimental approach considers bulk cathode- and suspension-based electrolysis concepts, which allow reaching 55% and 20% Faradaic efficiencies of the reduction to metallic iron, respectively. The effects imposed by the magnesium presence on the electroreduction kinetics, phase composition and morphology of the electroreduction products are evaluated and discussed. The obtained results open new perspectives for the recovery of metallurgical residues with low magnesium impurities content.publishe
Entropy production in Gaussian thermostats
We show that an arbitrary Anosov Gaussian thermostat on a surface is
dissipative unless the external field has a global potential
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