Engineering Commons^™

A Novel Approach To User Controlled Ambulation Of Lower Extremity Exoskeletons Using Admittance Control Paradigm, Kiran Kartika Karunakaran

Dissertations

The robotic lower extremity exoskeletons address the ambulatory problems confronting individuals with paraplegia. Paraplegia due to spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause motor deficit to the lower extremities leading to inability to walk. Though wheelchairs provide mobility to the user, they do not provide support to all activities of everyday living to individuals with paraplegia.

Current research is addressing the issue of ambulation through the use of wearable exoskeletons that are pre-programmed. There are currently four exoskeletons in the U.S. market: Ekso, Rewalk, REX and Indego. All of the currently available exoskeletons have 2 active Degrees of Freedom (DOF) except …

Agricultural Field Robotics For Plant Data Acquisition, Jeremy S. Blackford, Jared Werner, Tyler A. Troyer, Ethan Nutter

UCARE: Research Products

As the demand for food increases, we are presented with the challenge of producing food more efficiently. With the help of agricultural robots it will be possible to achieve greater yields by the application of seeds, fertilizers and chemicals in the most efficient way possible. With more advanced robotic systems accurate crop data can be obtained to improve farming products and techniques.

Flex-Row is a medium sized agricultural robotic platform built for autonomously traversing through rough fields during multiple crop growing stages. This platform consisting of a flexible frame with the ability to vary both width and height will initially …

Scalable Three-Dimensional Grasping Mechanism, Ikya Mamidala

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

In this work, we develop a scalable end-effector mechanism for grasping three- dimensional objects with sizes ranging from micrometer to millimeter scale. The design architecture of the gripper comprises an array of identical fingers patented in a circular fashion. Each finger is designed from a novel linkage mechanism whose end effector is manipulated by two independent actuators. In this research, we study three finger gripper device, where each is obtained from a 3 - linkage mechanism. The device is controlled by three independent piezo actuators, and one electro-magnetic solenoid common to each mechanism. The gripping capability depends on how fingers …

A Cyber-Physical System, Andrew Davis, Dustin Bowe, Josiah Nagel

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

The team was tasked with the creation of an autonomous cyber-physical system that could be continually developed as a post-capstone class by future STEM students and as a means to teach future engineering students. The strict definition of a cyber-physical system is a computation machine that networks with an embedded computer that performs a physical function. The autonomous aspect was achieved through two sonic sensors to monitor object distances in order to avoid walls and obstacles. The integrated system was based on the Intel Edison computation module. A primary goal for future addition is automation capabilities and machine learning applications.

Grounding Robot Motion In Natural Language And Visual Perception, Scott Alan Bronikowski

Open Access Dissertations

The current state of the art in military and first responder ground robots involves heavy physical and cognitive burdens on the human operator while taking little to no advantage of the potential autonomy of robotic technology. The robots currently in use are rugged remote-controlled vehicles. Their interaction modalities, usually utilizing a game controller connected to a computer, require a dedicated operator who has limited capacity for other tasks.

I present research which aims to ease these burdens by incorporating multiple modes of robotic sensing into a system which allows humans to interact with robots through a natural-language interface. I conduct …

Establishing Performance Guarantees For Behavior-Based Robot Missions Using An Smt Solver, Feng Tang, Damian M. Lyons, Ronald Arkin

Faculty Publications

In prior work we developed an approach to formally representing behavior-based multi-robot programs, and the uncertain environments in which they operate, as process networks. We automatically extract a set of probabilistic equations governing program execution in that environment using a static analysis module called VIPARS, and solve these using a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) to establish whether stated performance guarantees hold for the program in that environment. In this paper we address the challenge of expanding the range of performance guarantees that are possible by using an SMT-solver instead of a DBN. We translate flow functions, which are recursive probabilistic …

Design And Development Of The Ebear: A Socially Assistive Robot For Elderly People With Depression, Amirhossein Kargarbideh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been tremendous progress in the field of robotics in the past decade and especially developing humanoid robots with social abilities that can assist human at a socio-emotional level. The objective of this thesis is to develop and study a perceptive and expressive animal-like robot equipped with artificial intelligence in assisting the elderly people with depression. We investigated how social robots can become companions of elderly individuals with depression and improve their mood and increase their happiness and well-being. The robotic platform built in this thesis is a bear-like robot called the eBear. The eBear can show facial expression …

