A pesquisa na área de robótica espacial lida com problemas exclusivos, acarretados pela natureza e características dinâmicas dos sistemas. Isso torna a modelagem uma área de extrema importância para garantir um desempenho satisfatório. A maior característica dos braços robóticos espaciais é que seu movimento perturba a espaçonave na qual está acoplado. Essa propriedade deve ser levada em consideração, especialmente no caso de robôs de base livre flutuante que não possuem controle de posição ou atitude na base. A maior destreza e flexibilidade de manipuladores de múltiplos braços faz com que sua pesquisa seja colocada em foco. Eles possuem maior possibilidade de lidar com cargas maiores e fornecer maior acurácia em tarefas como montagens, reparos, abastecimento, etc. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento do modelo de um manipulador espacial de base livre flutuante de dois braços. Esse modelo, então, foi aplicado no desenvolvimento de um sistema de controle. A metodologia sugerida facilita, não só a obtenção do modelo, como também a especificação de controladores. Dois esquemas de controle foram desenvolvidos: um no espaço da tarefa e outro no espaço das juntas, com diferentes especificações de trajetórias. A simulação do sistema foi realizada no ambiente Simulink (MATLAB) e os resultados são discutidos, indicando as situações de falha dos controladores especificados. / Space robotics research faces unique problems, which are mainly related to the intrinsic nature and dynamic characteristics of its systems. As a consequence, modelling becomes essential to guarantee the best system result. A important characteristic of space robotic arms is that their movements affect their bases position and attitude. This property must be taken into account, specially in the case of free floating space manipulators which have no control system for the base. High dexterity and flexibility of multi-arm manipulators cause their research to be a focus for the community. With higher loads and accuracy demands, they are more likely to suceed in tasks such as maintenance, assembly, refueling, among others. In that context, this thesis aims to develop a model for a dual-arm free-floating space manipulator. The model, then, is used in the design of a control system. The suggested methodology makes the process easier not only the modelling, but also the controller design. Two control schemes were developed: one in joint and the other in task space, with different trajectories. System simulations were run on Simulink (MATLAB) and the obtained results were discussed, with comments regarding fault situations for the specified control systems.

A novel methodology is presented for organizing swarms of robots into a formation utilizing artificial potential fields generated from normal and sigmoid functions. These functions construct the surface which swarm members travel on, controlling the overall swarm geometry and the individual member spacing. Nonlinear limiting functions are defined to provide tighter swarm control by modifying and adjusting a set of control variables forcing the swarm to behave according to set constraints, formation and member spacing. The swarm function and limiting functions are combined to control swarm formation, orientation, and swarm movement as a whole. Parameters are chosen based on desired formation as well as user defined constraints. This approach compared to others, is simple, computationally efficient, scales well to different swarm sizes, to heterogeneous systems, and to both centralized and decentralized swarm models. Simulation results are presented for a swarm of four and ten particles following circle, ellipse and wedge formations. Experimental results are also included with a swarm of four unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) as well as UGV swarm and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) coordination.

This dissertation describes research concerned with the use of advanced measurement techniques for the control of robotic manufacturing processes. The work focused on improving the state of technology in the precision robotic machining of components within the aerospace manufacturing industry within Australia. Specific contributions are the development of schemes for the use of advanced measurement equipment in precision machining operations and to apply flexible manufacturing techniques in automated manufacturing. The outcome of the research enables placement of a robotic end effector to drill a hole with a positional accuracy of 300 micron, employing an Indoor Global Positioning System for control of the drilling process. This can be accomplished within a working area of 35 square metres where the robot system and/or part positions may be varied dynamically during the process. Large aerospace structures are capable of flexing during manufacturing operations due to their physical size and low modulus of rigidity. This research work provided a framework for determining the appropriate type of automation and metrology systems needed for dynamic control suited to the precision drilling of holes in large aerospace components.

<p>Automation in manufacturing has come far by using industrial robots. However, industrial robots require tremendous efforts in static calibration due to their lack of senses. Force and vision are the most useful sensing capabilities for a robot system operating in an unknown or uncalibrated environment [4]and by integrating sensors in real-time with industrial robot controllers, dynamic processes need far less calibration which leads to reduced lead time. By using robot systems which are more dynamic and can perform complex tasks with simple instructions, the production efficiency will rise and hence also the profit for companies using them. </p><p>Although much research has been presented within the research community, current industrial robot systems have very limited support for external sensor feedback, and the state-of-the-art robots today have generally no feedback loop that can handle external force- or position controlled feedback. Where it exists, feedback at the rate of 10 Hz is considered to berare and is far from real-time control. </p><p>A new system where the feedback control can be possible within a real-time behavior, developed at Lund Institute of Technology, has been implemented and deployed at Linköping Institute of Technology. </p><p>The new system for rapid feedback control is a highly complex system, possible to install in existing robot cells, and enables real-time (250 Hz) sensor feedback to the robot controller. However, the system is not yet fully developed, and a lot of issues need to be considered before it can reach the market in other than specific applications. </p><p>The implementation and deployment of the new interface at LiTH shows that the potential for this system is large, since it makes production with robots exceedingly flexible and dynamic, and the fact that the system works with real- time feedback makes industrial robots more useful in tasks for manufacturing.</p>

