One of the main input devices to computerized systems is Voice Recognition Systems (VRS). VRS is best suited for applications where job functions require more than two hands to be performed. The performance of VRS is highly dependent on the environment's noise. The higher the noise level the lower the recognition capability. Automatic lip reading through vision systems have been utilized to improve the recognition capability in noisy environments. However, this approach is costly and time-consuming. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the utilization of an Infrared sensor for automatic lip reading to improve the recognition performance of VRS. The developed system is cheaper and faster than other automatic lip readers. The test results of fifty words and eleven digits indicated that the method has good repeatability, and good character recognition, while not dependent on or sensitive to the ambient light level. Although speaker independence was tested, the results are inconclusive. / Master of Science

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a complete package for the synthesis and design of the RSSR spatial function generating mechanism. In addition to the introductory material this thesis is divided into three sections. The section on background kinematic theory includes synthesis, analysis, link rotatability, transmission quality, and branching analysis. The second division details the computer application of the kinematic theory. The program RSSRSD has been developed to incorporate the RSSR synthesis and design theory. An example is included to demonstrate the computer-implemented theory. The third part of this thesis includes miscellaneous mechanism considerations and recommendations for further research. The theoretical work in this project is a combination of original derivations and applications of the theory in the mechanism literature. / Master of Science

Teleoperation of an unmanned vehicle is a challenging task for human operators especially when the vehicle is out of line of sight. Improperly designed and applied display interfaces directly affect the operation performance negatively and even can result in catastrophic failures. If these teleoperation missions are human-critical then it becomes more important to improve the operator performance by decreasing workload, managing stress and improving situational awareness. This research aims to develop electrical and control system of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) using an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and validate the development with investigation of the effects of force feedback devices on the teleoperation performance. After development, teleoperation tests are performed to verify that force feedback generated from the dynamic obstacle information of the environment improves teleoperation performance. Results confirm this statement and the developed UGV is verified for future research studies. Development of UGV, algorithms and real system tests are included in this thesis.

Precision control of translational motion is vital for many CNC machine tools as the motion of the machinery affects the dimensional tolerance of the manufactured goods. However, the direct measurement along with the accurate motion control of machine usually requires relatively expensive sensors i.e. potentiometers, linear scales, laser interferometers. Hence, this study attempts to develop reference models utilizing low-cost sensors (i.e. rotary encoders) for accurate position estimation. First, an indirect measurement performance is investigated on a Timing Belt driven carriage by a DC Motor with a backlash included Gearbox head. An advanced interpolated technique is proposed to compensate the position errors while using indirect measurement to reduce the total cost. Then, a similar study was realized with a ball screw driven system. Next, a cable drum driven measurement technique is proposed to the machines which have long travel distance like plasma cutters. A test setup is proposed and manufactured to investigate the capstan drive systems. Finally, characteristics of Optical Mouse Sensors are investigated from different point of views and a test setup is proposed and manufactured to evaluate their performances in long terms. Beside all of these parts, motion control algorithms and motion control integrated circuits are designed and manufactured to realize experimental studies in a detailed manner.

Rapid prototyping (RP) is a set of fabrication technologies that are used to produce accurate parts directly from computer aided drawing (CAD) data. These technologies are unique in a way that they use an additive fabrication approach in which a three dimensional (3D) object is directly produced. In this thesis study, a RP application with a modular architecture is designed and implemented to satisfy the possible requirements of future rapid prototyping studies. After a functional classification, the developed RP software is divided into View, RP and Slice Modules. In the RP module, the process parameter selection and optimal build orientation determination steps are carried out. In the Slice Module, slicing and tool path generation steps are performed. View Module is used to visualize the inputs and outputs of the RP software. To provide 3D visualization support for View Module, a fully independent, open for development, high level 3D modeling environment and graphics library called Graphics Framework is developed. The resulting RP application is benchmarked with the RP software packages in the market according to their memory usage and process time. As a result of this benchmark, it is observed that the developed RP software has presented an equivalent performance with the other commercial RP applications and has proved its success.

In this study, a two axes linear positioning system for testing and applying different rapid prototyping techniques was designed and manufactured. A cable/ pulley mechanism is utilized in the system for transmitting motion from motors into linear motion. Use of a cable/ pulley mechanism overcomes the problems resulting from the utilization of conventional drive systems like ball screws and decreases the overall cost of the system. The carriage elements of both axes were designed and manufactured by using investment casting. The molds used in casting were also designed and manufactured within this study. The designed system is controlled by a servo motion control system composed of a motion controller, DC servo motors and linear encoders. All elements of the motion control system were selected, integrated and programmed within the scope of the study.

In this thesis, development of a control system is aimed for a 1 DOF haptic device, namely Haptic Box. Besides, it is also constructed. Haptic devices are the manipulators that reflect the interaction forces with virtual or remote environments to its users. In order to reflect stiffness, damping and inertial forces on a haptic device position, velocity and acceleration measurements are required. The only motion sensor in the system is an incremental optical encoder attached to the back of the DC motor. The encoder is a good position sensor but velocity and acceleration estimations from discrete position and time data is a challenging work. To estimate velocity and acceleration some methods in the literature are employed on the Haptic Box and it is concluded that Kalman filtering gives the best results. After the velocity and acceleration estimations are acquired haptic control algorithms are tried experimentally. Finally, a virtual environment application is presented.

