To evaluate our three-axis tactile sensor developed in preceding papers, a tactile sensor is mounted on a robotic finger with 3-degrees of freedom. We develop a dual computer system that possesses two computers to enhance processing speed: one is for tactile information processing and the other controls the robotic finger; these computers are connected to a local area network. Three kinds of experiments are performed to evaluate the robotic finger's basic abilities required for dexterous hands. First, the robotic hand touches and scans flat specimens to evaluate their surface condition. Second, it detects objects with parallelepiped and cylindrical contours. Finally, it manipulates a parallelepiped object put on a table by sliding it. Since the present robotic hand performed the above three tasks, we conclude that it is applicable to the dexterous hand in subsequent studies.

In this paper, hybrid control of central pattern generators (CPGs), along with an adaptive supper-twisting sliding mode (ASTSM) control based on supper-twisting state observer, is proposed to guard against disturbances and uncertainties. Rhythmic and coordinated signals are generated using CPGs. In addition, to overcome the chattering of conventional sliding mode, supper-twisting sliding mode has been applied. The ASTSM method triggers sliding variables, and its derivatives tend to zero continuously in the presence of the uncertainties. Moreover, to acquire maximum stability, the desired trajectory of the upper limb based on zero moment point criterion is designed.

Part II continues to develop a hyper-stability framework for presenting physical interpretations of dexterous motion controls, such as hybrid position/force, impedance, model-based adaptive, learning control and coordination. In all cases passivity induced by introduction of a quasi-natural potential plays a key role. In view of these considerations, the final section discusses the possibility of development of a nonlinear circuit theory based on feedback connections of hyper-stable blocks, which may give rise to a physical understanding of dexterous and skilled motions for nonlinear mechanical systems and, eventually lead to the design of intelligent functions implementable in robotic machines.

Variable structure control is applied to an underactuated two andthree-link robot. Control laws are developed to invert the robot from itsstable, downward equilibrium position to an inverted position. This maneuver isaccomplished by pumping energy into the system with the variable structurecontroller. A linear balancing controller is activated once the robot nears theinverted position. Numerical simulations are presented for both the two andthree-link robot.

The quadrotor aerial robot is a complex system and its dynamics involve nonlinearity, uncertainty, and coupling. In this paper, an adaptive backstepping sliding mode control (ABSMC) is presented for stabilizing, tracking, and position control of a quadrotor aerial robot subjected to external disturbances. The developed control structure integrates a backstepping and a sliding mode control approach. A sliding surface is introduced in a Lyapunov function of backstepping design in order to further improve robustness of the system. To attenuate a chattering problem, a saturation function is used to replace a discontinuous sign function. Moreover, to avoid a necessity for knowledge of a bound of external disturbance, an online adaptation law is derived. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm has been adopted to find parameters of the controller. Simulations using a dynamic model of a six degrees of freedom (DOF) quadrotor aerial robot show the effectiveness of the approach in performing stabilization and position control even in the presence of external disturbances.

In this paper, an AEKF algorithm is used to localize a mobile robot equipped with eight Polaroid sonars in an indoor structured environment. The system state equation and sonar measurement models used for locating the mobile robot are set up. The localization process based on the AEKF algorithm is given. Four criteria used to judge the validity of predictive measurements of sonars are presented, which can increase the probability of the matching between predictive measurements and actual measurements. Experiments show that the localization precision based on our methods is greater than that using the conventional EKF algorithm.

A method is presented for generating the path which significantly reduces residual vibration. The desired path is optimally designed so that the system completes the required move with minimum residual vibration. The dynamic model and optimal path are effectively formulated and computed by using special moving coordinates, called virtual rigid link coordinates, to represent the link flexibilities. Also joint compliances are included in the model. Characteristics of residual vibration are identified from the linearized equations of motion. From these results, the performance index is selected to reduce residual vibration effectively. The path to be designed is developed by a combined Fourier series and polynomial function to satisfy both the convergence and boundary condition matching problems. The concept of correlation coefficients is used to select the minimum number of design variables, i.e. Fourier coefficients, the only ones which have a considerable effect on the reduction of residual vibration. A two-link manipulator is used to evaluate this method. Results show that residual vibration can be drastically reduced by selecting an appropriate manipulator path.

Experiments with a nonlinear trajectory-tracking controller for marine unmanned surface vessels are reported. The tracking controller is designed using a nonlinear robust model-based sliding mode approach. The marine vehicles can track arbitrary desired trajectories that are defined in Cartesian coordinate as continuous functions of time. The planar dynamic model used for the controller design consists of 3 degrees of freedom (DOFs) of surge, sway, and yaw. The vessel only has two actuators, so the vessel is underactuated. Therefore, only two outputs, which are functions of the 3-DOF, can be controlled. The Cartesian position of a control point on the vessel is defined as the output. The orientation dynamics is not directly controlled. It has been previously shown that the orientation dynamics, as the internal dynamics of this underactuated system, is stable. The result of field experiments show the effectiveness of tracking control laws in the presence of parameter uncertainty and disturbance. The experiments were performed in a large outdoor pond using a small test boat. This paper reports the first theoretical development and experimental verification of the proposed model-based nonlinear trajectory-tracking controller.

