Textbooks Suitable for ...
University-level Students
Software Engineering for Experimental Robotics
Editor: Davide Brugali
STAR Volume 30
Abstract: Software Engineering
for Experimental Robotics collects contributions that describe the
state of the art in software development for the Robotics domain. It
reports on innovative ideas that are progressively introduced in the
software development process, in order to promote the reuse of robotic
software artifacts: domain engineering, components, frameworks and
architectural styles. It illustrates the results of the most
successful and well-known research projects which aim to develop
reusable robotic software systems. Most of the chapters report on
concepts and ideas discussed at the well attended ICRA2005 Workshop on
"Principles and Practice of Software Development in Robotics",
Barcelona, Spain, April 18 2005. The authors are recognised as leading
scholars internationally, and the result is an effective blend of
fundamental and innovative results on research and development in
software for robotic systems, where one common factor is the
integration of reusable building blocks. Besides the advancement in
the field, most contributions survey the state of the art, report a
number of practical applications to real systems, and discuss possible
future developments.
Fast SLAM
Authors: Michael Montemerlo, Sebastian Thrun
STAR Volume 27
Abstract: This
monograph describes a new family of algorithms for the
simultaneous localization and mapping problem in robotics (SLAM). SLAM
addresses the problem of acquiring an environment map with a roving
robot, while simultaneously localizing the robot relative to this map.
This problem has received enormous attention in the robotics community
in the past few years, reaching a peak of popularity on the occasion
of the DARPA Grand Challenge in October 2005, which was won by the
team headed by the authors. The FastSLAM family of algorithms applies
particle filters to the SLAM Problem, which provides new insights into
the data association problem that is paramount in SLAM. The
FastSLAM-type algorithms have enabled robots to acquire maps of
unprecedented size and accuracy, in a number of robot application
domains and have been successfully applied in different dynamic
environments, including the solution to the problem of people
tracking.
Intelligent Vehicle Systems: A 4D/RCS Approach
Editors: Raj Madhavan, Elena R. Messina and
James S. Albus
Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 1-60021-260-3
This book presents
new research on autonomous mobility capabilities and shows how
technological advances can be anticipated in the coming two
decades. An in-depth description is presented on the theoretical
foundations and engineering approaches that enable these capabilities.
Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the 4D/RCS reference model
architecture and design methodology that has proven successful in
guiding the development of autonomous mobility systems. Chapters 2
through 7 provide more detailed descriptions of research that has been
conducted and algorithms that have been developed to implement the
various aspects of the 4D/RCS reference model architecture and design
methodology. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss applications, performance
measures, and standards. Chapter 10 provides a history of Army and
DARPA research in autonomous ground mobility. The Epilog provides a
perspective on the potential future developments in autonomous
mobility.
Springer Handbook of Robotics
Editors: Bruno Siciliano and Oussama Khatib
From Springer's 2006 catalogue:
"Robotics is undergoing a major transformation in scope and
dimension. Starting from a predominantly industrial focus, robotics
has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of unstructured
environments. The Springer Handbook of Robotics incorporates these new
developments and therefore basically differs from other handbooks of
robotics focusing on industrial applications. It presents a widespread
and well-structured conglomeration of new emerging application areas
of robotics. The handbook is an ideal resource for robotics experts
but also for people new to this expanding field such as engineers,
medical doctors, computer scientists, designers; edited by two
internationally renowned experts."
This 1500-page handbook is
due out in March 2007.
STAR Volume 22,
Editor: Henrik Christensen.
Abstract: This unique reference represents a cross-section of
forefront robotics research, ranging from robotics and systems to
learning, autonomy and failure detection, from vision and navigation
to localization and mapping, which are based on the papers presented
at the 1st European
Robotics Symposium (EUROS-06) held in Palermo,
Italy from 16-18 March, 2006. The European Robotics Symposium (EUROS)
is a brand-new International scientific event promoted by EURON, the
European Robotics Network. Since its inception in 2000, EURON links
most of the European robotics research teams and today (2006) involves
more than 165 universities and companies across all of its member
states. The EUROS meeting will be held in Europe every other year, but
international participation at all levels is strongly encouraged
making it a meeting place for high-quality presentation of interesting
international research on robotics.
System Issues and Application,
by J. Norberto Pires, Altino Loureiro, and Gunnar Bölmsjo.
