Motion Planning And Control Of Cooperative Robotic Systems

This book addresses the broad multi-disciplinary topic of robotics, and presents the basic techniques for motion and operation planning in robotics systems. Gathering contributions from experts in diverse and wide ranging fields, it offers an overview of the most recent and cutting-edge practical applications of these methodologies. It covers both theoretical and practical approaches, and elucidates the transition from theory to implementation. An extensive analysis is provided, including humanoids, manipulators, aerial robots and ground mobile robots. ‘Motion and Operation Planning of Robotic Systems’ addresses the following topics: *The theoretical background of robotics. *Application of motion planning techniques to manipulators, such as serial and parallel manipulators. *Mobile robots planning, including robotic applications related to aerial robots, large scale robots and traditional wheeled robots. *Motion planning for humanoid robots. An invaluable reference text for graduate students and researchers in robotics, this book is also intended for researchers studying robotics control design, user interfaces, modelling, simulation, sensors, humanoid robotics.

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.

Offers a theoretical and practical guide to the communication and navigation of autonomous mobile robots and multi-robot systems This book covers the methods and algorithms for the navigation, motion planning, and control of mobile robots acting individually and in groups. It addresses methods of positioning in global and local coordinates systems, off-line and on-line path-planning, sensing and sensors fusion, algorithms of obstacle avoidance, swarming techniques and cooperative behavior. The book includes ready-to-use algorithms, numerical examples and simulations, which can be directly implemented in both simple and advanced mobile robots, and is accompanied by a website hosting codes, videos, and PowerPoint slides Autonomous Mobile Robots and Multi-Robot Systems: Motion-Planning, Communication and Swarming consists of four main parts. The first looks at the models and algorithms of navigation and motion planning in global coordinates systems with complete information about the robot’s location and velocity. The second part considers the motion of the robots in the potential field, which is defined by the environmental states of the robot's expectations and knowledge. The robot's motion in the unknown environments and the corresponding tasks of environment mapping using sensed information is covered in the third part. The fourth part deals with the multi-robot systems and swarm dynamics in two and three dimensions. Provides a self-contained, theoretical guide to understanding mobile robot control and navigation Features implementable algorithms, numerical examples, and simulations Includes coverage of models of motion in global and local coordinates systems with and without direct communication between the robots Supplemented by a companion website offering codes, videos, and PowerPoint slides Autonomous Mobile Robots and Multi-Robot Systems: Motion-Planning, Communication and Swarming is an excellent tool for researchers, lecturers, senior undergraduate and graduate students, and engineers dealing with mobile robots and related issues.

Various missions can be carried out by intelligent robotic systems, especially for some dangerous tasks in inaccessible regions by human operators on behalf of humans, thanks to the development of robotic technology. In contrast to common urban robots, which can be maintained frequently by operators, sustainability must be considered for robots to perform competently without human assistance at a distance with limited energy sources. Sustainability refers to achieving development and implementation without wasting economic and environmental resources. That is why, for future generations or in the long-term period, minimizing wasted resources while increasing efficiency in teamed robotics missions ensures sustainability for robotic units. The robots deployed for performing even a primary quest, such as a target-visiting mission formulated into ``Traveling Salesperson Problem,'' in a continuously changing environment require reliable energy sources or strategies, energy-efficient maneuvers, situation awareness in a mission area, and well-defined planning for deployment. This dissertation introduces several elements to achieve the goal of sustainability. First, unmanned vehicles harvest renewable energy, such as solar energy, during the mission area and use harvested energy to compensate for energy consumption, which significantly extends the mission duration. In addition, deploying fixed or mobile charging stations provides greater flexibility in mission planning by recharging the mobile robots during the missions. Second, a robot containing unconventional functions to perform a specific duty in a particular mission environment has much higher efficiency than a general robot performing the same task. While changing the structure or geometry of the part of the robot or utilizing a unique mechanism, it increases sustainability by lowering the energy consumption or executing time compared to the conventional robots. Third, when multiple robots are deployed, it can be verified that a shorter mission period can be achieved through cooperation of multiple robots. Furthermore, a team combined with robots characterized by unique features can bridge the gaps that a single robot cannot achieve in a specific mission. Fourth, task assignments considering distinct robot characteristics can improve mission efficiency. Furthermore, when the robot's mission environment is monitored during the mission planning, it enhances not only the autonomy of the robots but also mission efficiency, which collectively contributes to overall system sustainability. This dissertation enhances sustainability through improved autonomy by combining motion control, integrated path planning, task allocation, and developing new functions. This work presents four robotic systems with various types of unmanned aerial and ground systems, including (1) design and control of a solar-powered airship, (2) design and path planning of an airborne wind energy system with foldable wings, (3) integrated path planning and task allocation for a team of jumping rovers, and (4) cooperative control of a team of rovers consisting of a solar-powered rover as a charging station and a jumping rover. In order to realize improved mission efficiency and enhance the performance of mission duration, ultimately aimed at increasing the sustainability of the robots, several aspects are considered in each application. The products of this dissertation include system design, algorithm development, and experimental verification, which enhance the sustainability of the missions for different types of unmanned robots in remote areas. Each robotic system in this dissertation provides potential and extension for a wide range of unmanned robots in various missions requiring high-level autonomy. The outcome of this study includes main ideas, algorithms, and test analysis that will enhance the sustainability of the missions with multiple unmanned robots in remote areas. The dissertation has demonstrated that integrating design, motion planning, and control can efficiently extend the mission duration for various robotic systems. Furthermore, the sustainability of these robotics systems has been demonstrated via simulation or experimentation under various indoor and outdoor missions.

