The majority of everyday tasks involve interacting with unstructured environments. This implies that, in order for robots to be truly useful they must be able to handle contacts. This paper explores how a particle filter can be used to localize a contact point and estimate the external force. We demonstrate the capability of the particle filter on a simulated 4DoF planar robotic arm, and compare it to a well-established analytical approach.
In this second of three short papers, I introduce some of the basic concepts of space robotics with an emphasis on some specific challenging areas of research that are peculiar to the application of robotics to space infrastructure development. The style of these short papers is pedagogical and the concepts in this paper are developed from fundamental manipulator robotics. This second paper considers the application of space manipulators to on-orbit servicing (OOS), an application which has considerable commercial application. I provide some background to the notion of robotic on-orbit servici…
Robotic sensorimotor extensions (supernumerary limbs, prosthesis, handheld tools) are worn devices used to interact with the nearby environment, whether to assist the capabilities of impaired users or to enhance the dexterity of industrial operators. Despite numerous mechanical achievements, embedding these robotics devices remains critical due to their weight and discomfort. To emancipate from these mechanical constraints, we propose a new hybrid system using a virtually worn robotic arm in augmented-reality, and a real robotic manipulator servoed on such virtual representation. We aim at bri…
Universidade Estadual do Ceará（塞阿拉州立大学）；Universidade de Fortaleza (UNIFOR)（福塔莱萨大学（UNIFOR））
This work was conceived based on Project-Based Learning (ABP) and presents the design, development and mathematical modeling steps of a low-cost robotic manipulator with five degrees of freedom through an interdisciplinary project linking two very important disciplines of the course of Control Engineering and Automation of the University of Fortaleza: Computer Aided Design, Microcontrollers and Industrial Robotics. At the end are presented the results that the project has brought to the best learning of the discipline on the optics of the tutor and students.
Ecole des Mines de Nantes（南特矿业学院）；National Center for Scientific Research（国家科学研究中心）；University of Nantes（南特大学）
The paper focuses on the stiffness modeling of robotic manipulators with gravity compensators. The main attention is paid to the development of the stiffness model of a spring-based compensator located between sequential links of a serial structure. The derived model allows us to describe the compensator as an equivalent non-linear virtual spring integrated in the corresponding actuated joint. The obtained results have been efficiently applied to the stiffness modeling of a heavy industrial robot of the Kuka family.
Innopolis University（因诺波利斯大学）；Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)（法国国家科学研究中心）；Le Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N)（南特数字科学实验室）；IMT Atlantique（大西洋国立高等工业技术与矿业学校）
The paper presents advancement of the matrix structural analysis technique (MSA) for stiffness modeling of robotic manipulators. In contrast to the classical MSA, it can be applied to both parallel and serial manipulators composed of flexible and rigid links connected by rigid, passive or elastic joints with multiple external loadings. The manipulator stiffness model is presented as a set of basic equations describing the link elasticities that are supplemented by a set of constraints describing connections between links. These equations are aggregated straightforwardly in a common linear syst…
The paper focuses on the enhanced stiffness modeling of robotic manipulators by taking into account influence of the external force/torque acting upon the end point. It implements the virtual joint technique that describes the compliance of manipulator elements by a set of localized six-dimensional springs separated by rigid links and perfect joints. In contrast to the conventional formulation, which is valid for the unloaded mode and small displacements, the proposed approach implicitly assumes that the loading leads to the non-negligible changes of the manipulator posture and corresponding a…
SkinGrip: An Adaptive Soft Robotic Manipulator with Capacitive Sensing for Whole-Limb Bed Bathing Assistance
Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院机器人与智能机器研究所）；Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学机器人学院）
Ecole des Mines de Nantes（南特高等矿业学校）；Institut de Recherches en Communications et en Cybernetique de Nantes（南特通信与控制论研究所）
The paper presents an approach for the identification of elasto-static parameters of a robotic manipulator using the virtual experiments in a CAD environment. It is based on the numerical processing of the data extracted from the finite element analysis results, which are obtained for isolated manipulator links. This approach allows to obtain the desired stiffness matrices taking into account the complex shape of the links, couplings between rotational/translational deflections and particularities of the joints connecting adjacent links. These matrices are integral parts of the manipulator lum…
Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N)（南特数字科学实验室）；Innopolis University（因诺波利斯大学）；IMT Atlantique Nantes（大西洋矿业电信学院南特校区）；Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)（法国国家科学研究中心）
