<p>This thesis aims to provide a solution for wireless control of, and communication with and among Khepera robots, making use of the Bluetooth wireless technology, to allow wireless control of multiple robots in real time. It is based on the foregoing work of other students who constructed a module for wireless control of Khepera robots over Bluetooth, but they were not able to control more than one physical robot at a time. Khepera robots, as well as many wireless solutions to control those, are closely investigated, and an introduction to Bluetooth is given. An implementation of a Bluetooth protocol stack, which was carried out in the context of this dissertation, and constitutes one of the main parts of this project, is described in detail. The performance of the work discussed throughout this dissertation is evaluated w.r.t. transmission times of data over the wireless link, and afterwards compared to other solutions for real-time control of Khepera robots, e.g. a solution to control a Khepera robot over a wireless radio link. Furthermore, previously simulated experiments with autonomous agents are carried out on physical robots, to test the quality of the wireless solution. It is shown that the solution presented here operates much more efficient than any other existing solution, thus provides a very useful aid for the research community that is experimenting with physical robots in general, and real Khepera robots in particular, in order to simplify research, and allows for a broader spectrum of experiments.</p>

This thesis aims to provide a solution for wireless control of, and communication with and among Khepera robots, making use of the Bluetooth wireless technology, to allow wireless control of multiple robots in real time. It is based on the foregoing work of other students who constructed a module for wireless control of Khepera robots over Bluetooth, but they were not able to control more than one physical robot at a time. Khepera robots, as well as many wireless solutions to control those, are closely investigated, and an introduction to Bluetooth is given. An implementation of a Bluetooth protocol stack, which was carried out in the context of this dissertation, and constitutes one of the main parts of this project, is described in detail. The performance of the work discussed throughout this dissertation is evaluated w.r.t. transmission times of data over the wireless link, and afterwards compared to other solutions for real-time control of Khepera robots, e.g. a solution to control a Khepera robot over a wireless radio link. Furthermore, previously simulated experiments with autonomous agents are carried out on physical robots, to test the quality of the wireless solution. It is shown that the solution presented here operates much more efficient than any other existing solution, thus provides a very useful aid for the research community that is experimenting with physical robots in general, and real Khepera robots in particular, in order to simplify research, and allows for a broader spectrum of experiments.

This paper looks at all aspects of developing a robotic arm and hand that consists of five fingers which is able to imitate human movements. The imitation ability, accuracy and factors affecting both points are studied. A project like this requires the interplay of various electrical components to achieve the desired results.The prototype constructed measured the controller’s movements of the fingers with the help of flex sensors. The movements in the elbow and wrist however were measured with the help of potentiometers. The flex sensors and potentiometers were connected to an Arduino Mega which then sent the values with the help of a transmitter. The robotic arm consists of an Arduino Uno, seven servomotors and a receiver that reads the messages sent from the transmitter. All values were converted into degrees that rotated the motor axles accordingly. The prototype produced positive results, showing that it was able to copy all movements done by the controller. Tests were conducted to study the accuracy and imitationability. The conclusion was that the factors affecting imitation and accuracy were mostly connected to the weight of the robot and the design of the hand. / Denna uppsats behandlar olika aspekter i utvecklingen av en robotarm vars gripdon är en hand med fem fingrar, med syfte att kunna imitera mänskliga rörelser. Imitationsförmågan, noggrannheten samt vilka faktorer som påverkar dessa studeras. För att uppnå ett önskvärt resultat har det krävts styrning och samverkan mellan olika elektroniska komponenter. I prototypen som presenteras mättes fingrarnas rörelsemed hjälp av flexsensorer samt rörelsen i armbåge och handleden med hjälp av vridpotentiometrar. Flexsensorerna och potentiometrarna var anslutna till en Arduino Mega vars värden skickades med hjälp av en sändare. Elektronikkomponenterna som användes i robotarmen var en ArduinoUno, sju servomotorer och en mottagare, vars funktion var att läsa av meddelanden som skickades från sändaren. Alla värden omvandlades till grader och motoraxlarna roterade i enlighet med dessa. Prototypen uppnådde ett önskvärt betteende då roboten hade förmågan att imitera alla rörelser som utfördes av styrenheten. Noggrannheten och imitationsförmågan undersöktes med olika tester. De mest betydelsefulla faktorer som påverkade imitationen och noggrannheten av prototypen var kopplade till vikten av roboten och designen av handen, enligt slutsatserna som har dragits.

