Journal of Robotics
 Journal metrics
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Acceptance rate16%
Submission to final decision109 days
Acceptance to publication21 days
CiteScore3.000
Journal Citation Indicator0.360
Impact Factor1.8

Dynamic Modeling of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles with Online Disturbance Compensation Scheme

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 Journal profile

Journal of Robotics publishes original research articles as well as review articles on all aspects of automated mechanical devices, from their design and fabrication, to testing and practical implementation.

 Editor spotlight

Chief Editor Professor Yangmin Li is based at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. His research interests include robotics, mechatronics, control and automation.

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Research Article

Hierarchical Stabilization and Tracking Control of a Flexible-Joint Bipedal Robot Based on Anti-Windup and Adaptive Approximation Control

Bipedal robotic mechanisms are unstable due to the unilateral contact passive joint between the sole and the ground. Hierarchical control layers are crucial for creating walking patterns, stabilizing locomotion, and ensuring correct angular trajectories for bipedal joints due to the system’s various degrees of freedom. This work provides a hierarchical control scheme for a bipedal robot that focuses on balance (stabilization) and low-level tracking control while considering flexible joints. The stabilization control method uses the Newton–Euler formulation to establish a mathematical relationship between the zero-moment point (ZMP) and the center of mass (COM), resulting in highly nonlinear and coupled dynamic equations. Adaptive approximation-based feedback linearization control (so-called adaptive computed torque control) combined with an anti-windup compensator is designed to track the desired COM produced by the high-level command. Along the length of the support sole, the ZMP with physical restrictions serves as the control input signal. The viability of the suggested controller is established using Lyapunov’s theory. The low-level control tracks the intended joint movements for a bipedal mechanism with flexible joints. We use two control strategies: position-based adaptive approximation control and cascaded position-torque adaptive approximation control (cascaded PTAAC). The interesting point is that the cascaded PTAAC can be extended to deal with variable impedance robotic joints by using the required velocity concept, including the desired velocity and terms related to control errors such as position, force, torque, or impedance errors if needed. A 6-link bipedal robot is used in simulation and validation experiments to demonstrate the viability of the suggested control structure.

Research Article

The Navigation of Home Service Robot Based on Deep Learning and Machine Learning

This paper discusses how to improve the accuracy of navigation for home service robot based on the deep learning and machine learning. First, the crawling programing is applied to collect enough images of fridge and washing machine on the web; a deep learning framework is proposed that can distinguish fridge and washing machine more accurately. Following, the data come from the robot operating system topics are collected and cleaned, the linear regression, decision tree, and linear SVR algorithms are applied and compared to predict the power consumption of the robot, and a conclusion is obtained that liner movement will consume more power, which provides a reference for the path planning of the robot. Lastly, the conclusions are proposed that a novel methodology is applied to distinguish different home appliances, which is useful for the accurate navigation of the robot; the liner movement will consume more power compared to turning left or right, which supplies a reference for the optimized path planning for the robot.

Research Article

A Manipulator Pose Planning Algorithm Based on Matrix Information Geometry

In an automatic ultrasonic testing system constituted by an ultrasonic probe and a six-axis manipulator, the manipulator needs to run from a static state to the target velocity. To prevent equipment damage caused by sudden acceleration or deceleration, it is necessary to plan the position and pose of the end effector of the manipulator at each detected point. In this manuscript, an algorithm for planning the position and pose of the manipulator is proposed based on the information geometry structure of special orthogonal groups. As the linear operation of the orthogonal matrix corresponding to the manipulator pose is not closed, the manipulator pose at each detected point was calculated using the straightness of the Lie algebra of the special orthogonal group. The matrix information geometry algorithm enabled not only the manipulator to accelerate and decelerate uniformly along the detection trajectory, but also the angular acceleration of the end effector to accelerate uniformly at first, then keep a uniform velocity, and finally decelerate uniformly. The platform motion experiments with the Turin TKB070S six-axis manipulator are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the matrix information geometry algorithm for planning the pose of the manipulator.

Research Article

Visual Localization of an Internal Inspection Robot for the Oil-Immersed Transformer

Aiming at the problem that the robot is difficult to locate in the oil-immersed transformer, a visual positioning of the robot is proposed for internal inspection. First, in order to solve the problem of blur, distortion, and low contrast of the image obtained by the camera in the deteriorated and discolored transformer oil, an image enhancement algorithm based on multiscale fusion is developed to provide a reliable data source for robot localization. Then, the FAST key points are extracted and the BRIEF descriptors are calculated from the enhanced images, and the pose transformation of the robot between image frames is calculated by using polar constraint and EPnP method. A pose optimization model of the robot is designed to improve the positioning accuracy. Finally, to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods, function tests are carried out by using the real continuous image sequence acquired by the robot in Mitsubishi transformer. The experimental results show that the trajectory of the robot in the transformer can be accurately drawn, the position data of the robot can be efficiently obtained, and autonomous positioning of the robot in the transformer can be well achieved.

Research Article

Backstepping Sliding Mode Control Algorithm for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Based on Fractional-Order Theory

Aiming at the problems of slow convergence speed and low tracking accuracy in attitude control and position tracking of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This paper combines the fractional-order calculus theory with the backstepping sliding mode control algorithm, using the backstepping control to compensate for the nonlinearity of the system and the fractional-order theory to eliminate the jitter brought about by the sliding mode control, and proposes a new fractional-order backstepping sliding mode control strategy for the trajectory tracking control of the quadrotor UAV. The proposed fractional-order sliding mode surface increases the control flexibility and improves the robustness and anti-interference ability of the system to some extent. The stability analysis of the system is carried out using the Lyapunov stability theory, and the results prove the stability of the proposed controller. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are verified by comparing it with the traditional backstepping sliding mode controller. The simulation results show that the fractional-order reverse-step sliding mode control algorithm proposed in this paper is significantly better than other control algorithms in terms of convergence speed and also has a certain degree of superiority in terms of error elimination.

Research Article

Assembly Sequence Planning for Rectangular Modular Robots with Accessibility Constraints

Product assembly is the final step in a manufacturing process where the individual components of a product are joined together. Assembly sequence planning (ASP) can be defined as the problem of finding a collision-free sequence of operations that allow the product assembly. Considering that during assembly individual modules cannot pass through a gap only as large as a module side, the ASP problem can be extended to modular robots, more specifically to rectangular modular robots. The main ASPs presented in the literature that are applicable to rectangular modules do not allow configurations with narrow corridors, i.e., corridors which are too narrow for a robot to transverse. Furthermore, these ASPs do not allow preassembled substructures or the free selection of the assembly starting point. Thus, the main goal of this work is to extend the classes of rectangular modular robot configurations that can be assembled without violating the accessibility condition. This paper introduces three novel ASP for constructing planar target structures composed of rectangular modular robots. Each ASP is adequate for a different scenario. Original implementation results and mathematical proofs for the three novel ASPs are also presented. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work that presents, considering the accessibility condition, how to obtain centralized ASPs for assembling planar structures composed of rectangular modules with narrow corridors. Furthermore, the novel ASPs allow structures composed of subsets of preassembled modules and configurations with internal holes. They also allow the choice of the assembly starting point. Moreover, the third ASP proposed in this work allows achieving discontinuous assembly paths, i.e., wherever possible, the ASP allows a novel module to not connect to the latest added robot.

Journal of Robotics
 Journal metrics
See full report
Acceptance rate16%
Submission to final decision109 days
Acceptance to publication21 days
CiteScore3.000
Journal Citation Indicator0.360
Impact Factor1.8
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