From car manufacturing to production of niche products, welding is one
of the most widespread and successful applications of industrial
robotics. This book is an overview of robotic welding at the beginning
of this century. The last few years-worth of evolution in robotic
welding are described, illustrating the rapid innovations and
featuring: Welding Technology; Sensors and Sensing Techniques;
Industrial robotic welding systems; and Actual industrial application
of modern-day robotic welding techniques. Containing worked examples
and problems, this book will be of value to students of robotics and
manufacturing engineering who wish to understand the latest robot
welding technologies while also being a useful reference for active
researchers and those working in industry. The book signposts future
developments and aims to give readers the information they need to
contribute to the next wave of development in the area of
manufacturing technology.
edited by
Stefan Wermter, Günther Palm, and Mark Elshaw, 2005
This
book presents research performed as part of the EU project on
biomimetic multimodal learning in a mirror neuron-based robot
(MirrorBot) and contributions presented at the International
AI-Workshop in NeuroBotics. The overall aim of the book is to present
a broad spectrum of current research into biomimetic neural learning
for intelligent autonomous robots. There seems to be a need for a new
type of robots which is inspired by nature and so performs in a more
flexible learned manner than current robots. This new type of robots
is driven by recent new theories and experiments in neuroscience
indicating that a biological and neuroscience-oriented approach could
lead to new life-like robotic systems.
The book focuses on some of the research progress made in the MirrorBot
project which uses concepts from mirror neurons as a basis for the
integration of vision, language and action. In this book we show the
development of new techniques using cell assemblies, associative neural
networks, and Hebbian-type learning in order to associate vision,
language and motor concepts. We have developed biomimetic multimodal
learning and language instruction in a robot to investigate the task of
searching for objects. As well as the research performed in this area
for the MirrorBot project, the second part of this book incorporates
significant contributes from essential research in the field of
biomimetic robotics. This second part of the book concentrates on the
progress made in neuroscience-inspired robotic learning approaches (in
short: Neuro-Botics).
We hope that this book stimulates and encourages new research in this area.
A Bradford book by Roland Siegwart and Illah R. Nourbakhsh.
Mobile robots range from the teleoperated Sojourner on the Mars
Pathfinder mission to cleaning robots in the Paris Metro. Introduction
to Autonomous Mobile Robots offers students and other interested
readers an overview of the technology of mobility -- the mechanisms
that allow a mobile robot to move through a real world environment to
perform its tasks -- including locomotion, sensing, localization, and
motion planning. It discusses all facets of mobile robotics, including
hardware design, wheel design, kinematics analysis, sensors and
perception, localization, mapping, and robot control architectures.
The design of any successful robot involves the integration of many
different disciplines, among them kinematics, signal analysis,
information theory, artificial intelligence, and probability
theory. Reflecting this, the book presents the techniques and
technology that enable mobility in a series of interacting
modules. Each chapter covers a different aspect of mobility, as the
book moves from low-level to high-level details. The first two
chapters explore low-level locomotory ability, examining robots'
wheels and legs and the principles of kinematics. This is followed by
an in-depth view of perception, including descriptions of many
"off-the-shelf" sensors and an analysis of the interpretation of
sensed data. The final two chapters consider the higher-level
challenges of localization and cognition, discussing successful
localization strategies, autonomous mapping, and navigation
competence. Bringing together all aspects of mobile robotics into one
volume, Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots can serve as a
textbook for coursework or a working tool for beginners in the field.
Fundamental and technological topics are uniquely blended and clearly
developed in nine chapters with a gradually increasing level of complexity.
A wide variety of relevant problems is raised throughout, and the proper
tools to find engineering-oriented solutions are introduced and explained,
step by step.
Fundamental coverage includes: Kinematics; Statics and dynamics of
manipulators; Trajectory planning and motion control in free space.
Technological aspects include: Actuators; Sensors; Hardware/software
control architectures; Industrial robot-control algorithms.
Furthermore, established research results involving description of
end-effector orientation, closed kinematic chains, kinematic redundancy and
singularities, dynamic parameter identification, robust and adaptive
control and force/motion control are provided.
To provide readers with a homogeneous background, three appendices are
included on: Linear algebra; Rigid-body mechanics; Feedback control.
To acquire practical skill, more than 50 examples and case studies are
carefully worked out and interwoven through the text, with frequent resort
to simulation. In addition, more than 80 end-of-chapter exercises are
proposed, and the book is accompanied by a solutions manual containing the
MATLAB code for computer problems; this is available from the publisher
free of charge to those adopting this work as a textbook for courses.
Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science Vol. 540
Bruno Siciliano and Luigi Villani,
2000
One of the fundamental requirements for the success of a robot task is the
capability to handle interaction between manipulator and environment. The
quantity that describes the state of interaction more effectively is the
contact force at the manipulator's end effector. High values of contact
force are generally undesirable since they may stress both the manipulator
and the manipulated object; hence the need to seek for effective force
control strategies. The book provides a theoretical and experimental
treatment of robot interaction control. In the framework of model-based
operational space control, stiffness control and impedance control are
presented as the basic strategies for indirect force control; a key feature
is the coverage of six-degree-of-freedom interaction tasks and manipulator
kinematic redundancy. Then, direct force control strategies are presented
which are obtained from motion control schemes suitably modified by the
closure of an outer force regulation feedback loop. Finally, advanced force
and position control strategies are presented which include
passivity-based, adaptive and output feedback control schemes. Remarkably,
all control schemes are experimentally tested on a setup consisting of a
seven-joint industrial robot with open control architecture and
force/torque sensor.
