Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Brunet: Disruption-Tolerant Tcp And Decentralized Wi-Fi For Small Systems Of Vehicles, Nicholas Brunet
Brunet: Disruption-Tolerant Tcp And Decentralized Wi-Fi For Small Systems Of Vehicles, Nicholas Brunet
Master's Theses
Reliable wireless communication is essential for small systems of vehicles. However, for small-scale robotics projects where communication is not the primary goal, programmers frequently choose to use TCP with Wi-Fi because of their familiarity with the sockets API and the widespread availability of Wi-Fi hardware. However, neither of these technologies are suitable in their default configurations for highly mobile vehicles that experience frequent, extended disruptions. BRUNET (BRUNET Really Useful NETwork) provides a two-tier software solution that enhances the communication capabilities for Linux-based systems. An ad-hoc Wi-Fi network permits decentralized peer-to-peer and multi-hop connectivity without the need for dedicated network infrastructure. …
Design Of A Proprioceptive Actuator Utilizing A Cycloidal Gearbox, Craig John Kimball
Design Of A Proprioceptive Actuator Utilizing A Cycloidal Gearbox, Craig John Kimball
Master's Theses
Legged robotics creates the demand for high torque compact actuators able to develop high instantaneous torque. Proprioceptive actuator design theory is a design theory that removes the need for a torque feedback device and relies on the stiffness in the leg for absorbing the high Ground Impact Forces created by walking locomotion. It utilizes a high torque density motor paired with a gearbox with a high gear ratio for torque multiplication. Previously work has been done to design a proprioceptive actuator design that utilizes a planetary gearbox to create a modular low-cost actuator for legged robotics. The purpose of this …
Snr: Software Library For Introductory Robotics, Spencer F. Shaw
Snr: Software Library For Introductory Robotics, Spencer F. Shaw
Master's Theses
This thesis introduces "SNR," a Python library for programming robotic systems in the context of introductory robotics courses. Greater demand for roboticists has pressured educational institutions to expand robotics curricula. Students are now more likely to take robotics courses earlier and with less prior programming experience. Students may be attempting to simultaneously learn a systems programming language, a library API, and robotics concepts. SNR is written purely in Python to present familiar semantics, eliminating one of these learning curves. Industry standard robotics libraries such as ROS often require additional build tools and configuration languages. Students in introductory courses frequently lack …
Emergency Landing And Guidance System, Joseph Alarid
Emergency Landing And Guidance System, Joseph Alarid
Master's Theses
Every year there are thousands of aviation accidents along with hundreds of human deaths that happen around the world. While the data is sparse, it is well documented that many of these happen from emergency landings gone awry. While pilots can generally make great landings in clear daytime conditions, they are significantly handicapped when it comes to landing at night or amongst poor visibility conditions.
Due to the nature of this problem and some of the large scale advances in software technology we propose a solution that provides a significant improvement from the status quo. Using transfer learning on neural …
Flexible Fault Tolerance For The Robot Operating System, Sukhman S. Marok
Flexible Fault Tolerance For The Robot Operating System, Sukhman S. Marok
Master's Theses
The introduction of autonomous vehicles has the potential to reduce the number of accidents and save countless lives. These benefits can only be realized if autonomous vehicles can prove to be safer than human drivers. There is a large amount of active research around developing robust algorithms for all parts of the autonomous vehicle stack including sensing, localization, mapping, perception, prediction, planning, and control. Additionally, some of these research projects have involved the use of the Robot Operating System (ROS). However, another key aspect of realizing an autonomous vehicle is a fault-tolerant design that can ensure the safe operation of …
Decentralized, Noncooperative Multirobot Path Planning With Sample-Basedplanners, William Le
Decentralized, Noncooperative Multirobot Path Planning With Sample-Basedplanners, William Le
Master's Theses
In this thesis, the viability of decentralized, noncooperative multi-robot path planning algorithms is tested. Three algorithms based on the Batch Informed Trees (BIT*) algorithm are presented. The first of these algorithms combines Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance (ORCA) with BIT*. The second of these algorithms uses BIT* to create a path which the robots then follow using an artificial potential field (APF) method. The final algorithm is a version of BIT* that supports replanning. While none of these algorithms take advantage of sharing information between the robots, the algorithms are able to guide the robots to their desired goals, with the …
Involuntary Signal-Based Grounding Of Civilian Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) In Civilian Airspace, Keith Conley
Involuntary Signal-Based Grounding Of Civilian Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) In Civilian Airspace, Keith Conley
Master's Theses
This thesis investigates the involuntary signal-based grounding of civilian unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in unauthorized air spaces. The technique proposed here will forcibly land unauthorized UAS in a given area in such a way that the UAS will not be harmed, and the pilot cannot stop the landing. The technique will not involuntarily ground authorized drones which will be determined prior to the landing. Unauthorized airspaces include military bases, university campuses, areas affected by a natural disaster, and stadiums for public events. This thesis proposes an early prototype of a hardware-based signal based involuntary grounding technique to handle the problem …
Robot Navigation In Cluttered Environments With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Ryan Weideman
Robot Navigation In Cluttered Environments With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Ryan Weideman
Master's Theses
The application of robotics in cluttered and dynamic environments provides a wealth of challenges. This thesis proposes a deep reinforcement learning based system that determines collision free navigation robot velocities directly from a sequence of depth images and a desired direction of travel. The system is designed such that a real robot could be placed in an unmapped, cluttered environment and be able to navigate in a desired direction with no prior knowledge. Deep Q-learning, coupled with the innovations of double Q-learning and dueling Q-networks, is applied. Two modifications of this architecture are presented to incorporate direction heading information that …
Robotic Fingerspelling Hand For The Deaf-Blind, Jerry Vin
Robotic Fingerspelling Hand For The Deaf-Blind, Jerry Vin
Master's Theses
Because communication has always been difficult for people who are deaf-blind, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (SKERI), in conjunction with the California Polytechnic State University Mechanical Engineering department, has commissioned the design, construction, testing, and programming of a robotic hand capable of performing basic fingerspelling to help bridge the communication gap. The hand parts were modeled using SolidWorks and fabricated using an Objet rapid prototyper. Its fingers are actuated by 11 Maxon motors, and its wrist is actuated by 2 Hitec servo motors. The motors are controlled by Texas Instruments L293D motor driver chips, ATtiny2313 slave microcontroller chips programmed to …
Multiple Robot Boundary Tracking With Phase And Workload Balancing, Michael Jay Boardman
Multiple Robot Boundary Tracking With Phase And Workload Balancing, Michael Jay Boardman
Master's Theses
This thesis discusses the use of a cooperative multiple robot system as applied to distributed tracking and sampling of a boundary edge. Within this system the boundary edge is partitioned into subsegments, each allocated to a particular robot such that workload is balanced across the robots. Also, to minimize the time between sampling local areas of the boundary edge, it is desirable to minimize the difference between each robot’s progression (i.e. phase) along its allocated sub segment of the edge. The paper introduces a new distributed controller that handles both workload and phase balancing. Simulation results are used to illustrate …