Robotics Commons^™

Event And Time-Triggered Control Module Layers For Individual Robot Control Architectures Of Unmanned Agricultural Ground Vehicles, Tyler Troyer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Automation in the agriculture sector has increased to an extent where the accompanying methods for unmanned field management are becoming more economically viable. This manifests in the industry’s recent presentation of conceptual cab-less machines that perform all field operations under the high-level task control of a single remote operator. A dramatic change in the overall workflow for field tasks that historically assumed the presence of a human in the immediate vicinity of the work is predicted. This shift in the entire approach to farm machinery work provides producers increased control and productivity over high-level tasks and less distraction from operating …

Remote Cable Gantry, Allen L. Bailey

Electrical Engineering

The Remote Cable Gantry is a robotic system that was initially intended to aid in the art of aerial videography. It was designed to enable novice and expert users alike to capture both video footage and audio from perspectives unachievable by current methods. This system uses a series of cables to control the position of a camera gimbal in a defined 3D space and, as a self-contained unit, is portable and easy to use. The Remote Cable Gantry offers a quiet, intuitive, and safe alternative to existing technology, which has been limiting the market and potential of aerial photography and …

Light Sensing Automated Blinds, Andrew B. Hodges, Ryan C. Flick

Electrical Engineering

This project is solving the problem of wasted energy within buildings and homes, because currently the lights turned on inside building do not utilize natural, ambient light from the sun. Rather than having unnecessary light from a light source, the automated light sensing smart blinds can sense the amount of light outside the window and in the room, and then adjust the angle of the blinds to save energy by utilizing the available outdoor light. This way, the light source will not be running at maximum power output while there is excess light coming through the window. This project aims …

The Following Robot, Juan D. Cerda, Matthew S. Kwan, Vi M. Le

Computer Engineering

The objective of this project is to design, build, and test an autonomous robot with an associated Android application. The robot uses on board inertial measurement sensors (magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope) and coordinates itself through Bluetooth communication with the similar built­in measurement sensors on the Android phone to mimic and follow movement. The Following Robot incorporates the same basic movement functionality as a typical RC car. The robot follows the user’s phone through an application on one’s phone. This application accesses the phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope data and translates into appropriate conversions. Methods of tracking and calculating distance or angular displacement …

Blend It Wine Blending Distribution System, Connor Clarry, Russell Temple, Matt Moren

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Perception Of 3d Symmetrical And Near-Symmetrical Shapes, Vijai Jayadevan, Aaron Michaux, Edward Delp, Zygmunt Pizlo

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Automation In Entertainment: Concept, Design, And Application, Ryan Thally

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis is to explore the automation technology used in the modern entertainment industry. Upon completion of my thesis, I will deliver a working prototype of the chosen technology and present its capabilities in a choreographed show.

Optimized Trajectory Generation For Car-Like Robots On A Closed Loop Track, Tyler Friedl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a method for generating an optimized path through a given track. The path is generated by choosing waypoints throughout the track then iteratively optimizing the position of these waypoints. The waypoints are then connected by optimized paths represented by curvature polynomials. The end result is a path through the track represented as a spline of curvature polynomials. This method is applied to multiple simulated tracks and the results are presented. By generating and representing the paths in the continuous domain, the method has improved computational efficiency from many of the discrete methods used to generate an optimal …

Autonomous Quadrotor Collision Avoidance And Destination Seeking In A Gps-Denied Environment, Thomas C. Kirven

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

This thesis presents a real-time autonomous guidance and control method for a quadrotor in a GPS-denied environment. The quadrotor autonomously seeks a destination while it avoids obstacles whose shape and position are initially unknown. We implement the obstacle avoidance and destination seeking methods using off-the-shelf sensors, including a vision-sensing camera. The vision-sensing camera detects the positions of points on the surface of obstacles. We use this obstacle position data and a potential-field method to generate velocity commands. We present a backstepping controller that uses the velocity commands to generate the quadrotor's control inputs. In indoor experiments, we demonstrate that the …

Using Lower Extremity Muscle Activations To Estimate Human Ankle Impedance In The External-Internal Direction, Lauren N. Knop