The paper focuses on the stiffness analysis of multi-link serial planar manipulators, which may demonstrate nonlinear stiffness behavior under the compressive loading. Two important cases are considered, where the manipulator has either a straight or non-straight initial configuration. It was proved that in the first case the loading may cause the buckling if it exceeds some critical value, and the manipulator suddenly changes its straight shape and stiffness properties. For computing this critical force, a general eigenvalue-based technique was proposed that can be applied to any multi-link s…
Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）；Imperial College London（帝国理工学院）；Precision Robotics (Hong Kong) Limited（精准机器人（香港）有限公司）
Electrospinning has exhibited excellent benefits to treat the trauma for tissue engineering due to its produced micro/nano fibrous structure. It can effectively adhere to the tissue surface for long-term continuous therapy. This paper develops a robotic electrospinning platform for endoluminal therapy. The platform consists of a continuum manipulator, the electrospinning device, and the actuation unit. The continuum manipulator has two bending sections to facilitate the steering of the tip needle for a controllable spinning direction. Non-circular joint profile is carefully designed to enable …
Ecole des Mines de Nantes（南特矿业学院）；IRCCyN（南特通信与控制研究所）；École Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Metz（梅斯国立工程师学院）；LCFC-ENSAM ParisTech Metz（ENSAM巴黎高科梅斯实验室）；University of Nantes（南特大学）
The paper focuses on the robust identification of geometrical and elastostatic parameters of robotic manipulator. The main attention is paid to the efficiency improvement of the identification algorithm. To increase the identification accuracy, it is proposed to apply the weighted least square technique that employs a new algorithm for assigning of the weighting coefficients. The latter allows taking into account variation of the measurement system precision in different directions and throughout the robot workspace. The advantages of the proposed approach are illustrated by an application exa…
Watchung Hills Regional High School（瓦钦山地区高中）；Stevens Institute of Technology（史蒂文斯理工学院）
In recent years, there is an increasing interest in high school robotics extracurriculars such as robotics clubs and robotics competitions. The growing demand is a result of more ubiquitous open-source software and affordable off-the-shelf hardware kits, which significantly help lower the barrier for entry-level robotics hobbyists. In this project, we present an open-source, low-cost, and lightweight robotic manipulator designed and developed by a high school researcher under the guidance of a university faculty and a Ph.D. student. We believe the presented project is suitable for high school …
Quantum Machine Learning and Grover's Algorithm for Quantum Optimization of Robotic Manipulators
Robotics Research Center of Yuyao（余姚机器人研究中心）；Robotics Institute of Zhejiang University（浙江大学机器人研究所）；State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems（流体动力与机械电子系统国家重点实验室）；Institute of Design Engineering（设计工程院）；University of New Brunswick（新不伦瑞克大学）
In this paper, we present a framework that unites obstacle avoidance and deliberate physical interaction for robotic manipulators. As humans and robots begin to coexist in work and household environments, pure collision avoidance is insufficient, as human-robot contact is inevitable and, in some situations, desired. Our work enables manipulators to anticipate, detect, and act on contact. To achieve this, we allow limited deviation from the robot's original trajectory through velocity reduction and motion restrictions. Then, if contact occurs, a robot can detect it and maneuver based on a novel…
Considering the difficulty of students in calculating the direct and inverse kinematics of a robotic manipulator using only conventional tools of a classroom, this article proposes the application of Project Based Learning (ABP) through the design, development, mathematical modeling of a robotic manipulator as an integrative project of the disciplines of Industrial Robotics, Microcontrollers and Computer Assisted Design with students of the Control and Automation Engineering of the University of Fortaleza. Once designed and machined, the manipulator arm was assembled using servo motors connect…
Robot arm placements are oftentimes a limitation in surgical preoperative procedures, relying on trained staff to evaluate and decide on the optimal positions for the arms. Given new and different patient anatomies, it can be challenging to make an informed choice, leading to more frequently colliding arms or limited manipulator workspaces. In this paper, we develop a method to generate the optimal manipulator base positions for the multi-port da Vinci surgical system that minimizes self-collision and environment-collision, and maximizes the surgeon's reachability inside the patient. Scoring f…
Aerial robotic systems have raised emerging interests in recent years. In this article, we propose a novel aerial manipulator system that is significantly different from conventional aerial discrete manipulators: An Aerial Continuum Manipulator (AeCoM). The AeCoM compactly integrates a quadrotor with a tendon-driven continuum robotic manipulator. Due to the compact design and the payload bearing ability of tendon-driven continuum robotic arms, the proposed system solved the conflict between payload capacity and dexterity lying in conventional aerial manipulators. Two contributions are made in …
