Giuseppe Gillini, Paolo Di Lillo, Filippo Arrichiello, Daniele Di Vito, Alessandro Marino, Gianluca Antonelli and Stefano Chiaverini
In the past decade, more than 700 million people are affected by some kind of disability or handicap. In this context, the research interest in assistive robotics is growing up…
Abstract
Purpose
In the past decade, more than 700 million people are affected by some kind of disability or handicap. In this context, the research interest in assistive robotics is growing up. For people with mobility impairments, daily life operations, as dressing or feeding, require the assistance of dedicated people; thus, the use of devices providing independent mobility can have a large impact on improving their life quality. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a robotic system aimed at assisting people with this kind of severe motion disabilities by providing a certain level of autonomy.
Design/methodology/approach
The system is based on a hierarchical architecture where, at the top level, the user generates simple and high-level commands by resorting to a graphical user interface operated via a P300-based brain computer interface. These commands are ultimately converted into joint and Cartesian space tasks for the robotic system that are then handled by the robot motion control algorithm resorting to a set-based task priority inverse kinematic strategy. The overall architecture is realized by integrating control and perception software modules developed in the robots and systems environment with the BCI2000 framework, used to operate the brain–computer interfaces (BCI) device.
Findings
The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is validated through experiments where a user generates commands, via an Emotiv Epoc+ BCI, to perform assistive tasks that are executed by a Kinova MOVO robot, i.e. an omnidirectional mobile robotic platform equipped with two lightweight seven degrees of freedoms manipulators.
Originality/value
The P300 paradigm has been successfully integrated with a control architecture that allows us to command a complex robotic system to perform daily life operations. The user defines high-level commands via the BCI, letting all the low-level tasks, for example, safety-related tasks, to be handled by the system in a completely autonomous manner.
Details
Keywords
Gianluca Antonelli, Stefano Chiaverini, Gian Paolo Gerio, Marco Palladino and Gerardo Renga
A minimum‐time path‐following algorithm for industrial robots is presented in this paper.
Abstract
Purpose
A minimum‐time path‐following algorithm for industrial robots is presented in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
The algorithm generates off‐line a trajectory that, by exploiting knowledge of the dynamic model, takes into account the actuators' torque limits while preserving the geometric path.
Findings
The algorithm has been designed, implemented and extensively tested on a Comau SMART H4 robot, a closed‐chain six‐degree‐of‐freedom industrial manipulator.
Practical implications
The algorithm is currently part of the new generation of industrial controllers of the Comau robots, the C4G controller. It is a feature added as with the name SmartMove4.
Originality/value
The paper presents a new minimum‐time path‐following algorithm for industrial robots that, by exploiting knowledge of the dynamic model, takes into account the actuators' torque limits while preserving the geometric path.
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Keywords
Ali Leylavi Shoushtari, Paolo Dario and Stefano Mazzoleni
Interaction plays a significant role in robotics and it is considered in all levels of hardware and software control design. Several models have been introduced and developed for…
Abstract
Purpose
Interaction plays a significant role in robotics and it is considered in all levels of hardware and software control design. Several models have been introduced and developed for controlling robotic interaction. This study aims to address and analyze the state-of-the-art on robotic interaction control by which it is revealed that both practical and theoretical issues have to be faced when designing a controller.
Design/methodology/approach
In this review, a critical analysis of the control algorithms developed for robotic interaction tasks is presented. A hierarchical classification of distributed control levels from general aspects to specific control algorithms is also illustrated. Hence, two main control paradigms are discussed together with control approaches and architectures. The challenges of each control approach are discussed and the relevant solutions are presented.
Findings
This review presents an evolvement trend of interaction control theories and technologies over time. In addition, it highlights the pros and cons of each control approaches with addressing how the flaws of one control approach were compensated by emerging another control methods.
Originality/value
This review provides the robotic controller designers to select the right architecture and accordingly design the appropriate control algorithm for any given interactive task and with respect to the technology implemented in robotic manipulator.
Details
Keywords
Ali Leylavi Shoushtari, Stefano Mazzoleni and Paolo Dario
This paper aims to propose an innovative kinematic control algorithm for redundant robotic manipulators. The algorithm takes advantage of a bio-inspired approach.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose an innovative kinematic control algorithm for redundant robotic manipulators. The algorithm takes advantage of a bio-inspired approach.
Design/methodology/approach
A simplified two-degree-of-freedom model is presented to handle kinematic redundancy in the x-y plane; an extension to three-dimensional tracking tasks is presented as well. A set of sample trajectories was used to evaluate the performances of the proposed algorithm.
Findings
The results from the simulations confirm the continuity and accuracy of generated joint profiles for given end-effector trajectories as well as algorithm robustness, singularity and self-collision avoidance.
Originality/value
This paper shows how to control a redundant robotic arm by applying human upper arm-inspired concept of inter-joint dependency.