Behavior-Based Control

This article presents a new method to design, in two levels, fuzzy controller for reactive navigation of a mobile robot in a structured unknown environment. At the first level, adjacent sensors are grouped in areas and are used to define focal behaviors. These local behaviors are then gathered at the second level in order to define a global behavior. Two

Autonomous robotic systems can help for risky interventions to reduce the risk to human lives. An example of such a risky intervention is a camp surveillance scenario, where an environment needs to be patrolled and intruders need to be detected and intercepted. This paper describes the development of a mobile outdoor robot which is capable of performing such a camp surveillance task. The key research issues tackled are the robot design, geo-referenced localization and path planning, traversability estimation, the optimization of the terrain coverage strategy and the development of an intuitive human-robot interface.

In the event of an emergency due to a fire or other crisis, a necessary but time consuming pre-requisite, that could delay the real rescue operation, is to establish whether the ground or area can be entered safely by human emergency workers. The objective of the VIEW-FINDER project is to develop robots which have the primary task of gathering data. The robots are equipped with sensors that detect the presence of chemicals and, in parallel, image data is collected and forwarded to an advanced Control station (COC). The robots ...

This paper describes a hybrid architecture for robot control supported on basic properties of Hilbert spaces. The proposed architecture is in the class of behavior based paradigms, with the control objectives specified as goal sets to be reached by the robot. This characteristic is well adapted to the control of semi-autonomous robots as tasks can be loosely specified by external operators using goal regions in the workspace where to steer the robots. Simulation results on the control of a car-like robot are presented.

This paper describes a hybrid architecture for robot control supported on basic properties of Hilbert spaces. The proposed architecture is in the class of behavior based paradigms, with the control objectives specified as goal sets to be reached by the robot. This characteristic is well adapted to the control of semi-autonomous robots as tasks can be loosely specified by external operators using goal regions in the workspace where to steer the robots. Simulation results on the control of a car-like robot are presented.

This paper presents the main components of a control architecture that allows both autonomous and teleoperated navigation in agricultural and industrial environments with high obstacle density. They support user interaction, task execution, navigation, and feedback control. The architecture combines parallel behavior control concepts with hierarchical organization. Moreover, the architecture allows multilevel remote operator intervention for monitoring and control. The paper

Infrastructure support for robotic colonies, Mars habitat for humans, and/or robotic exploration of planetary surfaces will need to rely on the field deployment of multiple robust robots. This support includes such tasks as the deployment and servicing of power systems and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) generators, establishing long-life robotic science stations for measurement and communications, construction of beaconed roadways, and the site preparation and deployment of human habitat modules. Precursor robotic missions to Mars that involve teams of multiple cooperating robots to accomplish some of these tasks is a cost effective solution to the possible long timeline necessary for the deployment of a human habitat. Ongoing work at JPL in the area of robot colonies is investigating many of the technology developments necessary for such an ambitious undertaking. Some of the issues that are being addressed include behavior-based control systems for multiple cooperating robots , development of autonomous robotic systems for the repair of disabled robots, and the design and development of robotic platforms for construction tasks such as material transport and surface clearing. This paper presents the results of an examination of requirements for robotic precursor missions to Mars.

A mission of chemical plume tracing (CPT) is to navigate an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to find a chemical plume, to trace the plume to its source, and to declare the source location. This paper presents a multisensor integration strategy for source declaration subsumed in a behavior based control architecture with several individual behaviors. The performance of the proposed strategy is evaluated using a simulated turbulent fluid environment. The results show that, for 1000 test runs, the proposed strategy reaches a success rate in declaring the odor source of 98% and an average error of the declared source location about 3.27 meters in an operation area with length scales of 100 meter. Source verification is developed using a fuzzy reasoning based segmentation algorithm to recognize the odor source in color images acquired by a visual sensor in the vicinity of the odor source.

