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The objective of this research is to demonstrate a robotic wheelchair moving in an unknown environment with collision-avoidance navigation. A real-time path-planning algorithm was implemented by detecting the range to obstacles and by tracking specific light sources used as beacons. Infrared sensors were used for range sensing, and light-sensitive resistors were used to track the lights. To optimize the motion trajectory, it was necessary to modify the original motor controllers of the electrical wheelchair so that it could turn in a minimum turning radius of 28.75 cm around its middle point of axle. Then, with these kinematics, the real-time path planning algorithm of the robotic wheelchair is simplified. In combination with the newly developed wireless Internet-connection capability, the robotic wheelchair will be able to navigate in an unknown environment. The experimental results presented in this thesis include the performance of the control system, the motion trajectory of the two driving wheels turning in a minimum radius, and the motion trajectory of the real-time path-planning in a real-life testing environment. These experimental results verified that the robotic wheelchair could move successfully in an unknown environment with collision-avoidance navigation.

Selon l’ONU, la robotique sera la révolution technologique du XXIe siècle, tout comme l’automobile et l’informatique au siècle précédent. En effet, la « robolution » est en marche et rien ne pourra l’arrêter affirme Bruno Bonnel. Les robots partageront notre quotidien, transformeront en profondeur notre environnement en se substituant aux hommes pour des tâches ingrates, précises ou encore pour pallier au vieillissement des populations. Ils règneront sur les routes ou dans les airs, sur l’infiniment petit ou « les profondeurs de l’espace ». Le terme de robotique recouvre une réalité très complexe, cela par la diversité de ses acteurs. Androïdes, drones, aspirateurs, voitures, constituent chacun une réalité robotique extrêmement différente à travers leur nature, leur niveau d’autonomie, leur domaine d’application, et surtout le type de relation qu’ils sont susceptibles d’avoir avec l’homme. Le robot va devenir un « intime » de l’homme, il va apprendre et son comportement se modifier en fonction de ses expériences vécues, ou des leçons qu’il aura choisi de retenir. Qui pourra donc être responsable des agissements de cette machine ? L’utilisateur ? Le fabricant ? Le robot ? La notion de vie privée est-elle mise en danger ? L’enjeu pour tous les fabricants et porteurs de projets en robotique sera donc de connaître la réglementation applicable à la production de ces robots mais également à l’acquisition, la mise à disposition ou encore la possible utilisation d’un robot domestique, de surveillance, de gardiennage, d’assistance à la personne, d’une voiture autonome, etc. Or la problématique du choix de la réglementation applicable s’en trouve compliquée voire rendue quasi impossible par le fait que la robotique se situe au croisement de plusieurs secteurs dits « avancés ». En l’absence d’un cadre juridique spécifique à la robotique et à l’heure où le développement croissant de l’intelligence artificielle inquiète, où les débats sur les robots tueurs se multiplient, où les hommes se robotisent et les robots s’humanisent, le droit actuel est-il en mesure d’appréhender cette véritable révolution technologique ? Les robots feront- ils évoluer le régime de responsabilité ? Les règles juridiques existantes sont-elles suffisantes pour appréhender la coopération informationnelle entre le robot et l’individu ? Faut-il penser le droit à travers une démarche éthique ? Une seule certitude, le droit ne sortira pas indemne de sa rencontre avec le robot… / According to the UN, robotics will be the technological revolution of the 21st century, like motorcars and computers in the last century. Indeed, the “robolution” is afoot and nothing will be able to stop it, explained Bruno Bonnel. Robots will share our daily lives, deeply transforming our environment by replacing humans for thankless or very precise tasks, or even to stem the aging of populations. They will reign over roads and in the air, over the infinitely small or the “depths of space”. The term “robotics” covers a very complex reality, due to the diversity of its actors. Androids, drones, hoovers, cars, each constitutes an extremely different reality of robotics that are distinguishable through their nature, their level of autonomy, their field of application, and especially the relationships they will likely develop with humans. Robots will become a close friend of mankind, they will learn and their behavior will change according to their experiences and lessons they will chose to retain. Who will be responsible for these machine’s deeds? The owner? The firm? The robot himself? Is the notion of private life in danger? The challenge for all robot manufacturers and project holders in robotics will be to know the regulation applicable to robot production, but also to the acquisition, distribution and possible uses of domestic robots, of surveillance, security, personal assistance, self-driving cars, etc. Yet the problematic of the choice of applicable regulation is complicated or even rendered impossible by the fact that robotics is at the crossroads of several “advanced” sectors. Without a legal framework specific to robotics and with concerns about the rapid development of artificial intelligence, increasing debate regarding killer robots, and in the age of increasingly robotized humans and humanized robots, is the law able to comprehend this true technological revolution? Will robotics drive change in the legal responsibility system? Are existing legal rules sufficient to comprehend informal cooperation between robots and individuals? Should we adopt an ethical approach when thinking about law? All we know for certain is that law will not emerge unscathed from its encounter with robots.

