Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Aerial robot'
To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Aerial robot.
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Aerial robot.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Ward, Paul A. "Coordinated search with unmanned aerial vehicle teams." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:37407b90-51e7-4814-936c-4817ea0c711f.
Full textAbstract:
Advances in mobile robot technology allow an increasing variety of applications to be imagined, including: search and rescue, exploration of unknown areas and working with hazardous materials. State of the art robots are able to behave autonomously and without direct human control, using on-board devices to perceive, navigate and reason about the world. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are particularly well suited to performing advanced sensing tasks by moving rapidly through the environment irrespective of the terrain. Deploying groups of mobile robots offers advantages, such as robustness to individual failures and a reduction in task completion time. However, to operate efficiently these teams require specific approaches to enable the individual agents to cooperate. This thesis proposes coordinated approaches to search scenarios for teams of UAVs. The primary application considered is Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSaR), although the techniques developed are applicable elsewhere. A novel frontier-based search approach is developed for rotor-craft UAVs, taking advantage of available terrain information to minimise altitude changes during flight. This is accompanied by a lightweight coordination mechanism to enable cooperative behaviour with minimal additional overhead. The concept of a team rendezvous is introduced, at which all team members attend to exchange data. This also provides an ideal opportunity to create a comprehensive team solution to relay newly gathered data to a base station. Furthermore, the delay between sensing and the acquired data becoming available to mission commanders is analysed and a technique proposed for adapting the team to meet a latency requirement. These approaches are evaluated and characterised experimentally through simulation. Coordinated frontier search is shown to outperform greedy walk methods, reducing redundant sensing coverage using only a minimal coordination protocol. Combining the search, rendezvous and relay techniques provides a holistic approach to the deployment of UAV teams, meeting mission objectives without extensive pre-configuration.
2
Williams, Richard Michael. "Multi-robot collaborative visual navigation with micro aerial vehicles." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2017. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3006977/.
Full textAbstract:
Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs), particularly multi-rotor MAVs have gained significant popularity in the autonomous robotics research field. The small size and agility of these aircraft makes them safe to use in contained environments. As such MAVs have numerous applications with respect to both the commercial and research fields, such as Search and Rescue (SaR), surveillance, inspection and aerial mapping. In order for an autonomous MAV to safely and reliably navigate within a given environment the control system must be able to determine the state of the aircraft at any given moment. The state consists of a number of extrinsic variables such as the position, velocity and attitude of the MAV. The most common approach for outdoor operations is the Global Positioning System (GPS). While GPS has been widely used for long range navigation in open environments, its performance degrades significantly in constrained environments and is unusable indoors. As a result state estimation for MAVs in such constrained environments is a popular and exciting research area. Many successful solutions have been developed using laser-range finder sensors. These sensors provide very accurate measurements at the cost of increased power and weight requirements. Cameras offer an attractive alternative state estimation sensor; they offer high information content per image coupled with light weight and low power consumption. As a result much recent work has focused on state estimation on MAVs where a camera is the only exteroceptive sensor. Much of this recent work focuses on single MAVs, however it is the author's belief that the full potential and benefits of the MAV platform can only be realised when teams of MAVs are able to cooperatively perform tasks such as SaR or mapping. Therefore the work presented in this thesis focuses on the problem of vision-based navigation for MAVs from a multi-robot perspective. Multi-robot visual navigation presents a number of challenges, as not only must the MAVs be able to estimate their state from visual observations of the environment but they must also be able to share the information they gain about their environment with other members of the team in a meaningful fashion. The meaningful sharing of observations is achieved when the MAVs have a common frame of reference for both positioning and observations. Such meaningful information sharing is key to achieving cooperative multi-robot navigation. In this thesis two main ideas are explored to address these issues. Firstly the idea of appearance based (re)-localisation is explored as a means of establishing a common reference frame for multiple MAVs. This approach allows a team of MAVs to very easily establish a common frame of reference prior to starting their mission. The common reference frame allows all subsequent operations, such as surveillance or mapping, to proceed with direct cooperative between all MAVs. The second idea focuses on the structure and nature of the inter-robot communication with respect to visual navigation; the thesis explores how a partially distributed architecture can be used to vastly improve the scalability and robustness of a multi-MAV visual navigation framework. A navigation framework would not be complete without a means of control. In the multi-robot setting the control problem is complicated by the need for inter-robot collision avoidance. This thesis presents a MAV trajectory controller based on a combination of classical control theory and distributed Velocity Obstacle (VO) based collision avoidance. Once a means of control is established an autonomous multi-MAV team requires a mission. One such mission is the task of exploration; that is exploration of a previously unknown environment in order to produce a map and/or search for objects of interest. This thesis also addressed the problem of multi-robot exploration using only the sparse interest-point data collected from the visual navigation system. In a multi-MAV exploration scenario the problem of task allocation, assigning areas to each MAV to explore, can be a challenging one. An auction-based protocol is considered to address the task allocation problem. The two applications discussed, VO-based trajectory control and auction-based environment exploration, form two case studies which serve as the partial basis of the evaluation of the navigation solutions presented in this thesis. In summary the visual navigation systems presented in this thesis allow MAVs to cooperatively perform task such as collision avoidance and environment exploration in a robust and efficient manner, with large teams of MAVs. The work presented is a step in the direction of fully autonomous teams of MAVs performing complex, dangerous and useful tasks in the real world.
