This paper presents the use of 3 axis accelerometer for getting the gait information including the number of gaits, stride and walking distance. Travel distance is usually calculated from the double integration of the accelerometer output with respect to time; however, the accumulated errors due to the drift are inevitable. The orientation change of the accelerometer also causes error because the gravity is added to the measured acceleration. Unless three axis orientations are completely identified, the accelerometer alone does not provide correct acceleration for estimating the travel distance. We proposed a way of minimizing the error due to the change of the orientation. Pedestrian localization is implemented with the heading angle and the travel distance. Heading angle is estimated from the rate gyro and the magnetic compass measurements. The performance of the localization is presented with experimental data.
The trailer system offers efficiency of transportation capability. However, it is difficult to control the backward motion. It is an open loop unstable problem. To solve this problem, we are proposed the driver assistance system. Driver assistance system assists a driver to control the backward motion of trailer system as if forward motion. A driver only secure the rear view of last passive trailer, and select the control input to drive the last passive trailer. The driver assistance system converts the control input of the driver into velocity and steering angle of the vehicle using the inverse kinematics. It is possible by electronic control input devices and the rear view camera. Effectiveness of driving assistance system is verified by the simulation and the experiments.
In order to produce a convenient robot for the aged and the lower limb disabled, it is needed for the research detecting implicit walking intention and controlling robot by a user's intention. In this study, we developed sensor module system to control the walking- assist robot using FSR sensor and tilt sensor, and analyzed the signals being acquired from two sensors. The sensor module system consisted of the assist device control unit, communication unit by wire/wireless, information collection unit, information operation unit, and information processing PC which handles integrated processing of assist device control. The FSR sensors attached user's the palm and the soles of foot are sensing force/pressure signals from these areas and are used for detecting the walking intention and states. The tilt sensor acquires roll and pitch signal from area of vertebrae lumbales and reflects the pose of the upper limb. We could recognize the more detailed user's walking intention such as 'start walking', ''start of right or left foot forward', and 'stop walking' by the combination of FSR and tilt signals can recognize.
A gradient method can provide a global optimal path in indoor environments. However, the optimal path can be often generated in narrow areas despite a sufficient wide area which lead to safe navigation. This paper presents a novel approach to path planning for safe navigation of a mobile robot. The proposed algorithm extracts empty regions using a ray-casting method and then generates temporary waypoints in wider regions in order to reach the goal fast and safely. The experimental results show that the proposed method can generate paths in the wide regions in most cases and the robot can reach the goal safely at high speeds.
This paper proposes an efficient measurement system for the velocity and direction of the wind using the dual rotor wind power generator in vessel. Conventional digital measurement system recognizes the direction and the velocity of the wind using the electric compass or synchronous motor and Vane probe method using hall sensors. But each system has its own short-comings: the synchronous motor has a larger measurement error than the magnetic compass and magnetic compass is weak for the external disturbances such as fluctuation of the vessel. To compensate these short-comings, this paper proposes a new compensation algorithm for the fluctuation errors according to the external interference and the unexpected movement of the vessel along the roll and pitch directions. The proposed system is implemented with the dual compasses and a synchronous motor. The proposed independent power generation system can be operated by itself and can raise the efficiency of the wind power generation systems of 30 ~ 400 W installed along the vertical and horizontal axes. The proposed system also realizes the efficient and reliable power production system by the MPPT algorithm for the real-time recognition of the wind direction and velocity. An advanced switching algorithm for the battery charging system has been also proposed. Effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been verified through the real experiments and the results are demonstrated.
This paper proposes a new string controller for puppet which is optimized in terms of the number of motors and its size. To optimize the number of motors needed for generating the essential motions of puppet, the motion of bending a leg is implemented by one string and the walking motion by two legs is implemented by one motor. To minimize the space needed for the controller when generating the essential motions of puppet, cylindrical and articulated joints are used in the controller. The proposed controller is actually implemented to perform various puppet shows and it has been proved that the size of the controller is small enough for two puppets to stand close to shake hands and it is fast enough to simulate fast dance motions.
