Research Project

CUIK+: Analysis and motion planning of complex robotic systems

Type

National Project

Start Date

01/10/2007

End Date

31/12/2010

Project Code

DPI2007-60858

Project illustration

Staff

Project Description

The goal of this project is to develop a technique able to analyse robotized systems of high complexity. A system’s complexity depends basically on two parameters: its cardinality (the number of involved bodies) and its mobility (the dimension of its C-space). Thus, the technique should be able to solve the position analysis and trajectory planning in the following cases:


  1. Systems of low cardinality and low mobility (i.e. of type O). These are the type of problems already solvable by a technique proposed in a previous project that we aim to extend in this project. This technique is capable of solving (in practical time) the position analysis of robotized systems of arbitrary topology. This analysis consists of finding all possible configurations of a system of articulated bodies, forming nested kinematic loops of any form. When the configuration space (C-space) is of dimension one or higher, the achieved technique produces a representation of the latter, allowing the planning of trajectories between two given poses, free of collisions with the obstacles in the environment.

  2. Systems of high cardinality and low mobility (i.e. of type I). Deployable structures for spatial applications or the computation of assemblies based on position constraints between bodies, are examples in which appear a high number of bodies, though their C-space is of low dimension (0 or 1 maximally). At present there does not exist any package capable of performing a complete position analysis of such systems. The resolution of this problem is crucial for bifurcation detection and to anticipate controllability problems, in some cases, or to examine all possible solutions, in others.

  3. Systems of low cardinality and high mobility (i.e. of type II). The computation of roadmaps for motion planning of parallel robots, trajectory optimization for redundant robots, and motion planning in kinematic loops created by reconfigurable robots, are some examples of systems with relatively few bodies, with a C-space of high dimension (typically 6 or higher). Although spaces of such complexity can be treated by probabilistic planners, its extension to systems with kinematic loops is problematic, and do not constitute complete algorithms (they cannot guarantee finding at least one solution, if such exists, or indicate it does not exist, when the problem is unsolvable).

  4. Systems of high cardinality and mobility (i.e. of type III). Into this group fall motion planning problems of articulated hands with object grabbing, as well as coordinated manipulation in multi-robot environments, where one needs to compute collision-free trajectories in high dimensional spaces, in short time, and for a high number of bodies. The problem of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), or the motion planning for tensigrity-based robots also fall into this category.

One needs different techniques to solve problems of type I and II. For problems of type I, it is necessary to decompose the problem into simpler sub-problems. At present, it is known how to obtain such decomposition only for planar robots. Our group proposes to accomplish a decomposition technique also valid for spatial robots. For problems of type II it is necessary to extract a one-dimensional representation of C-space. For this aim, this group proposes the development of an innovative algorithm based on silhouette roadmaps. Both techniques can be combined in a natural way to solve problems of type III.

For more information visit the Kinematics and Robot Design web page or the Cuik project web page.

Project Publications

Journal Publications

  • N. Rojas and F. Thomas. The forward kinematics of 3-RPR planar robots: a review and a distance-based formulation. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 27(1): 143-150, 2011.

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  • C. Rosales, L. Ros, J.M. Porta and R. Suárez. Synthesizing grasp configurations with specified contact regions. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 30(4): 431-443, 2011.

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  • V. Ila, J.M. Porta and J. Andrade-Cetto. Information-based compact Pose SLAM. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 26(1): 78-93, 2010.

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  • L. Jaillet, J. Cortés and T. Simeon. Sampling-based path planning on configuration-space costmaps. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 26(4): 635-646, 2010.

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  • J. Borràs and R. Di Gregorio. Polynomial solution to the position analysis of two Assur kinematic chains with four loops and the same topology. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 1(2): 0210031-0210311, 2009.

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  • V. Ruiz de Angulo and C. Torras. Exploiting single-cycle symmetries in continuous constraint problems. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 34: 499-520, 2009.

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  • J.M. Porta, L. Ros and F. Thomas. A linear relaxation technique for the position analysis of multiloop linkages. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 25(2): 225-239, 2009.

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  • J.M. Porta and F. Thomas. Concise proof of Tienstra's formula. Journal of Surveying Engineering, 135(4): 170-172, 2009.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas and C. Torras. On Δ-Transforms. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 25(6): 1225-1236, 2009.

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  • V. Ruiz de Angulo and C. Torras. Learning inverse kinematics: Reduced sampling through decomposition into virtual robots. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Part B, 38(6): 1571-1577, 2008.

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  • F. Thomas. A short account of Leonardo Torres' endless spindle. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 43(8): 1055-1063, 2008.

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  • J. Andrade-Cetto and F. Thomas. A wire-based active tracker. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 24(3): 642-651, 2008.

