Robotics Commons^™

A Systematic Review Of Studies On Educational Robotics, Saira Anwar, Nicholas Alexander Bascou, Muhsin Menekse, Asefeh Kardgar

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

There has been a steady increase in the number of studies investigating educational robotics and its impact on academic and social skills of young learners. Educational robots are used both in and out of school environments to enhance K–12 students’ interest, engagement, and academic achievement in various fields of STEM education. Some prior studies show evidence for the general benefits of educational robotics as being effective in providing impactful learning experiences. However, there appears to be a need to determine the specific benefits which have been achieved through robotics implementation in K–12 formal and informal learning settings. In this study, …

Quantified Measurement Of The Tilt Effect In A Family Of Café Wall Illusions, Nasim Nematzadeh Dr., David Martin Powers Prof.

MODVIS Workshop

This abstract explores the tilt effect in a family of Café Wall illusions using a Classical Gaussian Receptive Field model (CRF). Our model constructs an intermediate representation called edge map at multiple scales (Fig. 1) that reveals tilt cues and clues involved in the illusory perception of the Café Wall pattern. We investigate a wide range of parameters of the stimulus including mortar width, luminance, tiles contrast, and phase of the tile displacement (the stimuli in Fig. 2). We show that this simple bioplausible model, simulating the contrast sensitivity of the retinal ganglion cells, can not only detect the tilts …

Micro-Manipulation Using Learned Model, Matthew A. Lyng, Benjamin V. Johnson, David J. Cappelleri

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Microscale devices can be found in applications ranging from sensors to structural components. The dominance of surface forces at the microscale hinders the assembly processes through nonlinear interactions that are difficult to model for automation, limiting designs of microsystems to primarily monolithic structures. Methods for modeling surface forces must be presented for viable manufacturing of devices consisting of multiple microparts. This paper proposes the implementation of supervised machine learning models to aid in automated micromanipulation tasks for advanced manufacturing applications. The developed models use sets of training data to implicitly model surface interactions and predict end-effector placement and paths that …

Answering Food Insecurity: Serving The Community With Food And Knowledge Using Technology, Courtney Simpson

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The courses of Tech120, CGT110, and ENGT 180/181 and Red Gold at Purdue collaborated to design a robot that would plant and water a garden for a local community charter school. The students centered the project on the users’ needs for fresh food, nutrition education, and early exposure to STEM for children. The school, Anderson Preparatory Academy (APA), is comprised of many children who come from low-income families and are in the free or reduced lunch program. Inspired from “Farm Bot,” a similar system that allows for almost hands-free gardening, the “Boiler Bot” is designed to be scalable so children …

Ani-Bot: A Mixed-Reality Ready Modular Robotics System, Zhuangying Xu, Yuanzhi Cao

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

DIY modular robotics has always had a strong appeal to makers and designers; being able to quickly design, build, and animate their own robots opens the possibility of bringing imaginations to life. However, current interfaces to control and program the DIY robot either lacks connection and consistency between the users and target (Graphical User Interface) or suffers from limited control capabilities due to the lack of versatility and functionality (Tangible User interface). We present Ani-Bot, a modular robotics system that allows users to construct Do-It-Yourself (DIY) robots and use mixed-reality approach to interact with them instantly. Ani-Bot enables novel user …

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

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Liquid Metal Particle Popping: Nanoscale To Macroscale, Trevor R. Lear

Open Access Theses

Liquid metal nanoparticles can be used to produce stretchable electronic devices. Understanding the mechanical properties of liquid metal nanoparticles is crucial to optimizing their use in various applications, especially printing of flexible, stretchable electronics. Smaller nanoparticles are desired for high-resolution printing and compatibility with existing scalable manufacturing methods; however, they contain less liquid metal and are more difficult to rupture than larger particles, making them less desirable for post-processing functionality. This study investigates the mechanics of liquid metal particle rupture as a function of particle size. We employ compression of particle films to characterize the composition of the particle core …

Algorithms For Lidar Based Traffic Tracking: Development And Demonstration, Vamsi K. Bandaru

