This paper is concerned with the deployment of multiple mobile robots in order to autonomously cover a region Q. The region to be covered is described using a density function which may not be apriori known. In this paper, we pose the coverage problem as an optimization problem over some space of functions on Q. In particular, we look at L 2 -distance based coverage algorithm and derive adaptive control laws for the same. We also propose a modified adaptive control law incorporating consensus for better parameter convergence. We implement the algorithms on real differential drive robots with both simulated density function as well as density function implemented using light sources. We also compare the L 2 -distance based method with the locational optimization method using experiments.
In this paper we investigate the problem of using a UAV to provide current map information of the environment in front of a moving ground vehicle. We propose a simple coverage plan called a conformal lawn mower plan that enables a UAV to scan the route ahead of the ground vehicle. The plan requires only limited knowledge of the ground vehicle's future path. For a class of curvature-constrained ground vehicle paths, we show that the proposed plan requires a UAV velocity that is no more than twice the velocity required to cover the optimal plan. We also establish necessary and sufficient UAV vel…
Koopman operator theory has served as the basis to extract dynamics for nonlinear system modeling and control across settings, including non-holonomic mobile robot control. There is a growing interest in research to derive robustness (and/or safety) guarantees for systems the dynamics of which are extracted via the Koopman operator. In this paper, we propose a way to quantify the prediction error because of noisy measurements when the Koopman operator is approximated via Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition. We further develop an enhanced robot control strategy to endow robustness to a class of…
Geofenced Unmanned Aerial Robotic Defender for Deer Detection and Deterrence (GUARD)
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota（计算机科学与工程系，明尼苏达大学）；Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota（机械工程系，明尼苏达大学）
Bristol Research and Innovation Laboratory, Toshiba Europe Ltd.（东芝欧洲有限公司布里斯托尔研究与创新实验室）
Mobile robots have disrupted the material handling industry which is witnessing radical changes. The requirement for enhanced automation across various industry segments often entails mobile robotic systems operating in logistics facilities with little/no infrastructure. In such environments, out-of-box low-cost robotic solutions are desirable. Wireless connectivity plays a crucial role in successful operation of such mobile robotic systems. A wireless mesh network of mobile robots is an attractive solution; however, a number of system-level challenges create unique and stringent service requi…
PDE-Based Optimization for Stochastic Mapping and Coverage Strategies using Robotic Ensembles
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University（物质、传输与能量工程学院，亚利桑那州立大学）；School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University（数学与统计科学学院，亚利桑那州立大学）
UC Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；UC San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校）；Cornell University（康奈尔大学）；University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学）；Institute for Advanced Study（普林斯顿高等研究院）；Cal Poly（加州州立理工大学波莫纳分校）；UCLA（加州大学洛杉矶分校）
Detecting and preventing slip is a major challenge in robotic hand operation, underpinning the robot's ability to perform safe and reliable grasps. Using the robotic hand design from the authors' earlier work, a sensing and control strategy is proposed here to prevent object slippage. The robotic hand is cable-driven, single-actuated, has five fingers, and is capable of replicating most human hand motions. The slip sensing approach utilizes a piezoelectric vibration sensor, namely, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), which is a flexible, thin, cheap, and highly sensitive material. The power of the…
It is always a challenging task to service sudden events in non-convex and uncertain environments, and multi-agent coverage control provides a powerful theoretical framework to investigate the deployment problem of mobile robotic networks for minimizing the cost of handling random events. Inspired by the divide-and-conquer methodology, this paper proposes a novel coverage formulation to control multi-agent systems in the non-convex region while equalizing the workload among subregions. Thereby, a distributed coverage controller is designed to drive each agent towards the desired configurations…
University of Campinas（坎皮纳斯大学）；Instituto Superior Técnico（里斯本高等理工学院）
In the context of autonomous airships, several works in control and guidance use wind velocity to design a control law. However, in general, this information is not directly measured in robotic airships. This paper presents three alternative versions for estimation of wind velocity. Firstly, an Extended Kalman Filter is designed as a model-based approach. Then a Neural Network is designed as a data-driven approach. Finally, a hybrid estimator is proposed by performing a fusion between the previous designed estimators: model-based and data-driven. All approaches consider only Global Positioning…
Direct Data-Driven Predictive Control for a Three-dimensional Cable-Driven Soft Robotic Arm
Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University（农业与生物工程系，密苏里州立大学）；Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University（机械工程系，密苏里州立大学）；Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University（电气与计算机工程系，密苏里州立大学）
University of Southern California（南加利福尼亚大学）；Google Brain（谷歌大脑）
Passive elastic elements can contribute to stability, energetic efficiency, and impact absorption in both biological and robotic systems. They also add dynamical complexity which makes them more challenging to model and control. The impact of this added complexity to autonomous learning has not been thoroughly explored. This is especially relevant to tendon-driven limbs whose cables and tendons are inevitably elastic. Here, we explored the efficacy of autonomous learning and control on a simulated bio-plausible tendon-driven leg across different tendon stiffness values. We demonstrate that inc…
