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In this paper, we studied both kinematic and dynamic models of a mammal-like octopod robot. To control robot legs, we employed a simple gait generator based on a sine function and we proposed modified generators of gait. The introduced generators allowed us to obtain better kinematic and dynamic properties of motion of the whole robot during walking. By changing the length and the height of a single robot step, it is possible to use one model to control the initial, regular, and final phases of the robot gait without the need of generating additional control signals. The simulation parameters were estimated based on the prototype designed in Inventor software. In turn, for numerical research, we used a simulation model implemented in Mathematica. The obtained results were presented in the form of time histories of basic kinematic and dynamic quantities of the robot gait as well as the configuration of the robot legs at the chosen time moments. The presented method allows us to precisely control the robot position in the vertical direction, which is also presented in this paper. As a result, we obtained better stability of the whole robot during walking and performing tasks, also on slippery terrains, i.e. on terrains with relatively low coefficient of friction between the ground and the robot feet.

We can learn from the history of robotics that robots are getting closer to humans, both in the physical as well as in the social sense. The development line of robotics is marked with the triad: industrial — assistive — social robots, that leads from human–robot separation toward human–robot interaction. A social robot is a robot able to act autonomously and to interact with humans using social cues. A social robot that can assist a human for a longer period of time is called a robotic companion. This paper is devoted to the design and control issues of such a robotic companion, with reference to the robot FLASH designed at the Wroclaw University of Technology within the European project LIREC, and currently developed by the authors. Two HRI experiments with FLASH demonstrate the human attitude toward FLASH. A trial testing of the robot's emotional system is described.

In the paper, we describe a trajectory planning problem for a six-DoF robotic manipulator arm that carries an ultra-wideband (UWB) radar sensor with synthetic aperture (SAR). The resolution depends on the trajectory and velocity profile of the sensor head. The constraints can be modeled as an optimization problem to obtain a feasible, collision-free target trajectory of the end-effector of the manipulator arm in Cartesian coordinates that minimizes observation time. For 3D reconstruction, the target is observed in multiple height slices. For through-the-wall radar the sensor can be operated in sliding mode for scanning larger areas. For IED inspection the spotlight mode is preferred, constantly pointing the antennas towards the target to obtain maximum azimuth resolution. UWB sensors typically use a wide spectrum shared by other RF communication systems. This may become a limiting factor on system sensitivity and severely degrade the image quality. Cognitive radars can adapt dynamically their bandwidth, frequency and other transmit parameters to the radio frequency environment to avoid interference with primary users.

The rapid advances in robotics have recently led to the developments of a wide range of robotic platforms that exhibit significant differences at the hardware components level. Consequently, this poses a significant challenge to robot software developers since they have to know how every hardware device in the robot works to ensure their software’s compatibility when transferring/reusing their code on different robots. In this paper we present a new Robot Hardware Abstraction Layer (R-HAL) that permits to seamlessly program and control any robotic platform powered by the XBot control software framework. The implementation details of the R-HAL are introduced. The R-HAL is extensively validated through simulation trials and experiments with a wide range of dissimilar robotic platforms, among them the COMAN and WALK-MAN humanoids, the KUKA LWR and the CENTAURO upper body. The results attained demonstrate in practice the gained benefits in terms of code compatibility, reuse and portability, and finally unified application programming even for robots with significantly diverse hardware.

In the paper, we describe a trajectory planning problem for a six-DoF robotic manipulator arm that carries an ultra-wideband (UWB) radar sensor with synthetic aperture (SAR). The resolution depends on the trajectory and velocity profile of the sensor head. The constraints can be modeled as an optimization problem to obtain a feasible, collision-free target trajectory of the end-effector of the manipulator arm in Cartesian coordinates that minimizes observation time. For 3D reconstruction, the target is observed in multiple height slices. For through-the-wall radar the sensor can be operated in sliding mode for scanning larger areas. For IED inspection the spotlight mode is preferred, constantly pointing the antennas towards the target to obtain maximum azimuth resolution. UWB sensors typically use a wide spectrum shared by other RF communication systems. This may become a limiting factor on system sensitivity and severely degrade the image quality. Cognitive radars can adapt dynamically their bandwidth, frequency and other transmit parameters to the radio frequency environment to avoid interference with primary users.

The rapid advances in robotics have recently led to the developments of a wide range of robotic platforms that exhibit significant differences at the hardware components level. Consequently, this poses a significant challenge to robot software developers since they have to know how every hardware device in the robot works to ensure their software’s compatibility when transferring/reusing their code on different robots. In this paper we present a new Robot Hardware Abstraction Layer (R-HAL) that permits to seamlessly program and control any robotic platform powered by the XBot control software framework. The implementation details of the R-HAL are introduced. The R-HAL is extensively validated through simulation trials and experiments with a wide range of dissimilar robotic platforms, among them the COMAN and WALK-MAN humanoids, the KUKA LWR and the CENTAURO upper body. The results attained demonstrate in practice the gained benefits in terms of code compatibility, reuse and portability, and finally unified application programming even for robots with significantly diverse hardware.

This paper presents the teleoperation method of manipulators which have different kinematics with respect of the master robots using bilateral control by state convergence. This method makes a relation between the kinematics of the master and slave robot using a virtual robot. This method allows controlling manipulators which are a part of different kinds of robot as: climber robots, underwater robots, human robots, etc.

A design procedure using flatness based approach for position control of (2DOF) planar robotic manipulators is developed. Our approach is based on two steps. First a nonlinear transformation is made in order to derive two new 0-flat normal forms for a class of non-linear systems. Second a dynamic control law is then proposed to achieve stable position tracking for a robot manipu-lator. Finally, This method is generalized to analysis and control a class of a 0-flat affine nonlinear multi-input dynamical systems for which we can build flat outputs to give structural normal flat forms. The computer simulations are given in the paper to demonstrate the advantages of the method.

A new analytic approach to an adaptive Fuzzy Logic Control FLC) system synthesis without any fuzzy rule base is proposed. For this purpose, among the others, an optimal parameter β-adaptation algorithm for adaptation of FLC systems has been developed. A real capability of the proposed FLC synthesis procedures is presented by synthesis of an adaptive FLC system of robot of RRTR-structure.