This paper presents a new method to analyze frictionless grasp immobility based on defined surface-to-surface signed distance function. Distance function's differential properties are analyzed and its second-order Taylor expansion with respect to differential motion is deduced. Based on the non-negative condition of the signed distance function, the first- and second-order free motions are defined and the corresponding conditions for immobility of frictionless grasp are derived. As one benefit of the proposed method, the second-order immobility check can be formulated as a nonlinear programming problem. Numerical examples are used to verify the proposed method.

This paper deals with processes of optimisation for the design of a four degree-of-freedom robot dedicated to remote ultrasound tele-echography. This robot is designed to track the medical gestures of a remote expert moving an ultrasound probe. The goal is to optimise the kinematic structure by fixing the geometric parameters; these have a significant role in robot configuration singularities, with respect to current medical gestures and mechanism compactness. After choosing a dedicated kinematic structure, several optimisations are presented. Then an optimal choice of geometrical parameters of a global function in relation with kinematic performance indices and compactness is proposed. This robot is soon to be used in the experimental medical phase of the Prosit project.

The effect on failure rates of the way tele-operators interact with mobile robots is investigated. Human tele-operators attempted to move a robot through progressively more complicated environments with reducing gaps, as quickly as possible. Tele-operators used a joystick and either watched robots, while operating them, or used a computer screen to view scenes remotely. Cameras were either mounted on the robot to view the space ahead of the robot or mounted remotely so that they viewed both the environment and robot. Tele-operators completed tests both with and without sensors. Both an umbilical cable and a radio link were used.

This paper introduces the design and kinematic analysis of a 5-DOF (multiple degree of freedom) hybrid-driven MR (Magnetic Resonance) compatible robot for prostate brachytherapy. It can slip the leash of template and rely on the high precise of MR imaging. After a brief introduction on design requirements of MR compatible robot, a description of our robot structure, material selection, hybrid-driven, and control architecture are presented. Secondly, the forward kinematics equations are obtained according to the equivalent diagram of this robot, and the actual workspace can be outlined. This will help the designer to determine whether this robot can be operated in the MR core without intervention with patient. And then, the inverse kinematics equations combined with trajectory planning are used to calculate the actuators movement. This will help the control system to manipulate the robotic accurately. Finally, vision based experiments on phantoms are used to verify the mechanism precision. As the results shown, the needle tip precision of mechanism is 0.9 mm in the general lab environment.

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of time and action operational costs on an objective function developed by Bechar et al. (A. Bechar, J. Meyer and Y. Edan, “An objective function to evaluate performance of human–robot collaboration in target recognition tasks,” IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part C39(6), 611–620 (2009)) for collaborative target recognition systems. Different task types, system reaction types, and environments were evaluated. Results reveal two types of task and system reactions – one focused on minimizing false alarms, and the second on detecting a target when one is presented. In addition, the analysis reveals a new property of the objective function based on a specific ratio between the weight differences that generalizes the model's objective function and facilitates its analysis. Results indicate that human decision time strongly influences system performance.

This paper analyses a mobile robot with independently rotating wheels travelling on uneven but smooth ground, including ascending or descending surfaces. We formulate a mathematical expression for the energy cost of the robot's movement. For our analysis, we utilise the principle of virtual work and assume that the robot moves with a fixed arrangement of wheel axes and without using a steering handle. The mathematical model reveals that the coefficient of friction and the payload distribution dominate the wheel behaviour, including slipping and skidding. We minimise the virtual work expression to determine the robot's motion complying with driven wheels. The model also enables us to estimate trajectories for different ground conditions. A hybrid robot, PEOPLER-II, is used to demonstrate the predicted motions, including turns and spins, by following angular velocity control rules. Experimental data verifies that the proposed formulation and minimisation of virtual work are valid techniques for predicting a robot's trajectory. The method described is widely applicable to wheeled robots having independently driven wheels.

This paper investigates the efficiency and properties of limit cycle walking, running, and skipping of a planar, active, telescopic-legged rimless wheel. First, we develop the robot equations of motion and design an output following control for the telescopic-legs' action. We then numerically show that a stable walking gait can be generated by asymmetrizing the impact posture. Second, we numerically show that a stable running gait can be generated by employing a simple feedback control of the control period, and compare the properties of the generated running gait with those of the walking gait. Furthermore, we find out another underlying gait called skipping that emerges as an extension of the walking gait. Through numerical analysis, we show that the generated skipping gaits are inherently stable and are less efficient than the other two gaits.