For a long time people have been interested in the similarity between living organisms and the engineering devices built by them. Recent developments in the area of service robotics show an increasing interest in personal robots. Those personal robots can help to handle daily work and to entertain people. Future service robots will more and more be able to communicate with humans in a natural way. The communication between humans is not only based on speech in fact movements and emotions are very important. The expression of those emotions is a combination of neck, eyes and skin movements. Therefore this paper presents the construction of the humanoid robot head ROMAN with artificial eyes and neck. The head includes actuators, sensors and mechanical parts which are all integrated into the head. The currents design enable the robot to include a complex sensors system and a complete emotional system. ROBOT ROMAN DO BADANIA INTERAKCJI CZ OWIEK-ROBOT Streszczenie-Od bardzo dawna ludzie s zainteresowani w podobie stwie budowanych przez siebie urz dze technicznych i organizmów ywych. Aktualnie rozwój robotów us ugowych pokazuje znaczny wzrost zainteresowania robotami osobistymi. Roboty osobiste mog u atwi i umili codzienne ycie. W przysz o ci roboty us ugowe b d mog y porozumiewa si z lud mi w bardziej naturalny sposób. Komunikacja mi dzy lud mi opiera si nie tylko na komunikacji werbalnej (s ownej) lecz równie w znacznej mierze na mimice cia a (wymowie ruchów) i emocjach wyra anych przez mimik twarzy. Emocje te s kombinacj ruchów szyi, oczu, i mi ni/skóry twarzy. W niniejszym artykule zaprezentowano rozwi zania konstrukcyjne robota humanoidalnego ROMAN, w szczególno ci g owy ze sztucznymi oczami i szyi. G owa zawiera si owniki, czujniki i uk ady mechaniczne zintegrowane w z o on konstrukcj mechatroniczn na laduj c kszta ty i wybrane funkcje g owy cz owieka. Aktualny stan projektu pozwala na w czenie skomplikowanego uk adu sensorycznego i wykonawczego do wyra ania emocji w sposób bardzo podobny jak to robi ludzie.

Limit cycles can occur when navigating unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) using behavior-based algorithms. Limit cycles occur when the robot is navigating towards the goal but enters an enclosure that has its opening in a direction opposite to the goal. The robot then becomes effectively trapped in the enclosure. This paper reports a solution to the limit cycle problem for robot

This work is presenting FIN algorithm, which is developed to assist the human operator in the teleoperation of AutoMerlin mobile robot. It enables the efficient teleoperation of the robot in the presence of random time delay and helps the operator in safe navigation through illstructured environment having scattered obstacles. It is an auxiliary intelligence which has been added to already existing speed controller to avoid obstacles autonomously. FIN algorithm takes the control of robot when certain obstacle at a specified distance is detected by ultrasonic sensors and the robot gets the command from the human operator to move in forward direction or connection is lost between human operator and the mobile robot. Then, this algorithm detects the position of obstacle relative to robot and diverts the robot in the appropriate direction to avoid collision. The robot listens to the operator only for backward movement, when the obstacle is within specified range and ignores the forward motion command and avoid obstacle autonomously and shifts back the control to human operator. Servo control has been provided to steer the robot for 2D navigation. The presented results show the performance and effectiveness of algorithm during the teleoperation of AutoMerlin.

The advantage of modular robot systems lies in their flexibility, but this advantage can only be realized if there exists some reliable, effective way of generating configurations (shapes) and behaviors (controlling programs) appropriate for a given task. In this paper, we present an end-to-end system for addressing tasks with modular robots, and demonstrate that it is capable of accomplishing challenging multi-part tasks in hardware experiments. The system consists of four tightly integrated components: (1) A high-level mission planner, (2) A design library spanning a wide set of functionality, (3) A design and simulation tool for populating the library with new configurations and behaviors, and (4) Modular robot hardware. This paper condenses the material originally presented in Jing et al. 2016 into a shorter format suitable for a broad audience.

The advantage of modular robot systems lies in their flexibility, but this advantage can only be realized if there exists some reliable, effective way of generating configurations (shapes) and behaviors (controlling programs) appropriate for a given task. In this paper, we present an end-to-end system for addressing tasks with modular robots, and demonstrate that it is capable of accomplishing challenging multi-part tasks in hardware experiments. The system consists of four tightly integrated components: (1) A high-level mission planner, (2) A large design library spanning a wide set of functionality, (3) A design and simulation tool for populating the library with new configurations and behaviors, and (4) modular robot hardware. The broader goal of this project is enabling users to address real-world tasks using modular robots. We believe this work represents an important step toward this larger goal.