A comprehensive system to locate and track objects in two or three dimensional space, using non-contact video sensing techniques is described. The need exists to be able to quantify range and proximity of objects that would be difficult or impossible to measure using standard contact based sensor technology. Available video technology is surveyed and classified. Then, a hardware system is assembled that fulfills the project goal, within given budgetary constraints. The individual components of the system are described in detail. The theoretical solution for single camera, 2-D positioning, is developed. A device dependent computer algorithm is developed to perform the object location. An accurate multi-camera, 3-D positioning algorithm is also developed. A method to calibrate the cameras is also described and applied. Computer algorithms to perform calibration and solve the multiple view, 3-D location geometry are presented. The theoretical equations and most of the algorithms are transferable, not hardware specific. Examples using the 2-D model are presented. The first test is a submerged, single degree of freedom model that was subjected to wave action. Video tracking data is compared with available positioning data from string potentiometers. The second test is a surface float application where contact sensing methods were not possible. The 3-D algorithm is demonstrated in an above water test. The longitudinal motion of a linear constrained target is measured with a string potentiometer and compared with a two-camera, 3-D video interpretation of the motion. The calibration method is verified with the 3-D algorithm. / Graduation date: 1994

In this dissertation, we consider two problems concerning the synthesis of fixed order controllers for Single Input, Single Output systems. The first problem deals with the synthesis of absolutely stabilizing fixed order controllers for Lure-Postnikov systems. The second problem deals with the synthesis of fixed order stabilizing controllers directly from the empirical frequency response data and from some coarse information of the plant. Lure-Postnikov systems are frequently encountered in mechanical engineering applications. Analytical tools for synthesizing stabilizing fixed structure controllers, such as the PID controllers examining the absolute stability of Lure-Postnikov systems, have recently been studied in the literature. However, tools for synthesizing controllers of arbitrary order have not been studied yet. We propose a systematic method for synthesizing absolutely stabilizing controllers of arbitrary order for the Lure-Postnikov systems. Our approach is based on recent results in the literature on approximation of the set of stabilizing controller parameters that render a family of real and complex polynomials Hurwitz. We provide an example of a robotic system to illustrate the procedure developed. Exact analytical models of plants may not be readily available for controller design. The current approach is to synthesize controllers through the identification of the analytical model of the plant from empirical frequency response data. In this dissertation, we depart from this conventional approach. We seek to synthesize controllers directly (i.e. without resort to identification) from the empirical frequency response data of the plant and coarse information about it. The coarse information required is the number of nonminimum phase zeros of the plant(or the number of poles of the plant with positive real parts) and the frequency range beyond which the phase response of the LTI plant does not change appreciably and the amplitude response goes to zero. We also assume that the LTI plant does not have purely imaginary zeros or poles. The method of synthesizing stabilizing controllers involves the use of generalized Hermite-Biehler theorem for counting the roots of rational functions and the use of recently developed Sum-of-Squares techniques for checking the nonnegativity of a polynomial in an interval through the Markov-Lucaks theorem. The method does not require an explicit analytical model of the plant that must be stabilized or the order of the plant, rather, it only requires the empirical frequency response data of the plant. The method also allows for measurement errors in the frequency response of the plant. We illustrate the developed procedure with an example. Finally, we extended the technique to the synthesis of controllers of arbitrary order that also guarantee performance specifications such as the phase margin and gain margin.