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For millions of people, mobility has been afflicted by lower limb amputation. Lower extremity prostheses have been used to improve the mobility of an amputee; however, they often require additional compensation from other joints and do not allow for natural maneuverability. To improve upon the functionality of ankle-foot prostheses, it is necessary to understand the role of different muscle activations in the modulation of mechanical impedance of a healthy human ankle. This report presents the results of using artificial neural networks (ANN) to determine the functional relationship between lower extremity electromyography (EMG) signals and ankle impedance in the transverse plane. …

Heterogeneous Multi-Sensor Fusion For 2d And 3d Pose Estimation, Hanieh Deilamsalehy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sensor fusion is a process in which data from different sensors is combined to acquire an output that cannot be obtained from individual sensors. This dissertation first considers a 2D image level real world problem from rail industry and proposes a novel solution using sensor fusion, then proceeds further to the more complicated 3D problem of multi sensor fusion for UAV pose estimation.

One of the most important safety-related tasks in the rail industry is an early detection of defective rolling stock components. Railway wheels and wheel bearings are two components prone to damage due to their interactions with the …

Control Of A Powered Ankle-Foot Prosthesis: From Perception To Impedance Modulation, Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Active ankle prostheses controllers are demonstrating gaining smart features to improve the safety and comfort offor users. The perception of user intention to modulate the ankle dynamics is a well-known example of such feature. But not much work focused on the perception of the environment, nor how the environment should be included in the mechanical design and control of the prosthesisprostheses. The proposed work aims to improve the feasibility of integrate the environment perception integration intoto the prostheses controllersler, and to define the desired ankle dynamics, as mechanical impedance, duringof the human walk on different environmental settings. As a preliminary …

Underwater Robot, Joseph E. Beck, Matthew Crislip, Cody Bobek, Peyton Lucas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are remote controlled drones operated by a non-local user. The ROV we plan to build is connected by a tethering wire to a floating buoy that contains an antenna which will send signals between the base station and the ROV. The ROV is equipped with a video camera, ballast system, propulsion system, lights, and a depth sensor. The ROV will transmit a live video feed to the user, while receiving input signals to control its movement from the base station.

Packmule, Jared M. Alexander, Jared J. Ford, Timothy J. Griffiths, Andray Pennington

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

People face demands of hauling equipment and belongings with them every day, whether it be for work or leisure. This design report discusses and details a product that would allow people to overcome the struggles of this. The Packmule is an autonomous following robot that has the capability of carrying a load up to 30 pounds. The design involves two independently controlled motors operating two drive wheels so that the Packmule will be flexible in the directions it can move. There are also two more steering wheels for support of the base and the load inside. The way in which …

Safety Airway For Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using A Gas Particles Behavior Analogy, Pablo Rangel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented the Part 107 legislation to allow the flight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for commercial use (i.e. package deliveries, power transmission line inspections, etc.) in the National Airspace System (NAS). As a consequence of the newly introduced rules, there is an increased risk for accidents involving injured bystanders or damaged to property. The work within this document defines a UAV to UAV safety distance model that acts as a range sensor enabled "elastic bubble". The length of the UAV safety bubble contracts and expands upon changing airway wind speed conditions. It also …

Omni-Directional Infrared 3d Reconstruction And Tracking Of Human Targets, Emrah Benli

Theses and Dissertations

Omni-directional (O-D) infrared (IR) vision is an effective capability for mobile systems in robotics, due to its advantages: illumination invariance, wide field-of-view, ease of identifying heat-emitting objects, and long term tracking without interruption. Unfortunately, O-D IR sensors have low resolution, low frame rates, high cost, sensor noise, and an increase in tracking time. In order to overcome these disadvantages, we propose an autonomous system application in indoor scenarios including 1) Dynamic 3D Reconstruction (D3DR) of the target view in real time images, 2) Human Behavior-based Target Tracking from O-D thermal images, 3) Thermal Multisensor Fusion (TMF), and 4) Visual Perception …

A Hierarchical Architectural Framework For Securing Unmanned Aerial Systems, Matthew Leccadito

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are becoming more widely used in the new era of evolving technology; increasing performance while decreasing size, weight, and cost. A UAS equipped with a Flight Control System (FCS) that can be used to fly semi- or fully-autonomous is a prime example of a Cyber Physical and Safety Critical system. Current Cyber-Physical defenses against malicious attacks are structured around security standards for best practices involving the development of protocols and the digital software implementation. Thus far, few attempts have been made to embed security into the architecture of the system considering security as a holistic problem. …