This paper reports the development of a three-layer hierarchical control system for the animation of anthropomorphic avatars in three-dimensional virtual environments. The lower layer controls the movement of the avatar's joints, the second layer defines skills or basic behaviors (such as walk, run, and jump), and the highest layer executes a behavior-based script language that can be used to describe stories to be enacted by the avatars. In order to verify how flexible the proposed hierarchical approach is, the two lower control layers were implemented in two different ways, without affecting the script language layer.

Obstacle avoidance methods guarantee the robot's safety during the tracking of the planned path. Follow the Gap Method known (FGM) is a geometry-based obstacle avoidance method that continuously leads the robot to the goal point by selecting the largest gap existing around the robot. This approach calculates the heading angle by considering the distance to the closest obstacles, the angle to the goal, and the center of the gap. In this paper, a new procedure is developed to improve the gap selection in FGM, where the gaps are selected based on the prediction of gap changes during the time, considering the distance between the robot and obstacles in the future. In order to test the proposed methodology, Monte-Carlo simulations are used and the results are presented for comparison. The results demonstrate that the new procedure leads the robot to safer trajectories in comparison with classical FGM. 

Infrastructure support for robotic colonies, Mars habitat for humans, and/or robotic exploration of planetary surfaces will need to rely on the field deployment of multiple robust robots. This support includes such tasks as the deployment and servicing of power systems and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) generators, establishing long-life robotic science stations for measurement and communications, construction of beaconed roadways, and the site preparation and deployment of human habitat modules. Precursor robotic missions to Mars that involve teams of multiple cooperating robots to accomplish some of these tasks is a cost effective solution to the possible long timeline necessary for the deployment of a human habitat. Ongoing work at JPL in the area of robot colonies is investigating many of the technology developments necessary for such an ambitious undertaking. Some of the issues that are being addressed include behavior-based control systems for multiple cooperating robots , development of autonomous robotic systems for the repair of disabled robots, and the design and development of robotic platforms for construction tasks such as material transport and surface clearing. This paper presents the results of an examination of requirements for robotic precursor missions to Mars.

Se  realizó una  revisión del  estado  del  arte  en  torno  a  la  navegación  de  robots móviles  con  ruedas,  donde particularmente  se analizan  algunas  técnicas  usadas  en  el  tratamiento  de  los  hitos,  particularidades  o discontinuidades  que  se  puedan  encontrar  en  una  posible  ruta  óptima,  haciendo  principal  énfasis  en la navegación  en entornos  con pasillos  y  puertas,  dado  que  son  elementos importantes cuando  se  habla  de navegación  en  entornos  interiores  como casa, edificios,  fábricas,  etc.,  se  analizan  temas  desde  la adquisición de la señal, estrategias para el procesamiento de la información y las respuestas obtenidas.

The advantage of modular self-reconfigurable robot systems is their flexibility, but this advantage can only be realized if appropriate configurations (shapes) and behaviors (controlling programs) can be selected for a given task. In this paper, we present an integrated system for addressing high-level tasks with modular robots, and demonstrate that it is capable of accomplishing challenging, multi-part tasks in hardware experiments. The system consists of four tightly integrated components: (1) A high-level mission planner, (2) A large design library spanning a wide set of functionality, (3) A design and simulation tool for populating the library with new configurations and behaviors, and (4) modular robot hardware. This paper build on earlier work by the authors [10], extending the original system to include environmentally adaptive parametric behaviors, which integrate motion planners and feedback controllers with the system.

We present in this paper a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) combined with a predictive algorithm to track an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The UAV is equipped with a down facing camera. The video flow is sent continuously to a ground station to be processed in order to extract the location of the UGV and send the commands back to the UAV to follow autonomously the UGV. To emulate an experienced UAVs pilot, we propose a fuzzy-logic sets of rules. Double Exponential Smoothing Algorithm (DES) is used to filter the measurements and give the predictive value of the UGV pose. The FLC inputs are the filtered UGV position in the image plan and the derivative of its predicted value. The outputs are pitch and roll commands to be sent to the UAV. We show the efficiency of the proposed controller experimentally, and discuss the improvement of the tracking results compared to our previous work.