Open Access Theses

The current state of the art of traffic tracking is based on the use of video, and requires extensive manual intervention for it to work, including hours of painstaking human examination of videos frame by frame which also make the acquisition of data extremely expensive. Fundamentally, this is because we do not have observability of the actual scene from a camera which captures a 2D projection of the 3D world. Even if video were to be automated, it would involve such algorithms as RANSACK for outlier elimination while matching features across frames or across multiple cameras. This results in algorithms …

Command Shaping With Constrained Peak Input Acceleration To Minimize Residual Vibration In A Flexible-Joint Robot, Yumeng Wu

Open Access Theses

Rapid point-to-point motion is limited when flexibilities exist in the system. In order to minimize the vibrations related to joint flexibilities, much work has been done, including modifying the system so that vibrations can be damped out more quickly, calculating the inverse dynamics of the system and constructing shaped input profiles that avoid system natural frequencies. In this work, the earlier fixed-time command shaping method has been extended to a peak-acceleration-constrained approach with two basis functions, the ramped sinusoid function and the versine function, such that the maximum acceleration is guaranteed without overconstraining the input profiles. The approach is developed …

Analysis Of Feedback Control Applied With Command Shaping To Minimize Residual Vibration, Nicholas L. Jacobs

Open Access Theses

Joint flexibility is a physical trait that affects all robotic systems to some degree. This characteristic has been shown to be very detrimental to the performance of these robotic systems when implementing fast point-to-point motion. During such motion, the robot will induce vibrations in its structure that will extend past the completion of the move. Many techniques have been applied over the years in order to minimize these residual vibrations. One such method is known as command shaping, which will construct the input profile so as to avoid exciting the natural frequencies of the system. This work seeks to extend …

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 …

Representation And Control Of Coordinated-Motion Tasks For Human-Robot Systems, Hyungju Andy Park

Open Access Dissertations

It is challenging for robots to perform various tasks in a human environment. This is because many human-centered tasks require coordination in both hands and may often involve cooperation with another human. Although human-centered tasks require different types of coordinated movements, most of the existing methodologies have focused only on specific types of coordination. This thesis aims at the description and control of coordinated-motion tasks for human-robot systems; i.e., humanoid robots as well as multi-robot and human-robot systems.

First, for bimanually coordinated-motion tasks in dual-manipulator systems, we propose the Extended-Cooperative-Task-Space (ECTS) representation, which extends the existing Cooperative-Task-Space (CTS) representation based …

Learning In Vision And Robotics, Daniel P. Barrett

Open Access Dissertations

I present my work on learning from video and robotic input. This is an important problem, with numerous potential applications. The use of machine learning makes it possible to obtain models which can handle noise and variation without explicitly programming them. It also raises the possibility of robots which can interact more seamlessly with humans rather than only exhibiting hard-coded behaviors. I will present my work in two areas: video action recognition, and robot navigation. First, I present a video action recognition method which represents actions in video by sequences of retinotopic appearance and motion detectors, learns such models automatically …

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 …

Linear Matrix Inequality-Based Nonlinear Adaptive Robust Control With Application To Unmanned Aircraft Systems, David William Kun

Open Access Theses

Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are gaining popularity in civil and commercial applications as their lightweight on-board computers become more powerful and affordable, their power storage devices improve, and the Federal Aviation Administration addresses the legal and safety concerns of integrating UASs in the national airspace. Consequently, many researchers are pursuing novel methods to control UASs in order to improve their capabilities, dependability, and safety assurance. The nonlinear control approach is a common choice as it offers several benefits for these highly nonlinear aerospace systems (e.g., the quadrotor). First, the controller design is physically intuitive and is derived from well known …

Bio-Inspired Robotic Fish With Vision Based Target Tracking, Eric Anderson

Open Access Theses

The lionfish is an invasive species that out-competes and overcrowds native sh species along the eastern seaboard of the United States and down into the Caribbean. Lionfish populations are growing rapidly. Current methods of monitoring lionfish populations are costly and time intensive. A bio-inspired robotic fish was built to use as an autonomous lionfish tracking platform. Lionfish are tracked visually using an onboard processor. Five different computer vision methods for identification and tracking are proposed and discussed. These include: background subtraction, color tracking, mixture of Gaussian background subtraction, speeded up robust feature (SURF), and CamShift based tracking. Each of these …

