The industrial robot's principal advantage over traditional automation is programmability. Robots can perform arbitrary sequences of pre-stored motions or of motions computed as functions of sensory input. This paper reviews requirements for and developments in robot programming systems. The key requirements for robot programming systems examined in the paper are in the areas of sensing, world modeling, motion specification, flow of control, and programming support. Existing and proposed robot programming systems fall into three broad categories: guiding systems in which the user leads a robot through the motions to be performed, robot-level programming systems in which the user writes a computer program specifying motion and sensing, and task-level programming systems in which the user specifies operations by their desired effect on objects. A representative sample of systems in each of these categories is surveyed in the paper.

This paper provides insights into the problems of designing a robot with joint and link flexibility. The relationship between the deflection of the robot under gravity is correlated with the fundamental frequency of vibration. We consider different types of link geometry and evaluate the flexibility potential of different materials. Some general conclusions and guidelines for constructing a flexible robot are given.

Personal robotics applications require autonomous mobile robot navigation methods that are safe, robust, and inexpensive. Two requirements for autonomous use of robots for such applications are an automatic motion planner to select paths and a robust way of ensuring that the robot can follow the selected path given the unavoidable odometer and control errors that must be dealt with for any inexpensive robot. Additional difficulties are faced when there is more than one robot involved. In this dissertation, we describe a new roadmapbased method for mobile robot navigation. It is suitable for partially known indoor environments and requires only inexpensive range sensors. The navigator selects paths from the roadmap and designates localization points on those paths. In particular, the navigator selects feasible paths that are sensitive to the needs of the application (e.g., no sharp turns) and of the localization algorithm (e.g., within sensing range of two features). We present a new sectorbased localizer that is robust in the presence of sensor limitations and unknown obstacles while still maintaining computational efficiency. We extend our approach to teams of robots focusing on quickly sensing ranges from all robots while avoiding sensor crosstalk, and reducing the pose uncertainties of all robots while using a minimal number of sensing rounds. We present experimental results for mobile robots and describe a webbased route planner for the Texas A&M campus that utilizes our navigator.

This thesis investigates the use of Genetic Programming (GP) to evolve controllers for an autonomous robot. GP is a type of Genetic Algorithm (GA) using the Darwinian idea of natural selection and genetic recombination, where the individuals most often is represented as a tree-structure. The GP is used to evolve a population of possible solutions over many generations to solve problems. The most common approach used today, to develop controllers for autonomous robots, is to employ a GA to evolve an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). This approach is most often used in simulation only or in conjunction with online evolution; where simulation still covers the largest part of the process. The GP has been largely neglected in Behaviour Based Robotics (BBR). The is primarily due to the problem of speed, which is the biggest curse of any standard GP. The main contribution of this thesis is the approach of using a linear representation of the GP in online evolution, and to establish whether or not the GP is feasible in this situation. Since this is not a comparison with other methods, only a demonstration of the possibilities with GP, there is no need for testing the particular test cases with other methods. The work in this thesis builds upon the work by Wolfgang Banzhaf and Peter Nordin, and therefore a comparison with their work will be done.

Denna reflekterande text behandlar utvecklingen av ett spel som har skapats för att spelas med en delaktig industrirobot. Verket är en digital prototyp som har skapats efter ett antal krav och förutsättningar som ett fysiskt spel till en robot har och fungerar som en hjälp, för att visa hur ett spel till en robot kan utvecklas. Målet har varit att skapa ett underhållande spel till casual gamers och har under spelets utveckling testats i viss omfattning för att se hur det har tagits emot av målgruppen. Innehållet i denna text beskriver verkets syfte och mål samt problemställning. Sedan följer information om vad casual games är och en reflekterande text om de olika delarna i både det fysiska spelet och den digitala prototypen. Den går även igen utvecklingsprocessen och testningen som utfördes till spelet. Resultatet är ett digitalt spel som har tagit emot relativt väl av målgruppen och de flesta ansåg det vara underhållande. Dock så testades det aldrig med roboten vilket var tänkt från början och fungerar mer som en fingervisning om hur det fysiska spelet, som har byggts vid sidan om, kan utvecklas för att bli underhållande.