<p>Implantable biomedical devices have been widely used to treat a variety of diseases for many decades. If allowed by the size and form factor, batteries have been the power source of choice in implantable devices (e.g., cardiac pacemakers). Batteries are, however, still big and come in shapes that are not ideal for minimally invasive deployment. Inductive powering is another commonly used energy source in which two well-aligned coils allow a transmitter to power the implanted receiver (e.g., cochlear implants). Once the receiver coil becomes small (mm-scale), the inductive powering link becomes very inefficient and sensitive to slight misalignment between the coils. Hence, it becomes increasingly difficult to power small devices implanted deep (>5 cm) within the tissue using inductive powering. Ultrasonic powering is an attractive alternative for powering miniature devices since it can penetrate deep into the tissue, it has greater efficiency at mm-scale receiver size, it can be omni-directional, and it is more amenable to miniaturization.</p> <p>In this dissertation, I describe the use of ultrasonic waves to power and control mm-scale implantable devices. After a detailed look at ultrasonic transmission link, I will discuss factors affecting the power transfer efficiency. These include the effect of receiver aspect ratio and size on the resonant frequency and factors related to acoustic and electrical matching. A 3D printed acoustic matching layer in then described. I will discuss two applications using ultrasound to power and control implantable devices. The first is a low-power on-off acoustic control scheme to reduce the standby power consumption in implantable devices. The second is an ultrasonically powered electrolytic ablator with an on-board micro-light-source for the treatment of cancer.</p>

Advances in wireless technologies in the last ten years have created considerable opportunities as well as challenges for wireless body medical systems. The foremost challenge is how to build a reliable system connecting heterogeneous body sensors and actuators in an open system environment. In this dissertation, we present our work towards this goal. The system addresses four design issues: the underlying network architecture, the network scheduling disciplines, the location determination and tracking methods, and the embedded application execution architecture. We first present the design of an adaptive wireless protocol (MBStarPlus) to provide the basic wireless platform WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network). MBStarPlus is a real-time, secure, robust and flexible wireless network architecture. It is designed to utilize any low-power wireless radio as its physical layer. The TDMA mechanism is adopted for realtime data delivery. The time-slot length is adjustable for flexibility. Multiple technologies are utilized to provide reliability and security. We next investigate how to coordinate the body sensors/actuators that can optimally select from a range (maximum and minimum) of data rates. Two bandwidth scheduling algorithms are proposed. One is a greedy algorithm that works for sensors with limited computational capability. The other is the UMinMax scheduling algorithm that has better scalability and power-saving performance but is more computationally intensive. The third issue addressed in this proposal is how to achieve location determination and tracking by a mix of high-precision but expensive and lower-precision but cost-effective sensors. This is achieved by a novel collaborative location determination scheme ColLoc that can integrate different types of distance measurements into a location estimation algorithm by weighing them according to their precision levels. Through this, a localization service can be both cost-effective and sufficiently accurate. Fourth, in order to minimize the effects of long network latency when the body network scales up, we propose ControlInGateway, an architectural feature that allows a control application to be executed inside the network gateway without the host's involvement. With ControlInGateway, a wireless system could achieve the same control quality as a wired system. / text

