Tse, Kim Fung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-109). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / List of Figure --- p.iii / List of Table --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1 : --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Background information --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Similar researches on testbed construction --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Formation control theories --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- Robot control architectures --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Basic design of our testbed --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- The organization of this thesis --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 2 : --- Literature Survey --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Similar researches on testbed construction --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Sensors for Distance Detection --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- IR Sensor --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Ultrasonic Sensor --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3 --- Formation control theories --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Behavior-based approach --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Leader-follower approach --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Virtual Structure approach --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Robot control architectures --- p.14 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Centralized robot controlling system --- p.14 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Decentralized robot controlling system --- p.15 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary --- p.16 / Chapter Chapter 3 : --- Wheeled Robot Design --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1 --- Layer Concept in Robot Construction --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Processing layer --- p.20 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Sensing layer --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Actuating layer (Wheeled Robot) --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Control Station Setup --- p.27 / Chapter 3.3 --- Sensor performance --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Distance Detection --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Direction Detection --- p.34 / Chapter 3.4 --- "Experiments, results and discussions" --- p.42 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Experiment 1 - Experiment on MICA performance --- p.42 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Experiment 2 - Distance maintaining --- p.43 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Experiment 3 - Robot tracking --- p.45 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.47 / Chapter Chapter 4 : --- Levitated Robot Design --- p.49 / Chapter 4.1 --- Possible methods to lift the robots --- p.49 / Chapter 4.2 --- Air table for robot lifting --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Table with air pump --- p.51 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Table with air compressor --- p.54 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Comparisons and experiments on the designs --- p.56 / Chapter 4.3 --- New actuating layer for the levitated robot --- p.56 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Possible actuators for robot to move on air table --- p.57 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Actuator selection --- p.62 / Chapter 4.4 --- "Experiments, results and discussions" --- p.65 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Experiment 1 - Testing the performance of actuators --- p.66 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Experiment 2 - Movement determination --- p.70 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Experiment 3 - Maintaining position on air table --- p.74 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.75 / Chapter Chapter 5 : --- Improvement of Position Detection --- p.77 / Chapter 5.1 --- Direction detection --- p.78 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- One reading approach --- p.79 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Three readings approach --- p.79 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Effective readings approach --- p.80 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Imaginary sensor approach --- p.80 / Chapter 5.2 --- Distance Detection --- p.87 / Chapter 5.3 --- Experimental Results --- p.89 / Chapter 5.4 --- Summary --- p.92 / Chapter Chapter 6 : --- Conclusions and Future work --- p.93 / Appendix --- p.97 / Reference --- p.103