IROS 2019 论文列表

There are many different driver assistance systems that help the driver controlling their vehicle. These systems do not have full control of the car; however, there are more and more systems in development that take over individual driving functions completely. We are working towards a fully autonomous future. The goal is not only to transport people to their desired destination, but to make commuting on roads safer. Navigation is one of the essential tasks of autonomous driving. The software must independently calculate a route from its current location to the destination. If the vehicle is not guided precisely through the road network, it can never reach that destination. To cope with the problem, the data of the road network must be available to the vehicle. Based on this data, the vehicle must be able to calculate a route to its destination. This paper deals with the development of a navigation algorithm, for optimal path planning, within the framework of an industrial project. The various requirements for the realization of a navigation system are listed. Solution strategies of such systems are identified and compared. Based on this, approaches for solving the task are developed and implemented.

The purpose of this study is to develop a system that enables location estimation of a small sound source. The location estimation of a small sound source has some difficulties such as high computational costs or disturbances from the ambient noises and reflected waves. The proposed system is composed of a biologically-inspired system which uses a hearing mechanism based on the human auditory model and a mechanism for perceiving weak sound signals that use stochastic resonance. The location estimation mechanism in the proposed system is based on the time-lag detecting architecture. On the other hand, the stochastic resonance mechanism can pick up the small sound signals among the ambient noises. Using this proposed system, we implemented the location estimation of the small sound source through hardware experiments. Good results were obtained for the small sound source location estimation.

Doffing robot is an important part of the spinning process in the textile production. This paper analyzes the doffing process of spinning machines and points out the requirements of the structure and functions of the doffer. The locking two-finger gripper, the three-dimensional circulating operation mechanism, the collaborating locating mechanism with the toothed disc and the pre-loosening mechanism by rotating spindles are designed. On this basis the continuous vertical-pulling automatic doffing robot, named CVP doffing robot, for the ring spinning is developed. The kinematics and dynamics analysis of the CVP doffing robot are carried out. The structural parameters of the CVP doffing robot are optimized by establishing kinematics and dynamics models. The forces of pulling out cops before and after the pre-loosing operation are tested. On this basis, the strength of the key components is designed and checked. Finally, the performance of the CVP doffing robot is verified by the doffing experiment.

Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAVs) are now a regular feature of modern society which are highly needed for the rescue mission and collecting information at unreachable places. But while the current generation of UAVs are undoubtedly useful, people around the world are increasingly talking of the need for smaller, more agile systems that can be easily transported and operated in narrow places. This leads to the development of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). However, miniaturizing MAVs is very challenging because various problems still remain unsolved. Among those, miniaturizing actuator and rotor blade are the most common. Hence, in this paper, we describe the development and trial production of micro ultrasonic actuator and micro rotor blade for the development of the smallest MAV in the world.

This paper presents a new weight and height class classifier for the lift-up task, focusing on future use in the control of wearable power assist devices. The proposed classifier retrieves body motion feature metrics using small accelerometers and determines the weight class (0 ky40% of the subject body weight but not exceeding 25 kg) and the height of the handle (0cm/30cm/60 cm) of the load. Three different classifiers have been trained/configured and tested. The trained classifiers are shown to correctly classify the evaluation dataset with 80-90% accuracy. An additional experiment was conducted to collect feature quantities in which subjects were requested to lift up a weight placed inside a jute bag on the floor. A discrimination accuracy of approximately 80% for the jute bag experiment verifies the versatility of the classifier for more general on-the-job lifting tasks.

In order to achieve tasks in the real world environment, humanoid robots have motors and reduction drives optimized in relation to weight and size for providing the necessary torque and angle speed. Therefore, having torque or angle speed outside of the predicted range will usually cause the task to fail. In this research, we propose a joint module with a two-stage transmission mechanism during driving and a joint locking mechanism during non-driving so that the appropriate torque and joint speed can be attained during the task. By applying the joint module to a tricycle type robot and switching the driving state during the task execution, we were able to both reduce the motor load when lifting heavy objects at driving time and keep high rigidity of the joint at non-driving time.

This paper presents a flexible dual-type proximity sensor forrobotic applications such as human collaborative robots(HCRs) todetect the surroundings. The sensor consists of two parts; sensing transducer and a shielding layer. To amplify the sensing performance, a resonant frequency is formed by an inductive(L-type) electrode and two capacitive(C-type) electrodes, which are placed in coplanar with an LCR circuit. An optimal frequency range is suggested to amplify the proximity detecting performance with a consistent response of impedance change. The developed sensor has a size of 100 x120x2.8 mm3. To obtain the flexibility for various robot surfaces attachment, the electrode layer is made of Flexible Printed (a) Circuit Board(FPCB). Combined with the grounded shielding layer, the sensor can detect objects up to 300 mm in 10 mm resolution when attached to a grounded surface. The sensor is evaluated in diverse circumstances to validity for practical use on robotics.