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver uma plataforma de controle sem fio utilizando uma rede de sensores e atuadores remotos capazes de automatizar, com facilidade e precisÃo, um sistema convencional de irrigaÃÃo pressurizada de alta eficiÃncia do tipo gotejamento. O trabalho propÃe o desenvolvimento de um ambiente integrado de gerenciamento da irrigaÃÃo, administrado por um computador central, dispositivos mÃveis tais como smartphones e tablets e ainda com disponibilidade de dados e recursos de controle atravÃs da WWW (World Wide Web). O desenvolvimento e os testes dos sensores capacitivos tipo FDR (Reflectometria no DomÃnio de FrequÃncia), mÃdulos remotos, assim como os dispositivos de acionamento das bombas e vÃlvulas, sÃo descritos em suas caracterÃsticas de desempenho e funcionalidade. O trabalho apresenta o uso de ferramentas computacionais e dispositivos de hardware, aplicados à concepÃÃo de projetos dedicados ao monitoramento e controle de sistemas de irrigaÃÃo. A Rede de Controle sem Fio à formada por mÃdulos sensores independentes, capazes de se comunicarem por rÃdio frequÃncia, possuindo um ou mais pontos de comunicaÃÃo final (estaÃÃes base). O sistema conta com um conjunto de mÃdulos remotos de funÃÃes distintas, tais como: mÃdulo de sensores de umidade e temperatura, acionamento de vÃlvulas, acionamento de bombas, controle de vazÃo e um ou mais mÃdulos centralizadores conectados ao computador central. A Rede foi submetida a testes de uso em manejos de irrigaÃÃo de culturas de melancia e milho, onde os mÃdulos sensores e atuadores desenvolvidos foram administrados atravÃs do gerenciamento de uma interface supervisora. O conjunto de dispositivos desenvolvidos para composiÃÃo desta plataforma de controle teve sua qualidade comprovada em funÃÃo de sua robustez, eficiÃncia, capacidade de processamento e resposta de seus mÃdulos sensores e atuadores, distribuÃdos dentro de um lote agrÃcola, localizado no perÃmetro de irrigaÃÃo do Baixo AcaraÃ, no municÃpio de Marco a 220 km de Fortaleza. / Improving the efficiency of mechanisms and processes involved in irrigation can increase the performance of both production and the reduction of wasted water and energy. In this context, the aim of this study was to develop a platform of wireless control using a wireless sensor network and remote actuators able to automatize a conventional drip pressurized irrigation system. This work proposes the development of an integrated environment for the management of irrigation. It is composed by a central computer, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and is able to offer availability of data and control capabilities via the Internet. The development and testing of capacitive sensors like FDR (Frequency Domain Reflectometry), remote modules, and the devices that drive the pumps and valves, are described in their performance and functionality characteristics. The study used hardware devices and software tools used in the design of projects dedicated to the monitoring and control of irrigation systems. The Wireless Control Network consists of independent modules sensors, able to communicate by radio frequency, having one or more communication end points (base stations). The system relies on a set of remote modules for different functions, such as: sensor module for humidity and temperature, valve actuation, drive pumps, flow control and one or more centralizers modules connected to the central computer. The Network was subjected to tests of use in irrigation management of crops of watermelon and corn, where the modules developed were administered by a supervisor through the management interface. The set of devices designed to control the composition of this platform has proven its quality in terms of their robustness, efficiency, processing capacity and response of their sensor modules and actuators, distributed within an agricultural plot, located on the perimeter of the Lower irrigation Acaraà in the city of Marco 220 km from Fortaleza.

