Engineering Commons^™

Computer-Based Stereoscopic Parts Recognition For Robotic Applications, Ahmad A. Fayed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most of robotic handling and assembly operations are based on sensors such as range and touch sensors. In certain circumstances, such as in the presence of ionizing radiation where most customary sensors will degrade over time due to radiation exposure, these sensors won't function properly. Utilizing two or more cameras (stereo vision) located outside the target zone and analyzing their images to identify location and dimensions of parts within the robot workspace is an alternative for using sensors. Object Recognition is affected by the light condition which oftentimes causes the gray-scale or red, green, and blue values to have a …

Development Of A Body For A Pneumatic Crawler For Radioactive Waste Pipelines, Jose Alfonso Matos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis was to develop a body for a crawler robot to navigate DOE Hanford Site transfer pipelines in a timely fashion. Previous work in pipe crawlers was analyzed and different configurations were studied by this author in order to design a suitable device. Tests were done in CAD to verify the device would fit and be able to travel within the confines of the pipelines’3” inner diameter and 90° elbows with 4.25”radii. Pipelines in Hanford can transition into 2” pipe and this was also taken into consideration when selecting the dimensions for the device. Manufacturing methods …

Getting It Right The First Time: Robot Mission Guarantees In The Presence Of Uncertainty, Damian Lyons, Ron Arkin, Paramesh Nirmal, Shu Jiang, Tsung-Ming Liu, Julia Deeb

Faculty Publications

Abstract—Certain robot missions need to perform predictably in a physical environment that may only be poorly characterized in advance. We have previously developed an approach to establishing performance guarantees for behavior-based controllers in a process-algebra framework. We extend that work here to include random variables, and we show how our prior results can be used to generate a Dynamic Bayesian Network for the coupled system of program and environment model. Verification is reduced to a filtering problem for this network. Finally, we present validation results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the verification of a multiple waypoint robot mission using this …

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 …

Development Of Pneumatic Robot For Outreach, Eshamogbo E. Ojuba, John Lumkes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

To encourage the current generation of high school and middle school students to pursue careers in engineering, it is important to have challenging hands-on engineering activities for them. Such activities should be interesting, compelling, and, most importantly, educative. A mini-excavator was built for fluid power outreach, but this tool only demonstrates fluid power, without showing other important aspects of engineering. The tool being developed is able to demonstrate fluid power, as well as other important aspects of engineering, such as controls, electronics, and programming. This tool is an electronically-controlled device that allows the user control a pneumatic circuit, coupled with …

Motion Capture In Robotics Review, Matthew Field, David A. Stirling, Fazel Naghdy, Zengxi Pan

zengxi pan

This survey reviews motion capture technologies and the current challenges associated with their application in robotic systems. Various sensor systems used in current literature are introduced and evaluated based on the relative strengths and weaknesses. Some research problems pursued with these sensors in robotics are reviewed and application areas are discussed. Significant methodologies in analysing the sensor data are discussed and evaluated based on the perceived benefits and limitations. Finally, results from experimentation with an inertial motion capture system are shown based on clustering and segmentation techniques.

Human Motion Capture Sensors And Analysis In Robotics, Matthew Field, Zengxi Pan, David Stirling, Fazel Naghdy

zengxi pan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of various motion capture technologies and discuss the methods for handling the captured data in applications related to robotics. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken in the paper is to compare the features and limitations of motion trackers in common use. After introducing the technology, a summary is given of robotic-related work undertaken with the sensors and the strengths of different approaches in handling the data are discussed. Each comparison is presented in a table. Results from the author's experimentation with an inertial motion capture system are discussed based …

Semantically Grounded Learning From Unstructured Demonstrations, Scott D. Niekum

Open Access Dissertations

Robots exhibit flexible behavior largely in proportion to their degree of semantic knowledge about the world. Such knowledge is often meticulously hand-coded for a narrow class of tasks, limiting the scope of possible robot competencies. Thus, the primary limiting factor of robot capabilities is often not the physical attributes of the robot, but the limited time and skill of expert programmers. One way to deal with the vast number of situations and environments that robots face outside the laboratory is to provide users with simple methods for programming robots that do not require the skill of an expert.

For this …

Measurement And Description Of Dynamics Required For In Vivo Surgical Robotics Via Kinematic Methods, Jacob G. Greenburg

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With the goal of improved recovery times and reduced trauma to the patient there has been a substantial shift in the medical community’s demand for minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques. With the standardization of MIS becoming more commonplace in the medical field there are still many improvements that are desired. Traditional, manual methods of these surgeries require multiple incisions on the abdomen for the tools and instruments to be inserted. The more recent demand has been to localize the incisions into what is being referred to as a Laparoendoscopic Single-Site (LESS) surgery. Furthermore, the manual instruments that are commonly used …

Modeling A Sensor To Improve Its Efficacy, Nabin K. Malakar, Daniil Gladkov, Kevin H. Knuth

Physics Faculty Scholarship

Robots rely on sensors to provide them with information about their surroundings. However, high-quality sensors can be extremely expensive and cost-prohibitive. Thus many robotic systems must make due with lower-quality sensors. Here we demonstrate via a case study how modeling a sensor can improve its efficacy when employed within a Bayesian inferential framework. As a test bed we employ a robotic arm that is designed to autonomously take its own measurements using an inexpensive LEGO light sensor to estimate the position and radius of a white circle on a black field. The light sensor integrates the light arriving from a …

Fully Compliant Mechanisms For Bearing Subtraction In Robotics And Space Applications, Ezekiel G. Merriam

Theses and Dissertations

Robotics and space applications represent areas where compliant mechanisms can continue to make a significant impact by reducing costs and weight while improving performance. Because of the nature of these applications, a common need is for bearing replacement mechanisms, or mechanisms that perform the function of a bearing without the complexity and failure modes associated with bearings. Static balancing is a design strategy that attempts to reduce the actuation effort of a mechanism, and has been applied to compliant mechanisms in some applications. Monolithic construction, especially by means of 3D printing technology, is a strategy whereby the mechanism links and …

Caddy: A 2005 Roborodentia Entry With Vision And Path Planning Abilities, Taylor Braun-Jones

Computer Engineering

Roborodentia is an autonomous robotics competition held each year during Cal Poly’s Open House. For the 2005 competition, robot entries needed to navigate a maze searching for three randomly placed golf balls, collect them, and then deposit the balls in the “nest” at the end of the maze. A newly added aspect for the 2005 competition included two bonus balls that were placed on a platform behind the wall in two predetermined corners of the maze.

Caddy is a robot that was entered into the 2005 Roborodentia competition. Caddy included a vision system that allowed searching for balls down untraveled …

The Application Of Traditional Tort Theory To Embodied Machine Intelligence, Curtis E.A. Karnow

Curtis E.A. Karnow

This note discusses the traditional tort theories of liability such as negligence and strict liability and suggests these are likely insufficient to impose liability on legal entities (people and companies) selling or employing autonomous robots. I provide the essential working definitions of ‘autonomous’ as well as the legal notion of ‘foreseeability’ which lies at the heart of tort liability. The note is not concerned with the policy, ethics, or other issues arising from the use of robots including armed and unarmed drones, because those, as I define them, are not currently autonomous, and do not implicate the legal issues I …

A Robotic Neuro-Musculoskeletal Simulator For Spine Research, Robb W. Colbrunn

ETD Archive

An influential conceptual framework advanced by Panjabi represents the living spine as a complex neuromusculoskeletal system whose biomechanical functioning is rather finely dependent upon the interactions among and between three principal subsystems: the passive musculoskeletal subsystem (osteoligamentous spine plus passive mechanical contributions of the muscles), the active musculoskeletal subsystem (muscles and tendons), and the neural and feedback subsystem (neural control centers and feedback elements such as mechanoreceptors located in the soft tissues) [1]. The interplay between subsystems readily encourages "thought experiments" of how pathologic changes in one subsystem might influence another--for example, prompting one to speculate how painful arthritic changes …

Evolutionary Ground Reaction Force Control Of A Prosthetic Leg Testing Robot, Ronald Davis.

ETD Archive

Typical tests of prosthetic legs for transfemoral amputees prove to be cumbersome and tedious. These tests are burdened by acclimation time, lack of repeatability between subjects, and the use of complex gait analysis labs to collect data. To create a new method for prosthesis testing, we design and construct a robot that can simulate the motion of a human hip. We discuss the robot from concept to completion, including methods for modeling and control design. Two single-input-single-output (SISO) sliding mode controllers are developed using analytical and experimental methods. We use human gait data as reference inputs to the controller. When …

Human Intention Recognition Based Assisted Telerobotic Grasping Of Objects In An Unstructured Environment, Karan Hariharan Khokar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation work, a methodology is proposed to enable a robot to identify an object to be grasped and its intended grasp configuration while a human is teleoperating a robot towards the desired object. Based on the detected object and grasp configuration, the human is assisted in the teleoperation task. The environment is unstructured and consists of a number of objects, each with various possible grasp configurations. The identification of the object and the grasp configuration is carried out in real time, by recognizing the intention of the human motion. Simultaneously, the human user is assisted to preshape over …