Many have explored the application of continuum robot manipulators for minimally invasive surgery, and have successfully demonstrated the advantages their flexible design provides -- with some solutions having reached commercialisation and clinical practice. However, the usual high complexity and closed-nature of such designs has traditionally restricted the shared development of continuum robots across the research area, thus impacting further progress and the solution of open challenges. In order to close this gap, this paper introduces ENDO, an open-source 3-segment continuum robot manipula…
This paper represents a systematic way for generation of Aaria, a simulated model for serial manipulators for the purpose of kinematic or dynamic analysis with a vast variety of structures based on Simulink SimMechanics. The proposed model can receive configuration parameters, for instance in accordance with modified Denavit-Hartenberg convention, or trajectories for its base or joints for structures with 1 to 6 degrees of freedom (DOF). The manipulator is equipped with artificial joint sensors as well as simulated Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) on each link. The simulation output can be po…
Design, implementation, and machine learning issues associated with developing a control system for a serpentine robotic manipulator are explored. The controller developed provides autonomous control of the serpentine robotic manipulatorduring operation of the manipulator within an enclosed environment such as an underground storage tank. The controller algorithms make use of both low-level joint angle control employing force/position feedback constraints, and high-level coordinated control of end-effector positioning. This approach has resulted in both high-level full robotic control and low-…
University of Baghdad（巴格达大学）；University of Kirkuk（基尔库克大学）；Al-kitab University（阿尔基塔布大学）；University of Swat（斯瓦特大学）；Manipal University Jaipur（马尼帕尔大学斋浦尔分校）；University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar（白沙瓦工程技术大学）
Robotic manipulators are widely used in applications that require fast and precise motion. Such devices, however, are prompt to nonlinear control issues due to the flexibility in joints and the friction in the motors within the dynamics of their rigid part. To address these issues, the Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) and Parallel Distributed Compensation (PDC) approaches are implemented in the Takagy-Sugeno Fuzzy Model (T-SFM). We propose the following methodology; initially, the state space equations of the nonlinear manipulator model are derived. Next, a Takagy-Sugeno Fuzzy Model (T-SFM) t…
Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ACRV)（澳大利亚机器人视觉中心 (ACRV)）；Queensland University of Technology (QUT)（昆士兰科技大学 (QUT)）
The Amazon Robotics Challenge enlisted sixteen teams to each design a pick-and-place robot for autonomous warehousing, addressing development in robotic vision and manipulation. This paper presents the design of our custom-built, cost-effective, Cartesian robot system Cartman, which won first place in the competition finals by stowing 14 (out of 16) and picking all 9 items in 27 minutes, scoring a total of 272 points. We highlight our experience-centred design methodology and key aspects of our system that contributed to our competitiveness. We believe these aspects are crucial to building rob…
Master control console is a place where robots collaborate with humans in a shared environment. To this end, ergonomics is an important aspect to be considered. With ergonomic design, the surgeons can feel more comfortable to conduct the surgical tasks with higher efficiency, and the quality of the teleoperated robotic surgery can be improved. In this paper, an Ergonomic Interaction Workspace Analysis method is proposed to optimize master manipulators and fulfil ergonomics consideration for designing a master manipulator for teleoperated robotic surgery.
This paper presents an interconnected control-planning strategy for redundant manipulators, subject to system and environmental constraints. The method incorporates low-level control characteristics and high-level planning components into a robust strategy for manipulators acting in complex environments, subject to joint limits. This strategy is formulated using an adaptive control rule, the estimated dynamic model of the robotic system and the nullspace of the linearized constraints. A path is generated that takes into account the capabilities of the platform. The proposed method is computati…
Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, Tencent America（腾讯美国光速量子工作室）
Traditional robotic manipulator design methods require extensive, time-consuming, and manual trial and error to produce a viable design. During this process, engineers often spend their time redesigning or reshaping components as they discover better topologies for the robotic manipulator. Tactile sensors, while useful, often complicate the design due to their bulky form factor. We propose an integrated design pipeline to streamline the design and manufacturing of robotic manipulators with knitted, glove-like tactile sensors. The proposed pipeline allows a designer to assemble a collection of …
In this paper, we explore the task of robot sculpting. We propose a search based planning algorithm to solve the problem of sculpting by material removal with a multi-axis manipulator. We generate collision free trajectories for a manipulator using best-first search in voxel space. We also show significant speedup of our algorithm by using octrees to decompose the voxel space. We demonstrate our algorithm on a multi-axis manipulator in simulation by sculpting Michelangelo's Statue of David, evaluate certain metrics of our algorithm and discuss future goals for the project.