Motor torque constant is an important parameter in modeling and controlling a robot axis. In practice this parameter can vary considerably from the manufacturer's specification, if available, and this makes it desirable to characterise individual motors. Traditional techniques require that the motor can be removed from the robot for testing, or that an elaborate technique involving weights and pulleys be employed. This paper describes a novel method for measuring the torque constant of robot servo motors in situ and is based on the equivalence of motor torque and back EMF constants. It requires a very simple experimental procedure, utilizes existing axis position sensors, and eliminates effects due to static friction and joint cross coupling. A straightforward extension to this approach can provide a measurement of motor armature impedance. Experimental results obtained for a Puma 560 are discussed and compared with other published results.

In this paper sliding mode motion design is considered for nonlinear plants which are linear with respect to control input. The dynamics of the robotic manipulators is treated with and without those of the actuators. When the dynamics of the actuators is included a design of the sliding modes for the systems with discontinuous control is performed. If actuators' dynamics is negelected the control is assumed to be continuous quantity. By combining the variable structure systems and Lyapunov designs a new algorithm is developed which has all the good properties of the sliding mode systems while avoiding unnecessary discontinuity of the control thus eliminating chattering. Neither the explicit calculation of the equivalent control, nor high gain inside the boundary layer are used. The parameters of the control depend on the plant's gain matrix, and the gradients of the sliding mode manifold. This control method is then applied to develop a unified control strategy for the motion control systems including the path tracking control, the impedance control and the force control of a robotic manipulator. It is shown that all these tasks can be formulated in the same mathematical form in which selected so-called sliding mode functions must track their references. In this way the systems state is forced to remain on the selected manifold in the state space after reaching it. The solution is interpreted in both the Joint space and the Work space for n -degrees of freedom robotic manipulators.

A novel wall-climbing robot with multiple attachment modes is proposed. For uneven surfaces, the mechanical model of a spine wheel is brought out to grab the surfaces with its multi-spines. For smooth surfaces, an adhesive belt is obtained by the industrial synchronous belt and the polyurethane material to adhere to the surfaces. To avoid the robot overturning, an adsorption device with flexible skirt edge is presented. In addition, the normal force and motor torque are evaluated respectively. Finally, the prototype of the wall-climbing robot is manufactured and tested, and the experimental results show that the robot could climb the wall surface 0–360° with a maximum load of 0.5 kg.

This paper addresses the dynamic simulation and control of structural vibrations of a 3-PRR parallel manipulator with three flexible intermediate links, to which are bonded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuators and sensors. Flexible intermediate links are modelled as Euler–Bernoulli beams with pinned-pinned boundary conditions. A PZT actuator controller is designed based on strain rate feedback (SRF) control. Control moments from PZT actuators are transformed to force vectors in modal space and are incorporated in the dynamic model of the manipulator. The dynamic equations are developed based on the assumed mode method for the flexible parallel manipulator with multiple PZT actuator and sensor patches. Numerical simulation is performed and the results indicate that the proposed active vibration control strategy is effective. Spectral analyses of structural vibrations further illustrate that deformations from structural vibration of flexible links are suppressed to a significant extent when the proposed vibration control strategy is employed, while the deflections caused by inertial and coupling forces are not reduced.

Autonomous navigation of an indoor mobile robot, using the global ultrasonic system, is presented in this paper. Since the trajectory error of the dead-reckoning navigation increases significantly with time and distance, the autonomous navigation system of a mobile robot requires self-localization capa-bility in order to compensate for trajectory error. The global ultrasonic system, consisting of four ultrasonic generators fixed at a priori known positions in the work space and two receivers mounted on the mobile robot, has a similar structure to the well-known satellite GPS(Global Positioning System), which is used for the localization of ground vehicles. The EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) algorithm is utilized for self-localization and autonomous navigation, based on the self-localization algorithm is verified by experiments performed in this study. Since the self-localization algorithm is efficient and fast, it is appropriate for an embedded controller of a mobile robot.

