Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 1994. / Title from PDF t.p.

by Lam Miu-Ling. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Mathematical Preliminaries and Problem Definition --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Grasp Synthesis in Discrete Domain / Chapter 2.2 --- Assumptions / Chapter 2.3 --- Frictionless Form-Closure Grasp / Chapter 2.4 --- Frictional Form-Closure Grasp / Chapter 2.5 --- Problem Definition / Chapter Chapter 3. --- A Qualitative Test Algorithm and a Local Search Algorithm --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1 --- A Qualitative Test Algorithm / Chapter 3.2 --- A Local Search Algorithm / Chapter 3.3 --- Grasp Planning under Kinematic Constraints / Chapter Chapter 4. --- A Divide-and-Conquer Technique --- p.29 / Chapter 4.1. --- Determining a Separating Hyperplane / Chapter 4.2. --- Divide-and-Conquer in Frictionless Case / Chapter 4.3. --- Divide-and-Conquer in Frictional Case / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Implementation and Examples --- p.40 / Chapter 6.1. --- Examples of Frictionless Grasps / Chapter 6.2. --- Examples of Frictional Grasps / Chapter 6.3. --- Examples of Grasps under Kinematic Constraints / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusions --- p.62 / Bibliography --- p.64

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by Joseph Chun-kong Chan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-124). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgments --- p.iv / List of Figures --- p.xi / List of Tables --- p.xii / List of Algorithms --- p.xiii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Related Work --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Contributions --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.9 / Chapter 2 --- Contact Modeling: Kinematics --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Contact Kinematics between Two Rigid Bodies --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Contact Modes --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Montana's Contact Equations --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3 --- Finger Kinematics --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Finger Forward Kinematics --- p.19 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Finger Jacobian --- p.21 / Chapter 2.4 --- Grasp Kinematics between a Finger and an Object --- p.21 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Velocity Transformation between Different Coordinate Frames --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Grasp Kinematics for the zth Contact --- p.23 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Different Fingertip Models and Different Contact Modes --- p.25 / Chapter 2.5 --- Velocity Constraints of the Entire System --- p.28 / Chapter 2.6 --- Summary --- p.29 / Chapter 3 --- Contact Modeling: Dynamics --- p.31 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2 --- Multi-fingered Robot Hand Dynamics --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3 --- Object Dynamics --- p.35 / Chapter 3.4 --- Constrained System Dynamics --- p.37 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.39 / Chapter 4 --- Collision Modeling --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- Assumptions of Collision --- p.42 / Chapter 4.3 --- Collision Point Velocities --- p.43 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Collision Point Velocity of the ith. Finger --- p.43 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Collision Point Velocity of the Object --- p.46 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Relative Collision Point Velocity --- p.47 / Chapter 4.4 --- Equations of Collision --- p.47 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Sliding Mode Collision --- p.48 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Sticking Mode Collision --- p.49 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.51 / Chapter 5 --- Dynamic Simulation --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.53 / Chapter 5.2 --- Architecture of the Dynamic Simulation System --- p.54 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Input Devices --- p.54 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Dynamic Simulator --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Virtual Environment --- p.60 / Chapter 5.3 --- Methodologies and Program Flow of the Dynamic Simulator --- p.60 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Interference Detection --- p.61 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Constraint-based Simulation --- p.63 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Impulse-based Simulation --- p.66 / Chapter 5.4 --- Summary --- p.69 / Chapter 6 --- Simulation Results --- p.71 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.71 / Chapter 6.2 --- Change of Grasping Configurations --- p.71 / Chapter 6.3 --- Rolling Contact --- p.76 / Chapter 6.4 --- Sliding Contact --- p.76 / Chapter 6.5 --- Collisions --- p.85 / Chapter 6.6 --- Dextrous Manipulation Motions --- p.93 / Chapter 6.7 --- Summary --- p.94 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.99 / Chapter 7.1 --- Summary of Contributions --- p.99 / Chapter 7.2 --- Future Work --- p.100 / Chapter 7.2.1 --- Improvement of Current System --- p.100 / Chapter 7.2.2 --- Applications --- p.101 / Chapter A --- Montana's Contact Equations for Finger-object Contact --- p.103 / Chapter A.1 --- Local Coordinates Charts --- p.103 / Chapter A.2 --- "Curvature, Torsion and Metric Tensors" --- p.104 / Chapter A.3 --- Montana's Contact Equations --- p.106 / Chapter B --- Finger Dynamics --- p.108 / Chapter B.1 --- Forward Kinematics of a Robot Finger --- p.108 / Chapter B.1.1 --- Link-coordinate Transformation --- p.109 / Chapter B.1.2 --- Forward Kinematics --- p.109 / Chapter B.2 --- Dynamic Equation of a Robot Finger --- p.110 / Chapter B.2.1 --- Kinetic and Potential Energy --- p.110 / Chapter B.2.2 --- Lagrange's Equation --- p.111 / Chapter C --- Simulation Configurations --- p.113 / Chapter C.1 --- Geometric models --- p.113 / Chapter C.2 --- Physical Parameters --- p.113 / Chapter C.3 --- Simulation Parameters --- p.116 / Bibliography --- p.124

