We report on the development of cooperating multiple robots. This work builds from our earlier research on autonomous planetary revers and robot arms. Here, we seek to closely coordinate the mobility and manipulation ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
We report on the development of cooperating multiple robots. This work builds from our earlier research on autonomous planetary revers and robot arms. Here, we seek to closely coordinate the mobility and manipulation of multiple robots to perform site construction operations-as an example, the autonomous deployment of a planetary power station-a task viewed as essential to a sustained robotic presence and human habitation on Mars. There are numerous technical challenges;these include the mobile handling of extended objects, as well as cooperative transport/navigation of such objects over natural, unpredictable terrain. We describe an extensible system concept, related simulations, a hardware implementation, and preliminary experimental results. In support of this work we have developed an enabling hybrid control architecture wherein multi-robot mobility and sensor-based controls are derived as group compositions and coordination of more basic behaviors under a task-level multi-agent planner. We summarize this control Architecture for Multi-robot Planetary Outposts (CAMPOUT), and its application to physical experiments where two revers carry an extended payload over natural terrain.
This paper investigates how the psychological notion of comfort can be useful in the design of roboticsystems. A review of the existing study of human comfort, especially regarding its presence in infants, is conduct...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
This paper investigates how the psychological notion of comfort can be useful in the design of roboticsystems. A review of the existing study of human comfort, especially regarding its presence in infants, is conducted with the goal being to determine the relevant characteristics for mapping it onto the robotics domain. Focus is placed on the identification of the salient features in the environment that affect the comfort level. Factors involved include current state familiarity, working conditions, the amount and location of available resources, etc. As part of our newly developed comfort function theory, the notion of an object as a psychological attachment for a robot is also introduced, as espoused in Bowlby's theory of attachment. The output space of the comfort function and its dependency on the comfort level are analyzed. The results of the derivation of this comfort function are then presented in terms of the impact they have on robotic behavior. Justification for the use of the comfort function in the domain of robotics is presented with relevance for real-world operations. Also, a transformation of the theoretical discussion into a mathematical framework suitable for implementation within a behavior-based control system is presented. The paper concludes with results of simulation studies and real robot experiments using the derived comfort function.
In this manuscript, we discuss new solutions for mechanical design and motion planning for a class of three-dimensional modular self-reconfigurable robotic system, namely I-Cubes. This system is a bipartite collection...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
In this manuscript, we discuss new solutions for mechanical design and motion planning for a class of three-dimensional modular self-reconfigurable robotic system, namely I-Cubes. This system is a bipartite collection of active links that provide motions for self-reconfiguration, and cubes acting as connection points. The links are three degree of freedom manipulators that can attach to and detach from the cube faces. The cubes can be positioned and oriented using the links. These capabilities enable the system to change its shape and perform locomotion tasks over difficult terrain. This paper describes the scaled down version of the system previously described in [1] and details the new design and manufacturing approaches. Initially designed algorithms for motion planning of I-Cubes are improved to provide better results. Results of our tests are given and issues related to motion planning are discussed. The user interfaces designed for the control of the system and algorithm evaluation is also described.
For a systematic investigation of the interdependence between an agent's morphology and its task environment we constructed a system that is able to automatically generate optimal sensor morphologies for given tas...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
For a systematic investigation of the interdependence between an agent's morphology and its task environment we constructed a system that is able to automatically generate optimal sensor morphologies for given tasks. The system consists of a robot with an artificial compound eye where the angular positions of the individual facets can be autonomously modified. This paper describes experiments on using artificial evolution to optimise the compound eye morphology for the task of estimating time to contact with obstacles. The resulting morphologies are in goad agreement with the theoretically predicted optimal sensor density distribution for this task. By comparing our results with earlier experiments we find that our robot is able to evolve different optimal morphologies depending on the task required. Since the accuracy of our system proved to be good enough to easily distinguish qualitatively different optimal sensor morphologies we hope that also for more complex task environments it will allow us to identify the optimal sensor distribution with good precision.
decentralizedsystems require no central controller or center where information is fused or commands generated. Information theoretic ideas have been previously used to develop optimal fusion algorithms for decentrali...
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decentralizedsystems require no central controller or center where information is fused or commands generated. Information theoretic ideas have been previously used to develop optimal fusion algorithms for decentralized sensing and data fusionsystems. The work described in this paper aims to develop equivalent algorithms for the control of decentralizedsystems. The methods and algorithms described center on the use of mutual information gain as a measure in choosing control actions. Two example problems are described;area coverage for purposes of surveillance and navigation, and sensor management for cuing and hand-off operations. The motivation for this work is the control of multiple unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).