The present paper proposes a successful application of differential evolution (DE) optimized fuzzy logic supervisors (FLS) to improve the quality of solutions that extended Kalman filters (EKFs) can offer to solve simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problems for mobile robots and autonomous vehicles. The utility of the proposed system can be readily appreciated in those situations where an incorrect knowledge of Q and R matrices of EKF can significantly degrade the SLAM performance. A fuzzy supervisor has been implemented to adapt the R matrix of the EKF online, in order to improve its performance. The free parameters of the fuzzy supervisor are suitably optimized by employing the DE algorithm, a comparatively recent method, popularly employed now-a-days for high-dimensional parallel direct search problems. The utility of the proposed system is aptly demonstrated by solving the SLAM problem for a mobile robot with several landmarks and with wrong knowledge of sensor statistics. The system could successfully demonstrate enhanced performance in comparison with usual EKF-based solutions for identical environment situations.

This paper presents the Genetic Algorithm Optimized Fourier Series Formulation (GAOFSF) method for stable gait generation in bipedal locomotion. It uses a Truncated Fourier Series (TFS) formulation with its coefficients determined and optimized by Genetic Algorithm. The GAOFSF method can generate human-like stable gaits for walking on flat terrains as well as on slopes in a uniform way. Through the adjustment of only a single or two parameters, the step length and stride-frequency can easily be adjusted online, and slopes of different gradients are accommodated. Dynamic simulations show the robustness of the GAOFSF, with stable gaits achieved even if the step length and stride frequency are adjusted by significant amounts. With its ease of adjustments to accommodate different gait requirements, the approach lends itself readily for control of walking on a rough terrain and in the presence of external perturbations.

In this paper, a new hybrid fault-tolerant control (FTC) strategy based on nonsingular fast integral-type terminal sliding mode (NFITSM) and time delay estimation (TDE) is proposed for a Schönflies parallel manipulator. In order to detect, isolate, and accommodate actuator faults, TDE is used as an online fault estimation algorithm. Stability analysis of the closed-loop system is performed using Lyapunov theory. The proposed controller performance is compared with conventional sliding mode and feedback linearization control methods. The obtained results reveal the superiority of the proposed FTC based on TDE and NFITSM.

Visual simultaneous localization and mapping (visual SLAM) has been well developed in recent decades. To facilitate tasks such as path planning and exploration, traditional visual SLAM systems usually provide mobile robots with the geometric map, which overlooks the semantic information. To address this problem, inspired by the recent success of the deep neural network, we combine it with the visual SLAM system to conduct semantic mapping. Both the geometric and semantic information will be projected into the 3D space for generating a 3D semantic map. We also use an optical-flow-based method to deal with the moving objects such that our method is capable of working robustly in dynamic environments. We have performed our experiments in the public TUM dataset and our recorded office dataset. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and impressive performance of the proposed method.

A robot has been developed to maintain boiler water-cooling tubes. This robot has a double tracked moving mechanism, an ash cleaning device, a slag purging device, a tubes' thickness measurement device, a marking device, and a control system. This robot can climb up and down the tube wall. A method for the robot to complete many tasks for boiler maintenance in one process cycle is presented. The mechanism of the robot is described. Especially, a kind of special magnetic block structure is designed to obtain strong adhering force using permanent magnets. Experiments in laboratory and real thermal power station have verified that the robot cannot only climb on the surface of the tube wall smoothly, but also take heavy payloads for boiler maintenance operation.

This paper analyses lumped-parameter dynamics of a pair of robot fingers with soft and deformable tips pinching a rigid object under the effect of a gravity force. The dynamics of the system in which area contacts between the finger-tips and the surfaces of the object arise are compared with those of a pair of rigid robot fingers with rigid contacts with an object, with or without effect of the gravity. It is then shown that there exists a sensory feedback from measurement of finger joint angles and the rotational angle of the object to command inputs to joint actuators, and this feedback connection from sensing to action realizes secure grasping of the object in a dynamic sense and regulation of the object posture. It is further shown that there are various types of other feedback connections from sensing to action, which can be used in combination of feedback signals for stable grasping and posture control of the object for realizing sophisticated object manipulation.

Hexapod robots are well suited for disaster rescuing tasks due to their stability and load capability. However, most current hexapod robots still rely on static gaits that largely limit their locomotion speed. This paper introduces a hierarchical control strategy to realize a dynamic alternating tripod trotting gait for a hexapod robot based on multi-modal impedance control. At the low level, a position-based impedance controller is developed to realize an adjustable compliant behavior for each leg. At the high level, a new gait controller is developed to generate a stable alternating tripod trotting gait, in which a gait state machine, a leg compliance modulation strategy, and a close-looped body attitude stabilizer are imposed. As a result, the alternating tripod trotting of the hexapod robot can be synchronized as the running of a bipedal robot with stable body attitude. Moreover, this control strategy was verified by experiments on a newly designed pony-sized disaster rescuing robot, HexbotIV, which successfully achieved a dynamic trotting gait with ability to resist the disturbances of mildly uneven terrains. Our control strategy as well as the experimental study can be a valuable reference for other hexapod robots and thus paves a way to the practical deployment of disaster rescuing robots.