Follow Me Robot, Victoria M. Edwards

Honors Theses

The idea of a personal robotic assistant, while once made up the tales of science fiction, is now moving closer and closer to reality. It is easy for two humans to walk together where one person knows the directions and the other person follows along. However, it is not a trivial problem for a robot to recognize a human, and follow side by side along with them. There are three key parts to this problem: 1.) Detection of a human, 2.) Tracking the human, and 3.) the robot's Motion strategy. Using baseline assumptions, I can simplify the detection process allowing …

Machine Learning Through Mimicry And Association, Nickolas S. Holcomb

Honors College Theses

Adaptability is a key missing features that has impeded the growth of assistive robotics. In the traditional model, all actions must be explicitly coded by a skilled programmer familiar with the hardware. This project explores a method of teaching a webcam equipped arm type robot new primitive movement using visual demonstrations.

Simulation Of Scalability For Autonomous Mobile Microgrids, Nathan Beyers

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Microgrids are small-scale, decentralized systems for generation, storage, and management of electricity to provide power within a local area. By establishing these microgrids using autonomous robots, they can be made safer and more easily reconfigurable. This thesis presents a plan and outlines the infrastructure needed for scaling up previous experimental work on such systems. This work brings together a variety of tools in the form of both software and hardware to set the stage for how further development can be completed. An architecture for physical testing has been built to validate the full potential of navigation and making electrical connections …

Integrating Cobots In Engineering Technology Education, Ana M. Djuric, Vukica Jovanovic, Tatiana V. Goris, Otilia Popescu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Collaborative robots or CoBots, unlike traditional robots, are safe and flexible enough to work harmoniously with humans. Exploiting the efficiency of automated operations and the flexibility of manual operations in one process can improve productivity and worker job satisfaction. CoBots technology has been experiencing strong growth in different areas such as ground transportation, food-processing industry, car manufacturing, and naval or aeronautical engineering. Current CoBots education and training opportunities are rare or non-existent in university environments. In response to this need, we developed several CoBots modules which will be integrated in the current robotics and mechatronics courses. In this paper we …

Teaching Robot Kinematics For Engineering Technology Students Using A Created Three-Dimensional Robot And Camera, Cheng Y. Lin, Yuzhong Shen

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Teaching robot kinematics is important to engineering technology students in the robot automation. The study can help students not only in the coordinate transformation principles from a joint to its following joint in a robot, but also in relating the coordinate systems between a robot and a machine vision system. While students can utilize math software to compute robot kinematic transformations, they have problems verifying their answers. In this paper, a three dimensional vertically articulated robot is created to help students visualize the location and orientation of the end effector. Students can check their robot kinematic answers based on the …

How Can We Build A Moral Robot?, Kristen E. Clark

Capstones

Artificial intelligence is already starting to drive our cars and make choices that affect the world economy. One day soon, we’ll have robots that can take care of our sick and elderly, and even rescue us in rescue us in emergencies. But as robots start to make decisions that matter—it’s raising questions that go far beyond engineering. We’re stating to think about ethics.

Bertram Malle and Matthias Scheutz are part of a team funded by the department of defense. It's their job to answer a question that seems straight out of a sci-fi novel: How can we build a moral …

Developing And Testing An Anguilliform Robot Swimming With Theoretically High Hydrodynamic Efficiency, John B. Potts Iii

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

An anguilliform swimming robot replicating an idealized motion is a complex marine vehicle necessitating both a theoretical and experimental analysis to completely understand its propulsion characteristics. The ideal anguilliform motion within is theorized to produce ``wakeless'' swimming (Vorus, 2011), a reactive swimming technique that produces thrust by accelerations of the added mass in the vicinity of the body. The net circulation for the unsteady motion is theorized to be eliminated.

The robot was designed to replicate the desired, theoretical motion by applying control theory methods. Independent joint control was used due to hardware limitations. The fluid velocity vectors in the …

On Problematic Robotic Thresholds, Adam K. Taylor

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Large configuration spaces present difficulties for developers validating large soft- ware systems and for users selecting the proper configuration to achieve the desired runtime behavior. Robot systems face the same challenges as they may have hundreds of configurable parameters. Our work focuses on co-robotic systems, those in which robots and humans work closely together to augment each other’s capabilities. We aim to leverage the user’s knowledge about a system to help determine configuration errors. To accomplish this, users mark runtime failures while observing the system in operation. A marked error indicates the robot “did something when it should not have” …

