Robotics and Manufacturing Automation Research (RMAL)

• Whole robot proximity sensing for collision avoidance
• Robotic manipulator collision avoidance
• Mobile robot collision avoidance
• Hybrid pneumatic-electric actuators for enhanced safety and weight reduction
• Design of compliant foam coverings for robotic manipulators
• Markerless human tracking

Pneumatic actuators offer the following advantages for positioning applications:

• low-cost
• high power to weight ratio
• cannot burn out
• ease of maintenance
• cleanliness
• readily available and inexpensive power source

Unfortunately, pneumatic actuators are subject to high friction forces, dead-band (due to stiction) and dead-time (due to the compressibility of air). These nonlinearities make accurate position control of pneumatic actuators difficult to achieve.

We have developed fast and accurate servo pneumatic actuators by combining advanced control algorithms with inexpensive hardware.

• Grasp planning strategies for accurately and rigidly locating parts.
• Multi-degree-of-freedom servo grippers capable of handling a large range of part sizes and shapes
• On-line 3D pose measurement and correction (using 3D machine vision).
• Correction of initial part placement errors using 2D machine vision.
• Vibration control for high speed motion of flexible payloads.

• part pickup
• rigid part locating
• accurate part locating
• ability to grasp a wide range of shapes.