Engineering Commons^™

Robust Decentralised Variable Structure Control For Rigid Robotic Manipulators, Thasapalan Kuhan

Theses : Honours

In this thesis, the problem of robust variable structure control for non-linear rigid robotic manipulators is investigated. Robustness and convergence results are presented for variable structure control systems of robotic manipulators with bounded unknown disturbances, nonlinearities, dynamical couplings and parameter uncertainties. The major outcomes of the work described in this thesis are summarised as given below. The basic variable structure theory is surveyed, and some basic ideas such as sliding mode designs, robustness analysis and control1er design methods for linear or non-linear systems are reviewed. Three recent variable structure control schemes for robotic manipulators are discussed and compared to highlight …

Survey And Implementation Of Commercial Manual Controllers For A Generic Telerobotics Architecture, Thomas E. Deeter

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine an input device for the Air Force's generic telerobotics architecture for large aircraft maintenance and repair. One area of concern is the human to machine interface, more specifically, which manual controller should be used for the specified tasks in this architecture. We mailed a survey to 68 companies in order to compile a list of possible input devices that the telerobotics architecture could use. 32 companies responded which gave me enough data to generate a list that described the physical traits of the input devices. We then divided the required tasks into …

Silicon Based Microactuators For Telerobotic Tactile Stimulation, Britton C. Read Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Silicon based microelectromechanical (MEM) devices using both surface and bulk micromachining have been realized to provide tactile stimulation. The bulk MEM devices utilize the bimorph principle and are fabricated in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process through MOS implementation system (MOSIS). The surface MEM devices utilize the electrostatic principle and are fabricated in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process through MOS implementation system (MOSIS). The surface MEM devices utilize the electrostatic principle and are fabricated in the multi-user MEM process (MUMPS) through MCNC. Eleven major designs are presented and tested to determine if they are suitable to provide …

Design And Construction Of The Aerobot Robotic Manipulator (Arm), William L. Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis designed, constructed, and tested a robotic arm for the Aerobot Aerial Robot. The main purpose of the ARM is to enable the Aerobot to retrieve objects for use in an annual robotics competition. Design of the ARM involved synthesizing the characteristics of simplicity, weight, strength, and size. The result was a three-degree-of-freedom manipulator that uses electric motors, cable linkages, and telescoping tubes to access a work space below the Aerobot. Forward and inverse kinematics were investigated to enable automation of the ARM. Data was collected from infrared sensors to validate the model. Manipulation of the ARM is presently …

Variable Structure End Point Control Of A Flexible Manipulator, Shailaja Chenumalla, Sahjendra N. Singh

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

We treat the question of control and stabilization of the elastic multibody system developed in the Phillips Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base, California. The controlled output is judiciously chosen such that the zero dynamics are stable or almost stable. A variable structure control (VSC) law is derived for the end point trajectory control. Although, the VSC law accomplishes precise end point tracking, elastic modes are excited during the maneuver of the arm. A Linear stabilizer is designed for the final capture of the terminal state.

An Efficient Technique For Finding The Desired Global Optimum Of Robotic Joint Displacement, Paul P. Lin, An-Jen J. Yang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

For an industrial robot on a daily operation basis such as pick and place, it is desired to minimize the robotic joint displacements when moving the robot from one location to another. The objective of the optimization here is to simultaneously minimize a robot end effector's positional error and the robotic joint displacements. By modifying the searching algorithm in the existing complex optimization method, this article presents a technique for finding the desired global optimum solution more efficiently. To compare the optimum searching capability between the proposed and existing searching algorithms, a modified Himmelblau's function is used as an objective …

The Use Of Advanced Technologies In Indiana Department Of Transportation, Thomas R. Kruse, Kumares C. Sinha, Ted M. Andrews, Jon D. Fricker, James Samuel Bethel, Michael J. Cassidy, Jorge A. Vanegas

JTRP Technical Reports

The report presents the findings of a study that investigated the potential uses of new technologies in INDOT. A survey of state transport agencies were conducted and the major groups of technologies identified are: CADD, GIS, Advanced Survey Techniques, Knowledge-Based Expert Systems, Planning and Programming Mdels, and a workshop with the INDOT executive staff were conducted to determine the priority areas for advanced technology applications. Suggestions were then made for the development of a new technology program within INDOT.