This paper presents an adjustable knee joint for a wearable robot for the elderly, to provide physical gait assistance. In order to compensate for the translational and rotational movements of the knee in the sagittal plane as well as aligning the frontal plane, the proposed knee joint is implemented with a rolling joint, two aligning passive joints, four-bar linkage, and a sliding mechanism. Because the sliding mechanism, four-bar linkage, and rolling joint exist between the actuator and the joint mechanism, the rotation angle of the actuator and the flexion angle of the rolling joint do not change equally due to the kinematic characteristics. In order to define the flexion angle change of the rolling joint with respect to the change to the actuator angle in the flexion/extension motion of knee, the design parameters and flexion model are proposed in this paper. The proposed artificial knee joint effectively delivers the torque required for assistance while adapting to the joint motion of the wearer. This paper describes the mechanical design of this knee mechanism and its implementation on a wearable robot and in preliminary experiments. The performance of the proposed mechanism was verified by simulations and experiments. Finally, preliminary experiments were performed to demonstrate the possibility of reducing the metabolic cost of using a knee assist.

When robots engage in bin picking of multiple objects, a failure in grasping partially occluded objects may occur because other objects may overlap the desired ones. Therefore, the layered structure of objects needs to be detected, and the picking order needs to be established. In this paper, we propose a new dataset that evaluates not only the area of objects but also the layered structures of objects. In this dataset, three tasks are targeted: object detection, semantic segmentation, and segmentation of occluded areas for bin picking of multiple objects. The dataset, called “the Amazon Robotics Challenge (ARC) Multi-task Dataset” contains 1,500 RGB images and depth images, including all scenes containing bounding box labels, semantic segmentation labels, and occluded area labels. This enables representing the layered structure of overlapped objects with a tree structure. A benchmark of the ARC multi-task dataset demonstrated that occluded areas could be segmented using a Mask regional convolutional neural network (R-CNN) and that layered structures of objects could be predicted. Our dataset is available at the following URL:http://mprg.jp/research/arc_dataset_2017_e.

A current problem in the design of small and lightweight autonomous agricultural robots is how to create sufficient traction on soil to pull an agricultural implement or load. One promising solution is offered by the interlock drive system, which penetrates spikes into the soil to create traction. The combination of soil penetrating spikes and a push-pull design offers new possibilities for vehicle control. By controlling the interlocking of the spikes and pushing and pulling them against the main frame, the vehicle can perform tight maneuvers. To validate this idea, we designed a robot, capable of creating high traction and performing headland turns. The navigation of the new robot system is performed by actively pushing the spikes, mounted on a slide into the soil, while the main frame is pushed back and pulled forward. The vehicle of 3-meter length was able to turn on the spot and could follow a straight line, just using the spikes and the push-pull mechanism for locomotion.

Flagellated micro-organism are regarded as excellent swimmers within their size scales. This, along with the simplicity of their actuation and the richness of their dynamics makes them a valuable source of inspiration to design continuum, self-propelled underwater robots. Here we introduce a soft, flagellum-inspired system which exploits the compliance of its own body to passively attain a range of geometrical configurations from the interaction with the surrounding fluid. The spontaneous formation of stable helical waves along the length of the flagellum is responsible for the generation of positive net thrust. We investigate the relationship between actuation frequency and material elasticity in determining the steady-state configuration of the system and its thrust output. This is ultimately used to perform a parameter identification procedure of an elastodynamic model aimed at investigating the scaling laws in the propulsion of flagellated robots.

We present a novel transformable multilinked aerial robot which consists of link modules with 1 DoF thrust vectoring mechanism. Commonly used UAV is underactuated due to its simplicity and high flight duration, but can not control the position and orientation independently. To overcome this problem, fully actuated multirotor aerial robots have been developed. In our previous work we developed fully actuated multilinked aerial robot which can transform in the air. However, the transformation range was limited because of a singularity problem. In this paper we propose a new design of link module with a tilted rotor and 1 DoF thrust vectoring joint which enables to avoid singularity forms and keep the flight stable during transformation. We describe modeling and control for the fully actuated multilinked multirotor. Then we propose a transformation planning method utilizing the 1 DoF thrust vectoring angle with consideration of guaranteed minimum force/torque. Finally we perform an aerial transformation experiment with a real platform to demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed design and methods.

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication, and evaluation of robust, fabric-reinforced textile actuators, which are capable of performing a variety and combination of motions, such as axial extension, radial expansion, bending, and twisting along its central axis. A simple fabrication procedure using a combination of lamination and sewing is described. The relationship between the fabric reinforcement characteristics and the actuator deformation is studied and experimentally verified. Multi-segment actuators can be created by tailoring different sections of fabric-reinforcements together in order to generate combination of motions to perform specific tasks. We demonstrate this by designing an anthropomorphic soft robotic hand and providing preliminary evaluations on grasping daily living objects of various size and shapes.