Review Of Robotic Technology For Strawberry Production, S. G. Defterli, Yeyin Shi, Yunjun Xu

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

With an increasing world population in need of food and a limited amount of land for cultivation, higher efficiency in agricultural production, especially fruits and vegetables, is increasingly required. The success of agricultural production in the marketplace depends on its quality and cost. The cost of labor for crop production, harvesting, and post-harvesting operations is a major portion of the overall production cost, especially for specialty crops such as strawberry. As a result, a multitude of automation technologies involving semi-autonomous and autonomous robots have been utilized, with an aim of minimizing labor costs and operation time to achieve a considerable …

Design And Manufacture Of Mesoscale Robot-Actuated Surgical Instruments, Clayton L. Grames

Theses and Dissertations

Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is a growing field including both laparoscopic androbotic operations. Surgeons and engineers are making continual efforts to reduce the negative effects of procedures on patients. Reducing the size of the surgical instruments is one effective method pursued in this effort. When the instruments approach 3 mm in diameter, they reach a threshold where the entry incisions can be small enough that no scar is left on the patient. Laparoscopic instruments on this scale exist but typically lack wrist articulation and only have 1 degree of freedom (DoF). Alternatively, robotic surgical instruments can achieve high levels of …

Novelty Wins, “Straight Toward Objective” Loses! Or Book Review: Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth Of The Objective, By Kenneth O. Stanley And Joel Lehman, Reuben Hersh

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Experiments in evolutionary artificial intelligence demonstrate that progress toward an important, difficult goal is not best achieved by attempting to go directly toward that goal, but rather, by rewarding novelty.

Roborodentia Robot, Jordan Dykstra, Anibal Hernandez, Robert Prosser

Computer Engineering

This report provides details on the design and implementation of a robot for the Spring 2015 Roborodentia competition. The system is described from a software perspective, a hardware perspective, and a mechanical design perspective.

Basketballbot: Education Level Development Of A Fuzzy Controller For A Linear Motor Under Saturation Limits, David L. Mcpherson

Honors Theses

Fuzzy logic seeks to express human modes of reasoning and decision making in a mathematical form. This is evident in its terminology such as “linguistic variables” defined over a “universe of discourse”. By taking human expressions such as “very high” or “pretty cold” and defining them in a mathematical context, expert operator knowledge can be transferred from verbal descriptions into automated control algorithms regardless of the operator’s familiarity with control systems. Because fuzzy logic is designed to be easily comparable with human thought, it makes an excellent first exposure to control systems concepts to high school and undergraduate students. Additionally, …

Beyond Blackboards: Engaging Underserved Middle School Students In Engineering, Sarah Blanchard, Justina Judy, Chandra Muller, Richard H. Crawford, Anthony J. Petrosino, Christina K. White, Fu-An Lin, Kristin L. Wood

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Beyond Blackboards is an inquiry-centered, after-school program designed to enhance middle school students’ engagement with engineering through design-based experiences focused on the 21st Century Engineering Challenges. Set within a predominantly lowincome, majority-minority community, our study aims to investigate the impact of Beyond Blackboards on students’ interest in and understanding of engineering, as well as their ability to align their educational and career plans. We compare participants’ and nonparticipants’ questionnaire responses before the implementation and at the end of the program’s first academic year. Statistically significant findings indicate a school-wide increase in students’ interest in engineering careers, supporting a shift in …

A Compliant Mechanism-Based Variable-Stiffness Joint, Jacob Marc Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

A review of current variable-stiffness actuators reveals a need for more simple, cost effective, and lightweight designs that can be easily incorporated into a variety of human-interactive robot platforms. This thesis considers the potential use of compliant mechanisms to improve the performance of variable-stiffness actuators. The advantages and disadvantages of various concepts using compliant mechanisms are outlined, along with ideas for further exploration. A new variable-stiffness actuator that uses a compliant flexure as the elastic element has been modeled, built, and tested. This new design involves a variable stiffness joint that makes use of a novel variable transmission. A prototype …

Characterization Of A Robotic Manipulator For Dynamic Wind Tunnel Applications, James C. Lancaster

Theses and Dissertations

The newly acquired 6-DOF Motion Test Apparatus (MTA) was installed to perform dynamic wind tunnel testing in the AFIT Low Speed Wind Tunnel. Several complex motions revealed that the overall performance of the test rig needed improvement especially during small motions. The motions exposed that further enhancements would need to be performed individually for each joint. This research effort focused on the improvement of the MTA wrist roll motor and controller using a pitch oscillation. The controller software was improved using position feedback because the MTA wrist roll motor and controller exhibited reduced signal bias and amplitude attenuation. The enhanced …

