El periodo de constante modernización que se vive en la actualidad, en particular la urbanización de zonas rurales de Latinoamérica, amenaza una de las formas más usadas para transmitir y preservar la cultura, costumbres y anécdotas de una comunidad: la tradición oral. Se hace importante rescatar la identidad cultural de dichas comunidades para lo cual se quiere aprovechar otro aspecto del contexto actual como es la robótica social. En la década reciente se tiene una emergente categoría de robots de servicio que está ganando una presencia significativa en las actividades de la vida diaria. En este contexto, la presente tesis desarrolla el diseño de MUQUI, un robot compañero de comunidad que forme parte de ella y comparta su cultura y tradiciones. Este trabajo se enfoca en la problemática técnica en el desarrollo de MUQUI, centrándose en los requerimientos y funciones que deben ser cubiertos en el diseño, haciendo énfasis en la estética e interacción. En el presente documento se describe a detalle el sistema mecánico y electrónico del robot planteado obteniendo un diseño que posee formas antropomórficas con movimiento de la cabeza, una pantalla para mostrar ojos que permitan comunicar emociones, un proyector en la cabeza para la emisión de imágenes y un sombrero distintivo para identificarlo con la comunidad a la que pertenece. Cuenta con brazos, los cuales mueve mientras habla para reforzar las ideas que busca transmitir y finalmente posee un sistema de locomoción en base a ruedas para desplazamiento. Las formas antropomórficas del robot son logradas a través de carcasas de plástico ABS elaboradas por impresión 3D, todas estas sujetas a una estructura interna formada por planchas de acero que soporta todos los componentes del robot. Con el fin de validar el diseño de la estructura se realiza una simulación por elementos finitos y se implementa y prueba el funcionamiento de la tarjeta que regula la distribución de energía a todo el robot. Con los resultados satisfactorios obtenidos, se puede concluir que se consigue un diseño satisfactorio de un robot proveedor de servicios capaz de desempeñarse como un narrador de cuentos de manera automática. / Tesis

Lo Wang Tai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-63). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iii / Tables of Content --- p.iv / List of Figures --- p.vii / List of Tables --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Internet-based Tele-cooperation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Cooperative Control of Multiple Robot --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Internet-based Teleoperation --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- Time Delay of Internet Communication --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2 --- Related Work --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Motivation and Contribution --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Motivation --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Contribution --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Outline of the thesis --- p.8 / Chapter Chapter2 --- The Internet Robotic System --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- System Architecture --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Hardware --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Operator System --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Mobile Robot System --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Multi-fingered Robot Hand System --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Visual Tracking System --- p.19 / Chapter 2.3 --- Software Design --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Robot Client and Arm Client --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Robot Server --- p.23 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Image Server --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Arm Server --- p.75 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Arm Controller --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.6 --- Finger Server --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.7 --- Finger Controller --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.8 --- Robot Tracker --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.9 --- Interaction Forwarder --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter3 --- Event-based Control for Force Reflecting Teleoperation --- p.29 / Chapter 3.1 --- Modeling and Control --- p.29 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Model of Operator System --- p.31 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Model of Mobile Robot System --- p.33 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Model of Multi-fingered Hand System --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2 --- Force Feedback Generation --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Obstacle Avoidance --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Singularity Avoidance --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Interaction Rendering --- p.40 / Chapter Chapter4 --- Experiments --- p.42 / Chapter 4.1 --- Experiment1 --- p.42 / Chapter 4.2 --- Experiment2 --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3 --- Experiment3 --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter5 --- Future Wok --- p.54 / Chapter Chapter6 --- Conclusions --- p.56 / Bibliography --- p.58

This work is about learning tool wich provides the necessary parameters for a program controlling robots of type LUKAS at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The robot controlling program needs various parameters depending on its environment, like the light intensity distribution, and camera settings as exposure time and gain raw. These values have to be transmitted from the learning tool to the robot controlling software. Chapter one introduces the robots of type LUKAS which are created for the RoboCup Small Size League. Furthermore, it introduces the camera used for image processing. The second chapter explains the learning process according to Christoph UBfeller and deduces the requirements for this work. In the third chapter theoretical basics concerning image processing, wich are fundamental for this work, are explained. Chapter 4 describes the developed learning tool which is used for the learning process and generates the required parameters for the robot controlling software. In chapter five practical test with two persons are represented. The sixth and last chapter summarizes the results. / Tesis