Electronic Deer Warning System, David Zhuo, Anlang Lu

Computer Engineering

Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) are extremely dangerous, often injuring or even killing drivers. Unfortunately, this form of automotive accident is commonplace in the United States. According to the NHTSA, DVCs result in 200 human deaths a year.2

Despite these deadly incidents, there currently are no deployed federal or state systems for preventing DVCs. There are many consumer electronic deer deterrent products, but their long-term effectiveness is questionable.3 In fact, there does not appear to be much research into electronic deer deterrent systems. Aside from constant audio output and electric shock, no other means of electronic deterrent exist. Even if fixed deterrents …

Psychophysiological Analysis Of A Pedagogical Agent And Robotic Peer For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders., Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by ongoing problems in social interaction and communication, and engagement in repetitive behaviors. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1 in 68 children in the United States has ASD. Mounting evidence shows that many of these individuals display an interest in social interaction with computers and robots and, in general, feel comfortable spending time in such environments. It is known that the subtlety and unpredictability of people’s social behavior are intimidating and confusing for many individuals with ASD. Computerized learning environments and robots, however, prepare a predictable, …

Mechanical Design And Optimization Of An Interactive Animatronic Bald Eagle, Eric Burns

Phi Kappa Phi Research Symposium (Archived)

Animatronics is a specialized sub-category of mechatronics, a fusion of mechanical and electrical engineering. The field has grown from small, individual projects into a major industry. As animatronics progress, mechanical engineers are pushed to design internal structures which occupy ever-decreasing spaces and to ensure designs can undergo maintenance and modifications smoothly. This research investigates methods of reducing space required for mechanisms and several other beneficial methods of development as well as varying satisfactions for audiences when exposed to actor-controlled systems rather than pre-scripted functions. The mechanical systems are designed using CAD software available at Georgia Southern. On-campus, resources are used …

A Stroke Therapy Brace Design, Evan Kirkbride

Electrical Engineering

Victims of stroke often have difficulty with rehabilitation. With limited movement on their affected arm, patients often do not want to move much for physical therapy. In this project, we design a robotic brace that helps stroke patients move their arm more effectively in a reaching or pulling motion. By giving patients more movement in their affected arm than they would have otherwise, patients gain more from rehabilitation. The brace also adapts to the patient’s needs, providing more inclination or resistance as needed for their physical therapy. This kind of therapy engages patients rather than relying on their likely dwindled …

3-D Shape Recovery From A Single Camera Image, Vijai Jayadevan, Aaron Michaux, Edward Delp, Zygmunt Pizlo

MODVIS Workshop

3-D shape recovery is an ill-posed inverse problem which must be solved by using a priori constraints. We use symmetry and planarity constraints to recover 3-D shapes from a single image. Once we assume that the object to be reconstructed is symmetric, all that is left to do is to estimate the plane of symmetry and establish the symmetry correspondence between the various parts of the object. The edge map of the image of an object serves as a good representation of its 2-D shape and establishing symmetry correspondence means identifying pairs of symmetric curves in the edge map. The …

A Lidar Based Semi-Autonomous Collision Avoidance System And The Development Of A Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulator To Aid In Algorithm Development And Human Studies, Thomas F. Stevens

Master's Theses

In this paper, the architecture and implementation of an embedded controller for a steering based semi-autonomous collision avoidance system on a 1/10^th scale model is presented. In addition, the development of a 2D hardware-in-the-loop simulator with vehicle dynamics based on the bicycle model is described. The semi-autonomous collision avoidance software is fully contained onboard a single-board computer running embedded GNU/Linux. To eliminate any wired tethers that limit the system’s abilities, the driver operates the vehicle at a user-control-station through a wireless Bluetooth interface. The user-control-station is outfitted with a game-controller that provides standard steering wheel and pedal controls along …

Universal Uav Payload Interface, Nolan Reker, David Troy Jr, Drew Troxell

Computer Engineering

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is becoming increasingly accessible for civilian use. Both open-source and commercial-purpose UAVs can be obtained affordably or even built. However, the platforms available are very segmented in their customization to a specific application (i.e. land surveying, payload delivery). This project aims to create a Universal Payload Interface (UPI) mounted to the underside of multi-rotors or other UAVs to enable the attachment of customizable sensor payloads. These payloads allow a single UAV to be rapidly reconfigured to perform a multitude of tasks.