While biological principles have inspired researchers in computational and engineering research for a long time, there is still rather limited knowledge flow back from computational to biological domains. This paper p...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
While biological principles have inspired researchers in computational and engineering research for a long time, there is still rather limited knowledge flow back from computational to biological domains. This paper presents examples of our work where research on anthropomorphic robots lead us to new insights into explaining biological movement phenomena, starting from behavioral studies up to brain imaging studies. Our research over the past years has focused on principles of trajectory formation with nonlinear dynamical systems, on learning internal models for nonlinear control, and on advanced topics like imitation learning. The formal and empirical analyses of the kinematics and dynamics of movements systems and the tasks that they need to perform lead us to suggest principles of motor control that later on we found surprisingly related to human behavior and even brain activity.
The study of development either artificial or biological, can highlight the mechanisms underlying learning and adaptive behavior. We shall argue whether developmental studies might provide a different and potentially ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
The study of development either artificial or biological, can highlight the mechanisms underlying learning and adaptive behavior. We shall argue whether developmental studies might provide a different and potentially interesting perspective either on how to build an artificial adaptive agent, or on understanding how the brain solves sensory, motor, and cognitive tasks. It is our opinion that the acquisition of the proper behavior might indeed be facilitated because within an ecological context, the agent, its adaptive structure and the environment dynamically interact thus constraining the otherwise difficult "learning problem". In very general terms we shall describe the proposed approach and supporting biological related facts. In order to further analyze these aspects from the modeling point of view, we shall demonstrate how a twelve degrees of freedom "baby" humanoid robot acquires orienting and reaching behaviors, and what advantages the proposed framework might offer. In particular, the experimental setup consists of a five degrees-of-freedom (dof) robot head, and an off-the-shelf six dof robot manipulator, both mounted on a rotating base: i.e. the torso. From the sensory point of view, the robot is equipped with two space-variant cameras, an inertial sensor simulating the vestibular system, and proprioceptive information through motor encoders. The biological parallel is exploited at many implementation levels. It is worth mentioning, for example, the space-variant eyes, exploiting foveal and peripheral vision in a single arrangement, the inertial sensor providing efficient image stabilization (vestibulo-ocular reflex).
Virtual Reality Methods allow a new and intuitive way of communication between man and machine. The basic idea of Virtual Reality (VR) is the generation of artificial computer simulated worlds, which the user not only...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
Virtual Reality Methods allow a new and intuitive way of communication between man and machine. The basic idea of Virtual Reality (VR) is the generation of artificial computer simulated worlds, which the user not only can look at but also can interact with actively using data glove and data helmet. The main emphasis for the use of such techniques at the IRF is the development of a new generation of operator interfaces for the control of robots and other automation components and for intelligent training systems for complex tasks. The basic idea of the methods developed at the IRF for the realization of "Projective Virtual Reality" is to let the user work in the virtual world as he would act in reality. The user actions are recognized by the Virtual Reality System and by means of new and intelligent control software "projected" onto the automation components like robots which afterwards perform the necessary actions in reality to execute the users task. In this operation mode the user no longer has to be a robot expert to generate tasks for robots or to program them, because intelligent control software recognizes the users intention and generated automatically the commands for nearly every automation component. Now, Virtual Reality Methods are ideally suited for universal man-machine-interfaces for the control and supervision of a big class of automation components, interactive training and visualization systems. The Virtual Reality System of the IRF - COSIMIR/VR - forms the basis for different projects starting with the control of space automation systems in the projects CIROS, VITAL and GETEX, the realization of a comprehensive development tool for the International Space Station and last bus not least with the realistic simulation fire extinguishing, forest machines and excavators which will be presented in the final paper in addition to the key ideas of this Virtual Reality System.
Many of the future missions for mobile robots demand multi-robot systems which are capable of operating in large environments for long periods of time. One of the most critical capabilities is the ability to localize ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0819438618
Many of the future missions for mobile robots demand multi-robot systems which are capable of operating in large environments for long periods of time. One of the most critical capabilities is the ability to localize - a mobile robot must be able to estimate its own position and to consistently transmit this information to other robots and control sites. Although state-of-the-art GPS is capable of yielding unmatched performance over large areas, it is not applicable in many environments (such as within city streets, under water, indoors, beneath foliage or extra-terrestrial robotic missions) where mobile robots are likely to become commonplace. A widely researched alternative is Simultaneous Localization and Map Building (SLAM): the vehicle constructs a map and, concurrently, estimates its own position. However, most approaches are non-scalable (the storage and computational costs vary quadratically and cubically with the number of beacons in the map) and can only be used with multiple robotic vehicles with a great degree of difficulty. In this paper, we describe the development of a scalable, multiple-vehicle SLAM system. This system, based on the Covariance Intersection algorithm, is scalable - its storage and computational costs are linearly proportional to the number of beacons in the map. Furthermore, it is scalable to multiple robots - each has complete freedom to exchange partial or full map information with any other robot at any other time step. We demonstrate the real-time performance of this system in a scenario of 15,000 beacons.
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