Ganesha Udupa

Asymmetric Bellow Flexible Pneumatic Actuator for Miniature Robotic Soft Gripper

The necessity of the soft gripping devices is increasing day-by-day in medical robotics especially when safe, gentle motions and soft touch are necessary. In this paper, a novel asymmetric bellow flexible pneumatic actuator (AFPA) has been designed and fabricated to construct a miniaturised soft gripper that could be used to grip small objects. The model of AFPA is designed using solid works and its bending motion is simulated in Abaqus software for optimisation and compared with experimental results. The actuator is fabricated using compression molding process that includes micromachining of the molds. Experiments conducted show the bending characteristics of the actuator at different pressures. The actuator shows excellent bending performance and the eccentricity in its design supports increased bending or curling motion up to a certain extent compared to normal bellows without eccentricity. The effects of profile shape and eccentricity on the actuator performance are analysed and the results are presented.

Robotic gripper driven by flexible microactuator based on an innovative technique

In the area of Robotics, the gripper plays a very important role as it is required to hold and place the object at the desired location. The requirements of gripper in terms of load capacity, and flexibility to adapt to the form of the object with tactile sensing capability which suit the strength of the object are necessary. Extensive research work is under way in the design of soft gripper or dexterous hand. An exhaustive survey of all such grippers conveys the idea of higher and higher sophistication with innumerable components and elaborate controls with programmable ability has been the outcome of research. Flexible micro actuators (FMA) proposed by earlier researchers are having two or more internal chambers and the internal pressure of each are controlled independently through flexible tubes which are connected to pressure control valves. The proposed actuator has a single internal chamber and is simple, compact and easy to manufacture. In this paper, a flexible microactuator (FMA) driven by a pneumatic/ hydraulic system with single internal chamber has been developed for robotic soft gripper. By proper selection and manufacturing of the asymmetric tube flexible actuator with reinforcement, a versatile dexterous hand can be fabricated which is suited for dynamic application closely approximating to the human hand. The present work has paved the way for extensive research on this innovative technique as it holds out the true potential for innumerable and very interesting application in various areas such as micro robots, pipeline inspection robots, underwater robots and walking robots‥

Development of Bio-Machine Based on the Plant Response to External Stimuli

In the area of biorobotics, intense research work is being done based on plant intelligence. Any living cell continuously receives information from the environment. In this paper, research is conducted on the plant named descoingsii x haworthioides (Pepe) obtaining the action potential signals and its responses to stimulations of different light modes. The plant electrical signal is the reaction of plant’s stimulation owing to various environmental conditions. Action potentials are responsible for signaling between plant cells and communication from the plants can be achieved through modulation of various parameters of the electrical signal in the plant tissue. The modulated signals are used for providing information to the microcontroller’s algorithm for working of the bio-machine. The changes of frequency of action potentials in plant are studied. Electromyography (EMG) electrodes and needle-type conductive electrodes along with electronic modules are used to collect and transform the information from the plant. Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) is used to convert signal in frequency domain into voltage signal for real-time analysis. The changes in frequency of the plant action potentials to different light modes are used for the control of the bio-machine. This work has paved the way for an extensive research towards plant intelligence.

An Intelligent Rover Design Integrated with Humanoid Robot for Alien Planet Exploration

This paper describes an innovative approach to the design and implementation of a Rover intended for alien environments. The paper enumerates the various issues faced by the Rover in such an environment and attempts to solve each of them using innovative design modifications. Although built from existing designs, the Rover has been modified for better stability, higher order functioning and improved debugging mechanisms. The Rover features a flexible segmented body with a multipurpose arm, corresponding multi wheel mechanism and Kinect module integration for advanced image processing. The system control, for both the Rover as well the robotic arm integrated with it, is done using feasible yet extremely efficient microcontrollers and microprocessors such as Arduino, Raspberry pi etc. Inspired from nature’s design, a reflex mechanism has also been integrated into the Rover design, to minimize damage by automated safety reflexes. The rover also carries a mobile humanoid robot for more precise human like investigation. The Rover finds applications in the exploration of other planets, deep sea vents and other hostile environments. It offers a possibility of integrating numerous features such mineral collection and sampling, landscape mapping, moisture detection etc. Such an effort may even prove to be instrumental in detection and study of biological activity in worlds other than ours.

A novel underactuated multi-fingered soft robotic hand for prosthetic application

Abstract Robotic hand plays a very important role as it is required to hold and place the object at the desired location. There has been a lot of research on the flexible pneumatic rubber or polymer based actuators for soft gripper applications. This paper is investigating asymmetric bellow flexible pneumatic actuator (ABFPA) as a bending joint made of suitable rubber material in the construction of a novel underactuated multi-jointed, multi-fingered soft robotic hand for prosthetic application. The proposed asymmetric actuator has a single internal chamber and is simple, compact and easy to manufacture. Several actuator designs are analyzed and validated experimentally. It is found that the effect of shape and eccentricity of the ABFPA plays an important role in the bending of the actuator. By proper selection of materials and manufacturing of the ABFPA with reinforcement, a versatile dexterous hand can be fabricated. The present work has paved the way for extensive research on this innovative technique as it holds out the true potential for innumerable and very interesting application in various areas.

Real Time Vision Based Soccer Playing Humanoid Robotic Platform

This paper describes in converting the assembled Bioloid premium humanoid robot from a remote controlled robot into a fully autonomous soccer playing robot with vision system. The various parts of the Bioloid humanoid robot along with camera system are assembled for real time application to soccer competition. The tasks which are accomplished in this paper include locating the ball present in the arena, walking towards the ball, identifying the goal and kicking the ball into the goal. This paper illustrates the various real-time vision techniques implemented and the inverse kinematics for the robot to execute the decisions taken by Vision Systems. The task of localizing the robot with respect to the ball and goal is accomplished by a custom developed technique. The results obtained by the vision algorithms are also included in this paper. The humanoid robot is integrated with a CMOS VGA Web Camera, which is connected to a Raspberry Pi, which runs on Linux based platform in which the Open source computer vision library (OpenCV) is installed and vision algorithms are written in C++ programming language. Humanoid robot CM530 control unit is then interfaced with the Raspberry Pi for generating TTL communication with servo actuators at each joint for obtaining humanoid motion such as kick, run, walk etc., which is required for soccer competition. The developed vision based humanoid robot is very stable, low cost, and less power consumption. Developed Vision based humanoid robot can be used for various applications like international soccer competition, security or safety, defence, assistance in medical, harvesting in agriculture and environmental hazards and other humanitarian services.

Development of Bio-machine based on the plant response to external stimuli

In the area of Bio robotics, intense research work is going on in plant intelligence. Any living cell continuously receives information from the environment. The plant electrical signal is the reaction of plants to the stimulation due to various environmental conditions. Action potentials are responsible for signaling between plant cells because they can be induced and transmitted rapidly within the plant tissue. Communication from the plants can be achieved through modulation of the amplitude, frequency change, and change in resistance and the rate of propagation of the electrical signal in the plant tissue. In this paper research is conducted on the plant signals and its response to various environments. The change of frequency of action potential signals in plant named Pepe (Descoingsii x hawothioides) under different light modes are studied. Electromyography (EMG) electrodes and Needle type conductive electrodes along with electronic modules are used to collect and transform the information from the plants. Analysis on the plant signal has been carried out. Inverse Fast Fourier transform (IFFT) is used to convert frequency to voltage signal. The change in frequency of the plant action potential signals to different light modes are used for the control of the Bio-machine. The present work paved an extensive research towards plant intelligence.

Innovative micro-walking robot using flexible microactuator

In the area of Robotics, the micro-walking robots play a very important role as it is required to perform inspection and maintenance inside pipelines or narrow spaces where people cannot enter. Extensive research work is under way in the design and control of the micro-walking robot. An exhaustive survey of all such robots conveys the idea of higher and higher sophistication with innumerable components and elaborate controls with programmable ability. Microwalking robots proposed by earlier researchers use flexible micro actuators that have two or more internal chambers whose internal pressures are controlled independently. The proposed micro-walking robot uses flexible micro actuators (FMA) that are having single internal chamber with an innovative Electro-pneumatic control algorithm (EPCA), simple feedback mechanism and which are compact and easy to manufacture. The present work has paved the way for extensive research on this innovative technique as it holds out the true potential for very interesting applications in various areas such as robot grippers, pipeline inspection robots and underwater robots.

EEG-Controlled Prosthetic Arm for Micromechanical Tasks

Brain-controlled prosthetics has become one of the significant areas in brain–computer interface (BCI) research. A novel approach is introduced in this paper to extract eyeblink signals from EEG to control a prosthetic arm. The coded eyeblinks are extracted and used as a major task commands for control of prosthetic arm movement. The prosthetic arm is built using 3D printing technology. The major task is converted to micromechanical tasks by the microcontroller. In order to classify the commands, features are extracted in time and spectral domain of the EEG signals using machine learning methods. The two classification techniques used are: Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). EEG data was obtained from 10 healthy subjects and the performance of the system was evaluated for accuracy, precision, and recall measures. The methods gave accuracy, precision and recall for LDA as 97.7%, 96%, and 95.3% and KNN as 70.7%, 67.3%, and 68% respectively.

An Advanced Spider-Like Rocker-Bogie Suspension System for Mars Exploration Rovers

This paper describes the working of the system design for the Mars rover. The rover, developed to compete in the Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge 2015, was designed to perform various tasks such as site survey, sample return, equipment servicing, and astronaut assistance in a Mars-like landscape of dry, non-vegetated, rocky terrain. The complete design features a bioinspired eight-wheeled drive mechanism, an integrated robotic arm along with a stereo vision technique for advanced image processing. This paper focuses on the drive mechanism of the rover design. The 8-wheeled rover combines the rocker-bogie mechanism with four rocker wheels and four spider-leg wheels. The spider legs ensure that it can traverse over heights greater than the chassis height, which could be three times as much as the diameter of the wheels. NASA’s current rover can only traverse a height twice the diameter of the wheel. Additionally, the wheels are actuator-powered, and hence, the slope of the rover can be adjusted in such a way that it does not topple for a wide range of inclination allowing the rover to traverse over highly rugged terrain. The rover design can be modified for many applications notably the exploration of alien planets, deep sea trench, and other environments where human exploration is almost impossible. This effort to make the rover mechanism more efficient may one day be instrumental in detecting life and many such possibilities, in Mars and other planets.