The Universal Payload Interface facilitates communication between the payload, onboard flight controller, and operator …

Innovative Connectivity Ensuring Education (I.-C.E.E.), Luke Cole, Andrew Ma, Nicholas Ross, Daniel Williams

Electrical Engineering

This is the critical design review for the Telepresence/Telerobotic Technology for Children with Disabilities Project by team I.- C.E.E. (Innovative Connectivity Ensuring Education). This report details our telepresence system design for our client (Nathan Stilts) including design choices/justification, testing verification and procedures, and chosen components for implementation. There are seven chapters in total starting with introductory/background information followed by hardware and software design, verification, and testing and concludes with the current status of the project and what future work may need to be included.

Telepresence: Design, Implementation And Study Of An Hmd-Controlled Avatar With A Mechatronic Approach, Darren Michael Chan

Master's Theses

Telepresence describes technologies that allow users to remotely experience the sensation of being present at an event without being physically present. An avatar exists to represent the user whilst in a remote location and is tasked to collect stimuli from its immediate surroundings to be delivered to the user for consumption. With the advent of recent developments in Virtual Reality technology, viz., head-mounted displays (HMDs), new possibilities have been enabled in the field of Telepresence. The main focus of this thesis is to develop a solution for visual Telepresence, where an HMD is used to control the direction of a …

Hybrid Power System For Micro Air Vehicles, Bakytgul Khaday

Open Access Theses

Today Micro Air Vehicles are in need of a good power source that would enable them longer flight time and various functionalities. This work is focused on to this problem. A possible solution that is offered in this study is implementing a hybrid power system consisting of battery and supercapacitor (SCAP). The proposed hybrid power system was tested on an existing MAV platform (Cheerson CX-10). A separate hybrid power printed circuit board (PCB) was designed and manufactured. For experimental and system verification purposes, the PCB was not sized for on-board flight. The hybrid power PCB was connected to MAV through …

Dynamic Modeling, Parameter Estimation And Control Of A Leg Prosthesis Test Robot, Hanz Richter, Daniel J. Simon, William A. Smith, Sergey Samorezov

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Robotic testing can facilitate the development of new concepts, designs and control systems for prosthetic limbs. Human subject test clearances, safety and the lack of repeatability associated with human trials can be reduced or eliminated with automated testing, and test modalities are possible which are dangerous or inconvenient to attempt with patients. This paper describes the development, modeling, parameter estimation and control of a robot capable of reproducing two degree-of-freedom hip motion in the sagittal plane. Hip vertical displacement and thigh angle motion profiles are applied to a transfemoral prosthesis attached to the robot. A treadmill is used as walking …

Autonomous Robot Sphere, Robert Haver, Melissa Haver, Daniel Madden, Noah Robertson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Autonomous Robot Sphere is an interactive robot toy meant to entertain kids. The robot will locate its target and execute algorithms to autonomously evade or chase a child. The sphere will contain a platform equipped with four omni-wheels, which will allow the sphere to maneuver and change direction almost instantaneously. The robot will be configured to maintain a fixed distance from the transmitter, allowing it to chase or evade the child in response to their movement. The primary advantage of our design lies in its capability to quickly adapt to changes in direction.

Using Robots As Therapeutic Agents To Teach Children With Autism Recognize Facial Expression, Seyedmohammad Mavadati, Huanghao Feng, Peyten B. Sanger, S. Silver, Anibal Gutierrez, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Background: Recognizing and mimicking facial expressions are important cues for building great rapport and relationship in human-human communication. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have often deficits in recognizing and mimicking social cues, such as facial expressions. In the last decade several studies have shown that individuals with ASD have superior engagement toward objects and particularly robots (i.e. humanoid and non-humanoid). However, majority of the studies have focused on investigating robot’s appearances and the engineering design concepts and very few research have been done on the effectiveness of robots in therapeutic and treatment applications. In fact, the critical question that …