Embedded systems for humanoid robots are required to be reliable, low in cost, scalable and robust. Most of the applications related to humanoid robots require efficient force control of Series Elastic Actuators (SEA). These control loops often introduce precise timing requirements due to the safety critical nature of the underlying hardware. Also the motor controller needs to run fast and interface with several sensors. The commercially available motor controllers generally do not satisfy all the requirements of speed, reliability, ease of use and small size. This work presents a custom motor controller, which can be used for real time force control of SEA on humanoid robots and exoskeletons. Emphasis has been laid on designing a system which is scalable, easy to use and robust. The hardware and software architecture for control has been presented along with the results obtained on a novel Series Elastic Actuator based humanoid robot THOR. / Master of Science / Humanoid robots can be used in several applications such as disaster management, replacing manual work in hazardous environments, helping human beings in navigation and day to day activities, etc. This increase in interests in humanoid robotics and related research in exoskeletons has led to the need of reliable embedded systems which is used to control the machines. These embedded systems are often required to be low in cost, scalable and robust. The specification required from the electronics and the embedded systems vary based on the robot’s capabilities. Also, there is a gap between the requirements of humanoid robots in research and in industrial setting. This work focuses on bridging the gap by proposing a solution which is semi-custom, low in cost, reliable and scalable. The work has been shown to perform as expected on the stat-of-art humanoid robot THOR which was built at Virginia Tech. Using the proposed design technique can not only deliver good performance but can also act as a quick prototyping tool for other robotics projects related to humanoid robotics and exoskeletons.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78734 |
| Date | 24 August 2017 |
| Creators | Shah, Shriya |
| Contributors | Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tokekar, Pratap, Leonessa, Alexander, Stilwell, Daniel J., Asbeck, Alan T. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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