Principle Of Bio-Inspired Insect Wing Rotational Hinge Design, Fan Fei

Open Access Theses

A principle for designing and fabricating bio-inspired miniature artificial insect flapping wing using flexure rotational hinge design is presented. A systematic approach of selecting rotational hinge stiffness value is proposed. Based on the understanding of flapping wing aerodynamics, a dynamic simulation is constructed using the established quasi-steady model and the wing design. Simulations were performed to gain insight on how different parameters affect the wing rotational response. Based on system resonance a model to predict the optimal rotational hinge stiffness based on given wing parameter and flapping wing kinematic is proposed. By varying different wing parameters, the proposed method is …

Effects Of Hip And Ankle Moments On Running Stability: Simulation Of A Simplified Model, Rubin C. Cholera

Open Access Theses

In human running, the ankle, knee, and hip moments are known to play different roles to influence the dynamics of locomotion. A recent study of hip moments and several hip-based legged robots have revealed that hip actuation can significantly improve the stability of locomotion, whether controlled or uncontrolled. Ankle moments are expected to also significantly affect running stability, but in a different way than hip moments. Here we seek to advance the current theory of dynamic running and associated legged robots by determining how simple open-loop ankle moments could affect running stability. We simulate a dynamical model, and compare it …

Design And Analysis Of A Cable-Driven Test Apparatus For Flapping-Flight Research, Stephen J. Musick

Open Access Theses

The biology, physiology, kinematics, and aerodynamics of insect flight have been a longstanding fascination for biologists and engineers. The former three are easily obtained through the observation of the organic species. The latter though, is very difficult to study in this fashion. In many cases, aerodynamic forces and fluid-body interactions can be simulated with computational fluid dynamics; another option is to use dynamically-scaled, experimental set-ups to measure physically these values.

An archetypal, experimental set-up may include one or two scaled wings, where each wing is actuated to achieve upwards of three degrees of freedom. The three degrees of freedom correspond …

Dynamic Surgical Tool Tracking And Delivery System Using Baxter Robot, Sthitapragyan Parida, Juan Pablo Wachs, Maria Eugenia Cabrera

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Several hospitals face nurse staffing shortages for surgeries. This research focuses on building a system with Baxter robot capable of identifying surgical tools using computer vision and delivering them to the surgeon on demand. This would deal with the issue of nurse unavailability during simple surgical procedures. The key aspects of the project were: testing the accuracies of various Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in classifying surgical instruments, and programming Baxter to implement a surgical tool delivery system using magnets at the tip of its 7-DOF robotic arms. The methodology consisted of, first, implementing algorithms to enable Baxter to do pick …

Improved Microrobotic Control Through Image Processing And Automated Hardware Interfacing, Archit R. Aggarwal, Wuming Jing, David J. Cappelleri

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Untethered submilliliter-sized robots (microrobots) are showing potential use in different industrial, manufacturing and medical applications. A particular type of these microrobots, magnetic robots, have shown improved performance in power and control capabilities compared to the other thermal and electrostatic based robots. However, the magnetic robot designs have not been assessed in a robust manner to understand the degree of control in different environments and their application feasibility. This research project seeks to develop a custom control software interface to provide a holistic tool for researchers to evaluate the microrobotic performance through advance control features. The software deliverable involved two main …

Software Architecture And Development For Controlling A Hubo Humanoid Robot, Manas Ajit Paldhe

Open Access Theses

Due to their human-like structure, humanoid robots are capable of doing some complex tasks. Since a humanoid robot has a large number of actuators and sensors, controlling it is a difficult task. For various tasks like balancing, driving a car, and interacting with humans, real-time response of the robot is essential. Efficiently controlling a humanoid robot requires a software that guarantees real-time interface and control mechanism so that real-time response of the robot is possible. Addition- ally, to reduce the development effort and time, the software should be open-source, multi-lingual and should have high-level constructs inbuilt in it.

