Robotics Commons^™

Integrating Mathematics And Educational Robotics: Simple Motion Planning, Ronald I. Greenberg, George K. Thiruvathukal, Sara T. Greenberg

George K. Thiruvathukal

This paper shows how students can be guided to integrate elementary mathematical analyses with motion planning for typical educational robots. Rather than using calculus as in comprehensive works on motion planning, we show students can achieve interesting results using just simple linear regression tools and trigonometric analyses. Experiments with one robotics platform show that use of these tools can lead to passable navigation through dead reckoning even if students have limited experience with use of sensors, programming, and mathematics.

Should Robots Prosecute And Defend?, Stephen E. Henderson

Stephen E Henderson

Work In Progress: Teaching Game Design And Robotics Together: A Natural Marriage Of Computing And Engineering Design In A First-Year Engineering Course, Adam R. Carberry, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

The increased dependence on computer programming in engineering has made it essential for engineering students to learn about programming throughout their undergraduate education. In the same vein, computing students benefit when given an opportunity to learn more about engineering design and systematic thinking. This paper discusses how one college embedded computing and engineering into a combined first-year introductory course. The course fuses computing and engineering using game design and robotics as an offering for both cohorts of students to work together in a multidisciplinary environment. Over the course of the semester, students learn introductory computing and engineering design concepts by …

Pythagorean Combinations For Lego Robot Building., Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

This paper provides tips for LEGO robot construction involving bracing or gear meshing along a diagonal using standard Botball kits.

Pythagorean Approximations For Lego: Merging Educational Robot Construction With Programming And Data Analysis, Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

Abstract. This paper can be used in two ways. It can provide reference information for incorporating diagonal elements (for bracing or gear meshing) in educational robots built from standard LEGO kits. Alternatively, it can be used as the basis for an assignment for high school or college students to recreate this information; in the process, students will exercise skills in both computer programming and data analysis. Using the paper in the second way can be an excellent integrative experience to add to an existing course; for example, the Exploring Computer Science high school curriculum concludes with the units “Introduction to …

Motion Planning For Simple Two-Wheeled Robots, Ronald I. Greenberg, Jeffery M. Karp

Ronald Greenberg

This paper considers various simple ways of navigating in a 2-dimensianal territory with a two-wheeled robot of a type typical in educational robotics. We determine shortest paths under various modes of operation and compare.

Effects Of Anthropomorphism On Trust In Human-Robot Interaction, Keith R. Macarthur, William T. Shugars, Tracy L. Sanders, Peter A. Hancock

Keith Reid MacArthur

Swarm Engineering, S. Kazadi '90

Sanza Kazadi

Swarm engineering is the natural evolution of the use of swarm-based techniques in the accomplishment of high level tasks using a number of simple robots. In this approach, one seeks not to generate a class of behaviors designed to accomplish a given global goal, as is the approach typically found in mainstream robotics. Once the class of behaviors has been understood and decided upon, specific behaviors designed to accomplish this goal may be generated that will complete the desired task without any concern about whether or not the final goal will actually be completed. As long as the generated behaviors …

Perceptions Of Planned Versus Unplanned Malfunctions: A Human-Robot Interaction Scenario, Theresa T. Kessler, Keith R. Macarthur, Manuel Trujillo-Silva, Thomas Macgillivray, Chris Ripa, Peter A. Hancock

Keith Reid MacArthur

Human-Robot Interaction: Proximity And Speed—Slowly Back Away From The Robot!, Keith R. Macarthur, Kimberly Stowers, Peter A. Hancock

Keith Reid MacArthur

Human-Robot Versus Human-Human Relationship Impact On Comfort Levels Regarding In Home Privacy, Keith R. Macarthur, Thomas G. Macgillivray, Eva L. Parkhurst, Peter A. Hancock

Keith Reid MacArthur

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

Hanz Richter

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 …

Data And Network Optimization Effect On Web Performance, Steven Rosenberg, Surbhi Dangi, Isuru Warnakulasooriya

Surbhi Dangi

In this study, we measure the effects of two software approaches to improving data and network performance: 1. Content optimization and compression; and 2. Optimizing network protocols. We achieve content optimization and compression by means of BoostEdge by ActivNetworks and employ the SPDY network protocol by Google to lower the round trip time for HTTP transactions. Since the data and transport layers are separate, we conclude our investigation by studying the combined effect of these two techniques on web performance. Using document mean load time as the measure, we found that with and without packet loss, both BoostEdge and SPDY …

Direction Of Slip Detection For A Biomimetic Tactile Sensor, Erik Engeberg, Morteza Vatani, Jae-Won Choi

Dr. Jae-Won Choi

A biomimetic tactile sensor (BTS) is developed from strips of electrically conductive carbon nanotubes (CNTs) mixed in a polymer matrix that is embedded within a flexible polyurethane shell. The mechanical compliance of the BTS is similar to the human fingertip. Experiments are performed which show that the BTS can be used to detect slip and the direction that slip occurs by examining the relative timing among force signals from adjacent strips of CNTs and the frequency content of the force signals. The BTS can also detect forces applied at distinct points on the surface of the BTS.