Ces dernières années une attention particulière a été portée sur les systèmes autonomes de taille micrométrique. La taille de ces robots, ou particules, rend impossible l’embarquement d’énergie. Des systèmes d’actionnement et de contrôle à distance, notamment par effets magnétiques, ont été proposés. Ils évoluent généralement dans le milieu liquide. Ce milieu est privilégié en raison de la force de trainée qui stabilise les systèmes et simplifie donc leur contrôle. En revanche, ce milieu induit une limitation majeure sur la vitesse de déplacement de ces particules. Pour exploiter pleinement le potentiel d’actionnement rapide lié à la faible inertie de ces particules de petite taille, cette thèse propose la conception et la commande d’un système microrobotique dédié à l’actionnement haute vitesse. Les choix de conception, notamment l’augmentation de la force magnétique, l’utilisation de particules ferromagnétiques et le choix d’un environnement de travail en milieu ambiant permettent d’atteindre de grandes vitesses de déplacements. Cependant, le milieu ambiant pose des problématiques d’adhésion entre la particule et le substrat de travail et d’absence de modèle de connaissance. Des solutions sont proposées pour vaincre ou réduire les forces d’adhésion dans ce milieu, allant de l’actionnement en couple de la particule magnétique à la structuration mécanique du substrat. Une est également implémentée pour augmenter la précision du positionnement et de l’orientation des particules. Une approche permettant de synthétiser et d’implémenter une loi de régulation proportionnelle des deux paramètres de contrôle est proposée. L’approche expérimentale adoptée permet de quantifier les problématiques rencontrées dans le milieu ambiant et de proposer des solutions systématiques. Ce travail n’est qu’un premier pas dans l’intégration des systèmes microrobotiques en milieu ambiant, mais il fournit des méthodologies de contrôle adaptées à ses spécificités. / In the past few years, much attention has been given to autonomous systems of micrometric size. The small size of these robots, or particles, makes it impossible to embed their energy sources. Wireless systems for actuating and control, in particular through magnetic effects, have been proposed. They usually operate in a liquid environment. This environment is favored due to the drag force which stabilizes a system and therefore makes it easier to control. However, this medium comes with a major limitation to the moving speed of these particles. In order to fully exploit the potential for high speed actuation inherent to the low inertia of these small-sized particles, this thesis proposes the design and control of a microrobotic system dedicated to high speed actuation.The design choices, such increasing the magnetic force, using ferromagnetic particles and choosing to work in an ambient environment increases the displacement speed. However, the dry environment leads to adhesion issues between the particle and the surface of the working substrate, and lack of knowledge-based model. Various solutions are proposed in this thesis to overcome or reduce adhesion forces in this environment, from the coupled actuation of the magnetic, to the mechanical structuring of the surface of the substrate. A closed-loop control has also been integrated to increase the accuracy of the positioning and orientation of the particles. An approach to the synthesis and implementation of a proportional regulation is proposed for the two control parameters. The chosen experimental approach makes it possible to quantify the issues related to the ambient environment and bring systematic solutions to them.This work is but a first step in the integration of microrobotic systems in ambient environments, but it offers a control methodology, which is adapted to its specificities.

Robots are being used more and more in today’s society. These robots need to be mobile and have a good understanding of their surroundings. This bachelor’s thesis in mechatronics aims to see how a mobile robot can be constructed, and how it can best map its surroundings. The robot was built to have three omni wheels to allow it to move freely in the plane and stepper motors to provide accurate movement. Ultrasonic sensors were placed around the robot to be used as a tool to determine its surroundings. The brain of the robot was an Arduino UNO, which with the help of an ESP-01, communicated with aserver over Wi-Fi. The server received the data from the ultrasonic senors and drew a map on a web page. Multiple test were made to evaluate the different systems. The robot moved really well and with high precision after some tweaking. The ultrasonic sensors were also very precise and the communication between the robot and the server worked very well. All the different systems were combined to make the robot move autonomously. The robot could navigate by itself and avoid obstacles. Although the mapping worked from a technical point of view, it was hard to read and could be done better. / Robotar är något som används mer och mer i dagens moderna samhälle. Dessa robotar behöver vara mobila och haen god uppfattning om miljön de befinner sig i. Detta kandidatexamensarbete inom mekatronik ska undersöka hur en mobil robot kan byggas, och hur den kan kartlägga miljönden befinner sig i. Roboten som konstruerades hade tre omnihjul för att kunna röra sig fritt längs markplanet och stegmotorer för precis drift. Ultraljudsensorer placerades runt om roboten för att ge den en uppfattning av omgivningen. Hjärnan i roboten var en Arduino UNO som med hjälp av en ESP-01 kommunicerade över Wi-Fi till en server. Servern tog emotsensordata från roboten och ritade upp det som en karta ien webbläsare. Det utfördes tester för att utvärdera de olika delsystemen. Driften på roboten fungerade utmärkt med god precisionefter några iterationer. Ultraljudsensorerna hade också godprecision och kommunikationen mellan roboten och servern fungerade mycket bra. De olika delsystemen kombinerades för att ge roboten självkörning. Roboten kunde navigera själv och undvika hinder. Trots att kartan fungeradeur ett tekniskt perspektiv så var den svårtydd och kunde förbättrats.

