Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Humanoid Robot Arm For Use In Urban Environments, Brenton Noll

Master’s Theses

The Bucknell Humanoid Robot Arm project was developed in order toprovide a lightweight robotic arm for the IHMC / Bucknell University bipedal robot that will provide a means of manipulation and facilitate operations in urban environments. The resulting fabricated arm described in this thesis weighs only 13 pounds, and is capable of holding 11 pounds fully outstretched, lifting objects such as tools, and it can open doors. It is also capable of being easily integrated with the IHMC / Bucknell University biped. This thesis provides an introduction to robots themselves, discusses the goals of the Bucknell Humanoid Robot Arm project, …

Exploring The Human Interactivity With A Robot To Obtain The Fundamental Properties Of Materials, William L. Christian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research studies the way in which humans and robots interact with each other. When two humans are working together through a set of robotic devices, do they tend to work together or fight with each other more? In which Cartesian direction do they have the most difficulty? Does fighting drastically affect the performance of the team? Finally, what measures can be taken to promote better cooperation between humans and robots to ultimately allow humans to work just as comfortably with a robotic partner as with a human partner? This research answers these questions and provides an analysis of human-robot …

Design And Evaluation Of A Humanoid Robot For Autism Therapy, Daniel J. Ricks

Theses and Dissertations

Recent evidence has shown that children with autism may behave more pro-socially when interacting with a robot than with a human. The objective of this research is to develop a robotic system for use in the clinical treatment of children with autism. The governing assumption behind this thesis is that using a robot in a clinic, under the guidance of a trained therapist, may lead to therapeutic benefits that may not be achieved without the presence of the robot. The robot Troy was developed to fulfill such a role in a clinical setting. The primary objective was to design a …

Design And Validation Of A General Purpose Robotic Testing System For Musculoskeletal Applications, Lawrence D. Noble, Robb W. Colbrunn, Dong-Gil Lee, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Brian L. Davis

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Orthopaedic research on in vitro forces applied to bones, tendons, and ligaments during joint loading has been difficult to perform because of limitations with existing robotic simulators in applying full-physiological loading to the joint under investigation in real time. The objectives of the current work are as follows: (1) describe the design of a musculoskeletal simulator developed to support in vitro testing of cadaveric joint systems, (2) provide component and system-level validation results, and (3) demonstrate the simulator’s usefulness for specific applications of the foot-ankle complex and knee. The musculoskeletal simulator allows researchers to simulate a variety of loading conditions …

Heterogeneous Drive Mechanisms For Novel Locomotion In Rough Terrain, Roy Godzdanker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The smaller the robot the easier it is for it to access voids in a collapsed structure, however small size brings a host of other problems related to constrained resources. One of the primary constraints on small robots is limited motive power to surmount obstacles and navigate rough terrain. This thesis examines the addition of bulk motive force actuators to existing locomotion platforms and the impact of these heterogeneous actuators on conventional steering methods. The steering methods examined are those associated with skid steered vehicles and differential drive vehicles. In developing the Crabinator, a robot composed of a limbed crawler …

Reconfigurable End Effector Allowing For In-Hand Manipulation Without Finger Gaiting Or Regrasping, Jacob Ames Ziesmer

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The goal of this thesis is to move a step towards the solution of the bin picking problem. A novel metamorphic end effector is proposed, tested for proof of concept and analyzed using standard techniques of degrees of freedom and graph theory as well as a classical dynamic analysis. Once proof of concept was achieved, the results from the analysis were formed into an optimization program with the hope of finding a more stable, predictable mechanism.

Development Of A Velocity Metric For Rigid-Body Planar Motion, Luis Ernesto Criales Escobar

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Two motions of motion quality have been developed for planar motion. They are the "best motion measure" and the "velocity metric". The "best motion measure" identifies the best motion for a given displacement. The "velocity metric" quantifies the discrepancy between two planar motions for the same rigid body.

The best motion measure compares the motion of each particle on the body to an "ideal", but usually unobtainable, motion. This ideal motion moves each particle from its current position to its desired position on a straight-line path. Although the ideal motion is not a valid rigid body motion, this does not …

Increasing The Accuracy Of Cooperative Localization By Controlling The Sensor Graph, Deepti Kumar, Herbert G. Tanner

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

We characterize the accuracy of a cooperative localization algorithm based on Kalman Filtering, as expressed by the trace of the covariance matrix, in terms of the algebraic graph theoretic properties of the sensing graph. In particular, we discover a weighted Laplacian in the expression that yields the constant, steady state value of the covariance matrix. We show how one can reduce the localization uncertainty by manipulating the eigenvalues of the weighted Laplacian. We thus provide insight to recent optimization results which indicate that increased connectivity implies higher accuracy and we offer an analysis method that could lead to more efficient …

Power-Scavenging Mems Robots, Daniel J. Denninghoff

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis includes the design, modeling, and testing of novel, power-scavenging, biologically inspired MEMS microrobots. Over one hundred 500-μm and 990-μm microrobots with two, four, and eight wings were designed, fabricated, characterized. These microrobots constitute the smallest documented attempt at powered flight. Each microrobot wing is comprised of downward-deflecting, laser-powered thermal actuators made of gold and polysilicon; the microrobots were fabricated in PolyMUMPs® (Polysilicon Multi-User MEMS Processes). Characterization results of the microrobots illustrate how wing-tip deflection can be maximized by optimizing the gold-topolysilicon ratio as well as the dimensions of the actuator-wings. From these results, an optimum actuator-wing configuration was …

In Vivo Laparoscopic Robotics, Mark E. Rentschler, Stephen R. Platt, Jason Dumpert, Shane M. Farritor, Dmitry Oleynikov

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Robotic laparoscopic surgery is evolving to include in vivo robotic assistants. The impetus for the development of this technology is to provide surgeons with additional viewpoints and unconstrained manipulators that improve safety and reduce patient trauma. A family of these robots have been developed to provide vision and task assistance. Fixed-base and mobile robots have been designed and tested in animal models with much success. A cholecystectomy, prostatectomy, and nephrectomy have all been performed with the assistance of these robots. These early successful tests show how in vivo laparoscopic robotics may be part of the next advancement in surgical technology.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …