Jihong Yan

Development of a Bionic Hexapod Robot for Walking on Unstructured Terrain

This paper reports the design methodology and control strategy in the development of a novel hexapod robot HITCR-II that is suitable for walking on unstructured terrain. First, the entire sensor system is designed to equip the robot with the perception of external environment and its internal states. The structure parameters are optimized for improving the dexterity of the robot. Second, a foot-force distribution model and a compensation model are built to achieve posture control. The two models are capable of effectively improving the stability of hexapod walking on unstructured terrain. Finally, the Posture Control strategy based on Force Distribution and Compensation (PCFDC) is applied to the HITCR-II hexapod robot. The experimental results show that the robot can effectively restrain the vibration of trunk and keep stable while walking and crossing over the un-structured terrains.

Development of the hexapod robot HITCR-II for walking on unstructured terrain

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of the hexapod robot HITCR-II for walking on unstructured terrain. The leg and joint with modularized structure have been designed, and an objective function has been made up to further optimize the parameters of structure, thereby enhancing the motion performance of this robot; The 3-D.O.F force sensor in the foot end and joint torque sensors have been designed into the structure of leg, thus the leg has the omnidirectional perception of force, and the robot is also equipped with pose sensor, joint position sensor and binocular vision, so it can apperceive its own state and external environment; A highly integrated electric system has been developed, and finally the shell of the robot has been designed to make the robot more beautiful as well as better wrap-around.

Multisensor-based autonomous docking for UBot modular reconfigurable robot

Autonomous docking is still a major challenge for self-reconfigurable robots, it is an essential capability for the system to realize reconstruction, self-repairing and even for completing operational tasks in the complex environment. In this paper, we developed a new sensor module for the UBot self-reconfigurable robot system, and proposed a novel docking method for precise docking between module group with the sensor module and the target module. We describe this automated docking progress as three steps: The visual pre-positioning process; Precise positioning through hall sensors; Crawling and self-locking by the hook-type connecting systems. Finally, this method is proved to be effective by the S-4 module group automatic docking experiment.

Architecture of Multi-Agent-Based Multi-Operator Multi-Mobile-Manipulator Teleoperation System

Being characteristics of motion, coordination, distribution, non-determinism etc, multi-operator multi-mobile-manipulator teleoperation system has difficulties in controlling and implementation. Multi-Agent-Based architecture of the system can distinctly describe the information interactive relationship between components of the system, and optimize intelligence distribution between human and robot, so it helps to reduce difficulties in controlling and implementation of the system. After the physical structure of the system was analyzed, the system was divided into several sub-systems with given function, and then a Multi-Agent-Based layered architecture with shared control mode of the system was proposed and the function of each Agent was planned. Multi-Agents mixed communication structure was designed by both of blackboard model and Peer-to-Peer model. According to characteristics of the system, a kind of general mixed architecture for Agent was proposed, and an example of implementation method of Agent was given, then the validity of the mixed architecture was verified by designing experiment.

Simulation Research on Reconfiguration Locomotion Planning for a 3-D Self-reconfigurable Robot

Self-reconfigurable robot consists of numerous modules. It has various configurations and multiform locomotion modes. How to describe its configurations and how to plan its locomotion are difficult problems. To solve these problems, a novel description of modules and their surroundings was presented and modular locomotion rule base was established. Based on the rule base, a reconfiguration locomotion planning algorithm combined heuristic search with limited-horizon search was proposed for a self-reconfigurable robot HitMSR. In heuristic search second selecting method was adopted to minimize search space. Simulation results indicated that the algorithm can generate reconfiguration locomotion series automatically and efficiently in complex environments for 3-D self-reconfigurable robot with any initial configuration

A modular manipulator system using rotary joints toward helping the elderly and the handicapped

At present, the manipulator for the elderly and disabled has the shortcomings of long production cycle, poor versatility and cannot meet the requirements of individual differences. The modular idea is presented to the design of manipulator system. A rotary joint module is developed with the advantages of small size, light weight and large torque. It integrates mechanical structure, drive, control and communication modules and can be combined into various manipulators with different configurations on demand. A distributed control system based on industrial Ethernet and CAN bus is built using a hierarchical modular structure. It can adapt to a variety of modular manipulators characterized by low stiffness and difficulty of control. Toward assisting the elderly and disabled, a 6-DOF manipulator is assembled by utilizing 6 modular rotary joints. An impedance controller is designed based on the position force control strategies. A drawer-pulled experiment is carried out with the compliance control. Experimental results verify that the modular manipulator presented is qualified to assist the elderly and the handicapped with daily operations safely.

Dynamic stability gait planning of kid humanoid robot

We adopt multi-point planning method based on cubic spline function to perform parametric design of dynamic walking. The objective of optimization is to achieve maximum ZMP stability and minimum joint driving torque, together with the combination of multi-objective genetic algorithm to optimize the gait parameters. Simulation verification has also been carried out in ADAMS and Matlab after optimization. In addition, we tested dynamic walking on kid humanoid robot platform, by which the realization of dynamic and steady walking of physical prototype further proves the validity of the theoretical research. Moreover, weve made a preliminary study on the planning method of performing complex actions such as push-ups, by which the realization of scheduled actions through simulation and physical prototype experiments also proved the rationality of the planning.

Study on the Robot with Limb Mechanism

Walking robots with operating capability represent the main direction of future robots development. The limb mechanism, which integrates legged locomotion and arm manipulation, is proposed as a novel design to overcome the operation problems of walking robots. This paper describes the design concepts, analyses and summarizes present development of robots with limb mechanism, and points out some key problems that have to be solved for the robot design