It is increasingly common for people to work alongside robots in a variety of situations. When a robot is completing a task, the handler of the robot may be present. It is important to know how people interact with the robot when the handler is next to the robot. Our study focuses on whether handler’s presence can affect human’s behavior toward the robot. Our experiment targets two different scenarios (handler present and handler absent) in order to find out human’s behavior change toward the robot. Results show that in the handler present scenario, people are less willing to interact with the robot. However, when people do interact with the robot, they tend to interact with both the handler and the robot. This suggests that researchers should consider the presence of a handler when designing for human-robot interactions.

The diploma thesis deals with the design of a single-wheel mobile robot, which is able to jump and collect samples weighing 2 Kg. The first part is devoted to the review of single-wheel robots. A brief analysis of single-wheel motion and a brief overview of jumping mechanism follow up. The second part describes problem analysis and five design variants. Using the multicriteria analysis, the variants were evaluated, and the optimal variant was chosen. The third partm is dedicated to the dynamic calculations and the mechanical design of the robot itself. The last part is devoted to economic evaluation and discussion with possible continuation in developing. The complete drawing documentation of the robot is included in this work.

The diploma thesis deals with the construction of a walking mobile robot, which is intended for passing through a rugged or forest terrain, whose task is to collect the sample. The first part is devoted to the review of walking robots. Follow-up an analysis of two-legged and four-leg walking robot technologies and a brief overview of drives. The second part is devoted to problem analysis and design variant. The work contains 4 design variants in the form of schemes. Using the multi-criteria analysis, the variants were evaluated and the optimal variant was chosen taking into account the representative parameters. The third part is devoted to the construction of the chosen variant, it is divided into body and leg construction. The overall design is processed in the form of a virtual 3D model. In the leg construction, the design itself, but also the calculations of drives, shafts, gears and belt transmissions are solved. The end of the thesis is devoted to drawing documentation based on 3D model and economic evaluation. Follow-up and discussion with possible continuation and use in practice.

Dynamic models have been developed in an attempt to match the response of a robot arm. The experimental data show rigid-body and five resonant modes. The frequency response and pole-zero arrays for various models of structural flexibility are compared with the data to evaluate the characteristics of the models, and to provide insight into the nature of the flexibility in the robot. Certain models are better able to depict transmission flexibility while others describe types of structural flexibility.

Robot manufacturers, like many other manufacturers, are experiencing increasing competition in a global market where one way to confront the challenge is by making the development process more efficient. One way to speed up the time to market for new products is to take advantage of design optimization based on simulation models. By optimizing performance with the help of dynamic simulation, an immense amount of both time and money may be saved. In this thesis, design optimization strategies for industrial robot design are studied. Often, the trade-offs between performance, cost and quality are essential for design decisions. These tradeoffs can be investigated with the help of simulation models. Generating the trade-offs can be both cumbersome and time-consuming, but the process may be partly automated with the help of optimization algorithms. How the optimization problem needs to be formulated to generate the trade-off is discussed in this thesis. Robot design problems usually consist of a mixture of deciding continuous parameters as well as selecting components from catalogs and databases. Hence, there is a need for optimization algorithms which can handle variables of both a discrete and a continuous nature. A new method has been developed to address this problem. The method has also been improved by adding adaptive characteristics for further efficient design optimization. The ideas in this thesis have been applied to both simulation models of conceptual degrees of elaboration as well as simulation models of complete robot systems. An optimization procedure which shows how optimization can be used in the early phases of a development process is developed. The objective of the optimization is to determine optimal gearboxes and arm lengths from an acceleration capability perspective. An optimization based design method for robot drive trains is also presented. For further efficient use of already installed robots the concept of application adapted performance optimization is introduced. This means that the robot control is optimized with respect to thermal and fatigue load for the specific program that the robot performs. The motion program itself, i.e. the path planning, can be optimized at the same time in order to get the most out of the robot.