Robust Grasp Design Using Grasp Force Focus Positioning, Freddie D. Zayas

Theses and Dissertations

A three-finger precision grasp is used to rotate a cylindrical object about a threaded post. Three fingered grasps are unique in that the homogeneous solution for the contact forces produces a grasp force focus. Mapping of focus points which meet grasp stability and joint torque criteria results in a usable focus region. The effects of applied torque, contact location, and object position and orientation on usable regions are presented. Stability behavior about the region is also examined. Results are used to demonstrate a technique for robust grasp design. The versatility of robotic hands permit fine motion manipulation on a wide …

An Improved Method For Online Calculation And Compensation Of The Static Deflection At A Robot End-Effector, Paul P. Lin, Hsiang-Dih Chiang, Xiu Xun Cui

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Traditionally, robotic deflection analysis for a low-weight robot has been performed based on an assumption that each link is treated as a cantilever beam, which leads to no angular deflection at a joint. In practice, a robotic intermediate joint is linearly and angulary deflected when a load is applied at the end-effector. It is found in this study that the additional link deflection resulting from the angular deflection of a robotic revolute joint substantially contributes to the end-effector's total deflection. This article presents an improved method via a combination of classical beam theory, energy methods and the concepts of differential …

Three Degrees Of Freedom Compliant Motion Control For Robotic Aircraft Refueling, Clayton M. Andersen

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) supports on-going research in application of robotic technology to enhance assembly tasks. As a testbed, AFIT supports the ground-based aerial refueling project, with an emphasis on visual servoing techniques and compliant motion control. This thesis focuses on compliant motion control. Previous research developed the testing environment, which includes a PUMA-560 industrial manipulator, and a half scale mock-up of an aerial refueling system. This effort corrected and expanded the existing two degree of freedom (DOF) compliant controller to three DOF. Three DOF compliance was demonstrated by inserting the refueling nozzle into the receiver port. …

A Robotic Tactile Sensor Incorporating Silicon Planar Technology: A Piezoelectric Polyvinylidene Fluoride Film, And On-Chip Signal Processing, Robert C. Fitch Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This research effort pursued the design, fabrication, and test of a robotic tactile sensor. The VLSI integrated circuit (IC) portion of the sensor included a 7 x 7 array of metal electrodes which were individually connected to identical MOSFET amplifiers. A 25 micrometers thick patch (6 mm x 6 mm) of piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film was attached to the array with a non-conductive adhesive, thereby creating an array of taxels. Charge, generated by the PVDF film, was detected by the amplifiers. The outputs of these amplifiers were connected to onchip signal circuitry designed to produce a single stream of …

Brightness Invariant Port Recognition For Robotic Aircraft Refueling, Richard A. Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis effort was to develop and test a brightness invariant recognition algorithm that would locate and identify the half-scale mock up of a Universal Aerial Refueling Receptacle Slipway Installation (UARRSI) aerial refueling port in different lightening conditions. This was accomplished by developing a brightness invariant port recognition of identifiable attributes of the refueling port to locate and identify the UARRSI port. Based on this approach, a brightness invariant port recognition system (BIPRS) was demonstrated which identified the refueling receptacle in different lightening conditions. The BIPRS was also invariant to orientation and size of the UARRSI port. …

A Detailed Analysis Of Dynamic Robotic Simulation, Lonnie J. Love

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Future space missions may require the utilization of automation technology for assembly, maintenance, repair, and a variety of repetitive or hazardous operations. Many tasks which are likely candidates for robotic or telerobotic execution are either difficult or impossible to duplicate in the laboratory. With an accurate simulation package, many of these tasks can be evaluated by computer simulation before committing the resources required for laboratory experimentation. With this motivation, the ROBSIM robot simulation software has been developed by NASA Langley Research Center in conjunction with the Martin Marietta Corporation. ROBSIM is a versatile tool with features including the ability to …

Robotic Arms With Flexible Links As The Links Approach Rigidity, George A. Downes

Theses

The dynamics of single link flexible robotic arms are modeled using the Bernoulli-Euler beam equation and Lagrange's equation. The Bernoulli-Euler beam equation derivation is reviewed and is studied in the limiting case as the flexiblity approaches zero. Using the Bernoulli-Euler beam equation, a procedure is developed to calculate the position of the endpoint of a link given the displacement, slope or curvature of any point on the link. Also a procedure is developed to calculate the minimum Young's modulus of elasticity, E, given a specified endpoint displacement tolerance.

A rigid link model based on Lagrange's equation and a flexible link …

A Cmos Robotic Lan Interface Integrated Circuit Design, Yong-Bin Kim

Theses

This thesis describes the design including specification, schematics,logic and circuit simulation, and standard cell layout for a CMOS mixed-mode I.C. for interfacing sensors into a robotics local area network. The network accepts up to 256 interface chips as nodes in each area. A simple network protocol permits acquisition of digital data from the interface nodes through gateways into ARCNET and MAP.

The sensor chip interfaces directly from analog signals of range 0-1V and 0-20mV. It contains an 8-bit ADC. The application I.C. interfaces to sensors for pressure, tactile stress, humidity, temperature, etc.

Each of the sensor interface node I.C.s is …

Effects Of Compliance And Machining Prameters On Robotic Grinding/Deburring, Kung-Le Chang

Theses

A theoretical model for robotic grinding/deburring has been developed and compared with experimental results. Various grinding parameters such as depth of cut, feed rate, surface profile and roughness, grinding forces, and robot stiffness, have been experimentally investigated in this study. It was observed that the depth of cut is a function of specific grinding energy, force, and robot compliance. The observed roughness and waviness are directly proportional to depth of cut and feed rate and, in addition, to the robot compliance and the encoder quantization error. Other effects of the robot system for grinding performance are also addressed.

