Robotic Wireless Energy Transfer in Dynamic Environments: System Design and Experimental Validation
Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology（深圳先进技术研究院）；Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学）；South China University of Technology（华南理工大学）；University of Essex（埃塞克斯大学）；Instituto de Telecomunicaões（葡萄牙电信研究所）；University of New South Wales（新南威尔士大学）
Wireless energy transfer (WET) is a ground-breaking technology for cutting the last wire between mobile sensors and power grids in smart cities. Yet, WET only offers effective transmission of energy over a short distance. Robotic WET is an emerging paradigm that mounts the energy transmitter on a mobile robot and navigates the robot through different regions in a large area to charge remote energy harvesters. However, it is challenging to determine the robotic charging strategy in an unknown and dynamic environment due to the uncertainty of obstacles. This paper proposes a hardware-in-the-loop joint optimization framework that offers three distinctive features: 1) efficient model updates and re-optimization based on the last-round experimental data; 2) iterative refinement of the anchor list for adaptation to different environments; 3) verification of algorithms in a high-fidelity Gazebo simulator and a multi-robot testbed. Experimental results show that the proposed framework significantly saves the WET mission completion time while satisfying collision avoidance and energy harvesting constraints.
University of Calabria（卡拉布里亚大学）；Middlesex University London（伦敦密德萨斯大学）
The mine detection in an unexplored area is an optimization problem where multiple mines, randomly distributed throughout an area, need to be discovered and disarmed in a minimum amount of time. We propose a strategy to explore an unknown area, using a stigmergy approach based on ants behavior, and a novel swarm based protocol to recruit and coordinate robots for disarming the mines cooperatively. Simulation tests are presented to show the effectiveness of our proposed Ant-based Task Robot Coordination (ATRC) with only the exploration task and with both exploration and recruiting strategies. M…
Centro Universitario de la Defensa（国防大学中心）；Purdue University（普渡大学）；KTH Royal Institute of Technology（瑞典皇家理工学院）
The Robot Operating System (ROS) is rapidly becoming the de facto framework for building robotics systems, thanks to its flexibility and the large acceptance that it has received in the robotics community. With the growth of its popularity, it has started to be used in multi-robot systems as well. However, the TCP connections that the platform relies on for connecting the so-called ROS nodes, presents several issues in terms of limited-bandwidth, delays and jitter, when used in wireless ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we present a thorough analysis of the problem and propose a new ROS node cal…
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology（香港科技大学）
Distributed pose graph optimization (DPGO) is one of the fundamental techniques of swarm robotics. Currently, the sub-problems of DPGO are built on the native poses. Our validation proves that this approach may introduce an imbalance in the sizes of the sub-problems in real-world scenarios, which affects the speed of DPGO optimization, and potentially increases communication requirements. In addition, the coherence of the estimated poses is not guaranteed when the robots in the swarm fail, or partial robots are disconnected. In this paper, we propose BDPGO, a balanced distributed pose graph op…
The need for customizable properties in autonomous robotic platforms, such as in-home nursing care for the elderly and parallel implementations of human-to-machine control interfaces creates an opportunity to introduce methods deploying commonly available mobile devices running robotic command applications in managed code. This paper will discuss a human-to-machine interface and demonstrate a prototype consisting of a mobile device running a configurable application communicating with a mobile robot using a managed, type-safe language, C#.NET, over Bluetooth.
University of Colorado at Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；University of California, Berkeley（加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校）
We describe opportunities and challenges with wireless robotic materials. Robotic materials are multi-functional composites that tightly integrate sensing, actuation, computation and communication to create smart composites that can sense their environment and change their physical properties in an arbitrary programmable manner. Computation and communication in such materials are based on miniature, possibly wireless, devices that are scattered in the material and interface with sensors and actuators inside the material. Whereas routing and processing of information within the material build u…
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…
There are many situations where vehicles may compete with each other to maximize their respective utilities.We consider a narrow alley where two groups, eastbound and westbound, of autonomous vehicles are heading toward each of their destination to minimize their travel distance. However, if the two groups approach the road simultaneously, it will be blocked. The main goal of this paper is to investigate how wireless communications among the vehicles can lead the solution near to Pareto optimum. In addition, we implemented such a vehicular test-bed, composed of networked robots that have an in…
When Robotics Meets Wireless Communications: An Introductory Tutorial
College of Computing, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University（穆罕默德六世理工大学计算机学院）；Czech Technical University in Prague（布拉格捷克技术大学）；International University of Rabat（拉巴特国际大学）；School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds（利兹大学电子与电气工程学院）
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Computing (HPCL)（高性能计算国家重点实验室）；School of Computer, National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学计算机学院）