Currently Robot …

A Sensor Ontology For The Domain Of Firefighting Robots, Amy Renae Wagoner

Open Access Theses

Fires create thousands of dollars in damage and thousands of deaths each year. Firefighters risk their lives everyday and are often killed in action. Firefighting robots may be able to reduce the loss of lives and damage due to fires. Robots are often used for redundant tasks that require the consistency and efficiency of a machine. They are especially optimal for tasks that require strength that exceeds that of a typical human being or for environments that are hazardous to people. Robots' metallic exteriors are far more durable and easier to replace than flesh and blood, thus they are ideal …

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 …

Reasoning Across Language And Vision In Machines And Humans, Andrei Barbu

Open Access Dissertations

Humans not only outperform AI and computer-vision systems, but use an unknown computational mechanism to perform tasks for which no suitable approaches exist. I present work investigating both novel tasks and how humans approach them in the context of computer vision and linguistics. I demonstrate a system which, like children, acquires high-level linguistic knowledge about the world. Robots learn to play physically-instantiated board games and use that knowledge to engage in physical play. To further integrate language and vision I develop an approach which produces rich sentential descriptions of events depicted in videos. I then show how to simultaneously detect …

Hypothesize-And-Verify Based Solutions For Place Recognition And Mobile Robot Self-Localization In Interior Hallways, Khalil Mustafa Ahmad Yousef

Open Access Dissertations

There is much research interest currently in having mobile robots build accurate and visually dense models ofinterior space as they traverse through such spaces. One of the interesting problems that has came out of this research is that of visual place recognition and self-localization. This is the problem that forms the focus of the present dissertation. We show how dense and accurate 3D models of the interior space can be constructed using a hierarchical sensor-fusion architecture. Our system fuses images from a single photometric camera with range data from a laser scanning sensor. The range data used is rudimentary--the range …

Combining Multiple, Inexpensive Gps Receivers To Increase Accuracy And Reliability, Daniel Kenneth Schrader

Open Access Theses

GPS is a technology that allows for accurate tracking of various parameters, namely speed and location. Many modern systems and tools require a rapidly-refreshing report of their speed and/or location, but the GPS technology available to most users may not be accurate enough for some applications. Methods currently

exist to improve GPS accuracy, but many or all of these methods are expensive, difficult, or simply not available without special technology and permission.

The research presented in this thesis describes an attempt to improve the accuracy and/or reliability of GPS, without using any expensive or restricted methods. The ability for any …

Analysis Of An Actuated Two Segment Leg Model Of Locomotion, Nikhil Vinayak Rao

Open Access Theses

Research studies on dynamic models of legged locomotion have generally focused on telescoping-type leg models. Such telescoping spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) models have been able to accurately predict observed center of mass (CoM) trajectories. There have been comparatively fewer studies on dynamics of locomotion

with segmented legs. Some earlier studies on the dynamics due to leg segmentation appear straightforward. For example, a simple model with the only joint moment being due to a passive springy knee has been shown to behave similarly to a telescoping spring-mass model. However, in real-life animal locomotion, there are multiple joint-moments acting at the …

Adaptive Nonlinear Control For Autonomous Ground Vehicles, William Spencer Black

Open Access Theses

We present the background and motivation for ground vehicle autonomy, and focus on uses for space-exploration. Using a simple design example of an autonomous ground vehicle we derive the equations of motion. After providing the mathematical background for nonlinear systems and control we present two common methods for exactly linearizing nonlinear systems, feedback linearization and backstepping. We use these in combination with three adaptive control methods: model reference adaptive control, adaptive sliding mode control, and extremum-seeking model reference adaptive control. We show the performances of each combination through several simulation results. We then consider disturbances in the system, and design …

Design Of A Running Robot And The Effects Of Foot Placement In The Transverse Plane, Timothy James Sullivan

Open Access Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to make advances in the design of humanoid bipedal running robots. We focus on achieving dynamic running locomotion because it is one metric by which we can measure how far robotic technologies have advanced, in relation to existing benchmarks set by humans and other animals. Designing a running human-inspired robot is challenging because human bodies are exceptionally complex mechanisms to mimic. There are only a few humanoid robots designed specifically for running and the existing robots are either constrained to a plane, do not yet exhibit human-like motion, or are unstable.

One aspect of …