• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.325-338
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• 2005

Utilizing robotic based reconfigurable nodal structural health monitoring systems has many advantages over static or human positioned sensor systems. However, creating a robot capable of traversing a variety of civil infrastructures is a difficult task, as these structures each have unique features and characteristics posing a variety of challenges to the robot design. This paper outlines the design and implementation of a novel robotic platform for deployment on ferromagnetic structures as an enabling structural health monitoring technology. The key feature of this design is the utilization of an attachment device which is an advancement of the common magnetic base found in the machine tool industry. By mechanizing this switchable magnetic circuit and redesigning it for light weight and compactness, it becomes an extremely efficient and robust means of attachment for use in various robotic and structural health monitoring applications. The ability to engage and disengage the magnet as needed, the very low power required to do so, the variety of applicable geometric configurations, and the ability to hold indefinitely once engaged make this device ideally suited for numerous robotic and distributed sensor network applications. Presented here are examples of the mechanized variable force magnets, as well as a prototype robot which has been successfully deployed on a large construction site. Also presented are other applications and future directions of this technology.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1027-1033
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• 2016

There is an increasing need for manufacturing systems to produce batches in small quantities. Such manufacturing systems are significantly difficult to develop with conventional automation equipment. Recently, several research groups have applied industrial dual-arm robots to cell production lines. A synchronization method for robots is necessary for the cell production process when robots work in a shared workspace. Conventional automation factories do not need this method because the main control system operates all of the machines or robots. However, our intended application for the developed robot is in small manufacturing environments that cannot install an expensive main control system. We propose an inexpensive and high-performance method with a simple digital in/out channel using a real-time communication protocol. The developed method was validated in a pilot production line for cellular phone packing.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.200-210
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• 2014

An active virtual impedance algorithm is newly proposed to track a sound source and to avoid obstacles while a mobile robot is following the sound source. The tracking velocity of a mobile robot to the sound source is determined by virtual repulsive and attraction forces to avoid obstacles and to follow the sound source, respectively. Active virtual impedance is defined as a function of distances and relative velocities to the sound source and obstacles from the mobile robot, which is used to generate the tracking velocity of the mobile robot. Conventional virtual impedance methods have fixed coefficients for the relative distances and velocities. However, in this research the coefficients are dynamically adjusted to elaborate the obstacle avoidance performance in multiple obstacle environments. The relative distances and velocities are obtained using a microphone array consisting of three microphones in a row. The geometrical relationships of the microphones are utilized to estimate the relative position and orientation of the sound source against the mobile robot which carries the microphone array. Effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been demonstrated by real experiments.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.223-231
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• 2014

Humanoid robot is the most suitable robot platform for effective human interaction and various intelligent services. The present work addresses development of real time wireless control application of humanoid robot's forward and backward walks, and turning in walking. For convenience of human users, the application is developed on Android OS (Operating System) working on his or her smartphone. To this end, theoretic background on various-directional biped walking is proposed based on joint trajectories for forward walking, which have been shaped with a global optimization method. In this paper, backward walking is scheduled by interchange of angles and angular velocities and additional change of signs in angular velocities at all the via-points connecting cubic polynomial trajectories. Turning direction in walking is also implemented by activating the transversal hip joint initially located in the support leg in two stages. After validation of the proposed walking schemes with Matlab simulator, a smartphone application for the omnidirectional walking has been developed to control a humanoid robot platform named DARwIn-OP interconnected via Wi-Fi. Experiment result of the present wireless control of a humanoid robot with smartphone is successful, and the application will be released in application market near future.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.149-155
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• 2003

In this study, we introduce the main ideas on the control and strategy used by the robot soccer team of the Universidad de Buenos hires, UBA-Sot. The basis of our approach is to obtain a cooperative behavior, which emerges from homogeneous sets of individual behaviors. Except for the goalkeeper, the behavior set of each robot contains a small number of individual behaviors. Basically, the individual behaviors have the same core: to move from the initial to-ward the target coordinates. However, these individual behaviors differ because each one has a different precondition associated with it. Each precondition is the combination of a number of elementary ones. The aim of our approach is to answer the following questions: How can the robot compute the preconditions in time\ulcorner How are the control actions defined, which allow the robot to move from the initial toward the final coordinates\ulcorner The way we cope with these issues is, on the one hand, to use ball and robot predictors and, on the other hand, to use very fast planning. Our proposal is to use planning in such a way that the behavior obtained is closer to a reactive than a deliberative one. Simulations and experiments on real robots, based on this approach, have so far given encouraging results.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1011-1019
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• 2005

