This paper proposes a new algorithm, known as the Segmentation Algorithm, which provides model-based, real-time, whole-arm collision avoidance for telerobotic applications. The work presented here is an extension and modification of potential field theory. Novel aspects of the algorithm include the application of a hierarchical segmentation technique to minimize on-line processing and the development of procedures which account for workspace object translation, rotation, and grasping. The'SA outputs torques, which, when applied to the control arm, prevent the teleoperator from driving the remote arm into a collision. The teleoperator actually feelsworkspace objects that are spatially close to the remote arm—an experience known as virtual force-reflection. The SA's performance has been analyzed in terms of its speed and efficiency vis a vis various system parameters, including workspace object distribution, size, and number. Simulation results show that the SA succeeds in providing real-time collision avoidance where less elegant brute force algorithms fail.

A semi-automatic method for calibrating a robot-vision interface is presented. It puts a small work-load on the operator, requires a simple calibration jig and a solution of a very simple system of equations. It has been extensively used in an experimental robotic cell set up at Loughborough University of Technology, where various aspects of the manufacturing and the decoration of scale models are being investigated. As an extension of the calibration procedure, the paper also shows practical solutions for the problem of dealing with three dimensional objects using a single camera.

In research and industry, there are many situations where components or samples are moved between processes or measurement stations. Where the sample throughput is low, or the application is unique, it may not be cost-effective to custom design a system. In order to allow automation in these cases, an approach which uses a family of components to construct a manipulator has been developed. Reliability and long term availability are major requirements of the system described.

The attainment of a breakeven for lower outputs, the diversification of models in order to meet market demand and the improvement of quality are accepted as strategic objectives for the automotive industry. The role of flexible manufacturing with reference to these objectives is illustrated. The steps, through which the new technology is introduced, are discussed and some production systems already installed are described within the given framework.

The dynamic model of an articulated vehicle consisting of one tractor and two semi-trailers is derived according to a systematic approach available in the literature. The model is produced on the assumption of no slippage, which enforces nonholonomic constraints. The resulting equations encompass a number of significant special cases.

Many motion planning methods use Configuration Space to represent a robot manipulator's range of motion and the obstacles which exist in its environment. The Cartesian to Configuration Space mapping is computationally intensive and this paper describes how the execution time can be decreased by using parallel processing. The natural tree structure of the algorithm is exploited to partition the computation into parallel tasks. An implementation programmed in the occam2 parallel computer language running on a network of INMOS transputers is described. The benefits of dynamically scheduling the tasks onto the processors are explained and verified by means of measured execution times on various processor network topologies. It is concluded that excellent speed-up and efficiency can be achieved provided that proper account is taken of the variable task lengths in the computation.

Increasing productivity in manufacturing industry leads to a continuing shift in the balance between employment in ‘productive’ and in ‘service’ industries, the latter providing more employment at present in a ratio of about 70:30. This paper is primarily concerned with employment in manufacturing industry. Some have seen automation as a means of de-skilling jobs, but there is evidence of a gradual ‘upward’ shift of skill requirements in manufacturing industry: the unskilled workers are being eliminated and the skilled manual workers replaced by technicians with mental skills. This introduces the need for re-training and raises the question whether one can have a society in which there are no unskilled persons.

In a measurement system with intelligent, distributed sensor processes, complementary observations from different sensor need be combined with each other. This paper describes a method based on fuzzy measures, in which a global ‘fusion algorithm’ questions the sensors as to their support and opinion of a hypothesis. The sensor opinions are clustered into groups based on their support of each others' opinions, and fused using a new fuzzy operator.

An analytic solution approach to the time-varying obstacle avoidance problem is adopted. The problem considers the collision between any link of the robotic manipulator and the time-varying obstacle. The information on the motion and shape change of the obstacle is given prior to robot motion planning. To facilitate the problem, we analyze and formulate it mathematically in a robot joint space. We then introduce the view-time concept and analyze its properties. Using the properties of the view-time, a view-time based motion planning method is proposed. The view-time based method plans the robot motion by units of the view-time. In every view-time, it uses a stationary obstacle avoidance scheme. The proposed method is applied to the motion planning of a 2 DOF robotic manipulator in an environment with a polyhedral moving obstacle.

A grid-based method for detecting moving objects is presented. This method involves the extension and combination of two methods: (1) the Hough Transform and (2) the Occupancy Grid method. The Occupancy Grid method forms the basis for a probabilistic estimation of the location and velocity of objects in the scene from the sensor data. The Hough Transform enables the new method to handle non-integer velocity values. A model for simulating a sonar ring is also presented. Experimental results show that this method can handle objects moving at non-integer velocities.

In Part I a technique for the swing-up control of single inverted pendulum system is presented. The requirement is to swing-up a carriage mounted pendulum system from its natural pendent position to its inverted position. It works for all carriage balancing single inverted pendulum systems as the swing-up control algorithm does not require knowledge of the system parameters. Comparison with previous swing-up controls shows that the proposed swing-up control is simpler, eaiser. more efficient, and more robust.

In Part II the technique is extended to the case of the swing-up control of double inverted pendulum systems. Use is made of a novel selective partial-state feedback control law. The nonlinear, open-loop unstable, nonminimum-phase. and interactive MIMO pendulum system is actively linearised and decoupled about a neutrally stable equilibrium by the partial-state feedback control. This technique for swing-up control is not at all sensitive to uncertainties such as modelling error and sensor noise, and is both reliable and robust.