A 3-D Tactile Sensor With Digital Output, Sin-Shou Cho

Theses

This thesis details the design of a new tactile sensor for general-purpose robot manipulators. Such manipulators, designed to be functionally equivalent to the human hand, will require sensor arrays that fulfill several requirements : (1) many sensor elements to minimize tactile imaging time, (2) close spacing of small sensing elements for fine spatial discrimination, (3) ability to be molded to a convex fingertip surface for taction on concave surfaces, (4) tolerance to over-scale forces without damage. In addition to the above, which are considered requirements, several other characteristics are desirable. Foremost is the ability to sense shear forces, which provide …

Robotization For Assembling Small Parts, Frank J. Valese

Theses

The thrust of this paper is directed toward establishing a roboticized small parts assembly line where none currently exist. Technical and pragmatic requisites were established and reviewed prior to installing the proposed robotic workcell. Although the specific model chosen for discussion is the locksmithing industry, the procedures followed, the design tools utilized, and the methods of job-costing employed apply equally to other small parts industries.

Basic industrywide considerations reviewed for each robotization effort included:

1. Choosing the proper application for robotization
2. Obtaining management support and labor input to insure the success of the project
3. Deciding on the economic and production goals …

Robotic Simulation Package For Personal Computers, Amitava Jana

Theses

A software package for three dimensional wire frame modeling of an educational robot is developed for personal computers. This package can be used by students as well as robot technicians to study basic principles of robot kinematics. The interactive simulation software supports both the joint-level and world-level motion control, enabling user to understand teach-pendant programming as well as robot level off-line programming. The desired orientation and position of the robot hand can also be specified through a homogeneous transformation matrix, allowing an advanced student to learn the concept of world modeling in the design of robot work cells. To help …

The Design Of A Processing Element For The Systolic Array Implementation Of A Kalman Filter, John P. Condorodis

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The Kalman filter is an important component of optimal estimation theory. It has applications in a wide range of high performance control systems including navigational, fire control, and targeting systems. The Kalman filter, however, has not been utilized to its full potential due to the limitations of its inherent computational intensiveness which requires "off-line" processing or allows only low bandwidth real-time applications.

The recent advances in VLSI circuit technology have created the opportunity to design algorithms and data structures for direct implementation in integrated circuits. A systolic architecture is a concept which allows the construction of massively parallel systems in …

Applications And Evaluation Criteria For Robotic Systems, Brijan Shirish Badshah

Theses

The robot industry is one of the fastest growing industries. In almost every area of manufacturing, robots are being considered for one or more tasks, but the success of any commercial industrial undertaking has to be measured in terms of financial performance.

To help practitioners in the manufacturing area, an economic analysis and investment appraisal technique for robotic systems is developed, especially to assist managers in making the crucial decision about utilizing an industrial robot. An interactive microcomputer program is developed which performs the economic analysis for cost justification and helps managers to decide whether the implementation of a robot …

Computational Method For Robot Manipulator Dynamics Based On The Gibbs-Appell Equations, Kwang Bok Kim

Theses

Industrial robots are open-loop multi-degree of freedom mechanisms whose dynamic characteristics are described by nonlinear differential equations. The computations of forces and torques required at each joint of robot manipulator are crucial step for real time control of robot manipulators.

Vukobratovic developed a new computational method for rigid body articulated open-loop mechanisms based on the Gibbs -Appell equations to generate differential equations of motion for spatial open - chain mechanisms. To solve these equations, he introduced the recursive kinematic transformation matrices that represent the motion of each linkage with respect to the base linkage.

Computer programs are developed in this …

Robot Manipulators And Control, Theresa Wu

Theses

This paper on Robot Manipulators brings together theories from three fields : computer graphics, kinematic equations and microprocessor based control.

There are four chapters in this paper, chapter one is the conceptual development on homogeneous transformations, express the position and orientation of the transposition of an object in Cartisian coordinates. Chapter two develops the method of obtaining the Cartisian coordinate position and orientation of the end effector for a manipulator, give the joint coordinate as input and use the homogeneous transformation to express the position and orientation. Chapter 3 is a very difficult one; it solves the parameters for the …

A Robotic Vision System, Murat Draman

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

A survey was done to summarize the state of the art and the future directions in the robotic vision field, in the industrial applications and research areas. An assembly language program, "GETIT", was written to control a MC6800 microprocessor in gathering data from an analog-to-digital converter hooked up to a camera, to find the center of a white marble placed on a black surface, and to send the coordinates to a five axis robot. A VAL language program, "VISION!", was written to receive the coordinate data from the microprocessor and to direct the robot to the specified location, to pick …