El programa de Maestría de Ingeniería Mecatrónica de la PUCP desea contar con un brazo robot de 5GDL, teniendo a la fecha la estructura mecánica; ahora desea agregarle la parte electrónica para la enseñanza de robótica avanzada. El desarrollo del sistema experimental ha sido dividido en 3 partes en el curso Proyecto Electrónico 1 de la especialidad de Ingeniería Electrónica y está generando 3 tesis de pregrado, una ya sustentada; acá se abordan las partes más relevantes de esos trabajos: el hardware electrónico, la interface de usuario, y el control electrónico que permite la cinemática directa e inversa, así como el seguimiento de una trayectoria. Lo que se ha desarrollado en esta tesis en la parte de hardware es la selección de los motores, excitadores y sensores de posición, se ha diseñado e implementado un controlador Maestro y 5 controladores Esclavos. En la parte de software se ha desarrollado una interfaz desde una PC en Visual Basic para que se ingresen los movimientos que debe realizar cada una de sus 5 articulaciones del brazo robot, ya sea de un punto inicial a otro final, o para que describa una trayectoria. También se ha realizado la comunicación en lenguaje C entre la mencionada interfaz y el controlador maestro, y la comunicación de este último con los 5 controladores esclavos; finalmente se ha realizado un control PD en cada articulación. El brazo robot cuenta con sensores de fines de carrera y detectores de sobre corriente que cuando se activen harán que el robot detenga su movimiento para evitar cualquier accidente. / Tesis

La utilización de robots móviles en el campo de la robótica industrial y la robótica de servicio es cada vez mayor. La mayoría de los diseños de estos robots móviles posen la denominada tracción diferencial. Esta no permite el movimiento omnidireccional y requiere de complejos algoritmos de control para la generación de trayectorias. Por otro lado, los robots que poseen tracción omnidireccional han sido poco estudiados. El objetivo de la tesis es diseñar e implementar un robot móvil con una esfera de tracción omnidireccional, que permita al robot realizar cambios repentinos de trayectoria sin tener que realizar giros. El robot tendrá una única esfera de tracción que será actuada por dos motores eléctricos. El control de los motores permitirá controlar el movimiento omnidireccional en el plano de desplazamiento del robot. El tamaño de la base del robot será de 10cm x 10cm y los motores eléctricos son controlados por un microcontrolador ATMEGA88PA y un controlador de motor L298 a través de señales moduladas por ancho de pulso (PWM). Se realizarán y documentarán diferentes experimentos de generación de movimiento (lateral, diagonal y circular) y en base a estos resultados el diseño del robot será evaluado. / Tesis

Las plantas conforman gran parte del planeta cumpliendo un rol muy importante en el ecosistema de la Tierra; sin ellas, nuestro entorno no sería como lo conocemos. Este asunto de estudio busca trasladar una planta hacia una zona donde exista mayor cantidad de luz y en la medida de lo posible, trasladarla a una zona donde incida luz solar directa. Se utilizó la robótica como medio para poder lograr esta labor, para así desarrollar un producto con un objetivo definido y un uso determinado. Este estudio sería la base para lograr un producto comercial. Se desarrolló un robot autónomo el cual consta de un sistema de desplazamiento a base de servomotores, un sistema de sensores infrarrojos para la detección de obstáculos, un sistema de sensores de intensidad de luz, y un sistema de control basado en el microcontrolador ATmega8 de la familia ATMEL. / Tesis

Image analysis, and its application to sensory input (computer vision) is a fairly mature field, so it is surprising that its techniques are not extensively used in robotic applications. The reason for this is that, traditionally, robots have been used in controlled environments where sophisticated computer vision was not necessary, for example in car manufacturing. As the field of robotics has moved toward providing general purpose robots that must function in the real world, it has become necessary that the robots be provided with robust sensors capable of understanding the complex world around them. However, when researchers apply techniques previously studied in image analysis literature to the field of robotics, several difficult problems emerge. In this thesis we examine four reasons why it is difficult to apply work in image analysis directly to real-time, general purpose computer vision applications. These are: improvement in the computational complexity of image analysis algorithms, robustness to dynamic and unpredictable visual conditions, independence from domain specific knowledge in object recognition and the development of debugging facilities. This thesis examines each of these areas making several innovative contributions in each area. We argue that, although each area is distinct, improvement must be made in all four areas before vision will be utilised as the primary sensory input for mobile, autonomous robotic applications. In the first area, the computational complexity of image analysis algorithms, we note the dependence of a large number of high-level processing routines on a small number of low-level algorithms. Therefore, improvement to a small set of highly utilised algorithms will yield benefits in a large number of applications. In this thesis we examine the common tasks of image segmentation, edge and straight line detection and vectorisation. In the second area, robustness to dynamic and unpredictable conditions, we examine how vision systems can be made more tolerant to changes of illumination in the visual scene. We examine the classical image segmentation task and present a method for illumination independence that builds on our work from the first area. The third area is the reliance on domain-specific knowledge in object recognition. Many current systems depend on a large amount of hard-coded domainspecific knowledge to understand the world around them. This makes the system hard to modify, even for slight changes in the environment, and very difficult to apply in a different context entirely. We present an XML-based language, the XML Object Definition (XOD) language, as a solution to this problem. The language is largely descriptive instead of imperative so, instead of describing how to locate objects within each image, the developer simply describes the properties of the objects. The final area is the development of support tools. Vision system programming is extremely difficult because large amounts of data are handled at a very fast rate. If the system is running on an embedded device (such as a robot) then locating defects in the code is a time consuming and frustrating task. Many development-support applications are available for specific applications. We present a general purpose development-support tool for embedded, real-time vision systems. The primary case study for this research is that of Robotic soccer, in the international RoboCup Four-Legged league. We utilise all of the research of this thesis to provide the first illumination-independent object recognition system for RoboCup. Furthermore we illustrate the flexibility of our system by applying it to several other tasks and to marked changes in the visual environment for RoboCup itself.