The interest in the research and development of humanoid robots has been steadily growing in recent years. The application of such robotic systems are many and wide. In this bachelor’s thesis in mechatronics one such robotic system was built in the form of a hand. The aim was to investigate how well the robotic hand could imitate the movements of a user-worn controller glove as well as grip objects, both through wireless communication. The controller glove consisted of an Arduino Nano microcontroller, five flex sensors, an inertial measurement unit that detected the wrist rotation of the glove, a nRF24L01 transmitter as well as an external power source of 9 volts. The robotic hand consisted of three-dimensional printed parts from an open source library, an Arduino Uno microcontroller, a nRF24L01 receiver, two external power supplies of 9 volts and 5 volts and six servo motors, with one servo motor per finger and wrist. The finished robotic hand did well in imitating the motions of the controller glove with little to no observed delay and was able to grip onto objects of various sizes, shapes and weights up to 134 grams. The constructed robotic hand achieved the desired goals of the project. The results indicated that improvements can be made on the grip ability of objects with rigid surfaces as well as improving the imitation by implementing more degrees of freedom for the fingers of the robotic hand. / Intresset för forskning och utveckling av humanoida robotarhar under de senaste åren varit på ständig uppfart. Applikationerna av sådana robotsystem är många och breda. Idetta kandidatarbete inom mekatronik konstruerades ettsådant robotsystem i formen av en hand. Syftet var att undersöka hur väl robothanden kunde imitera rörelserna av enanvändarburen kontrollerhandske samt hur väl den kundegreppa tag om objekt med hjälp av trådlös kommunikation. Kontrollerhanskens komponenter bestod av en Arduino Nano mikrokontroller, fem flex sensorer, en tröghetsmätenhet som mätte rotationen av handleden, en nRF24L01sändarenhet samt en extern kraftkälla på 9 volt. Robothanden bestod av tredimensionellt utskrivna delar från ettopen source bibliotek, en Arduino Uno mikrokontroller, ennRF24L01 mottagarenhet, två externa kraftkällor på 9 voltrespektive 5 volt samt sex stycken servomotorer. Varje enskild finger samt handled var kopplad till en servomotorvar. Robothanden kunde imitera kontrollhandskens rörelser med liten försening och kunde greppa tag om objekt avolika storlekar, utformningar samt vikter upp till 134 gram.Den konstruerade robothanden åstadkom de önskade målensom sattes för projektet. Resultaten indikerade att robothandens greppförmåga om föremål med styva ytor och dessimitation kan förbättras.

Wireless, Edge-based control and 5G networks are all examples of technologies of the emerging Industry 4.0. Understanding and evaluating these technologies is important to the development of future manufacturing and factories. However, moving from classical, wired control systems to wireless and Edge-based systems comes with new challenges such as communication delays and packet losses. The purpose of this thesis is to develop and evaluate the performance of a wireless 5G and Edge-based control system. Firstly, we aim to find the achievable end-to-end latency of three different network architectures: local control, control over wired Ethernet and control over wireless 5G. Secondly, we propose and test a conservative tuning approach on a Ball and Beam process which represents a time-sensitive and mission-critical process. The proposed conservative tuning approach is based on an Internal Model Control framework which enables an adjustment of the controller parameters based onthe worst-case measured latency. The results show that the measured latency increases as the Task interval time is increasing and as the controller is moving further away from a local level. The results also show that the introduced latency over 5G is making the system unstable if the latency is not taken into account in the design. The proposed conservative tuning approach successfully adjusts the parameters to remove this unstable behavior but degrades the control performance and shows signs of an overly conservative tuning compared to a local controller. The thesis concludes that the proposed conservative tuning approach shows promising results but would benefit from being further developed towards a latency-aware controller. This could be achieved by firstly improving the way latency is measured to enable extensive data collection. The data could then be utilized by using machine learning or time-series to predict the latency and adjust the parameters in real-time, using the proposed tuning approach.