Effect Of Aircraft Datablock Complexity And Exposure Time On Performance Of Change Detection Task, Chen Ling, Lesheng Hua

Dr. Chen Ling

Air traffic controllers constantly perform tasks of monitoring traffic situation and searching for conflict between aircrafts. One requirement for these tasks is being able to detect any changes in the aircraft status presented by aircraft datablock. In this study, we investigated the effects of aircraft datablock complexity and exposure time on the change detection task performance. Two types of datablock, six field datablock (6F-DB) and nine field datablock (9F-DB), were artificially designed. Ten participants learned the change detection taskwith aircraft datablocks for four days. Our results showed that datablock complexity and exposure time in the change detection task had direct …

Physical Intelligent Sensors, Pavan Bandhil, Sanjeevi Chitikeshi, Ajay Mahajan, Fernando Figueroa

Dr. Ajay Mahajan

This paper proposes the development of intelligent sensors as part of an integrated systems approach, i.e. one treats the sensors as a complete system with its own sensing hardware (the traditional sensor), A/D converters, processing and storage capabilities, software drivers, self-assessment algorithms, communication protocols and evolutionary methodologies that allow them to get better with time. Under a project being undertaken at the NASA s Stennis Space Center, an integrated framework is being developed for the intelligent monitoring of smart elements. These smart elements can be sensors, actuators or other devices. The immediate application is the monitoring of the rocket test …

A Novel Method To Create Intelligent Sensors With Learning Capabilities, Ajay Mahajan, Fernando Figueroa

Dr. Ajay Mahajan

A formal theory for the development of a generic model of an autonomous sensor is proposed and implemented. An autonomous sensor not only interprets the acquired data in accordance with an embedded expert system knowledge base, but is also capable of using this data to modify and enhance this knowledge base. Hence, the system is capable of learning and thereby improving its performance over time. The main objective of the model is to combine the capabilities of the physical sensor and an expert operator monitoring the sensor in real-time. The system has been successfully tested using various simulated data sets …

Driving In Traffic: Short-Range Sensing For Urban Collision Avoidance, Chuck Thorpe, David Duggins, Jay Gowdy, Rob Maclaughlin, Christoph Mertz, Mel Siegel, Arne Suppe, Bob Wang, Teruko Yata

Mel Siegel

Intelligent vehicles are beginning to appear on the market, but so far their sensing and warning functions only work on the open road. Functions such as runoff-road warning or adaptive cruise control are designed for the uncluttered environments of open highways. We are working on the much more difficult problem of sensing and driver interfaces for driving in urban areas. We need to sense cars and pedestrians and curbs and fire plugs and bicycles and lamp posts; we need to predict the paths of our own vehicle and of other moving objects; and we need to decide when to issue …

Sensor Fusion For Context Understanding, Huadong Wu, Mel Siegel, Sevim Ablay

Mel Siegel

To answer the challenge of context-understanding for HCI, we propose and test experimentally a top-down sensor fusion approach. We seek to systematize the sensing process in two steps: first, decompose relevant context information in such a way that it can be described in a model of discrete facts and quantitative measurements; second, we build a generalizable sensor fusion architecture to deal with highly distributed sensors in a dynamic configuration to collect, fuse and populate our context information model. This paper describes our information model, system architecture, and preliminary experimental results.

Benefits Estimation Of Sensor-Friendly Vehicle And Roadway Cooperative Safety Systems, James A. Misener, Chuck Thorpe, Robert Ferlis, Ron Hearne, Mel Siegel, Joe Perkowski

Mel Siegel

An analysis was performed to estimate the potential national costs and benefits of cooperative vehicle and roadway measures to enhance the effectiveness of driver assistance systems. These cooperative measures ?query-response communication system, light emitting diode brake light messaging, radar cross section paint striping modifications, fluorescent paint for lane and other marking applications, passive amplifiers on license plates, spatial tetrahedral arrays of reflectors, and in-vehicle corner cubes ?are briefly described, along with assumptions that were made regarding performance. For the example lane departure case, the incremental nationwide effectiveness over an autonomous collision avoidance system is estimated and monetized. This was generally …

