A robust Kalman filtering method for uncertain stochastic systems is suggested by adopting a perturbation estimation process which is to reconstruct total uncertainty with respect to the nominal state transition equation. The predictor and corrector of discrete Kalman filter are reformulated with the perturbation estimator. Successively, the state and perturbation estimation error dynamics and the corresponding error covariance propagation equations are derived as well. Finally we have the recursive algorithm of Combined Kalman Filter-Perturbation Estimator (CKF). The proposed combined Kalman filter-perturbation estimator has the property of integrating innovations and the adaptation capability to system uncertainties. A numerical example is shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Energy of wheeled mobile robot is usually supplied by batteries. In order to extend operation time of mobile robots, it is necessary to minimize the energy consumption. The energy is dissipated mostly in the motors, which strongly depends on the velocity profile. This paper investigates various 3-step (acceleration - cruise - deceleration) speed control methods to minimize a new energy object function which considers the practical energy consumption dissipated in motors related to motor control input, velocity profile, and motor dynamics. We performed an analysis on the energy consumption various velocity profile patterns generated by standard control input such as step input, ramp input, parabolic input, and exponential input. Based on these standard control inputs, we analyzed the six 3-step velocity profile patterns: E-C-E, P-C-P, R-C-R, S-C-S, R-C-S, and S-C-R (S means a step control input, R means a ramp control input, P means a parabolic control input, and E means an exponential control input, C means a constant cruise velocity), and suggested an efficient iterative search algorithm with binary search which can find the numerical solution quickly. We performed various computer simulations to show the performance of the energy-optimal 3-step speed control in comparison with a conventional 3-step speed control with a reasonable constant acceleration as a benchmark. Simulation results show that the E-C-E is the most energy efficient 3-step velocity profile pattern, which enables wheeled mobile robot to extend working time up to 50%.

In this paper, we study an approach to design a Fuzzy PI controller in HVDC(High Voltage Direct Current) system. In the rectifier of traditional HVDC system, turning on, turning off, triggering and protections of thyristors have lots of problems that can make the dynamic instability and cannot damp the dynamic disturbance efficiently. In order to solve the above problems, we adapt Fuzzy PI controller for the fire angle control of rectifier. The performance of the Fuzzy PI controller is sensitive to the variety of scaling factors. The design procedure dwells on the use of evolutionary computing(Genetic Algorithms, GAs). Then we can obtain factors of the Fuzzy PI controller by Genetic Algorithms. A comparative study has been performed between Fuzzy PI controller and traditional PI controller, to prove the superiority of the proposed scheme.

In this paper, we propose a systematic method for intelligent digital redesign of a fuzzy-model-based controller for continuous-time nonlinear system which may also contain system uncertainties. The continuous-time uncertain TS fuzzy model is first contructed to represent the uncertain nonlinear system. A parallel distributed compensation(PDC) technique is then used to design a fuzzy-model-based controller for both stabilization. The designed continuous-time controller is then converted to an equivalent discrete-time controller by using a globally intelligent digital redesign method. This new technique is designed by a global matching of state variables between analog control system and digital control system. This new design technique provides a systematic and effective framework for integration of the fuzzy-model-based control theory and the advanced digital redesign technique for nonlinear systems with uncertainties. Finally, Chaotic Lorenz system is used as an illustrative example to show the effectiveness and the feasibility of the developed design method.

This paper presents the robust control method using a self recurrent wavelet neural network (SRWNN) via adaptive backstepping design technique for stable walking of biped robots with unknown model uncertainties. The SRWNN, which has the properties such as fast convergence and simple structure, is used as the uncertainty observer of the biped robots. The adaptation laws for weights of the SRWNN and reconstruction error compensator are induced from the Lyapunov stability theorem, which are used for on-line controlling biped robots. Computer simulations of a five-link biped robot with unknown model uncertainties verify the validity of the proposed control system.

We propose a character recognition system to extract the component reference names from printed circuit boards (PCBs) automatically. The names are written in horizontal, vertical, reverse-horizontal and reverse-vertical directions. Also various symbols and figures are included in PCBs. To recognize the character and orientation effectively, we divide the recognizer into two stages: character classification stage and orientation classification stage. The character classification stage consists of two sub-recognizers and a verifier. The rotaion-invarint features of input pattern are then used to identify the character independent of orientation. Each recognizer is implemented as a neural network, and the weight values of verifier are obtained by genetic algorithm. In the orientation classification stage, the input pattern is compared with reference patterns to identify the orientation. Experimental results are presented to verify the usefulness of the proposed system.