Performance Verification For Behavior-Based Robot Missions, Damian M. Lyons, Ron Arkin, Shu Jiang, Tsungming Liu, Paramesh Nirmal

Faculty Publications

Certain robot missions need to perform predictably in a physical environment that may have significant uncertainty. One approach is to leverage automatic software verification techniques to establish a performance guarantee. The addition of an environment model and uncertainty in both program and environment, however, means the state-space of a model-checking solution to the problem can be prohibitively large. An approach based on behavior-based controllers in a process-algebra framework that avoids state-space combinatorics is presented here. In this approach, verification of the robot program in the uncertain environment is reduced to a filtering problem for a Bayesian Network. Validation results are …

Optimal Design And Control Of A Lower-Limb Prosthesis With Energy Regeneration, Holly E. Warner

ETD Archive

The majority of amputations are of the lower limbs. This correlates to a particular need for lower-limb prostheses. Many common prosthesis designs are passive in nature, making them inefficient compared to the natural body. Recently as technology has progressed, interest in powered prostheses has expanded, seeking improved kinematics and kinetics for amputees. The current state of this art is described in this thesis, noting that most powered prosthesis designs do not consider integrating the knee and the ankle or energy exchange between these two joints. An energy regenerative, motorized prosthesis is proposed here to address this gap. After preliminary data …

Multi-3d System: Advanced Manufacturing Through The Implementation Of Material Handling Robotics, Jose Luis Coronel Jr.

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Since the rise of additive manufacturing (AM), innovation has been at the forefront. Additive Manufacturing systems that incorporate complex processes are steadily being developed. One example is the Multi3D System, which was designed to integrate the ability to print multi-material parts with that of embedding electronics. To achieve this automated process, the Multi3D incorporates a six-axis robotic arm to transfer a build platform containing a printed part, to various manufacturing stations (two fused deposition modeling (Stratasys, FDM400mc) systems and a computer numerical control router (Techno CNC Router). The robot is a Yaskawa Motoman MH50 chosen for its payload capacity of …

Adaptive Control For Autonomous Navigation Of Mobile Robots Considering Time Delay And Uncertainty, Stephen Kofi Armah

Dissertations

Autonomous control of mobile robots has attracted considerable attention of researchers in the areas of robotics and autonomous systems during the past decades. One of the goals in the field of mobile robotics is development of platforms that robustly operate in given, partially unknown, or unpredictable environments and offer desired services to humans. Autonomous mobile robots need to be equipped with effective, robust and/or adaptive, navigation control systems. In spite of enormous reported work on autonomous navigation control systems for mobile robots, achieving the goal above is still an open problem. Robustness and reliability of the controlled system can always …

Preparing Students For The Advanced Manufacturing Environment Through Robotics, Mechatronics, And Automation Training, Ana M. Djuric, Vukica Jovanovic, Tatiana V. Goris

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Automation is one of the key areas for modern manufacturing systems. It requires coordination of different machines to support manufacturing operations in a company. Recent studies show that there is a gap in the STEM workforce preparation in regards to highly automated production environments. Industrial robots have become an essential part of these semi-automated and automated manufacturing systems. Their control and programming requires adequate education and training in robotics theory and applications. Various engineering technology departments offer different courses related to the application of robotics. These courses are a great way to inspire students to learn about science, math, engineering, …

Generalized Mapping And Object Removal, Duncan Campbell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a problem that has been explored for the past few decades. SLAM deals with the concept of a robot being introduced into an environment in which it has no prior knowledge. Then, through the use of sensors, the robot is able to map its environment while simultaneously determining its position within the given area. While there has been extensive research into the development of methods by which this problem can be solved, not much has been done on what to do with the resulting maps once they are produced. The research conducted deals with …

Autonomous Quadcopter Videographer, Quiquia Rey Coaguila

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the interest in quadcopters as a robotics platform for autonomous photography has increased. This is due to their small size and mobility, which allow them to reach places that are difficult or even impossible for humans. This thesis focuses on the design of an autonomous quadcopter videographer, i.e. a quadcopter capable of capturing good footage of a specific subject. In order to obtain this footage, the system needs to choose appropriate vantage points and control the quadcopter. Skilled human videographers can easily spot good filming locations where the subject and its actions can be seen clearly in …