Automation in manufacturing has come far by using industrial robots. However, industrial robots require tremendous efforts in static calibration due to their lack of senses. Force and vision are the most useful sensing capabilities for a robot system operating in an unknown or uncalibrated environment [4]and by integrating sensors in real-time with industrial robot controllers, dynamic processes need far less calibration which leads to reduced lead time. By using robot systems which are more dynamic and can perform complex tasks with simple instructions, the production efficiency will rise and hence also the profit for companies using them. Although much research has been presented within the research community, current industrial robot systems have very limited support for external sensor feedback, and the state-of-the-art robots today have generally no feedback loop that can handle external force- or position controlled feedback. Where it exists, feedback at the rate of 10 Hz is considered to berare and is far from real-time control. A new system where the feedback control can be possible within a real-time behavior, developed at Lund Institute of Technology, has been implemented and deployed at Linköping Institute of Technology. The new system for rapid feedback control is a highly complex system, possible to install in existing robot cells, and enables real-time (250 Hz) sensor feedback to the robot controller. However, the system is not yet fully developed, and a lot of issues need to be considered before it can reach the market in other than specific applications. The implementation and deployment of the new interface at LiTH shows that the potential for this system is large, since it makes production with robots exceedingly flexible and dynamic, and the fact that the system works with real- time feedback makes industrial robots more useful in tasks for manufacturing.

No description available.

This thesis outlines the evolution of computer hardware and software architectures which are suitable for the programming and control of modular robots and distributed manipulators. Fundamental aspects of automating manufacturing functions are considered and the use of flexible machines, constructed from components of a family of mechanical modules and associated control system elements, are proposed. Many of the features of these flexible machines can be identified with those of conventional industrial robots. However a broader class of manufacturing machine is represented in as much as the industrial user defines the kinematics and dynamics of the manipulator. Such flexible machines can be referred to as "modular robots" or, where the mechanical modules are arranged in concurrently operating but mechanically decoupled groups, as "distributed manipulators". The main body of the work reported centred on the design of a family of computer control system elements which can serve a range of distributed manipulator and modular robot forms. These control system elements, whose cost is commensurate with the size and complexity of the manipulator's mechanical configuration, necessarily have many of the features found in robot controllers but also require properties of reconfigurability, programmability, and control system performance for the considerable array of manipulator configurations which can be constructed.

Robot control systems evolved with genetic algorithms traditionally take the form of floating-point neural network models. This thesis proposes that digital control systems, such as quantised neural networks and logical networks, may also be used for the task of robot control. The inspiration for this is the observation that the dynamics of discrete networks may contain cyclic attractors which generate rhythmic behaviour, and that rhythmic behaviour underlies the central pattern generators which drive lowlevel motor activity in the biological world. To investigate this a series of experiments were carried out in a simulated physically realistic 3D world. The performance of evolved controllers was evaluated on two well known control tasks—pole balancing, and locomotion of evolved morphologies. The performance of evolved digital controllers was compared to evolved floating-point neural networks. The results show that the digital implementations are competitive with floating-point designs on both of the benchmark problems. In addition, the first reported evolution from scratch of a biped walker is presented, demonstrating that when all parameters are left open to evolutionary optimisation complex behaviour can result from simple components.

Integration of knowledge to the control system of a robot is the best way to emerge intelligence to robot. The most useful knowledge for a robot control system that aims to visit the landmarks in an environment is the enviromental knowledge. The most natural representation of the robot&rsquo / s environment is a map. This study presents a behavior based robot control system architecture that is based on subsumption and motor schema architectures and enables the robot to construct the map of the environment by using proximity sensors, odometry sensors, compass and image. The knowledge produced after processing the sensor values, is stored in Short Term Memory (STM) or Long Term Memory (LTM) of the robot, according to the persistence requirements of the knowledge. The knowledge stored in the STM acts as a sensor value, while LTM stores the map of the environment. The map of the environment is not a priori information for the robot, but it constructs the map as it moves in the environment. By the help of the map constructed the robot will be enabled to visit non-visited areas in the environment and to localize itself in its internal world. The controller is designed for a real robot Khepera equipped with the sensors required. The controller was tested on simulator called Webots version 2.0 on Linux operating system.

Com o intuito de utilizar uma rede com protocolo IP para a implementação de malhas fechadas de controle, este trabalho propõe-se a realizar um estudo da operação de um sistema de controle dinâmico distribuído, comparando-o com a operação de um sistema de controle local convencional. Em geral, a decisão de projetar uma arquitetura de controle distribuído é feita baseada na simplicidade, na redução dos custos e confiabilidade; portanto, um diferencial bastante importante é a utilização da rede IP. O objetivo de uma rede de controle não é transmitir dados digitais, mas dados analógicos amostrados. Assim, métricas usuais em redes de computadores, como quantidade de dados e taxa de transferências, tornam-se secundárias em uma rede de controle. São propostas técnicas para tratar os pacotes que sofrem atrasos e recuperar o desempenho do sistema de controle através da rede IP. A chave para este método é realizar a estimação do conteúdo dos pacotes que sofrem atrasos com base no modelo dinâmico do sistema, mantendo o sistema com um nível adequado de desempenho. O sistema considerado é o controle de um manipulador antropomórfico com dois braços e uma cabeça de visão estéreo totalizando 18 juntas. Os resultados obtidos mostram que se pode recuperar boa parte do desempenho do sistema. / ln order to enable the use of IP networks to implement closed-Ioop control systems, this work compares a distributed control system to its conventional counterpart, which is based on local controI. Usually the option for a distributed control architecture is motivated by simplicity, cost reduction and reliability, hence the use of an IP network. The goal of a control network is not to transmit pure digital data, but to transmit digitized control and sensor signals. Therefore, metrics common in computer networks, such as amount of transfered data and transfer rates, become of little importance. This work proposes a method to compensate for the delays imposed to network packets and to recover the control system performance. The key for this method is to estimate the contents of delayed network packets based on the system dymanic modeI. The example system is an antropormorphic robot with two arms and a stereo vision head. Results show that the system performance can be recovered.