We present a set of modular series-elastic actuators (SEAs) that allow rapid and robust prototyping of mobile legged robots. The SEA modules were originally developed for a snake robot, SEA Snake, and have recently be...
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We present a set of modular series-elastic actuators (SEAs) that allow rapid and robust prototyping of mobile legged robots. The SEA modules were originally developed for a snake robot, SEA Snake, and have recently been reconfigured into Snake Monster, a multi-modal walking robot that can be easily adapted to hexapod, quadruped, and biped configurations. The use of SEAs allows the implementation of a compliant hybrid controller using both position and force-based walking. This paper presents the mechanical design, control architecture, and initial locomotion experiments using the Snake Monster platform. Additionally, we discuss the enhanced capabilities, pertaining particularly to search and rescue applications, enabled by the use of our modular hardware. Finally, we highlight how these modules provide a powerful tool for both field deployment requiring locomotion and manipulation tasks.
This paper describes a visual SLAM system based on stereo cameras and focused on real-time localization for mobile robots. To achieve this, it heavily exploits the parallel nature of the SLAM problem, separating the t...
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This paper describes a visual SLAM system based on stereo cameras and focused on real-time localization for mobile robots. To achieve this, it heavily exploits the parallel nature of the SLAM problem, separating the time-constrained pose estimation from less pressing matters such as map building and refinement tasks. On the other hand, the stereo setting allows to reconstruct a metric 3D map for each frame of stereo images, improving the accuracy of the mapping process with respect to monocular SLAM and avoiding the well-known bootstrapping problem. Also, the real scale of the environment is an essential feature for robots which have to interact with their surrounding workspace. A series of experiments, on-line on a robot as well as off-line with public datasets, are performed to validate the accuracy and real-time performance of the developed method.
Making decisions based on accurate models enables robots to exploit domain knowledge to act intelligently. However, in many realistic domains, it is impossible to have globally accurate models, as the world may exhibi...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450337717
Making decisions based on accurate models enables robots to exploit domain knowledge to act intelligently. However, in many realistic domains, it is impossible to have globally accurate models, as the world may exhibit modes of behavior during deployment that were unforeseeable during model building. This paper addresses the problem of adaptation in domains in which robots have access to a model of the world that is generally accurate, but which is inadequate in particular sets of similar situations {i.e., subspaces of the task domain. Using optimization techniques to find parametric approximations to these subspaces, our framework generalizes from sparse observations to find and correct for statistical incongruences between expected and observed behavior. We demonstrate this framework in a domain in which single deployment adaptation is essential: a team of soccer robots keeping the ball away from a previously unknown opponent. Empirical results show that the framework improves model accuracy and task performance over timescales comparable to a single soccer game.
For neural probes to be used chronically for years in the human body, they must provoke minimal scarring. Recently, a number of groups have reported substantially reduced scar tissue using cellular scale electrodes be...
This paper addresses the problem of planning views for modeling large, local, substantially 3D terrain features at long range from surface rovers. These include building-size and stadium size pits with vertical walls....
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781479953813
This paper addresses the problem of planning views for modeling large, local, substantially 3D terrain features at long range from surface rovers. These include building-size and stadium size pits with vertical walls. Pits have been identified in recent high-resolution images of the Moon and Mars. Planetary pits are interesting scientific targets created by collapse, often exposing layers of bare rock in their walls, hinting at past volcanism and other subsurface processes with their morphology. Some offer glimpses into caves. This paper presents a pipeline for view trajectory planning that enables detailed modeling of planetary pits from surface rovers. Techniques for converting prior terrain knowledge into a planning problem are developed, methods for planning rover images are discussed, and a comparison of different image-based reconstruction methods for pit modeling is presented. Results from preliminary field experiments for the end-to-end view trajectory planning pipeline are presented.
Effective chemical plume tracing strategies are important for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to perform a variety of missions of searching for underwater targets, such as oil spill sources and deep-sea hydrothe...
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Self-organized construction with continuous, structured building material, as opposed to modular units, offers new challenges to the robot-based construction process and lends the opportunity for increased flexibility...
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Self-organized construction with continuous, structured building material, as opposed to modular units, offers new challenges to the robot-based construction process and lends the opportunity for increased flexibility in constructed artifact properties, such as shape and deformation. As an example investigation, we look at continuous filaments organized into braided structures, within the context of bio-hybrids constructing architectural artifacts. We report the result of an early swarm robot experiment. The robots successfully constructed a braid in a self-organized process. The construction process can be extended by using different materials and by embedding sensors during the self-organized construction directly into the braided structure. In future work, we plan to apply dedicated braiding robot hardware and to construct sophisticated 3-d structures with local variability in patterns of filament interlacing.
This article presents a software tool for the synthesis of supervisory control based on untimed finite state automata. The tool has a friendly graphical interface for the creation of models and, among other features, ...
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