Recent years have witnessed the prosperity of robots and in order to support consensus and cooperation for multi-robot system, wireless communications and networking among robots and the infrastructure have become indispensable. In this technical note, we first provide an overview of the research contributions on communication-aware motion planning (CAMP) in designing wireless-connected robotic networks (WCRNs), where the degree-of-freedom (DoF) provided by motion and communication capabilities embraced by the robots have not been fully exploited. Therefore, we propose the framework of joint c…
In vivo validation of Wireless Power Transfer System for Magnetically Controlled Robotic Capsule Endoscopy
Department of Information Engineering, University of Pisa（信息工程系，比萨大学）；Clavis s.r.l.（Clavis公司）；Quantavis s.r.l.（Quantavis公司）；Department of Energy Systems Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa（能源系统领土与建筑工程系，比萨大学）；STORM Lab, Institute of Autonomous Systems and Sensing (IRASS), School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds（STORM实验室，自主系统与传感研究所（IRASS），电子与电气工程学院，利兹大学）
Validation of Space Robotics in Underwater Environments via Disturbance Robustness Equivalency
Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology（机器人、感知与学习 division，皇家理工学院）；School of Engineering Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology（工程科学学院，皇家理工学院）；Division of Decision and Control Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology（决策与控制系统 division，皇家理工学院）；Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology（机械与土木工程 department，加州理工学院）
Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology, University of Lincoln（林肯大学林肯农业食品技术研究所）
Global food security is an issue that is fast becoming a critical matter in the world today. Global warming, climate change and a range of other impacts caused by humans, such as carbon emissions, sociopolitical and economical challenges (e.g. war), traditional workforce/labour decline and population growth are straining global food security. The need for high-speed and reliable wireless communication in agriculture is becoming more of a necessity rather than a technological demonstration or showing superiority in the field. Governments and industries around the world are seeing more urgency i…
DePaul University（德保罗大学）；Texas A&M University（得克萨斯农工大学）；Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院）；Louisiana S. University（路易斯安那州立大学）
Soft robotic snakes made of compliant materials can continuously deform their bodies and, therefore, mimic the biological snakes' flexible and agile locomotion gaits better than their rigid-bodied counterparts. Without wheel support, to date, soft robotic snakes are limited to emulating planar locomotion gaits, which are derived via kinematic modeling and tested on robotic prototypes. Given that the snake locomotion results from the reaction forces due to the distributed contact between their skin and the ground, it is essential to investigate the locomotion gaits through efficient dynamic mod…
Water Distribution Systems(WDS) are critical infrastructures that deliver potable water to residential areas. Incidents to pipelines cause water loss and contamination in pipelines. Hence, water quality monitoring is one of the requirements for utility managers to ensure the health of water. However, it is challenging to access all parts of the WDS since they are long and comprise pipes with different configurations and sizes. In this paper, we propose a size-adaptable and modular in-pipe robot so-called SmartCrawler that works based on wheel wall press mechanism. We develop a two-phase motion…
We consider a fundamental problem concerning the deployment of a wireless robotic network: to fulfill various end-to-end performance requirements, a "sufficient" number of robotic relays must be deployed to ensure that links are of acceptable quality. Prior work has not addressed how to find this number. We use the properties of Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) based wireless communication to derive an upper bound on the spacing between any transmitter-receiver pair, which directly translates to a lower bound on the number of robots to deploy. We focus on SINR-based performance requirement…
In this paper, we propose an operation procedure for our previously developed in-pipe robotic system that is used for water quality monitoring in water distribution systems (WDS). The proposed operation procedure synchronizes a developed wireless communication system that is suitable for harsh environments of soil, water, and rock with a multi-phase control algorithm. The new wireless control algorithm facilitates smart navigation and near real-time wireless data transmission during operation for our in-pipe robot in WDS. The smart navigation enables the robot to pass through different configu…
DePaul University（德保罗大学）；University of Arkansas（阿肯色大学）
Snakes are a remarkable evolutionary success story. Many snake-inspired robots have been proposed over the years. Soft robotic snakes (SRS) with their continuous and smooth bending capability better mimic their biological counterparts' unique characteristics. Prior SRSs are limited to planar operation with a limited number of planar gaits. We propose a novel SRS with spatial bending and investigate snake locomotion gaits beyond the capabilities of the state-of-the-art systems. We derive a complete floating-base kinematic model of the robot and use the model to derive jointspace trajectories fo…
Finding the physical location of a specific network node is a prototypical task for navigation inside a wireless network. In this paper, we consider in depth the implications of wireless communication as a measurement input of gradient-based taxis algorithms. We discuss how gradients can be measured and determine the errors of this estimation. We then introduce a gradient-based taxis algorithm as an example of a family of gradient-based, convergent algorithms and discuss its convergence in the context of network robotics. We also conduct an exemplary experiment to show how to overcome some of …
Polymer/paper-based double touch mode capacitive pressure sensing element for wireless control of robotic arm
International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)（国际信息技术研究所）；King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)（阿卜杜拉国王科技大学）；University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）