In this paper, we present the design, static analysis, simulation, and implementation of a novel design for a naturally stable climbing robot that has been inspired from human pole/tree climbers. The other benefits of this robot, besides being naturally stable, are its simple design, ease of control, light weight, simple mechanism, and fast climbing speed. The robot consists of three wheels, two free and one active wheel, which enable the robot to climb or descend poles. The free wheels are almost frictionless, while the active wheel has enough friction to be able to apply force on the pole for stable climbing or descending. The wheels are designed in V-shape such that the robot can compensate for misplacements eliminating possible detachment from poles. Although the robot can operate with a single free wheel, however, an extra free wheel is added to increase the stability and safety of the robot. In this paper, the static analysis of the robot is presented and the robot is simulated. Furthermore, the robot is actually implemented and successfully tested in two sizes, a small size and a big/full size. The full-scale prototype has been equipped with washing and inspection tools and tested washing actual street lights. The results show the unique characteristics of this robot that make it more stable if more weight is carried.

The gallop is the preferred gait by mammals for agile traversal through terrain. This motion is intrinsically complex as the feet are used individually and asymmetrically. Simple models provide a conceptual framework for understanding this gait. In this light, this paper considers the footfall projections as suggested by an impulse model for galloping as a measurement simplifying strategy. Instead of concentrating on forces and inverse dynamics, this view focuses observations on leg motion (footfalls and stance periods) for subsequent gallop analysis and parameter estimation. In practice, this eases experiments (particularly for IR-based motion capture) by extending the experimental workspace, removing the need for single-leg contact force-plate measurements, and reducing the marker set. This provides shorter setup times, and it reduces postprocessing as data are less likely to suffer from occlusion, errant correspondence, and tissue flexion. This approach is tested using with three canine subjects (ranging from 8 to 24 kg) performing primarily rotary gallops down a 15 m runway. Normalized results are in keeping with insights from previous animal and legged robot studies and are consistent with motions suggested by said impulse model.

This work presents the CICABOT, a novel 3-DOF translational parallel manipulator (TPM) with large workspace. The manipulator consists of two 5-bar mechanisms connected by two prismatic joints; the moving platform is on the union of these prismatic joints; each 5-bar mechanism has two legs. The mobility of the proposed mechanism, based on Gogu approach, is also presented. The inverse and direct kinematics are solved from geometric analysis. The manipulator's Jacobian is developed from the vector equation of the robot legs; the singularities can be easily derived from Jacobian matrix. The manipulator workspace is determined from analysis of a 5-bar mechanism; the resulting workspace is the intersection of two hollow cylinders that is much larger than other TPM with similar dimensions.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper focus on the adaptive impedance control of robot manipulators with consideration of joint flexibility and actuator dynamics. Controller design for this problem is difficult because each joint of the robot has to be described by a fifth-order cascade differential equation. In this paper, a backstepping-like procedure incorporating the model reference adaptive control strategy is employed to construct the impedance controller. The function approximation technique is applied to estimate time-varying uncertainties in the system dynamics. The proposed control law is free from the calculation of the tedious regressor matrix, which is a significant simplification in implementation. Closed-loop stability and boundedness of internal signals are proved by the Lyapunov-like analysis with consideration of the function approximation error. Computer simulation results are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed scheme.

Reliability of a satellite attitude control system depends on accurate detection of failures in its sensors. This paper presents an observer for robust detection and isolation of a class of failures in satellite attitude sensors. The proposed observer uses measurement of a three-axis gyro together with only one attitude sensor, and generates a residual signal which is sensitive to faults and is simultaneously robust against disturbance and noise. A nonlinear model of satellite kinematics is considered for design of the observer. The structure of the observer is in the form of a delayed continuous-time differential equation ensuring its robustness properties. A realistic simulation is provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed observer in the face of the faults occurring in a magnetometer, as the attitude sensor, and also the faults occurring in the gyro.

Self-reconfiguration of robotic manipulators under joint failure can be achieved via fault-tolerance strategies. Fault-tolerant manipulators are required to continue their end-effector motion with a minimum velocity jump, when failures occur to their joints. Optimal fault tolerance of the manipulators requires a framework that can map the velocity jump of the end-effector to the compensating joint velocity commands. The main objective of the present paper is to propose a general framework for the fault tolerance of the manipulators, which can minimize the end-effector velocity jump. In the present paper, locked joint failures of the manipulators are modeled using matrix perturbation methodology. Then, the optimal mapping for the faults with a minimum end-effector velocity jump is presented. On the basis of this mapping, the minimum end-effector velocity jump is calculated. A generalized framework is derived from the extension of optimal mapping toward multiple locked joint failures. Two novel expressions are derived representing the generalized optimal mapping framework and the generalized minimum velocity jump. These expressions are suitable for the optimal fault tolerance of the serial link redundant manipulators. The required conditions for a zero end-effector velocity jump of the manipulators are analyzed. The generalized framework in this paper is then evaluated for different failure scenarios for a 5-DOF planar manipulator and a 5-DOF spatial manipulator. The validation includes three case studies. While the first two are instantaneous studies, the third one is for the whole trajectory of the manipulators. From the results of these case studies, it is shown that, when locked joint faults occur, the faulty manipulator is able to optimally maintain its velocity with a zero end-effector velocity jump if the conditions of a zero velocity jump are hold.