This dissertation deals with the control, guidance and stabilisation of nonlinear, non¬holonomic systems. It is shown that the kinematics of the system can be separated from the dynamics of the system by using successively two inverse dynamics type of transformations. This leads to a linear decoupled kinematical system, control strategies can then be developed that directly control the motion of the system. The method is applied to a system which is composed of a disk rolling on a plane, a controlled slender rod that is pivoted through its center of mass about the disk's center and two overhead rotors with their axes fixed in the upper part of the rod. Control strategies are designed under which the disk's inclination is stabilised about its vertical position and the disk's motion is able to asymptotically track any given smooth ground trajectory. The control strategy is shown to be stable in the presence parametric uncertainties. It was furthermore shown that the system is path controllable. Finally an extended inverse dynamics control law is introduced which deals directly with underactuated systems. An example of an articulated crane is solved using extended inverse dynamics control. Feasible control is used to ensure that the internal dynamics of the system remains bounded and that the crane reach its desired final position in a given time interval [O, tƒ]. / Dissertation (MSc (Applied SCience))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

A bio-inspired robotic underwater vessel was developed to test the effect of fin morphology on the propulsive performance of caudal fin. The robotic vessel, called The Bullet Fish, features a cylindrical body with a hemisphere at the forward section and a conical body at the stern. The vessel uses an oscillating caudal fin for thrust generation. The robotic vessel was tested in a recirculating flume for seven different caudal fins that range different bio-inspired forms and aspect ratios. The experiments were performed at four different flow velocities and two flapping frequencies: 0.5 and 1.0 Hz. We found that for 1 Hz flapping frequency that in general as the aspect-ratio decreases both thrust production tends and power decrease resulting in a better propulsive efficiency for aspect ratios between 0.9 and 1.0. A less uniform trend was found for 0.5 Hz, where our data suggest multiple efficiency peaks. Additional experiments on the robotic model could help understand the propulsion aquatic locomotion and help the design of bio-inspired underwater vehicles. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