Dependable Perception For Robots, Chuck Thorpe, Olivier Clatz, David Duggins, Jay Gowdy, Rob Maclachlan, J. Ryan Miller, Christoph Mertz, Mel Siegel, Chieh-Chih Wang, Teruko Yata

Mel Siegel

The weakest link in many mobile robots is perception. In order to build robots that are reliable and dependable and safe, we need to build robots that can see. Perception is becoming a solved problem for certain constrained environments. But for robots working outdoors, and at high speeds, and in close proximity to people, perception is still incomplete. Our robots need to see objects; to detect motion; and to detect which of those objects are people. In the current state of the art, this requires multiple sensors and multiple means of interpretation. This paper illustrates those principles in the context …

Tactile Sensing By The Sole Of The Foot Part Ii: Calibration And Real-Time Processing, Abhinav Kalamdani, Chris Messom, Mel Siegel

Mel Siegel

This paper introduces prototype experimental apparatus and the calibration and real-time signal processing required to investigate stability in standing, walking and running of humanoid robots using pressure sensing at the sole-of-the-foot contact. The system can provide very good spatial or temporal resolution and these can be traded off against each other dynamically to accommodate the instantaneous requirement, for example, sparsely sampling the whole sole during static balancing vs. densely sampling the impact region during walking or running. Dynamic variation in sampling policy during different phases of the gait is foreseen so as to optimise utilisation of the total sampling bandwidth …

The Use Of The Blackboard Architecture For A Decision Making System For The Control Of Craft With Various Actuator And Movement Capabilities, Jeremy Straub, Hassan Reza

Jeremy Straub

This paper provides an overview of an approach to the control of multiple craft with heterogeneous movement and actuation characteristics that is based on the Blackboard software architecture. An overview of the Blackboard architecture is provided. Then, the operational and mission requirements that dictate the need for autonomous control are characterized and the utility of the Blackboard architecture is for meeting these requirements is discussed. The performance of a best-path solver and naïve solver are compared. The results demonstrate that the best-path solver outperforms the naïve solver in the amount of time taken to generate a solution; however, the number …

Adaptive Sampling For Multi-Robot Wide-Area Exploration, Kian Hsiang Low, Geoffrey Gordon, John M. Dolan, Pradeep Khosla

Pradeep K Khosla

The exploration problem is a central issue in mobile robotics. A complete coverage is not practical if the environment is large with a few small hotspots, and the sampling cost is high. So, it is desirable to build robot teams that can coordinate to maximize sampling at these hotspots while minimizing resource costs, and consequently learn more accurately about properties of such environmental phenomena. An important issue in designing such teams is the exploration strategy. The contribution of this paper is in the evaluation of an adaptive exploration strategy called Adaptive Cluster Sampling (ACS), which is demonstrated to reduce the …

Generation Of Partial Medial Axis For Disassembly Motion Planning, Yangsheng Xu, Raju S. Mattikalli, Pradeep K. Khosla, Carnegie Mellon University.Engineering Design Research Center.

Pradeep K Khosla

Abstract: "This paper presents an efficient approach for determining disassembly motion plans of a subassembly in the free space within its parent subassembly. We propose a two-step approach to generating motion plans. First, all possible paths within free space of the parent subassembly are generated using a partial medial axis. This is followed by a graph search for an optimal global path. Second, a collision free motion is planned using the global path and the geometry of the moving subassembly. In this paper, we focus on the first problem, i.e.,generation of a partial medial axis for disassembly motion planning. We …

Real-Time Implementation And Evaluation Of Computed-Torque Scheme, Pradeep K. Khosla, Takeo Kanade

Pradeep K Khosla

No abstract provided.

Distributed Tactical Surveillance With Atvs, John M. Dolan, Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, Alvaro Soto, Pradeep K. Khosla

Pradeep K Khosla

In Carnegie Mellon University's CyberScout project, we are developing mobile robotic technologies that will extend the sphere of awareness and mobility of small military units while exploring issues of command and control, task decomposition, multi-agent collaboration, e±cient perception algorithms, and sensor fusion. This paper describes our work on robotic all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), one of several platforms within CyberScout. We have retrofitted two Polaris ATVs as mobile robotic surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. We describe the computing, sensing, and actuation infrastructure of these platforms, their current capabilities, and future research and applications.

An Algorithm To Estimate Manipulator Dynamics Parameters, Pradeep K. Khosla, Takeo Kanade

Pradeep K Khosla

No abstract provided.

Choosing Sampling Rates For Robot Control, Pradeep K. Khosla

Pradeep K Khosla

No abstract provided.

Experimental Evaluation Of Nonlinear Feedback And Feedforward Control Schemes For Manipulators, Pradeep K. Khosla, Takeo Kanade

Pradeep K Khosla

No abstract provided.