Deployment of small cells in dense urban areas dedicated to the heterogeneous network (HetNet) and associated relay nodes for improving backhauling is expected to be an important structural element in the design of beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G wireless access networks. A key operational aspect in HetNets is how to optimally implement the wireless backhaul links to efficiently support the traffic demand. In this work, we utilize the recently proposed Robotic Aerial Small Cells (RASCs) that are able to grasp at different tall urban landforms as wireless relay nodes for backhauling. This can be conside…
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid（马德里卡洛斯三世大学）；ZettaScale Technology SARL（ZettaScale科技有限责任公司）
Wireless communications represent a game changer for future manufacturing plants, enabling flexible production chains as machinery and other components are not restricted to a location by the rigid wired connections on the factory floor. However, the presence of electromagnetic interference in the wireless spectrum may result in packet loss and delay, making it a challenging environment to meet the extreme reliability requirements of industrial applications. In such conditions, achieving real-time remote control, either from the Edge or Cloud, becomes complex. In this paper, we investigate a f…
Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院）；King Abdullah University of Science and Technology（阿卜杜拉国王科技大学）
This paper presents the foundation of a modular robotic system comprised of several novel modules in the shape of a tetrahedron. Four single-propeller submodules are assembled to create the Tetracopter, a tetrahedron-shaped quad-rotorcraft used as the elementary module of a modular flying system. This modular flying system is built by assembling the different elementary modules in a fractal shape. The fractal tetrahedron structure of the modular flying assembly grants the vehicle more rigidity than a conventional two-dimensional modular robotic flight system while maintaining the relative effi…
Robotic Tele-Operation for Upper Aerodigestive Tract Microsurgery: System Design and Validation
Biomedical Robotics Laboratory, Advanced Robotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia（意大利技术研究院生物医学机器人实验室）；Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering (CPGEI), Federal University of Techonology - Paraná（巴西南帕拉州联邦技术大学电气与计算机工程研究生项目）
Vector Cost Behavioral Planning for Autonomous Robotic Systems with Contemporary Validation Strategies
Michigan State University（密歇根州立大学）；Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University（艾姆伯-理德航空大学）；City College of New York（纽约市立大学）；Istanbul Technical University（伊斯坦布尔技术大学）
Design and Validation of an Under-actuated Robotic Finger with Synchronous Tendon Routing
ShanghaiTech University（上海科技大学）；School of Information Science and Technology（信息科学与技术学院）；ShanghaiTech Automation and Robotics (STAR) Center（上海科技大学自动化与机器人中心）；King’s College London（伦敦大学国王学院）
Rochester Institute of Technology（罗切斯特理工学院）；Oregon State University（俄勒冈州立大学）；UC Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）
Leveraging human grasping skills to teach a robot to perform a manipulation task is appealing, but there are several limitations to this approach: time-inefficient data capture procedures, limited generalization of the data to other grasps and objects, and inability to use that data to learn more about how humans perform and evaluate grasps. This paper presents a data capture protocol that partially addresses these deficiencies by asking participants to specify ranges over which a grasp is valid. The protocol is verified both qualitatively through online survey questions (where 95.38% of withi…
In a diverse set of robotics applications, including RoboCup categories, mobile robots require control commands to interact with surrounding environment correctly. These control commands should come wirelessly to not interfere in robots' movement; also, the communication has a set of requirements, including low latency and consistent delivery. This paper presents a complete communication architecture consisting of computer communication with a base station, which transmits the data to robots and returns robots telemetry to the computer. With the proposed communication, it is possible to send m…
Singapore University of Technology and Design（新加坡科技设计大学）
Validation of robotics theory on real-world hardware platforms is important to prove the practical feasibility of algorithms. This paper discusses some of the lessons learned while adapting the EvoBot, a low-cost robotics platform that we designed and prototyped, for research in diverse areas in robotics. The EvoBot platform was designed to be a low cost, open source, general purpose robotics platform intended to enable testing and validation of algorithms from a wide variety of sub-fields of robotics. Throughout the paper, we outline and discuss some common failures, practical limitations and…
This paper presents an experimental adaptation of a non-collaborative robot arm to collaborate with the environment, as one step towards adapting legacy robotic machinery to fit in industry 4.0 requirements. A cloud-based internet of things (CIoT) service is employed to connect, supervise and control a robotic arm's motion using the added wireless sensing devices to the environment. A programmable automation controller (PAC) unit, connected to the robot arm receives the most recent changes and updates the motion of the robot arm. The experimental results show that the proposed non-expensive se…
Traditional algorithms for robots who need to integrate into a wireless network often focus on one specific task. In this work we want to develop simple, adaptive and reusable algorithms for real world applications for this scenario. Starting with the most basic task for mobile wireless network nodes, finding the position of another node, we introduce an algorithm able to solve this task. We then show how this algorithm can readily be employed to solve a large number of other related tasks like finding the optimal position to bridge two static network nodes. For this we first introduce a meta-…