This paper presents a new algorithm to find the singularity-free cylindrical workspace of parallel manipulators. Because of the limited workspace of parallel manipulators cluttered with different types of singularities, a simple and robust technique to determine continuous singularity-free zones in the workspace of parallel manipulators is required. Here, the largest singularity-free cylinder within the workspace for any prescribed orientation ranging around a reference orientation angle of moving platform is determined. To this end, Particle Swarm Optimization is utilized to find the closest point on the singularity surface to the axis of the cylinder. By implementing the algorithm on 3-RPR planar parallel manipulator, the results show that this algorithm improves the efficiency and leads to significantly larger singularity-free workspace than those reported earlier.

This paper proposes a feasible variation of approximate grid-based path-planning methods, which have been replaced with probabilistic methods nowadays, due mainly to their impracticality in high-dimensional spaces. Our aim is to demonstrate that, with an incremental exploration of the CSpace by means of Interpolated walk primitives and ANY-Time algorithms, we can generate – online – high-quality solutions that can be compared with probabilistic methods and can even improve some aspects, such as the completeness. Computational time, path smoothness, path clearance, and path distance are the qualifiers used to evaluate the path planner. These quality factors are critical in robotics. In fact, in both mobile and industrial robots, the computational time is a primary requirement to work online, the clearance gives security to the movements of the robot, and the smoothness can prolong the life of the mechanical components. Our method has been compared to probabilistic path planners, with the feasibility and benefits of our algorithm being proved in terms of the quality factors aforementioned.

This paper presents how to build an all-digital co-simulation platform of a mechtronic system so as to reduce the burden and error of system modeling. In the construction of a platform, a driving system, including a motor, a pulse-width modulation (PWM) and a controller, is simulated using Matlab/Simulink. The behavior of the mechanism is analyzed using the ADAMS software. By the proper interface function for the real-time communication between two parts of the models, a virtual working environment is established. Finally, a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller verifies the validity of the digital platform.

An adaptive computed torque (ACT) controller in the task space is proposed for the trajectory tracking of a parallel manipulator with redundant actuation. The dynamic model, including the active joint friction, is established in the task space for the parallel manipulator, and the linear parameterization expression with respect to the dynamic and friction parameters is formulated. On the basis of the dynamic model, a new control law, which contains adaptive dynamics compensation, friction compensation, and tracking error elimination terms, is designed. After defining the state-space model of the error system, the parameter adaptation law is derived by using the Lyapunov method, and the convergence of the tracking error and the error rate is proved by using the Barbalat's lemma. The ACT controller is implemented in the trajectory tracking experiments of an actual 2-DOF parallel manipulator with redundant actuation, and the experiment results are compared with the computed torque controller.

This paper proposes an experimental approach for evaluating the backlash error of an ABB IRB 1600 industrial serial robot under various conditions using a laser interferometer measurement instrument. The effects of the backlash error are assessed by experiments conducted on horizontal and vertical paths. A polynomial model was used to represent the relationship between the backlash error and the robot configuration. A strategy based on statistical tests was developed to choose the degree of polynomial representing the effect of the tool center point (TCP) speed and payload. Results show that the backlash error strongly affects the repeatability of the industrial robot. Statistical analyses prove that the backlash is highly dependent on both robot configuration and TCP speed, whereas it remains nearly unaffected by changes in the payload. It was discovered that the backlash error as measured at the TCP may exceeds 100 μm, and that the positive backlash error increases and the negative backlash error decreases when there is increase in TCP speed.

In this paper, the definition of generalized symmetric Gough–Stewart parallel manipulators is presented. The concept of dynamic isotropy is proposed and the singular values of the bandwidth matrix are introduced to evaluate dynamic isotropy and solved analytically. Considering the payload's mass-geometry characteristics, the formulations for completely dynamic isotropy are derived in close form. It is proven that a generalized symmetric Gough–Stewart parallel manipulator is easer to achieve dynamic isotropy and applicable in engineering applications. An optimization procedure based on particle swarm optimization is proposed to obtain better dexterity and large singularity-free workspace, which guarantees the optimal solution and gives mechanically feasible realization.

This paper presents a new methodology for the joint stiffness identification of industrial serial robots and as consequence for the evaluation of both translational and rotational displacements of the robot's end-effector subject to an external wrench (force and torque). In this paper, the robot's links are supposed to be quite stiffer than the actuated joints as it is usually the case with industrial serial robots. The robustness of the identification method and the sensitivity of the results to measurement errors, and the number of experimental tests are also analyzed. The Kuka KR240-2 robot is used as an illustrative example throughout the paper.