Navigation and obstacle avoidance in an unknown environment is proposed in this paper using hybrid neural network with fuzzy logic controller. The overall system is termed as Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). ANFIS combines the benefits of fuzzy logic and neural networks for the purpose of achieving robotic navigation task. Simulation results are presented using Khepera Simulator (KiKs) within MATLAB environment. Moreover, experimental results are obtained using Khepera III platform.

In the event of an emergency due to a fire or other crisis, a necessary but time consuming prerequisite , that could delay the real rescue operation, is to establish whether the ground or area can be entered safely by human emergency workers. The objective of the VIEWFINDER project is to develop robots which have the primary task of gathering data. The robots are equipped with sensors that detect the presence of chemicals and, in parallel, image data is collected and forwarded to an advanced Control station (COC). The robots will be equipped with a wide array of chemical sensors, on-board cameras, Laser and other sensors to enhance scene understanding and reconstruction. At the control station the data is processed and combined with geographical information originating from a web of sources; thus providing the personnel leading the operation with in-situ processed data that can improve decision making. The information may also be forwarded to other forces involved in the operation (e.g. fire fighters, rescue workers, police, etc.). The robots will be designed to navigate individually or cooperatively and to follow high-level instructions from the base station. The robots are off-theshelf units, consisting of wheeled robots. The robots connect wirelessly to the control station. The control station collects in-situ data and combines it with information retrieved from the large-scale GMES-information bases. It will be equipped with a sophisticated human interface to display the processed information to the human operators and operation command.

This document describes the IvP Helm-an Open Source behavior-based autonomy application for unmanned vehicles. IvP is short for interval programming-a technique for representing and solving multi-objective optimizations problems. Behaviors in the IvP Helm are reconciled using multi-objective optimization when in competition with each other for influence of the vehicle. The IvP Helm is written as a MOOS application where MOOS is a set of Open Source publish-subscribe autonomy middleware tools. This document describes the configuration and use of the IvP Helm, provides examples of simple missions and information on how to download and build the software from the MOOS-IvP server at www.moos-ivp.org. This work is the product of a multi-year collaboration between the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge Massachusetts, and the Oxford University Mobile Robotics Group.

In this work, a tradespace was introduced allowing a weighted combination of a course change and speed change when deviating from the preferred velocity vector in protocol-constrained autonomous collision avoidance algorithms. A novel iterative geometry testing technique was introduced and key evaluation metrics were studied including the introduction of a protocol-compliance metric for collision avoidance scenarios. The performance metric results differed for high-speed vessels indicating a need for parameter tuning specific to high-speed vessels before applying collision avoidance algorithms tested on slower vessels.

The harsh nature of planetary surfaces introduces many new constraints into the types of control systems suitable for use in such environments. These include low power requirements, operation within wide temperature extremes, relatively low computing capabilities and onboard memory, and multiple terrain types ranging from featureless flat plains to sheer cliffs. This paper presents the results of ongoing work at JPL and USC in autonomous rover control, which has concentrated on the development of a behavior-based control system called BISMARC. BISMARC includes full sensor and mobility models, geometric constraints, and environmental feedback based on the SRR/FIDO rovers at JPL. It is based on a biologically motivated navigation system derived from a study of human path planning in complicated exterior environments. The system has had over 800 simulation runs of a multiple cooperating rover, multiple sample return mission scenario with an overall success rate of 98.9%, and is currently being tested on the SRR rover in the Planetary Robotics Lab at JPL.

Current NASA studies are examining opportunities for the deployment of robot colonies or outposts on planetary surfaces within the solar system in the first few decades of the 21st century. This paper presents the results of some ongoing work in the Planetary Robotics Laboratory at JPL in the area of behavior-based control for cooperative multi-robot systems for a planetary robot outpost. We have recently developed a behavior-based system called BISMARC (Biologically Inspired System for Map-based Autonomous Rover Control) that uses a free flow hierarchy for its action selection mechanism. We report the results of numerous simulation studies of complicated multiple rover missions.