Marionette controlling robot has a problem that generates interference in rotation and intersection, therefore, the research on the independent shifter to move freely on the stage is required. Connecting omni-directional mobile robot with marionette controlling robot can solve this problem. Omni-directional mobile robot makes itself rotate and translate in 2D plane freely. Magnetic device is used to connect the moving part with the control part of the robot to minimize the intereference generated by the movement of robot. When robot moves, it can move to all directions with the suitalbe setting of banlance power. The moment of inertia is minimized by dividing the robot to the upper and lower parts in the marionette performance stage. Rotation and interference problem of independent omni-wheel Robot can be solved by using the permanent magnet. The efficiency and safety of the marionette controlling robot is proved by the experiment.
This paper presents a study of path-planning method for AGV(automated guided vehicle) based on path-tracking. It is important to find an optimized path among the AGV techniques. This is due to the fact that the AGV is conditioned to follow the predetermined path. Consequently, the path-planning method is implemented directly affects the whole AGV operation in terms of its performance efficiency. In many existing methods are used optimization algorithms to find optimized path. However, such methods are often prone with problems in handling the issue of inefficiency that exists in system's operation due to inherent undue time delay created by heavy load of complex computation. To solve such problems, we offer path-planning method using modified binary tree. For the purpose of our experiment, we initially designed a AGV that is equiped with laser navigation, two encoders, a gyro sensor that is meant to be operated within actual environment with given set of constrictions and layout for the AGV testing. The result of our study reflects the fact that within such environments, the proposed method showed improvement in its efficiency in finding optimized path.
One of the requirements for autonomous vehicles on off-road is to move stably in unstructured environments. Such capacity of autonomous vehicles is one of the most important abilities in consideration of mobility. So, many researchers use contact and/or non-contact methods to determine a terrain whether the vehicle can move on or not. In this paper we introduce an algorithm to classify terrains using visual information(one of the non-contacting methods). As a pre-processing, a contrast enhancement technique is introduced to improve classification of terrain. Also, for conducting classification algorithm, training images are grouped according to materials of the surface, and then Bayesian classification are applied to new images to determine membership to each group. In addition to the classification, we can build Traversability map specified by friction coefficients on which autonomous vehicles can decide to go or not. Experiments are made with Load-Cell to determine real friction coefficients of various terrains.
We presents a dynamic modeling of 4-wheel 2-DOF. WMR. The classic dynamic model utilizes a greatly simplified wheel motion representation and using of a simplified dynamic model confronts with a problem for accurate position control of wheeled mobile robot. In this paper, we treats the dynamic model for describes relationship between the wheel actuator force/torque and WMR motion through the use of Newton's equilibrium laws. To calculate the WMR position in real time, we introduced the Dead-Reckoning algorithms and the simulation result show that the proposed dynamic model is useful. We can be easily extend the proposed WMR model to mobile robot of similar type and this type of methodology is useful to analyze, design and control any kinds of rolling robots.
This study proposes the design method for the robot rotation arm which the end effector that is connected in end of the arm keeps parallel motion even though the robot arm rotates. So far, most robot arm rotates together the end effector when the arm rotates. For this, this study proposes the mechanism that the arm is linked to each 4 parallel link so that rotation is possible by 4 pins, and the rotation arm connects 2 joints of diagonal line direction to a link in each 4 joint for rotation, and designs so that can change length of the link. For verification of design, this study targeted that develop the rotation arm for medical examination that use in ophthalmology. It is important that a medical robot offers comport to patient and design compactly so that medical examination and treatment space may can be defined enough. It is designed so that all drive elements may be positioned on interior of the arm and optimization of design for main parts was carried out in this study for this. The robot arm which is developed in this study manufactured to use by medical phoropter arm, and got good result by an experiment. The robot rotation arm which is proposed in this study is judged to contribute very effectively in case use of a medical robot arm for medical examination and treatment, also the robot arm which the end effector that is connected in the end of the arm needs to keep parallel motion. And, the robot arm which is developed in this study made an application as license.
This paper proposes a robust image stabilization system for a mobile robot using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Though image information is one of the most efficient data used for robot navigation, it is subjected to noise which is the result of internal vibration as well as external factors such as uneven terrain, stairs, or marshy surfaces. The camera vibration deteriorates the image resolution by destroying the image sharpness, which seriously prevents mobile robots from recognizing their environment for navigation. In this paper, an inclinometer was used to measure the vibration angle of the camera system mounted on the robot to obtain a reliable image by compensating for the angle of the camera vibration. In addition the angle prediction obtained by using the EKF enhances the image response analysis for real time performance. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed system used to compensate for the blurring of the images.