This volume presents a collection of papers presented at the 14th International Symposium of Robotic Research (ISRR). ISRR is the biennial meeting of the International Foundation of Robotic Research (IFRR) and its 14th edition took place in Lucerne, Switzerland, from August 31st to September 3rd, 2009. As for the previous symposia, ISRR 2009 followed up on the successful concept of a mixture of invited contributions and open submissions. Half of the 48 presentations were therefore invited contributions from outstanding researchers selected by the IFRR officers, and half were chosen among the 66 submissions after peer review. This selection process resulted in a truly excellent technical program which, we believe, featured some of the very best of robotic research. Out of the 48 presentations, the 42 papers which were finally submitted for publication are organized in 8 sections that encompass the major research orientations in robotics: Navigation, Control & Planning, Human-Robot Interaction, Manipulation and Humanoids, Learning, Mapping, Multi-Robot Systems, and Micro-Robotics. They represent an excellent snapshot of cutting-edge research in robotics and outline future directions.

The 6th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2002) was held in June 2002 in Fukuoka, Japan, a decade after the first DARS symposium was convened. This book, containing the proceedings of the symposium, provides broad coverage of the technical issues in the current state of the art in distributed autonomous systems composed of multiple robots, robotic modules, or robotic agents. DARS 2002 dealt with new strategies for realizing complex, modular, robust, and fault-tolerant robotic systems, and this volume covers the technical areas of system design, modeling, simulation, operation, sensing, planning, and control. The papers that are included here were contributed by leading researchers from Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas, and make up an invaluable resource for researchers and students in the field of distributed autonomous robotic systems.

This book, Motion Planning for Dynamic Agents, presents a thorough overview of current advancements and provides insights into the fascinating and vital field of aeronautics. It focuses on modern research and development, with an emphasis on dynamic agents. The chapters address a wide range of complex capabilities, including formation control, guidance and navigation, control techniques, wide-space coverage for inspection and exploration, and the best pathfinding in unknown territory. This book is a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners, and amateurs alike due to the variety of perspectives that are included, which help readers gain a sophisticated understanding of the difficulties and developments in the area of study.

One of the ultimate goals in Robotics is to create autonomous robots. Such robots will accept high-level descriptions of tasks and will execute them without further human intervention. The input descriptions will specify what the user wants done rather than how to do it. The robots will be any kind of versatile mechanical device equipped with actuators and sensors under the control of a computing system. Making progress toward autonomous robots is of major practical inter est in a wide variety of application domains including manufacturing, construction, waste management, space exploration, undersea work, as sistance for the disabled, and medical surgery. It is also of great technical interest, especially for Computer Science, because it raises challenging and rich computational issues from which new concepts of broad useful ness are likely to emerge. Developing the technologies necessary for autonomous robots is a formidable undertaking with deep interweaved ramifications in auto mated reasoning, perception and control. It raises many important prob lems. One of them - motion planning - is the central theme of this book. It can be loosely stated as follows: How can a robot decide what motions to perform in order to achieve goal arrangements of physical objects? This capability is eminently necessary since, by definition, a robot accomplishes tasks by moving in the real world. The minimum one would expect from an autonomous robot is the ability to plan its x Preface own motions.