15262548
Multifunctional Mobile Units with a same platform for in-pipe inspection robots
Robots are efficient and economic for in-pipe inspection tasks. In this paper, we deal with versatility and multifunction of in-pipe inspection robots. A versatile platform equipped with one driving motor is the main body of multifunctional mobile unit (MMU) that performs inspection tasks. We have developed three kinds of MMU by fixing different assemblies on the proposed versatile platform. MMU1 is an adaptive mobile mechanism that changes its working mode autonomously and gets over the obstacle without any extra motorpsilas help, in the case that the pipe diameter changes. MMU2 is a mechanism that has both driving ability and detecting function; MMU3 is equipped with assemblies that integrate the wheel and propeller function together, thus, MMU3 is able to propel both in dry pipe and watery pipe. These MMUs are all constructed from a same platform, which makes little increase of the cost but realizes of more kinds of robots. Several basic experiments have been conducted to confirm the effectiveness and mobility of the MMUs.
206544153
Analysis of creeping locomotion of a snake robot on a slope
Biological snakes' diverse locomotion modes and physiology make them supremely adapted for environment. To realize these snakes' noticeable features, we have developed a snake-like robot that has no any forward direction driving force. To enlarge the environment-adaptable ability of our robot, in this study we discuss the creeping locomotion of our snake-like robot on a slope. A computer simulator is presented for analysis of the creeping locomotion of our snake-like robot on a slope, and the environment-adaptable body shape for the creeping locomotion of the snake-like robot on slope is also derived through this simulator.
152660
Gaits-transferable CPG controller for a snake-like robot
With slim and legless body, particular ball articulation, and rhythmic locomotion, a nature snake adapted itself to many terrains under the control of a neuron system. Based on analyzing the locomotion mechanism, the main functional features of the motor system in snakes are specified in detail. Furthermore, a bidirectional cyclic inhibitory (BCI) CPG model is applied for the first time to imitate the pattern generation for the locomotion control of the snake-like robot, and its characteristics are discussed, particularly for the generation of three kinds of rhythmic locomotion. Moreover, we introduce the neuron network organized by the BCI-CPGs connected in line with unilateral excitation to switch automatically locomotion pattern of a snake-like robot under different commands from the higher level control neuron and present a necessary condition for the CPG neuron network to sustain a rhythmic output. The validity for the generation of different kinds of rhythmic locomotion modes by the CPG network are verified by the dynamic simulations and experiments. This research provided a new method to model the generation mechanism of the rhythmic pattern of the snake.
206600042
Multiagent Reinforcement Learning for a Planetary Exploration Multirobot System
In a planetary rover system called “SMC rover”, the motion coordination between robots is a key problem to be solved. Multiagent reinforcement learning methods for multirobot coordination strategy learning are investigated. A reinforcement learning based coordination mechanism is proposed for the exploration system. Four-robot climbing a slope is studied in detail as an instance. The actions of the robots are divided into two layers and realized respectively, which simplified the complexity of the climbing task. A Q-Learning based multirobot coordination strategy mechanism is proposed for the climbing mission. An OpenGL 3D simulation platform is used to verify the strategy and the learning results.
21075507
BP Networks Based Trajectory Planning and Inverse Kinematics of a Reconfigurable Mars Rover
The inverse kinematics of series manipulators presents an inherent complexity due to their various structures and kinematics constraints. To a novel reconfigurable Mars rover's arm, the inverse kinematics had been solved by numerical method combined with space geometry relations, but the complex calculating process can not be utilized in real-time control. In this paper, some actions in common use are programmed in the child rover, and the BP neural network was used to solve the inverse kinematics and trajectory planning. To a desired trajectory, some solutions by direct kinematics algorithms and geometry relations corresponding to the trajectory were used as the BP network's training data set, and the non-linear mapping from joint-variable space to operation-variable space was obtained with iterative training and learning method. The results show the output of training is consistent with the desired path, and the obtained reference trajectory is smooth.
