Robust PID tuning. Application to a Mobile Robot Pathtraking problem.

IFAC Digital Control: Past,Present and Future of PlO Control.Terrassa.Spain.2000This paper presents a methodology for tuning PIDs considering the nominal performance and the robustness as control specifications. The synthesis procedure is similar to the Ziegler-Nichols method for PID controllers and can be easily used for industrial processes. As a workbench for testing the PID controller a mobile robot has been used. The path tracking problem of a mobile robot has been used as a workbench for testing the PID controller

An intelligent real time 3D vision system for robotic welding tasks

MARWIN is a top-level robot control system that has been designed for automatic robot welding tasks. It extracts welding parameters and calculates robot trajectories directly from CAD models which are then verified by real-time 3D scanning and registration. MARWIN's 3D computer vision provides a user-centred robot environment in which a task is specified by the user by simply confirming and/or adjusting suggested parameters and welding sequences. The focus of this paper is on describing a mathematical formulation for fast 3D reconstruction using structured light together with the mechanical design and testing of the 3D vision system and show how such technologies can be exploited in robot welding tasks

Towards a universal end effector : the design and development of production technology's intelligent robot hand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Engineering and Automation at Massey University

Research into robot hands for industrial use began in the early 1980s and there are now many examples of robot hands in existence. The reason for research into robot hands is that standard robot end effectors have to be designed for each application and are therefore costly. A universal end effector is needed that will be able to perform any parts handling operation or use other tools for other industrial operations. Existing robot hand research would therefore benefit from new concepts, designs and control systems. The Department of Production Technology is developing an intelligent robot hand of a novel configuration, with the ultimate aim of producing a universal end effector. The concept of PTIRH (Production Technology's Intelligent Robot Hand) is that it is a multi-fingered manipulator with a configuration of two thumbs and two fingers. Research by the author for this thesis concentrated on five major areas. First, the background research into the state of the art in robot hand research. Second, the initiation, development and analysis of the novel configuration concept of PTIRH. Third, specification, testing and analysis of air muscle actuation, including design, development and testing of a servo pneumatic control valve for the air muscles. Fourth, choice of sensors for the robot hand, including testing and analysis of two custom made air pressure sensors. Fifth, definition, design, construction, development, testing and analysis of the mechanical structure for an early prototype of PTIRH. Development of an intelligent controller for PTIRH was outside the scope of the author's research. The results of the analysis on the air muscles showed that they could be a suitable direct drive actuator for an intelligent robotic hand. The force, pressure and position sensor results indicate that the sensors could form the basis of the feedback loop for an intelligent controller. The configuration of PTIRH enables it to grasp objects with little reliance on friction. This was demonstrated with an early prototype of the robot hand, which had one finger with actuation and three other static digits, by successfully manually arranging the digits into stable grasps of various objects

Using Spreadsheets to Enhance Understanding of Number Theory

Computer spreadsheets can help elementary school students explore concepts in number theory. We describe a spreadsheet program that can generate all the factors of an integer. To understand how the spreadsheet solves these problems, we use the metaphor of a robot. The robot must interpret data from the real world and respond effectively. Although non-engineers may not understand the details, they can see what the robot types, and can discuss how the robot makes decisions. Students can see mathematical knowledge being used. The robot can add, subtract, multiply, and divide, and determine whether a number is an integer. Based upon this knowledge, the robot can determine the factors of a number. In one method, the robot follows the rules blindly, testing each possible factor. In the second method, the robot uses knowledge of number theory to solve the problem much more efficiently. The activities are extended to include the topic of prime numbers. In the first method, the robot determines that 97 is prime by performing all possible divisions starting with 1. Although the answer is correct, the method is inefficient. It is much more effective to apply knowledge of number theory to determine that only the prime numbers less than ten need to be tested. As a result, only four divisions, rather than 97, are needed to determine the correct answer. With the power of spreadsheets, students can observe different methods that get the correct answer, and discover those that are most efficient.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Ultra-fast escape maneuver of an octopus-inspired robot

We design and test an octopus-inspired flexible hull robot that demonstrates outstanding fast-starting performance. The robot is hyper-inflated with water, and then rapidly deflates to expel the fluid so as to power the escape maneuver. Using this robot we verify for the first time in laboratory testing that rapid size-change can substantially reduce separation in bluff bodies traveling several body lengths, and recover fluid energy which can be employed to improve the propulsive performance. The robot is found to experience speeds over ten body lengths per second, exceeding that of a similarly propelled optimally streamlined rigid rocket. The peak net thrust force on the robot is more than 2.6 times that on an optimal rigid body performing the same maneuver, experimentally demonstrating large energy recovery and enabling acceleration greater than 14 body lengths per second squared. Finally, over 53% of the available energy is converted into payload kinetic energy, a performance that exceeds the estimated energy conversion efficiency of fast-starting fish. The Reynolds number based on final speed and robot length is $Re \approx 700,000$. We use the experimental data to establish a fundamental deflation scaling parameter $\sigma^*$ which characterizes the mechanisms of flow control via shape change. Based on this scaling parameter, we find that the fast-starting performance improves with increasing size.Comment: Submitted July 10th to Bioinspiration & Biomimetic