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Conference Publications

  • J. Borràs and F. Thomas. Singularity-invariant leg substitutions in pentapods, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2010, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 2766-2771, IEEE.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas and C. Torras. Singularity-invariant leg rearrangements in doubly-planar Stewart-Gough platforms, VI Robotics: Science and Systems Conference, 2010, Zaragoza, Spain, pp. 1-8.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas and C. Torras. Singularity-invariant leg rearrangements in Stewart-Gough platforms, 12th International Symposium on Advances in Robot Kinematics, 2010, Piran-Portorož, Slovenia, in Advances in Robot Kinematics: Motion in Man and Machine, pp. 421-428, Springer Verlag.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas and C. Torras. A family of quadratically-solvable 5-SPU parallel robots, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2010, Anchorage, AK, USA, pp. 4703-4708.

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  • N. Rojas, J. Borràs and F. Thomas. A distance-based formulation of the octahedral manipulator kinematics, 2010 IFToMM Symposium on Mechanism Design for Robotics, 2010, Mexico City, Mexico, pp. 1-12.

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  • J.M. Porta and L. Jaillet. Path planning on manifolds using randomized higher-dimensional continuation, Ninth International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics, 2010, Singapore, in Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics IX, Vol 68 of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, pp. 337-353, 2011, Springer, Berlin.

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  • O. Bohigas, L. Ros and M. Manubens. A complete method for workspace boundary determination, 12th International Symposium on Advances in Robot Kinematics, 2010, Piran-Portorož, Slovenia, in Advances in Robot Kinematics: Motion in Man and Machine, pp. 329-338, Springer Verlag.

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  • V. Ila, J.M. Porta and J. Andrade-Cetto. Amortized constant time state estimation in SLAM using a mixed Kalman-information filter, 4th European Conference on Mobile Robots, 2009, Mlini, Croàcia, pp. 211-216, ECMR.

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  • V. Ila, J.M. Porta and J. Andrade-Cetto. Reduced state representation in delayed state SLAM, 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2009, Saint Louis, MO, USA, pp. 4919-4924.

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  • J. Borràs and F. Thomas. Kinematics of line-plane subassemblies in Stewart platforms, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2009, Kobe, Japan, pp. 4094-4099, IEEE.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas, E. Ottaviano and M. Ceccarelli. A reconfigurable 5-DoF 5-SPU parallel platform, 1st International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots, 2009, London, pp. 617-623, 2009, IEEE.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas and C. Torras. Straightening-free algorithm for the singularity analysis of Stewart-Gough platforms with collinear/coplanar attachments, 5th International Workshop on Computational Kinematics, 2009, Duisburg, Germany, pp. 1-8, IFToMM.

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  • S. Ulbrich, V. Ruiz de Angulo, T. Asfour, C. Torras and R. Dillman. Rapid learning of humanoid body schemas with kinematic Bezier maps, 9th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, 2009, Paris, pp. 431-438, Unknown.

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  • P. Grosch, R. Di Gregorio and F. Thomas. Generation of under-actuated parallel robots with non-holonomic joints and kinetostatic analysis of a case-study, 2009 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, 2009, San Diego, pp. 979-986, ASME.

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  • J. Borràs and R. Di Gregorio. Direct position analysis of a large family of spherical and planar parallel manipulators with four loops, 2nd International Workshop on Fundamental Issues and Future Research Directions for Parallel Mechanisms and Manipulators, 2008, Montpeller, França, pp. 19-29, LIRMM.

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  • R. Frigola, L. Ros, F. Roure and F. Thomas. A wrench-sensitive touch pad based on a parallel structure, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2008, Pasadena, CA, USA, pp. 3449-3454, IEEE.

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  • C. Rosales, J.M. Porta, R. Suárez and L. Ros. Finding all valid hand configurations for a given precision grasp, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2008, Pasadena, CA, USA, pp. 1634-1640, IEEE.

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  • J. Borràs, F. Thomas and C. Torras. Architecture singularities in flagged parallel manipulators, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2008, Pasadena, CA, USA, pp. 3844-3850, IEEE.

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  • J. Borràs, E. Ottaviano, M. Ceccarelli and F. Thomas. Optimal design of a 6-DOF 4-4 parallel manipulator with uncoupled singularities, XVII Congreso Nacional de Ingeniería Mecánica, 2008, Gijón, Espanya, pp. 1047-1052, Asociación Española de Ingeniería Mecánica.

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  • S. Hernández and J. M. Mirats Tur. A method to generate stable, collision free configurations for tensegrity based robots, 2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2008, Nice, France, pp. 3769-3774, IEEE.

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Other Publications

  • O. Bohigas and L. Ros. Multi-body singularity equations. Technical Report IRI-TR-10-02, Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC, 2010.

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  • J.M. Porta, L. Ros and F. Thomas. A linear relaxation technique for the position analysis of multi-loop linkages. Technical Report IRI-TR-08-01, Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC, 2008.

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