14083445
Network-based reconfiguration routes for a self-reconfigurable robot
This paper presents a network-based analysis approach for the reconfiguration problem of a self-reconfigurable robot. The self-reconfigurable modular robot named “AMOEBA-I” has nine kinds of non-isomorphic configurations that consist of a configuration network. Each configuration of the robot is defined to be a node in the weighted and directed configuration network. The transformation from one configuration to another is represented by a directed path with nonnegative weight. Graph theory is applied in the reconfiguration analysis, where reconfiguration route, reconfigurable matrix and route matrix are defined according to the topological information of these configurations. Algorithms in graph theory have been used in enumerating the available reconfiguration routes and deciding the best reconfiguration route. Numerical analysis and experimental simulation results prove the validity of the approach proposed in this paper. And it is potentially suitable for other self-reconfigurable robots’ configuration control and reconfiguration planning.
13209883
An Approach for Dynamic Hardware /Software Partitioning Based on DPBIL
HW/SW partitioning is one of the key steps in high-level modeling of embedded system co-design. In some kinds of data-dependence applications, the partitioning environment is dynamic. An approach based on a kind of evolutionary algorithm called DPBIL is proposed for dynamic HW/SW partitioning problem. DPBIL is inspired by Dualism or complementarity in the nature and operates on a pair of dual probability vectors to adapt itself to the dynamic environment. We systematically constructed the system model, defined the dynamic environment and conducted experimental analysis via comparison with the existing method. To enhance the exploration performance of DPBIL, a threshold constraint mechanism is introduced. Experimental results indicated that our approach is feasible and efficient for dynamic HW/SW partitioning, and has much better performance than traditional ones.
7837008
A Forward-Secrecy WTLS Handshake Protocol Based on XTR
Because of the lack of the forward secrecy and the indefensibility from intermediator attacks and DOS attacks in WTLS, the security of current WTLS handshake protocol is far from satisfactory. In this paper we propose a new WTLS handshake protocol to solve these problems. Forward secrecy attribute has been added in the scheme, and a practicable WTLS handshake protocol has been designed on XTR system. Experiments have been taken on MSM6280 platform and the result turns out that the above security problems were efficiently solved and achieve a good performance on popular embedded platform. The conclusion can be drawn that the security and practicability of WTLS protocol has been greatly improved.
16012768
Continuous Optimization based-on Boosting Gaussian Mixture Model
A new estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) based on Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is proposed, in which boosting, an efficient ensemble learning method, is adopted to estimate GMM. By boosting simple GMM with two components, it has the ability of learning the model structure and parameters automatically without any requirement for prior knowledge. Moreover, since boosting can be viewed as a gradient search for a good fit of some objective in function space, the new EDA is time efficient. A set of experiments is implemented to evaluate the efficiency and performance of the new algorithm. The results show that, with a relatively smaller population and less number of generations, the new algorithm can perform as well as compared EDAs in optimizing multimodal functions
14435465
A hardware/software partitioning algorithm based on artificial immune principles
Hardware/software codesign is the main approach to designing the embedded systems. One of the primary steps of the hardware/software codesign is the hardware/software partitioning. A good partitioning scheme is a tradeoff of some constraints, such as power, size, performance, and so on. Inspired by both negative selection model and evolutionary mechanism of the biological immune system, an evolutionary negative selection algorithm for hardware/software partitioning, namely ENSA-HSP, is proposed in this paper. This ENSA-HSP algorithm is proved to be convergent, and its ability to escape from the local optimum is also analyzed. The experimental results demonstrate that ENSA-HSP is more efficient than traditional evolutionary algorithm.
2212152
A Model of GIS Virtual Machine
Abstract This paper presents a model of Geographic Information System Virtual Machine. The GIS VM is a software architectural model that facilitates the development of Web-based GIS applications. It is a three-tiered system. Java applets or ActiveX objects, with Web browsers as the container, form the presentation tier that interacts with the user. The core of the GIS VM is the servers in the middle and third tiers. The middle tier includes server components for basic GIS functions and data discovery. The third tire mainly contains the spatial data access server. In addition to these basic servers, the GIS VM includes a model object manager (MOM) that establishes linkages with external models and other application programs. The MOM can also extract metadata about models and carry out the execution process on a user's behalf.