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology（韩国科学技术院）；Siemens Healthineers（西门子医疗）
Tendon-sheath-driven manipulators (TSM) are widely used in minimally invasive surgical systems due to their long, thin shape, flexibility, and compliance making them easily steerable in narrow or tortuous environments. Many commercial TSM-based medical devices have non-linear phenomena resulting from their composition such as backlash hysteresis and dead zone, which lead to a considerable challenge for achieving precise control of the end effector pose. However, many recent works in the literature do not consider the combined effects and compensation of these phenomena, and less focus on pract…
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for a more effective and efficient disinfection approach to combat infectious diseases. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a proven mean for disinfection and sterilization and has been integrated into handheld devices and autonomous mobile robots. Existing UVGI robots which are commonly equipped with uncovered lamps that emit intense ultraviolet radiation suffer from: inability to be used in human presence, shadowing of objects, and long disinfection time. These robots also have a high operational cost. This paper introduces a cost-effe…
Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ACRV)（澳大利亚机器人视觉中心（ACRV））；Queensland University of Technology (QUT)（昆士兰科技大学（QUT））；University of Adelaide（阿德莱德大学）；Australian National University (ANU)（澳大利亚国立大学（ANU））
Robotic manipulation and grasping in cluttered and unstructured environments is a current challenge for robotics. Enabling robots to operate in these challenging environments have direct applications from automating warehouses to harvesting fruit in agriculture. One of the main challenges associated with these difficult robotic manipulation tasks is the motion planning and control problem for multi-DoF (Degree of Freedom) manipulators. This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a low-cost Cartesian manipulator, Cartman who took first place in the Amazon Robotics Challenge 201…
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology（卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院）；Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences（卡尔斯鲁厄应用技术大学）
Having a precise and robust transformation between the robot coordinate system and the AR-device coordinate system is paramount during human-robot interaction (HRI) based on augmented reality using Head mounted displays (HMD), both for intuitive information display and for the tracking of human motions. Most current solutions in this area rely either on the tracking of visual markers, e.g. QR codes, or on manual referencing, both of which provide unsatisfying results. Meanwhile a plethora of object detection and referencing methods exist in the wider robotic and machine vision communities. The…
Korea Institute of Science and Technology（韩国科学技术研究院）
This paper presents planning algorithms for a robotic manipulator with a fixed base in order to grasp a target object in cluttered environments. We consider a configuration of objects in a confined space with a high density so no collision-free path to the target exists. The robot must relocate some objects to retrieve the target while avoiding collisions. For fast completion of the retrieval task, the robot needs to compute a plan optimizing an appropriate objective value directly related to the execution time of the relocation plan. We propose planning algorithms that aim to minimize the num…
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guangzhou University（广州大学机械与电气工程学院）；School of Automation, Guangdong University of Technology（广东工业大学自动化学院）
To reduce the contour error of the end-effector of a robotic manipulator during trajectory tracking, a dual-mode synchronization predictive control is proposed. Firstly, the dynamic model of n-DoF robotic manipulator is discretized by using the Taylor expansion method, and the mapping relationship between the joint error in the joint space and the contour error in task space is constructed. Secondly, the synchronization error and the tracking error in the joint space are defined, and the coupling error of joints is derived through the coupling coefficient . Thirdly, a dual-mode synchronization…
Computer Science and Engineering Department, University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学计算机科学与工程系）；Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens（雅典国立技术大学机械工程系）
A hyper-redundant robotic arm is a manipulator with many degrees of freedom, capable of executing tasks in cluttered environments where robotic arms with fewer degrees of freedom are unable to operate. This paper introduces a new method for modeling those manipulators in a completely dynamic way. The proposed method enables online changes of the kinematic structure with the use of a special function; termed "meta-controlling function". This function can be used to develop policies to reduce drastically the computational cost for a single task, and to robustly control the robotic arm, even in t…
A Practical Roadmap to Learning from Demonstration for Robotic Manipulators in Manufacturing
University of Luxembourg（卢森堡大学）；Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability, and Trust (SnT)（安全、可靠性与跨学科信任中心（SnT））；Faculty of Science, Technology, and Medicine（科学、技术与医学学院）
Cartesian impedance control is a type of motion control strategy for robots that improves safety in partially unknown environments by achieving a compliant behavior of the robot with respect to its external forces. This compliant robot behavior has the added benefit of allowing physical human guidance of the robot. In this paper, we propose a C++ implementation of compliance control valid for any torque-commanded robotic manipulator. The proposed controller implements Cartesian impedance control to track a desired end-effector pose. Additionally, joint impedance is projected in the nullspace o…
K. N. Toosi University of Technology（K. N. 图西理工大学）
Assurance of asymptotic trajectory tracking in robotic manipulators with a smooth control law in the presence of unmodeled dynamics or external disturbance is a challenging problem. Recently, it is asserted that it is achieved via a rigorous proof by designing a traditional model-free controller together with time delay estimation (TDE) such that neither dynamical parameters nor conservative assumptions on external disturbance are required. The purpose of this note is to show that this claim is not true and the stability proof of the method is incorrect. Finally, some modified versions of this…
To safely deploy legged robots in the real world it is necessary to provide them with the ability to reliably detect unexpected contacts and accurately estimate the corresponding contact force. In this paper, we propose a collision detection and identification pipeline for a quadrupedal manipulator. We first introduce an approach to estimate the collision time span based on band-pass filtering and show that this information is key for obtaining accurate collision force estimates. We then improve the accuracy of the identified force magnitude by compensating for model inaccuracies, unmodeled lo…