In this paper, Ubiquitous Home Mess-Cleanup Robot(UHMR), which has a practical function of the automatic mess-cleanup, is developed. The vacuum-cleaner had made the burden of house chore lighten but the operation labour of a vacuum-cleaner had been so severe. Recently, the cleaning robot was producted to perfectly solve the cleaning labour of a house but it also was not successful because it still had a problem of mess-cleaning, which was the clean-up of big trash and the arrangement of newspapers, clothes, etc. The cleaning robot is to just vacuum dust and small trash but has no function to arrange and take away before the automatic vacuum-cleaning. For this reason, the market for the cleaning robot is not yet built up. So, we need a design method and technological algorithm of new automatic machine to solve the problem of mess-cleanup in house. It needs functions of agile automatic navigation, novel manipulation system for mess-cleanup. The automatic navigation system has to be controlled for the full scanning of living room, to recognize the absolute position and orientation of tile self, the precise tracking of the desired path, and to distinguish the mess object to clean-up from obstacle object to just avoid. The manipulate,, which is not needed in the vacuum-cleaning robot, must have the functions, how to distinguish big trash to clean from mess objects to arrange, how to grasp in according to the form of mess objects, how to move to the destination in according to mess objects and arrange them. We use the RFID system to solve the problems in this paper and propose the reading algorithm of RFID tags installed in indoor objects and environments. Then, it should be an intelligent system so that the mess cleaning task can be autonomously performed in a wide variety of situations and environments. It needs to also has the entertainment functions for the good communication between the human and UHMR. Finally, the good performance of the designed UHMR is confirmed through the results of the mess clean-up and arrangement.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.907-913
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• 2004

The major interest of general mobile robot is making a route and following a maked route. But, In the case of robot that is in need of movement of partial high speed, the condition of dynamic limitation is exist, and in these conditions, it demands controlling against movements we want. In this paper, in respect of the following a route at the situation that don't have the environmental map, that is, unknown environments, to prevent the slide of moving robot or the overturn that can happen for it moves fast, we organize the dynamic condition of limitation using the fuzzy logic, and we obtain more safe and fast route tracing ability by changing the standard velocity. Especially, by modeling the line tracing mobile robot, we design the tracing controller against a realtime changing target, and using the fuzzy optimized velocity limitation controller, we confirm that our robot shows its stable tracing ability by limiting its velocity intelligently against the continuously changing line.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.448-453
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• 2012

There are many researches to develop robots that improve its mobility to adapt in various uneven environments. In the paper, a hybrid wheeled and legged mobile robot is designed and a obstacle avoidance algorithm is proposed based on low power walking using LRF(Laser Range Finder). In order to stabilize the robot's motion and reduce energy consumption, we implement a low-power walking algorithm through comparison of the current value of each motors and correction of posture balance. A low-power obstacle avoidance algorithm is proposed by using LRF sensor. We improve walking stability by distributing power consumption and reduce energy consumption by selecting a shortest navigation path of the robot. The proposed methods are verified through walking and navigation experiments with the developed hybrid robot.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.169-175
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• 2016

There are many researches to develop robots that improve its mobility and task planning to adapt in various uneven environments. In this paper, we propose the design method and task planning of quadruped robot which can have top-bottom docking structure. The proposed quadruped robot is designed to adjust leg length using linear actuators and perform top-bottom docking and undocking using octagonal cone shaped docking module. Also, to stable walking and information gathering in the various environments, a geomagnetic sensor, PSD sensor, LRF sensor and camera. We propose an obstacle avoidance method and the topbottom docking algorithm of the two quadruped robots using linear actuator. The robot can overcome obstacles using adjusting leg length and activate the top-bottom docking function. The top-bottom docking robots of two quadruped robot can walk 4 legged walking and 6 legged walking, and use 4 arms or 2 arms the upper. We verified that the docking robots can carry objects using 4 leg of the upper robot.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.760-766
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• 2014

This paper represents a portable robot for use in the welding process of the double hulls in shipbuilding yards. It has 5 degrees of freedom and 3kg of payload. Its body weight is 17.3 [kg] so that human workers can carry it by hand to the work place. Its body is mainly made of magnesium and aluminum alloys. Since the robot is placed about 25m apart from its controller, EtherCAT is adopted for reliable connection between the robot and controller through a single light cable. RTX real-time kernel and KPA EtherCAT master are used to control the robot on a Windows XP environment. The performance of the developed robot is satisfactory to the requirement in welding tasks of U-type cells in shipbuilding yards.