Engineering Commons^™

Incorporating Novel Sensors For Reading Human Health State And Motion Intent Into Real-Time Computing Systems, Adam Sawyer

Masters Theses

"Integrating sensors that read states of the human body into everyday life is an increasing desire, especially with the rise of deep learning which requires vast stores of data to make predictions. This work explores integrating these sensors into the human experience through two methods and recording the results. The first of these methods integrates a MXene based field-effect transistor sensor for the 2019-nCov spike protein with a mobile app. This allows the user to read how saturated their breath is with Covid-19. The second method integrates 3D-printed pressure sensors, and a motion capture system, into a glove to read …

Dynamic Maneuvers For Satellite On-Orbit Servicing Utilizing Novel Continuum Robotics: Development & Experimentation, Nathan Dalton

Masters Theses

Robotic on-orbit servicing is a developing technology that seeks to increase the longevity and repairability of faulty or aging resident space objects. In this research, the development of a flexible continuum manipulator for a small satellite system that performs low-complexity on-orbit servicing or debris removal is presented. Derivations of manipulator kinematics are described in detail, a non-linear control scheme has been developed, and the accuracy and servicing applications for the prototype are evaluated and discussed. The manipulator has been tested on an air-bearing dynamics simulator, and the results are extensively analyzed. System recommendations and future work suggestions are presented.

Design Of A Cable-Driven Manipulator For Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing, Phillip Chesser

Masters Theses

Additive manufacturing of concrete is a growing field of research, yet current motion platforms do not offer viable routes towards large scale deployable systems. This thesis presents the design and analysis of a novel cable-driven robot for use in large scale additive manufacturing. The system developed, termed SkyBAAM, is designed to be easily deployable to a construction site for on-site additive manufacturing of buildings and other large structures. The design philosophy behind this system is presented. Analysis of this system first explores the kinematics, and stiffness as a function of cable tension. Analysis of the workspace and singularities is also …

Autonomous Android: Autonomous 3d Environment Mapping With Android Controlled Multicopters, Tate Glick Hawkersmith

Masters Theses

Autonomous robots are robotic platforms with a high degree of autonomy, programmed to perform various behaviors or tasks. They can either be semi-autonomous, only operable within the strict confines of their direct environment, or fully autonomous, capable of sensing and navigating their environments without any human interaction.

In this thesis, I focus on fully autonomous robotic platforms, specifically multicopters, controlled by an onboard Android-driven device, a widely available operating system for smartphones and tablets with over 1.4 billion active monthly users worldwide [Callaham 2015]. The main objective of this research is to create a plug and play solution for autonomous …

A Continous Rotary Actuation Mechanism For A Powered Hip Exoskeleton, Matthew C. Ryder

Masters Theses

This thesis presents a new mechanical design for an exoskeleton actuator to power the sagittal plane motion in the human hip. The device uses a DC motor to drive a Scotch yoke mechanism and series elasticity to take advantage of the cyclic nature of human gait and to reduce the maximum power and control requirements of the exoskeleton. The Scotch yoke actuator creates a position-dependent transmission that varies between 4:1 and infinity, with the peak transmission ratio aligned to the peak torque periods of the human gait cycle. Simulation results show that both the peak and average motor torque can …

A Cost-Effective Haptic Device For Assistive And Rehabilitation Purposes, Archana Pradeep

Masters Theses

With the growing population of elderly, the need for assistance has also increased considerably especially for the tasks such as cleaning, reaching and grasping objects among others. There are numerous assistive devices in the market for this group of people. However, they are either too expensive or require overwhelming user effort for manipulation. Therefore, the presented research is primarily concerned with developing a low-cost, easy to use assistive device for elderly to reach and grasp objects through intuitive interface for the control of a slave anthropomorphic robotic arm (tele operator). The system also implements haptic feedback technology that enables the …

Ubot-7: The Design Of A Compliant Dexterous Mobile Manipulator, Jonathan Cummings

Masters Theses

This thesis presents the design of uBot-7, the latest version of a dexterous mobile manipulator. This platform has been iteratively developed to realize a high performance-to-cost dexterous whole body manipulator with respect to mobile manipulation. The semi-anthropomorphic design of the uBot is a demonstrated and functional research platform for developing advanced autonomous perception, manipulation, and mobility tasks. The goal of this work is to improve the uBot’s ability to sense and interact with its environment in order to increase the platforms capability to operate dexterously, through the incorporation of joint torque feedback, and safely, through the implementation of passive and …

Cytongrasp: Cyton Alpha Controller Via Graspit! Simulation, Nicholas Wayne Overfield

Masters Theses

This thesis addresses an expansion of the control programs for the Cyton Alpha 7D 1G arm. The original control system made use of configurable software which exploited the arm’s seven degrees of freedom and kinematic redundancy to control the arm based on desired behaviors that were configured off-line. The inclusions of the GraspIt! grasp planning simulator and toolkit enables the Cyton Alpha to be used in more proactive on-line grasping problems, as well as, presenting many additional tools for on-line learning applications. In short, GraspIt! expands what is possible with the Cyton Alpha to include many machine learning tools and …

Control And Coordination In A Networked Robotic Platform, Krishna Chaitanya Kalavacharla

Masters Theses

Control and Coordination of the robots has been widely researched area among the swarm robotics. Usually these swarms are involved in accomplishing tasks assigned to them either one after another or concurrently. Most of the times, the tasks assigned may not need the entire population of the swarm but a subset of them. In this project, emphasis has been given to determination of such subsets of robots termed as ”flock” whose size actually depends on the complexity of the task. Once the flock is determined from the swarm, leader and follower robots are determined which accomplish the task in a …