Robotic missions to planetary surfaces are becoming more ambitious and of longer duration. The nominal mission timeline for the MER (Mars Exploration Rovers) called Spirit and Opportunity currently on the Martian surface is 90 days, with extensions to 180 days and beyond depending on rover health. The upcoming 2009 MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) mission is planned to be 300-500 days, and will possibly involve traverses on the order of multiple kilometers. Due to time delays of up to 40 minutes round-trip for control, the rovers ...

For a long time people have been interested in the similarity between living organisms and the engineering devices built by them. Recent developments in the area of service robotics show an increasing interest in personal robots. Those personal robots can help to handle daily work and to entertain people. Future service robots will more and more be able to communicate with humans in a natural way. The communication between humans is not only based on speech in fact movements and emotions are very important. The expression of those emotions is a combination of neck, eyes and skin movements. Therefore this paper presents the construction of the humanoid robot head ROMAN with artificial eyes and neck. The head includes actuators, sensors and mechanical parts which are all integrated into the head. The currents design enable the robot to include a complex sensors system and a complete emotional system. ROBOT ROMAN DO BADANIA INTERAKCJI CZ OWIEK-ROBOT Streszczenie-Od bardzo dawna ludzie s zainteresowani w podobie stwie budowanych przez siebie urz dze technicznych i organizmów ywych. Aktualnie rozwój robotów us ugowych pokazuje znaczny wzrost zainteresowania robotami osobistymi. Roboty osobiste mog u atwi i umili codzienne ycie. W przysz o ci roboty us ugowe b d mog y porozumiewa si z lud mi w bardziej naturalny sposób. Komunikacja mi dzy lud mi opiera si nie tylko na komunikacji werbalnej (s ownej) lecz równie w znacznej mierze na mimice cia a (wymowie ruchów) i emocjach wyra anych przez mimik twarzy. Emocje te s kombinacj ruchów szyi, oczu, i mi ni/skóry twarzy. W niniejszym artykule zaprezentowano rozwi zania konstrukcyjne robota humanoidalnego ROMAN, w szczególno ci g owy ze sztucznymi oczami i szyi. G owa zawiera si owniki, czujniki i uk ady mechaniczne zintegrowane w z o on konstrukcj mechatroniczn na laduj c kszta ty i wybrane funkcje g owy cz owieka. Aktualny stan projektu pozwala na w czenie skomplikowanego uk adu sensorycznego i wykonawczego do wyra ania emocji w sposób bardzo podobny jak to robi ludzie.

The present sequential "mission oriented" approach to robotic planetary exploration, could be changed to an "infrastructure building" approach where a robotic presence is permanent, self sustaining and growing with each mission. We call this self-sustaining robotic ecology approach "robosphere" and discuss the technological issues that need to be addressed before this concept can be realized. One of the major advantages of this approach is that a robosphere would include much of the infrastructure required by human explorers and would thus lower the preparation and risk threshold inherent in the transition from robotic to human exploration. In this context we discuss some implications for space architecture.

This article presents a new method to design, in two levels, fuzzy controller for reactive navigation of a mobile robot in a structured unknown environment. At the first level, adjacent sensors are grouped in areas and are used to define focal behaviors. These local behaviors are then gathered at the second level in order to define a global behavior. Two

Payload tracking maintains alignment between a payload and a target while both payload and target may be moving. This research investigates the generic problem of tracking from a mobile robot. A tracking strategy based on subsystem interactions is developed along with tools to model and evaluate payload tracking, metrics for evaluating tracking configurations, and guidelines for developing configurations suitable for payload tracking from mobile robots. The strategy was implemented to design a communication system to achieve high bandwidth communication from a desert exploring mobile robot using active pointed high gain antennas.

What: Robots with hand-designed controllers are already engaged in a wide variety of behaviors, from sweeping floors to wandering the surface of Mars. But none of these robots will ever be confused with a living creature. When a typical robot becomes confused or ...

The European vision of the Factory of the Future is based on increasing competition and sustainability by transformation from cost orientation to high-adding value with technical and organisational innovations. One of the expected outcomes is an increase in modularisation, i.e., the reconfigurability of the technical system in manufacturing conditions. Modular manufacturing systems (MMS), will consist of modular platforms (MP) that are capable of rapid rebuilding, and reconfiguration performed by adding or removing a module by Mobile Robotic Systems (MRS). In the conditions of MMS, to make the most efficient use of reconfiguration MRS capacities, it is necessary to know the optimal ratio of these MRS to the number of modular platforms (MP) used in MMS, which does not exist today. This ratio will help industrial companies that are deploying MMS-based solutions to plan the number of MRSs needed to reconfigure deployed systems. As a method of determining this optimal ratio, an experime...

Resumen. En este artículo se presentan dos alternativas para el control de navegación de una silla de ruedas eléctrica en condiciones de espacio reducido. Como primera opción, se propone una estructura empleando lógica difusa con universo de discurso ajustable. Dependiendo de la distancia promedio registrada por tres sensores ultrasónicos, se modifican los parámetros de los conjuntos difusos para expandirlos o contraerlos. Posteriormente, con los datos del ajuste máximo y mínimo de los conjuntos obtenidos, se definieron funciones difusas tipo 2 y se implementó un controlador de lógica difusa tipo 2. Las trayectorias obtenidas en las pruebas realizadas para ambas versiones muestran ventajas en la adaptabilidad al espacio disponible en el escenario de navegación.

Maximiliano Bueno-López*. Marco A. Arteaga-Pérez**. Carlos A. Torres-Pinzón***  *Universidad de La Salle, Programa de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Bogotá D.C. Colombia (Tel: +571-3535360 Ext.:2528; e-mail: maxbueno@unisalle.edu.co). **Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., México Departamento de Control y Robótica. División de Ingeniería Eléctrica de la Facultad de Ingeniería (e-mail:marteagp@unam.mx) *** Universidad Santo Tomás, Facultad de Ingeniería Electrónica, Bogotá D.C. Colombia, (e-mail: carlostorresp@usantotomas.edu.co)

Applications of autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) in field operations have expanded from simple transportation tasks to complicated tasks such as military and rescue missions. The complexity in controlling these vehicles increases with the complexity of the tasks that the vehicles are intended for and the environment in which they are to operate. The behavior robotics approach has been adopted as a paradigm for controlling these systems. Due the uncertainty that surrounds the vehicle dynamics and their environments, fuzzy logic control approaches for navigation control have been developed, hence resulting in fuzzy behavior control systems. Two types of behavior structures have been proposed: the univalued and multivalued behaviors. This paper1 presents a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the structure and performance of these behavior systems. The quantitative performance comparison is performed by using nu- merical simulation results for the motions of two identical AGVs e...

A manned Mars habitat will require a significant amount of infrastructure that can be deployed using robotic precursor missions. This infrastructure deployment will probably include the use of multiple, heterogeneous, mobile robotic platforms. Delays due to the long communication path to Mars limit the amount of teleoperation that is possible. A control architecture called CAMPOUT (Control Architecture for Multirobot Planetary Outposts) is currently under development at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA. It is a three layer behavior-based system that incorporates the low level control routines currently used on the JPL SRR/FIDO/LEMUR rovers. The middle behavior layer uses either the BISMARC (Biologically Inspired System for Mapbased Autonomous Rover Control) or MOBC (Multi-Objective Behavior Control) action selection mechanisms. CAMPOUT includes the necessary group behaviors and communication mechanisms for coordinated/cooperative control of heterogeneous robotic platforms. We report the results of some ongoing work at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA on the transport phase of a photovoltaic (PV) tent deployment mission.

O ver the last decade, several miniature robots have been proposed to be used for investigation operations in narrow spaces [1], [2]. These robots became popular because of their low cost, rapid prototyping, and high maneuverability [3], [4], [5]. With all of these capabilities, many different miniature robots have been designed to serve different duties with their interesting mechanical designs. Because of the lightweight nature of the miniature scale, researchers designed miniature jumping robots that can jump 27 times higher than their own height [6]. Some researchers also proposed controllers for their stance phase [7]. Several research groups also combined jumping and running and manufactured palm-size robots that can both run and jump [8], [9]. However, these miniature robots suffer from locomotion issues while moving in confined spaces such as collapsed buildings after natural disasters or closed areas like inside metal pipes. To tackle these problems, researchers proposed c-shaped legged robots. RHex is one of the first robots developed as c-shaped legged robots [10]. With the help of a c-shaped structure, the legs have compliance, and this helps the robot to have better locomotion over different terrains. But many of the c-shaped

Este artículo describe el diseño de un sistema de control difuso basado en comportamiento, para la navegación de un robot móvil. El sistema de control difuso provee un mecanismo que combina los datos provenientes de los sensores del sistema de sonar del robot. Se establecen dos jerarquías para el comportamiento del sistema. El comportamiento de alto nivel consiste en la evasión de obstáculos y el sistema de bajo nivel consiste en un comportamiento de emergencia. Cada comportamiento constituye una estrategia de control autónoma basada en la "arquitectura de máquinas inteligentes".

In this work, a tradespace was introduced allowing a weighted combination of a course change and speed change when deviating from the preferred velocity vector in protocol-constrained autonomous collision avoidance algorithms. A novel iterative geometry testing technique was introduced and key evaluation metrics were studied including the introduction of a protocol-compliance metric for collision avoidance scenarios. The performance metric results differed for high-speed vessels indicating a need for parameter tuning specific to high-speed vessels before applying collision avoidance algorithms tested on slower vessels.

The field of autonomous collision avoidance has continued to advance in many areas including sensory and perception, navigation, payload integration, and collision avoidance. The advances in collision avoidance, however, have largely focused on iterative changes to the velocity obstacle - an algorithm that inherently loses important collision avoidance information key to replicating a human-like decision space. This thesis examines algorithms that generalize the traditional velocity obstacle into a multi-threshold based approach that more realistically represent and evaluate human ship driving practices. Novel protocol-constrained collision avoidance evaluation algorithms are proposed including the ability to perform both on-line and post-mission analysis of both robots and humans. These algorithms become especially important when considering complex missions of competing objectives in a contact-dense, protocol-constrained collision avoidance environment. Introduction of competing p...

Collision avoidance protocols such as COL-REGS are written primarily for human operators resulting in a rule set that is open to some interpretation, difficult to quantify, and challenging to evaluate. Increasing use of autonomous control of vehicles emphasizes the need to more uniformly establish entry and exit criteria for collision avoidance rules, adopt a means to quantitatively evaluate performance, and establish a "road test" for autonomous marine vehicle collision avoidance. This paper presents a means to quantify and subsequently evaluate the otherwise subjective nature of COLREGS thus providing a path toward standardized evaluation and certification of protocol-constrained collision avoidance systems based on admiralty case law and on-water experience. Notional algorithms are presented for evaluation of COLREGS collision avoidance rules to include overtaking, head-on, crossing, give-way, and stand-on rules as well as applicable entry criteria. These rules complement and enable an autonomous collision avoidance road test as a first iteration of algorithm certification prior to vessels operating in human-present environments. Additional COLREGS rules are discussed for future development. Both real-time and post-mission protocol evaluation tools are introduced. While the motivation of these techniques applies to improvement of autonomous marine collision avoidance, the concepts for

High contact density environments are becoming ubiquitous in autonomous marine vehicle (AMV) operations. Safely managing these environments and their mission greatly taxes platforms. AMV collisions will likely increase as contact density increases. In situations where AMVs are not performing a collaborative mission but are using shared physical space such as multiple vehicles in the same harbor, a high demand exists for safe and e cient operation to minimize mission track deviations while preserving the safety and integrity of mission platforms. With no existing protocol for collision avoidance of AMVs, much e↵ort to date has focused on individual ad hoc collision avoidance approaches that are self-serving, lack the uniformity of fleet-distributed protocols, and disregard the overall fleet e ciency when scaled to being in a contact-dense environment. This research shows that by applying interval programming and a collision avoidance protocol such as the International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) to a fleet of AMVs operating in the same geographic area, the fleet achieves nearly identical e ciency concurrent with significant reductions in the collisions observed. A basic collision avoidance protocol was analyzed against a COLREGS-based algorithm while parameters key to collision avoidance were studied using Monte Carlo methods and regression analysis of both real-world and simulated statistical data. A testing metric was proposed for declaring AMVs as "COLREGS-compliant" for at-sea operations. This work tested five AMVs simultaneously with COLREGS collision avoidance-the largest test known to date.