In this thesis, we study self-organized flocking using a swarm of mobile robots. We first present a mobile robot platform having two novel sensing systems developed specifically for swarm robotic studies. We describe its infrared-based short-range sensing system, capable of measuring the range to obstacles and detecting kin robots. In particular, we describe a novel sensing system called the virtual heading sensor (VHS), which combines a digital compass and a wireless communication module to form a scalable method for sensing the relative headings of neighboring robots. We propose a behavior based on heading alignment and proximal control and show that it is capable of generating self-organized ocking in a group of seven robots. Then, we propose a number of metrics to evaluate the quality of flocking and use them to evaluate four main variants of this behavior. We characterize and model the sensing abilities of the robots and develop a physics-based simulator that is verified against the physical robots for flocking in open environments. After showing in simulation that we can achieve flocking in a group of up to 1000 robots in an open environment, we perform experiments to determine the performance of flocking under different controller parameters and characteristics of VHS using the predefined metrics. In the experiments, we vary the three main characteristics of VHS, namely: (1) The amount and nature of noise in heading measurement, (2) The number of neighboring robots that can be &quot / heard&quot / , and (3) the range of wireless communication. Ourresults show that range of communication is the main factor that determines the scale of flocking, and that the behavior is highly robust against the other two characteristics. We extend an existing particle-based model to determine the phase transition characteristics of flocking under different VHS characteristics. An analytical treatment of the model is also presented and verified against the results obtained from experiments in a physics-based simulator.

The omnipresent tendency to &ldquo / live easy&rdquo / is a sign of our need for automatization. To enable for such a &ldquo / comfortable and safe&rdquo / world, the automatic systems have to be developed that satisfies the necessities of life. Biologically inspired robots, especially the humanoids, are thus the key, and research in this area focuses on the improvement of such systems. Lately, it has been shown by high dexterity examples that the humanoid robots achieved to a mature level even if there are still open issues to be improved, especially in the control and stability of the bipeds. The purpose of this thesis is to study biped locomotion in different floor conditions, such as stairs and obstacles / to improve the research done in this area / to contribute to the development of autonomous biped robots, dynamic modeling, gait planning, supervisory and guidence control, stability analysis of biped robots / and to implement new control algorithms for biped locomotion, especially by using optimization and high level intelligent control techniques. The locomotion aimed to be realized results from complex, high-dimensional, nonlinear and dynamically related interactions between the robot and its environment. The mathematical modeling of the physical system is realized based on a 5-link 7 DOF biped robot model walking on a 3D planar surface and the dynamic simulation is performed using MATLAB. In terms of control, several different methods applied, comparison and the performance of each method are given. The 3D dynamic simulation software is developed, which allows the user to operate the biped systems within a 3D virtual environment.

This thesis study presents the design, simulation, micro fabrication, and testing steps of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based electromagnetic micro power generators. These generators are capable of generating power using already available environmental vibrations, by implementing the electromagnetic induction technique. There are mainly two objectives of the study: (i) to increase the bandwidth of the traditional micro generators and (ii) to improve their efficiency at low frequency environmental vibrations of 1-100 Hz where most vibrations exist. Four main types of generators have been proposed within the scope of this thesis study. The first type of generator is mainly composed of 20 parylene cantilevers on which coils are fabricated, where the cantilevers are capable of resonating with external vibrations with respect to a stationary magnet. This generator has dimensions of 9.5&times / 8&times / 6 mm3, and it has been shown that 0.67 mV of voltage and 56 pW of power output can be obtained from a single cantilever of this design at a vibration frequency of 3.45 kHz. The second type generator aims to increase the bandwidth of the traditional designs by implementing cantilevers with varying length. This generator is sized 14&times / 12.5&times / 8 mm3, and the mechanical design and energy generation concept is similar to the first design. The test results show that by using 40 cantilevers with a length increment of 3 &amp / #956 / m, the overall bandwidth of the generator can be increased to 1000 Hz. It has also been shown that 9 mV of constant voltage and 1.7 nW of constant power output can be obtained from the overall device in a vibration frequency range of 3.5 to 4.5 kHz. The third type is a standard large mass coil type generator that has been widely used in the literature. In this case, the generator is composed of a stationary base with a coil and a magnet-diaphragm assembly capable of resonating with vibrations. The fabricated device has dimensions of 8.5&times / 7&times / 2.5 mm3, and it has been considered in this study for benchmarking purposes only. The test results show that 0.3 mV of voltage and 40 pW of power output can be obtained from the fabricated design at a vibration frequency of 113 Hz. The final design aims to mechanically up-convert low frequency environmental vibrations of 1-100 Hz to a much higher frequency range of 2-3 kHz. This type of generator has been implemented for the first time in the literature. The generator is composed of two parts / a diaphragm-magnet assembly on the top, and 20 cantilevers that have coils connected in series at the base. The diaphragm oscillates by low frequency environmental vibrations, and catches and releases the cantilevers from the tip points where magnetic nickel (Ni) areas are deposited. The released cantilevers then start decaying out oscillations that is at their damped natural frequency of 2-3 kHz. It has been shown with tests that frequency up-conversion is realized in micro scale. The fabricated device has dimensions of 8.5&times / 7&times / 2.5 mm3, and a maximum voltage and power output of 0.57 mV and 0.25 nW can be obtained, respectively, from a single cantilever of the fabricated prototype at a vibration frequency of 113 Hz.