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The purpose of this study was to find the best robot configuration for climbing and descending stairs, in addition to traveling on flat surfaces. Candidate robot types were analyzed to find the most suitable one for further study, based on stability, size, and energy consumption. Based on these considerations, the non-variable configuration tracked robot type was selected. The basic robot parameters (minimum track size, comparison of tracks with grousers vs. tracks without grousers, track angle of attack) were determined using static analysis methods and using North American standards for the stair geometry. Dynamic analysis methods were then employed to refine the geometry and ensure the stability of the robot when climbing and descending stairs. The final design was then simulated in Matlab to profile the device's velocity, acceleration, and power consumption during the stair climbing and descending phases. A prototype robot was constructed. The results of this study show that a non-variable tracked robot can be constructed for the purpose of climbing stairs by applying static and dynamic analysis techniques to optimize a design. This study provides the groundwork for this design, which can also serve as a basis for designing robots with other configurations.

The purpose of this study was to find the best robot configuration for climbing and descending stairs, in addition to traveling on flat surfaces. Candidate robot types were analyzed to find the most suitable one for further study, based on stability, size, and energy consumption. Based on these considerations, the non-variable configuration tracked robot type was selected. The basic robot parameters (minimum track size, comparison of tracks with grousers vs. tracks without grousers, track angle of attack) were determined using static analysis methods and using North American standards for the stair geometry. Dynamic analysis methods were then employed to refine the geometry and ensure the stability of the robot when climbing and descending stairs. The final design was then simulated in Matlab to profile the device's velocity, acceleration, and power consumption during the stair climbing and descending phases. A prototype robot was constructed. The results of this study show that a non-variable tracked robot can be constructed for the purpose of climbing stairs by applying static and dynamic analysis techniques to optimize a design. This study provides the groundwork for this design, which can also serve as a basis for designing robots with other configurations.

This project is about to create a multi sensor modular platform for robots. That means a platform created with several sensors, actuators and chips that had to be useful for future robot practice or projects. As this project is a platform for future thesis, is required to use standard programming language, creating the control of the sensors so that it could be easily used by other students in the future, although they did not know the inner working of programs in particular. Although this platform can be used for multiple applications, this thesis give special attention on a future project that the mainly purpose is create a robot capable of follow scents, or what is the same, different concentrations of gas. Thus, although the programs that we had to create could be used for various purposes, are specially done thinking of the future use for the creation of this robot tracker of smells. So the main task of this project is to investigate and see how each of the sensors and actuators of our robot works and, in the other hand, learn to program a chip set not only to make it able to receive information from these sensors and send information to the actuators, but create some laws to control our multi sensor modular platform for robots to perform tasks from the acquired information. Basically our robot is able to follow the direction that we want, with a close control loop in the direction using the information acquired from a three axis accelerometer, which allows too knowing the acceleration and consequently velocity and position of our robot. Also the robot is equipped with ultra sound sensors allowing detecting and avoiding obstacles. The smell sensor is implemented for the next versions of this robot.

This project aims to design and construct a 3D CAD model of a humanoid robot head; this means the mechanisms that simulate the motions of the neck, the eyes and the eyelids. The project was developed in collaboration with Cognition and Interaction Laboratory at the University of Skövde. From the literature review, it was found that most of the humanoid robots at the market are able to perform neck movements. The problem is that the neck motions today are not smooth as human neck and the movements of face details, such as the eyes and the mouth, are less developed. Only robots created for interaction research between human and robots allows for face expressions. However, the rest of the bodies of such robots are not as well developed as the face. The conclusion is that there is no humanoid robot that presents a full expression face and a well-developed body. This project presents new mechanical concepts for how to provide smooth humanoid neck motions as well as how to show expressions of the robots face. Three parts of the humanoid heads: the neck, the eyes and the eyelids were investigated. By examining different mechanical concepts used today two types of mechanisms were found: parallel and serial. In the neck the serial mechanism was chosen because the motion obtained is smoother. The eyes and the eyelids were designed with a serial mechanism due to the limitations of the space in the head. The three parts were built in to a 3D CAD program in order to test the entire head mechanism. This results in a head mechanism that enables smooth motion of the neck and provides enough degrees of freedom to simulate feelings due to eye expressions.