Cleaning requirements of glass façades of high-rise buildings have been significantly increased in recent years due to the growth of the construction industry. The conventional cleaning methods for high-rise buildings require human labor where efficiency, cost, and safety are major concerns. Therefore, robotic systems that can climb and clean glass fagades in high-rise buildings have been developed. Capability to attach to a façade surface is one of the critical requirements of a glass façade cleaning robot. Diverse approaches have been proposed for adhesion of cleaning robots to a glass façade. Active vacuum suction mechanisms are widely used for these robots since they provide better controllability to move the robots smartly on the surface. Notably, those are decent for a reconfigurable robot that can transit between window frames. The suction mechanism of a glass façade cleaning robot must provide a reliable suction force to make the robot stay safely and move smartly on a façade. Nevertheless, these suction mechanisms can be failed due to improper fastening between a façade and the mechanism, which may lead to safety and operational issues. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel method to realize the adhesion-awareness of a glass façade cleaning robot. The adhesion-awareness is realized by analyzing The current drawn by the motors attached to the impellers of the vacuum mechanisms. Experiment results validate the capability of the proposed approach in raising the adhesion-awareness of a façade cleaning robot.

We introduce the end-to-end design of WRSTelebot, a semi-humanoid telepresence robot platform for disaster response. Its software design focuses on enabling highfidelity immersive telepresence control of its manipulators and proactive multilateral control enabled by anomaly detection of the operator's physical state. The robot's key mechanical design features include a transformable mobile base that allows the robot to switch between two drive systems: caterpillar-track and differential drive, depending on the encountered terrain. The upper body is composed of a retractable dynamically balanced 20-DoF humanoid torso, that can fold entirely, allowing the robot to navigate through space-constrained environments. We evaluateits performance during off-site tests to show its usability.

Future industrial robotic systems increasingly rely on automation of dangerous and tedious tasks. The acquisition of diverse and partially redundant information using reliable and rugged multimodal sensors helps to improve the safety an dependability of such systems. In this paper we propose proximity sensors suitable for the integration into the gripper of a forestry robot. The suggested sensors are complementary to vision based data acquisition as it can in particular provide information on objects close to the gripper that could otherwise not be obtained due to occlusion and missing direct line of sight. We present the design, fabrication and evaluation of 3Dand inkjet-printed capacitive sensors for grasping applications in harsh industrial environment, especially forestry robotics. The sensor elements have been developed along with a complete gripper re-design. The suggested fabrication strategy allows retrofitting of various industry components and reduced maintenance and costs as well as application-specific design and optimization and are also suitable for wireless operation. The developed gripper allows the support of grasping tasks by providing proximity and contact information.

A novel design concept of expandable robotic arm inspired by plant growth is presented. The robot can construct its own structure by converting a type of fluidized material into a rigid structure at its growing point. The robot can extend its structure in multiple directions, and move through a winding space to reach a point, which is otherwise difficult to access. The robot with the rigid structure can also bear a significant load, has a plate to attach an end-effector, and can transport an object. The robot satisfies three key functional requirements that are characteristic to plant growth. First, the robot is capable of transporting structural materials to its growing point. Second, the robot is capable of transforming the material into a rigid structure. Third, it is capable of steering its growing point so that it is expanded in a desired direction. A proof-of concept prototype is then presented that consists of a special sprocket chain that can be switched between flexible/fluidized and rigid states, a winch that can pull/transport the chain, and a steering system to direct the growing direction. Unlike plants, this growing robot can retract its extended body, and can extend in a different direction. The prototype demonstrates that it meets all the functional requirements, and that it can make sharp turns and move through obstacles.

Aircraft manufacturing, construction, and agricultural production often involve workers maintaining uncomfortable postures, such as stooping and kneeling, for extended periods of time. We present a wearable robot, called MantisBot Alpha, that consists of two expandable robotic arms that brace a worker near the ground and allows them to perform bi-manual tasks. The key component of this new design is a novel linkage mechanism that provides adjustment of both the worker's distance to the ground and their torso tilt. The mechanism link parameters are optimized such that a) its expansion rate is high enough to push off the human body from the ground and fully contract the scissor arm when not used, and b) it allows the worker to reach within a large space while c) it is light enough for wearability. The linkage mechanism also avoids the singularity problem in standard scissor mechanisms. The actuator design provides a fail-safe system. A prototype has been fabricated to demonstrate the feasibility of the system.

The operation of multirotors in crowded environments requires a highly reliable takeoff method, as failures during takeoff can damage more valuable assets nearby. The addition of a ballistic launch system imposes a deterministic path for the multirotor to prevent collisions with its environment, as well as increases the multirotor's range of operation and allows deployment from an unsteady platform. In addition, outfitting planetary rovers or entry vehicles with such deployable multirotors has the potential to greatly extend the data collection capabilities of a mission. A proof-of-concept multirotor aircraft has been developed, capable of transitioning from a ballistic launch configuration to a fully controllable flight configuration in midair after launch. The transition is accomplished via passive unfolding of the multirotor arms, triggered by a nichrome burn wire release mechanism. The design is 3D printable, launches from a three-inch diameter barrel, and has sufficient thrust to carry a significant payload. The system has been fabricated and field tested from a moving vehicle up to 50mph to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of the concept and experimentally validate the design's aerodynamic stability and deployment reliability. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Videos of the experiments: https://youtu.be/sQuKJfllyRM.