The topic of robot force control is not treated in depth in robotics
textbooks, in spite of its crucial importance for practical manipulation
tasks. In the few books addressing this topic, the material is often
limited to single-degree-of-freedom tasks. On the other hand, several
results are available in the robotics literature but no dedicated monograph
exists. The book is thus aimed at filling this gap by providing a
theoretical and experimental treatment of robot force control.
Modeling,
Identification and Control of Robots
Wisama Khalil (IRCCyN-Nantes-France),
and Etienne Dombre (LIRMM-Montpellier-France).
Summary: This book covers the three fundemental
issues of manipulators (modeling, identification and control) using a unified
approach for serial, tree structure and closed loop robots. It is intended
for researchers, university lecturers, engineers, and postgraduate students
in the field of automatic control, robotics and mechanics. It is a revised
and augmented edition of the french version "Modélisation, identification
et commande des robots" published by Hermès in 1999 and whose first
edition "Modelisation et commande des robots" was published in 1988.
For further information consult http://www.hermespenton.com
Evolutionary Robotics the Biology,
Intelligence, and Technology of Self-organizing Machines
Stefano Nolfi and Dario Floreano
Summary: Evolutionary robotics is a new technique
for the automatic creation of autonomous robots. Inspired by the Darwinian
principle of selective reproduction of the fittest, it views robots as
autonomous artificial organisms that develop their own skills in close
interaction with the environment and without human intervention. Drawing
heavily on biology and ethology, it uses the tools of neural networks,
genetic algorithms, dynamic systems, and biomorphic engineering. The resulting
robots share with simple biological systems the characteristics of robustness,
simplicity, small size, flexibility, and modularity.
In evolutionary robotics, an initial population
of artificial chromosomes, each encoding the control system of a robot,
is randomly created and put into the environment. Each robot is then free
to act (move, look around, manipulate) according to its genetically specified
controller while its performance on various tasks is automatically evaluated.
The fittest robots then "reproduce" by swapping parts of their genetic
material with small random mutations. The process is repeated until the
"birth" of a robot that satisfies the performance criteria.
This book describes the basic concepts and methodologies
of evolutionary robotics and the results achieved so far. An important
feature is the clear presentation of a set of empirical experiments of
increasing complexity. Software with a graphic interface, freely available
on a Web page (http://gral.ip.rm.cnr.it/evorobot/simulator.html),
allows the reader to replicate and vary (in simulation and on real robots)
most of the experiments.
MIT Press/ Bradford Books.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/book-home.tcl?isbn=0262140705
To download the Evorobot software visit: http://gral.ip.rm.cnr.it/evorobot/simulator.html
Modeling and IPC Control of Iteractive
Mechanical Systems: a Coordinate-free Approach
Stefano Stramigioli
Springer Lecture Notes in Control
and Information Sciences 266.
Robots, and more generally mechanical systems, are types of
physical system. This is why it is important to study and control
these systems using information about their particular structure that
describes their particular nature. In discussing physical systems,
concepts like energy, interconnection and interaction, become of
substantial importance. Furthermore, during the modeling and control
tasks, the results we obtain should be independent from artificial
co-ordinates that people use to analyse the results of their
work. This has lead to the concept of co-ordinate free description and
tensors that have been used a lot in the theory of
relativity.Throughout this book emphasis is placed on the intrinsic
description of the results reported.The book describes the modeling
and control of robotic systems subject to interaction. It covers
everything from basic concepts of differential geometry to real
robotics. Physics and the geometric interconnection of arts play a
major role throughout the work.
www.amazon.com page
Motion control systems for wheeled robots.
S.F. Burdakov, I.V. Miroshnik and R.E. Stelmakov.
Summary: The book is devoted to the problems of modelling,
analysis and control of multi-wheeled (mobile) robots. Dynamical and kinematic
models of the robots, theoretical problems of path planning and design
of trajectory control systems, as well as applied aspects of motion control
in mobile environments and those of the use of vision systems, are considered.
The text is based on the modern techniques of analysis and design of complex
mechanical systems, a geometric approach to nonlinear control and fuzzy
logic control theory. Technical methodologies of the implementation of
the control systems for typical samples of wheeled robots are represented;
numerous examples and results of simulation are included in the book.
The book contains results of the cooperative research
accomplished by the Laboratory ``Control of Complex Systems'' of the Institute
for Problems of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
the Department ``Mechanics and Control Processes'' of the
State Technical University and the Laboratory
of Cybernetics and Control Systems of the State Institute of Fine
Mechanics and Optics. The research was supported by the Russian Foundation
for Basic Research, Russian Federal Program ``Integration'', as well as
the Scientific and Educational Center ``St. Petersburg Academical University''.