As a result, this dissertation proposes a novel type of tree climbing robot, named Treebot, which has high maneuverability on trees. The design of Treebot was inspired by arboreal animals such as squirrels and inchworms. The applied extendable continuum maneuvering mechanism has large workspace and high degrees of freedom. It allows Treebot to perform various actions, such as moving between trunk and branches. Treebot is able to grip the surface of trees tightly with a wide range of gripping curvature. It enables Treebot to grip from a big tree trunk to small branches. The special gripping mechanism allows zero energy consumption in static gripping. Although Treebot has high maneuverability, it is compact, lightweight, and only five actuators are used in total. By installing proper equipments, Treebot can assist workers to perform forestry tasks such as inspection and maintenance. It can also be used as a mobile surveillance system to observe behaviors of both ground and arboreal animals. / Climbing robots have become a hot research topic in recent decades. Most research in this area focuses on climbing manmade structures, such as vertical walls, glass windows, and structural frames. Little research has been conducted specifically on climbing natural structures such as trees. The nature of trees and manmade structures is very different. For example, trees have an irregular shape and their surface is not smooth. Some types of trees have soft bark that peels off easily. Hence, most of the climbing methods for manmade structures are not applicable to tree climbing. / In addition to presenting the mechanical design of Treebot, this dissertation also proposes several autonomous tree climbing algorithms. Making a robot climb a tree autonomously is a challenging task, as trees are complex and irregular in shape. However, a certain level of autonomous climbing ability is needed to simplify the operational use of Treebot. The proposed works include autonomous climbing on unknown environment and global path planning on known environment. / Preventing trees from failing is important to protect human life and property in urban areas. Most trees in urban areas require regular maintenance. To reach the upper parts of a tree to perform such maintenance, workers need to climb the tree. However, tree climbing is dangerous, the development of a tree climbing robot is important to assist or replace humans works. / Several robots have been designed to climb trees such as WOODY and RiSE. However, these robots are limited to climbing straight tree trunks, and cannot climb trees that are curved or have branches. As branches and curvature are present in almost all trees, the application of these robots is strongly restricted. / Lam, Tin Lun. / Adviser: Yangsheng Xu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-172). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Terrestrial animals encounter natural surfaces which comprise materials that can yield and flow such as sand, rubble, and debris, yet appear to nimbly walk, run, crawl, or climb across them with great ease. In contrast, man-made devices on wheels and treads suffer large performance loss on these surfaces. Legged locomotion thus provides an excellent source of inspiration for creating devices of increased locomotor capabilities on natural surfaces. While principles of legged locomotion on solid ground have been discovered, the mechanisms by which legged animals move on yielding/flowing surfaces remain poorly understood, largely due to the lack of fundamental understanding of the complex interactions of body/limbs with these substrates on the level of the Navier-Stokes Equations for fluids. Granular media (e.g., sand) provide a promising model substrate for discovering the principles of legged locomotion on yielding/flowing surfaces, because they can display solid- and fluid-like behaviors, are directly relevant for many desert-dwelling animals, can be repeatably and precisely controlled, and the intrusion force laws can be determined empirically. In this dissertation, we created laboratory devices to prepare granular media in well-controlled states, and integrated biological, robotic, and physics studies to discover principles of legged locomotion on granular media. For both animals and bio-inspired robots, legged locomotion on granular surfaces must be achieved by limb intrusion to generate sufficient vertical ground reaction force (lift) to balance body weight and inertial force. When limb intrusion was slow (speed < 0.5 m/s), granular forces were independent of intrusion speed (dominated by grain-grain and grain-intruder friction) and generally increased with intrusion depth (due to granular hydrostatic pressure). Locomotor performance (speed) depended sensitively on limb kinematics, limb morphology, and the strength of the granular media, which together determined vertical force balance (or lack thereof). Based on these findings, we developed a granular resistive force theory in the sagittal plane as a general model for calculating forces during low-speed intrusions relevant to legged locomotion.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

In this work a bio-inspired flapping actuator based on varied magnetic fields is developed, controlled and characterized. The actuator is sought to contribute to the toolbox of options for bio-mimetics research. The design is that of a neodymium bar magnet on one end of an armature which is moved by two air core electromagnetic coils in the same manner as agonist and antagonist muscle pairs function in biological systems. The other end of the armature is fitted to a rigid fin extending beyond the streamline enclosure body to produce propulsion. A series of tests in still water were performed to measure the kinematics and propulsive force for different control schemes including the effect of adding antagonistic resistance to the control schemes. Control methods based on armature position and based on setpoint error were tested and antagonist force was found to increase consistency of control of the systems in certain cases. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection