Mobile Robots XV


Book Description




Mobile Robots Navigation


Book Description

Mobile robots navigation includes different interrelated activities: (i) perception, as obtaining and interpreting sensory information; (ii) exploration, as the strategy that guides the robot to select the next direction to go; (iii) mapping, involving the construction of a spatial representation by using the sensory information perceived; (iv) localization, as the strategy to estimate the robot position within the spatial map; (v) path planning, as the strategy to find a path towards a goal location being optimal or not; and (vi) path execution, where motor actions are determined and adapted to environmental changes. The book addresses those activities by integrating results from the research work of several authors all over the world. Research cases are documented in 32 chapters organized within 7 categories next described.




Advances in Control of Articulated and Mobile Robots


Book Description

This monograph presents an updated source of information on the state of the art in advanced control of articulated and mobile robots. It includes relevant selected problems dealing with enhanced actuation, motion planning and control functions for articulated robots, as well as of sensory and autonomous decision capabilities for mobile robots. The basic idea behind the book is to provide a larger community of robotic researchers and developers with a reliable source of information and innovative applications in the field of control of cooperating and mobile robots. This book is the outcome of the research project MISTRAL (Methodologies and Integration of Subsystems and Technologies for Anthropic Robotics and Locomotion) funded in 2001-2002 by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research. The thorough discussion, rigorous treatment, and wide span of the presented work reveal the significant advances in the theoretical foundation and technology basis of the robotics field worldwide.




Nonlinear Control of Wheeled Mobile Robots


Book Description

This book examines the control problem for wheeled mobile robots. Several novel control strategies are developed and the stability of each controller is examined utilizing Lyapunov techniques. The performance of each controller is either illustrated through simulation results or experimental results. The final chapter describes how the control techniques developed for wheeled mobile robots can be applied to solve other problems with similar governing differential equations (e.g., twin rotor helicopters, surface vessels). Several appendices are included to provide the reader with the mathematical background utilized in the control development and stability analysis. Two appendices are also included that provide specific details with regard to the modifications that were done to commercially available mobile robots (e.g., a K2A manufactured by Cybermotion Inc. and a Pioneer II manufactured by Activemedia) to experimentally demonstrate the performance of the torque input controllers.




Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots, second edition


Book Description

The second edition of a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of mobile robotics, from algorithms to mechanisms. Mobile robots range from the Mars Pathfinder mission's teleoperated Sojourner to the cleaning robots in the Paris Metro. This text offers students and other interested readers an introduction to the fundamentals of mobile robotics, spanning the mechanical, motor, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive layers the field comprises. The text focuses on mobility itself, offering an overview of the mechanisms that allow a mobile robot to move through a real world environment to perform its tasks, including locomotion, sensing, localization, and motion planning. It synthesizes material from such fields as kinematics, control theory, signal analysis, computer vision, information theory, artificial intelligence, and probability theory. The book presents the techniques and technology that enable mobility in a series of interacting modules. Each chapter treats a different aspect of mobility, as the book moves from low-level to high-level details. It covers all aspects of mobile robotics, including software and hardware design considerations, related technologies, and algorithmic techniques. This second edition has been revised and updated throughout, with 130 pages of new material on such topics as locomotion, perception, localization, and planning and navigation. Problem sets have been added at the end of each chapter. Bringing together all aspects of mobile robotics into one volume, Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots can serve as a textbook or a working tool for beginning practitioners. Curriculum developed by Dr. Robert King, Colorado School of Mines, and Dr. James Conrad, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, to accompany the National Instruments LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit, are available. Included are 13 (6 by Dr. King and 7 by Dr. Conrad) laboratory exercises for using the LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit to teach mobile robotics concepts.




Robot Cognition and Navigation


Book Description

This book presents the concept of cognition in a clear, lucid and highly comprehensive style. It provides an in-depth analysis of mathematical models and algorithms, and demonstrates their application with real life experiments.




Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics XV


Book Description

This book includes significant recent research on robotic algorithms. It has been written by leading experts in the field. The 15th Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR) was held on June 22–24, 2022, at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Each chapter represents an exciting state-of-the-art development in robotic algorithms that was presented at this 15th incarnation of WAFR. Different chapters combine ideas from a wide variety of fields, spanning and combining planning (for tasks, paths, motion, navigation, coverage, and patrol), computational geometry and topology, control theory, machine learning, formal methods, game theory, information theory, and theoretical computer science. Many of these papers explore new and interesting problems and problem variants that include human–robot interaction, planning and reasoning under uncertainty, dynamic environments, distributed decision making, multi-agent coordination, and heterogeneity.




Mobile Robots


Book Description

An important feature of this book is the particular combination of topics included. These are (1) control, (2) navigation and (3) remote sensing, all with application to mobile robots. Much of the material is readily extended to any type ground vehicle. In the controls area, robot steering is the issue. Both linear and nonlinear models are treated. Various control schemes are utilized, and through these applications the reader is introduced to methods such as: (1) Linearization and use of linear control design methods for control about a reference trajectory, (2) Use of Lyapunov stability theory for nonlinear control design, (3) Derivation of optimal control strategies via Pontryagin’s maximum principle, (4) Derivation of a local coordinate system which is fundamental for the steering of vehicles along a path never before traversed. This local coordinate system has application regardless of the control design methods utilized. In the navigation area, various coordinate systems are introduced, and the transformations among them are derived. (1) The Global Positioning System (GPS) is introduced and described in significant detail. (2) Also introduced and discussed are inertial navigation systems (INS). These two methods are treated in terms of their ability to provide vehicle position as well as attitude. A preceding chapter is devoted to coordinate rotations and transformations since they play an important role in the understanding of this body of theory.




Mobile Robots


Book Description




Path Planning of Cooperative Mobile Robots Using Discrete Event Models


Book Description

Offers an integrated presentation for path planning and motion control of cooperative mobile robots using discrete-event system principles Generating feasible paths or routes between a given starting position and a goal or target position—while avoiding obstacles—is a common issue for all mobile robots. This book formulates the problem of path planning of cooperative mobile robots by using the paradigm of discrete-event systems. It presents everything readers need to know about discrete event system models—mainly Finite State Automata (FSA) and Petri Nets (PN)—and methods for centralized path planning and control of teams of identical mobile robots. Path Planning of Cooperative Mobile Robots Using Discrete Event Models begins with a brief definition of the Path Planning and Motion Control problems and their state of the art. It then presents different types of discrete models such as FSA and PNs. The RMTool MATLAB toolbox is described thereafter, for readers who will need it to provide numerical experiments in the last section. The book also discusses cell decomposition approaches and shows how the divided environment can be translated into an FSA by assigning to each cell a discrete state, while the adjacent relation together with the robot's dynamics implies the discrete transitions. Highlighting the benefits of Boolean Logic, Linear Temporal Logic, cell decomposition, Finite State Automata modeling, and Petri Nets, this book also: Synthesizes automatic strategies based on Discrete Event Systems (DES) for path planning and motion control and offers software implementations for the involved algorithms Provides a tutorial for motion planning introductory courses or related simulation-based projects using a MATLAB package called RMTool (Robot Motion Toolbox) Includes simulations for problems solved by methodologies presented in the book Path Planning of Cooperative Mobile Robots Using Discrete Event Models is an ideal book for undergraduate and graduate students and college and university professors in the areas of robotics, artificial intelligence, systems modeling, and autonomous control.