Typescript (Photocopy) Includes paper co-authored by the author as attachment. Bibliography: leaves 133-140.

Insects are confronted with the problem of locating food, mates, prey and hosts for their young over long distances, which they often overcome using chemical plume tracking. Tracking a plume of chemical back to its source is made difficult due to the complexity of plume structure. Turbulence and shifts in the wind direction prevail over diffusion in the spreading of an airborne chemical from a point in most cases, producing intricate plumes consisting of filaments of high chemical concentration interspersed with regions of clean air. It has been proposed that insects achieve plume tracking in this environment through variations of anemotaxis, which involves travelling upwind when an attractive chemical is perceived. This study aimed to investigate anemotaxis through the use of a mobile robot to test the efficacy of algorithms which mimic the way insects achieve plume tracking and also to determine whether these algorithms are an effective means of plume tracking for a mobile robot under a range of conditions. To achieve the aims of this study, various plume-tracking algorithms were implemented on a mobile robot built to model a plume-tracking insect and their performance was compared under a range of wind conditions. The algorithms tested were based upon a range of plume-tracking hypotheses. The simplest algorithm was surge anemotaxis, where the robot surged upwind in the presence of an attractive chemical and performed crosswind casting (back and forth motion) in the absence of chemical. The other algorithms tested were the counterturner, where the robot zigzagged upwind, and two bounded search methods. To allow these algorithms to be appropriately implemented, a robot model was constructed that could move in two dimensions and sense the wind velocity and ion level at a point in space. An ion plume was used instead of a chemical plume in each test as it behaves in a similar manner to a chemical plume, but ion sensors have response and recovery times far more rapid than conventional chemical sensors, similar to insects. The plume-tracking robot was tested in three series of tests. Initially, the entire range of plume-tracking algorithms was tested in a wind tunnel with fixed wind direction for a range of wind speeds and release positions. The second series of tests compared the performance of the surge anemotaxis and bounded search algorithms, again in a wind tunnel, but with a wind shift of 20° during some of the tests. The algorithms were tested with and without a direct crosswind surge response to detected wind shifts. The third set of tests examined the performance of the simple and wind shift response algorithms outdoors using natural wind to produce the plume. All algorithms tested achieved successful plume tracking in some conditions. The surge anemotaxis and triangular bounded search algorithms were particularly successful. The tests also showed that the paths obtained from tests undertaken in natural outdoor wind conditions varied greatly from those undertaken in a wind tunnel. This indicates the need to test plume-tracking algorithms in natural environments. This is vital both in the investigation of insect plume-tracking behaviour, as insects navigate in these environments, and in the process of producing plume-tracking robots that are capable of operating effectively in these conditions. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1287973 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Mechanical Engineering, 2007

For robotic manipulation tasks in uncertain environments, research typically revolves around developing the best possible software control strategy. However, the passive dynamics of the mechanical system, including inertia, stiffness, damping and torque limits, often impose performance limitations that cannot be overcome with software control. Discussions about the passive dynamics are often imprecise, lacking comprehensive details about the physical limitations. In the first half of this paper, we develop relationships between an actuator's passive dynamics and the resulting performance, to better understanding how to tune the passive dynamics. We characterize constant-contact physical interaction tasks into two different tasks that can be roughly approximated as force control and position control and calculate the required input to produce a desired output. These exact solutions provide a basis for understanding how the parameters of the mechanical system affect the overall system's bandwidth limit without limitations of a specific control algorithm. We then present our experimental results compared to the analytical prediction for each task using a bench top actuator. Our analytical and experimental results show what, until now, has only been intuitively understood: soft systems are better at force control, stiff systems are better at position control, and there is no way to optimize an actuator for both tasks. / Graduation date: 2012