For a long time people have been interested in the similarity between living organisms and the engineering devices built by them. Recent developments in the area of service robotics show an increasing interest in personal robots. Those personal robots can help to handle daily work and to entertain people. Future service robots will more and more be able to communicate with humans in a natural way. The communication between humans is not only based on speech in fact movements and emotions are very important. The expression of those emotions is a combination of neck, eyes and skin movements. Therefore this paper presents the construction of the humanoid robot head ROMAN with artificial eyes and neck. The head includes actuators, sensors and mechanical parts which are all integrated into the head. The currents design enable the robot to include a complex sensors system and a complete emotional system. ROBOT ROMAN DO BADANIA INTERAKCJI CZ OWIEK-ROBOT Streszczenie-Od bardzo dawna ludzie s zainteresowani w podobie stwie budowanych przez siebie urz dze technicznych i organizmów ywych. Aktualnie rozwój robotów us ugowych pokazuje znaczny wzrost zainteresowania robotami osobistymi. Roboty osobiste mog u atwi i umili codzienne ycie. W przysz o ci roboty us ugowe b d mog y porozumiewa si z lud mi w bardziej naturalny sposób. Komunikacja mi dzy lud mi opiera si nie tylko na komunikacji werbalnej (s ownej) lecz równie w znacznej mierze na mimice cia a (wymowie ruchów) i emocjach wyra anych przez mimik twarzy. Emocje te s kombinacj ruchów szyi, oczu, i mi ni/skóry twarzy. W niniejszym artykule zaprezentowano rozwi zania konstrukcyjne robota humanoidalnego ROMAN, w szczególno ci g owy ze sztucznymi oczami i szyi. G owa zawiera si owniki, czujniki i uk ady mechaniczne zintegrowane w z o on konstrukcj mechatroniczn na laduj c kszta ty i wybrane funkcje g owy cz owieka. Aktualny stan projektu pozwala na w czenie skomplikowanego uk adu sensorycznego i wykonawczego do wyra ania emocji w sposób bardzo podobny jak to robi ludzie.

En este artículo se presenta una arquitectura de control basada en el paradigma reactivo para dar solución al problema de la navegación autónoma de robots móviles con capacidades de cómputo y sensórica limitadas. Se destacan como los aportes más relevantes en este trabajo, el encapsulamiento de una arquitectura de control basada en comportamientos en un sistema embebido programable con capacidades de procesamiento limitadas y el uso de la teoría de control fuzzy en la implementación del comportamiento básico de seguimiento de paredes. Las pruebas experimentales se realizaron sobre una plataforma robótica provista de tres sensores ultrasónicos y un módulo de comunicaciones inalámbricas. Este módulo soporta el protocolo 802.15.4 en la banda ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical), a través de él se transfieren medidas sensoriales a un PC en el que se elaboran representaciones computacionales del entorno explorado.

This study investigates on the use of a new Fuzzy GS-PID controller in reducing the overshoot of a quadrotor during payload drop missions. The new controller design involves a synergy of fuzzy logic reasoning and GS-PID control theory to improve performance of the quadrotor. The payload mass was made as the input to the controller while utilizing fuzzy logic reasoning to obtain the proper gains for the GS-PID controller. The control algorithm was tested on a locally developed quadrotor system with a payload drop test rig to verify its effectiveness during actual implementation. Results show that the Fuzzy GS-PID controller was able to reduce the overshoot of the system as compared to the PID and the GS-PID controllers.

This paper presents a hybrid architecture for robot control supported on basic concepts from the geometry of Hilbert spaces and nonsmooth calculus. The architecture develops in two classic layers. A supervising layer chooses which motion strategies to apply from a set contained in an execution layer. The paper focuses mainly in the lower execution layer, motivated by the control of semi-autonomous robots. A set of experiments on the control of unicycle robots is presented.

This paper presents a hybrid architecture for robot control supported on basic concepts from the geometry of Hilbert spaces and nonsmooth calculus. The architecture develops in two classic layers. A supervising layer chooses which motion strategies to apply from a set contained in an execution layer. The paper focuses mainly in the lower execution layer, motivated by the control of semi-autonomous robots. A set of experiments on the control of unicycle robots is presented.