It is necessary to improve the exactness and adaptation of the working environment for the intelligent robot system. The vision sensor have been studied for a long time at this points. However, it has many processes and difficulties for the real usages. This paper proposes a visual servoing in the virtual environment to support OLP(Off-Line-Programming) path compensation and supplement the problem of complexity of the old kinematical calibration. Initial robot path could be compensated by pixel differences between real and virtual image. This method removes the varies calibrations and 3D reconstruction process in real working space. To show the validity of the proposed approach, virtual space servoing with stereo camera is carried out with WTK and openGL library for a KUKA-6R manipulator and updated real robot path.

In the last decade, face analysis, e.g. face detection, face recognition, facial expression recognition, is a very lively and expanding research field. As computer animated agents and robots bring a social dimension to human computer interaction, interest in this research field is increasing rapidly. In this paper, we introduce an artificial emotion mimic system which can recognize human facial expressions and also generate the recognized facial expression. In order to recognize human facial expression in real-time, we propose a facial expression classification method that is performed by weak classifiers obtained by using new rectangular feature types. In addition, we make the artificial facial expression using the developed robotic system based on biological observation. Finally, experimental results of facial expression recognition and generation are shown for the validity of our robotic system.

In this paper, we construct the infrastructure with wireless LAN for the teleoperating system of mobile robots. For the stable teleoperating system, we develope an algorithm that measure communication time delay on real-time. We propose the force-reflected teleoperation method that control the stiffness of joystick according to VFH(Vector Field Histogram). Also, an obstacle avoidance method using VFH is presented for the mobile robot to move to the indicated direction without collision. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methods.

Increasing requirements for the high quality of industrial robot performance made the vibration control issue very important because the vibration makes it difficult to achieve quick response of robot motion and may bring mechanical damage to the robot. This paper presents the vibration mechanism of an industrial robot which has flexible joints. The joint flexibility of the robot is modeled as a two-mass system and its dynamic characteristics are analysed. And some characteristics of the two-mass system, especially for the joint of industrial robots, such as disturbance, non-linearity and time-varying characteristics are studied. And finally, some considerations on controller design for the flexible joint of industrial robots are discussed.

A recently proposed method for stabilizing haptic interfaces and teleoperation systems was tested with a 'PHANToM' commercial haptic device. The 'Passivity Observer' (PO) and 'Passivity Control1er' (PC) stabilization method was applied to stabilize the system but also excited a high frequency mode in the device. To solve this problem, we propose a method to use a timevarying desired energy threshold instead of fixed zero energy threshold for the PO, and make the actual energy input follow the timevarying energy threshold. With the time-varying energy threshold, we make the PC control action smooth without sudden impulsive behavior by distributing the dissipation. The proposed new PO/PC approach is applied to PHANToM with high stiffness (K = 5000N/m), and stable and smooth contact is guaranteed. Resetting and active environment display problems also can be solved with the reference energy following idea.

In this paper, we apply several pattern recognition algorithms to emotion recognition system with speech signal and compare the results. Firstly, we need emotional speech databases. Also, speech features for emotion recognition is determined on the database analysis step. Secondly, recognition algorithms are applied to these speech features. The algorithms we try are artificial neural network, Bayesian learning, Principal Component Analysis, LBG algorithm. Thereafter, the performance gap of these methods is presented on the experiment result section. Truly, emotion recognition technique is not mature. That is, the emotion feature selection, relevant classification method selection, all these problems are disputable. So, we wish this paper to be a reference for the disputes.

In this paper, we developed a ground power supply system for a mobile robot moving in the constrained region. By using an external scan circuit through the electrodes, it is also possible to detect the absolute position and heading angle of the robot without any additional position sensors. Since the heavy weighted-battery for electric power and the expensive absolute position sensors are not necessary to the robot by using for proposed system, the mobile robot system becomes cost-effective and dynamically fast.

This paper studies a visual feedback control scheme for robot manipulators with camera-in-hand configurations. We design a robust controller that compensates for bounded parametric uncertainties of robot mechanical dynamics. In order to reduce steady state tracking error of the robot arms due to uncertain dynamics, integral action is included in the control input. Using the Lyapunov stability criterion, the uniform ultimate boundedness of the tracking error is proved. Simulation and experimental results with a 2-1ink robot manipulator illustrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.

In this paper an error analysis of 3-dimensional GNSS attitude determination system is given. The attitude error covariance matrix is derived and analyzed. It implies that attitude errors are affected by the baseline length and configuration, the satellites numbers and geometry, receiver measurement noises and the nominal attitude of the vehicle. By defining Euler Angle Dilution Of Precision (EADOP) which is analogous to GDOP, roll, pitch and yaw errors can be efficiently analyzed. However the expression of the attitude error is too complex to get some intuitions. Therefore with a commonly adopted assumption, new expressions for attitude error are derived. The formulas are easy to compute and represent the attitude error as a function of the nominal attitude of a vehicle, the baseline configuration and the receiver noise. Using the formula, the accuracy of the attitude can be analytically predicted without the computer simulations. Applications to some widely used configurations reveal the effectiveness of the proposed method.