3
Simões, Mauro André Oliveira. "Development of an aerial robot for inspection and surveillance." Master's thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/2515.
Full textAbstract:
Mestrado em Engenharia MecânicaOs veículos aéreos não tripulados são cada vez mais procurados para desempenhar diversas tarefas do quotidiano. Estes sistemas são, no entanto, caros e necessitam de equipas grandes para serem operados. O controlo de veículos aéreos autónomos num ambiente parcialmente conhecido é uma tarefa complexa. Os sistemas actuais são baseados em sensores e sistemas de controlo relativamente dispendiosos, e são frequentemente pesados, necessitando de uma grande quantidade de energia. O principal objectivo deste projecto é desenvolver um sistema aéreo não tripulado, fácil de operar, para inspecção e monitorização. Integrados neste sistema encontram-se a plataforma do robô aéreo, o sistema de controlo e a estação de controlo remoto. A plataforma desenvolvida é baseada em veículos mais leves que o ar. Pretende-se que esta plataforma seja capaz de navegar por espaços confinados e também em ambientes fechados. A esta plataforma foram incorporados sensores e sistemas de controlo leves e de baixo consumo de energia. Para a estação de supervisão foi desenvolvido um programa que permite o controlo do robô e supervisão dos objectivos da missão. A interface gráfica permite de uma forma intuitiva efectuar o controlo do robô. Os testes iniciais permitiram demonstrar as capacidades dos sistemas desenvolvidos para atingir os objectivos propostos. ABSTRACT: Unmanned aerial vehicles are being increasingly sought to perform every days tasks. But these systems are still costly and require a large crew of mission controllers and pilots to adequately manoeuvre the UAV. Managing and control an autonomous air vehicle in a partially known and uncontrolled environment is a complex problem. Current UAVs are based on costly sensors and control systems. These control systems are also usually heavy and demand large amounts of power. This thesis aims to develop an easy to operate unmanned aerial system for surveillance and monitoring missions. As part of this system will be developed an aerial platform, the embedded control system, the ground station with a graphical interface. The platform designed is based on a small lighter-than-air vehicle. To successfully complete the mission objectives the UAV must be capable of navigate through constrained areas and endow indoor flights. The UAV is equipped with low power consumption sensors and processors. For the ground station will be developed an application to control and monitor the UAV status. The graphical user interface application provide an easy to use interface to control and monitor the mission objectives. The initial tests allowed to validate the feasibility of the systems developed to achieve the proposed goals.
4
Winston, Crystal(Crystal E. ). "A Multi-modal Robot for Ground and Aerial Locomotion." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123246.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 39-40).
This thesis describes the design and testing of a quadcopter that capable of both driving and flying. This was achieved by mounting quadcopter motors and propellers to the center of each of the robot's four wheels. The wheels are then capable of changing orientation in order to allow the robot to either drive or fly. Each of these wheels contains a gearing and bearing system that decouples the rotation of the wheels from the rotation of the propellers and also houses the system's landing gear. The prototype described in this thesis is capable of driving on flat surfaces as well as vertical take-off and landing. Further improvements to the system would be required in order for it to perform longer flights, complex aerial maneuvers, drive on uneven surfaces, or carry additional payloads.
by Crystal Winston.
S.B.
S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering
5
Heslinga, Paul. "Analysis and Realization of a Dual-Nacelle Tiltrotor Aerial Vehicle." Digital WPI, 2014. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-theses/627.
Full textAbstract:
Unmanned aerial vehicles are a salient solution for rapid deployment in disaster relief, search and rescue, and warfare operations. In these scenarios, the agility, maneuverability and speed of the UAV are vital components towards saving human lives, successfully completing a mission, or stopping dangerous threats. Hence, a high speed, highly agile, and small footprint unmanned aerial vehicle capable of carrying minimal payloads would be the best suited design for completing the desired task. This thesis presents the design, analysis, and realization of a dual-nacelle tiltrotor unmanned aerial vehicle. The design of the dual-nacelle tiltrotor aerial vehicle utilizes two propellers for thrust with the ability to rotate the propellers about the sagittal plane to provide thrust vectoring. The dual-nacelle thrust vectoring of the aerial vehicle provides a slimmer profile, a smaller hover footprint, and allows for rapid aggressive maneuvers while maintaining a desired speed to quickly navigate through cluttered environments. The dynamic model of the dual-nacelle tiltrotor design was derived using the Newton-Euler method and a nonlinear PD controller was developed for spatial trajectory tracking. The dynamic model and nonlinear PD controller were implemented in Matlab Simulink using SimMechanics. The simulation verified the ability of the controlled tiltrotor to track a helical trajectory. To study the scalability of the design, two prototypes were developed: a micro scale tiltrotor prototype, 50mm wide and weighing 30g, and a large scale tiltrotor prototype, 0.5m wide and weighing 2.8kg. The micro scale tiltrotor has a 1.6:1 thrust to weight ratio with an estimated flight time of 6 mins in hover. The large scale tiltrotor has a 2.3:1 thrust to weight ratio with an estimated flight time of 4 mins in hover. A detailed realization of the tiltrotor prototypes is provided with discussions on mechanical design, fabrication, hardware selection, and software implementation. Both tiltrotor prototypes successfully demonstrated hovering, altitude, and yaw maneuvering while tethered and remotely controlled. The developed prototypes provide a framework for further research and development of control strategies for the aggressive maneuvering of underactuated tiltrotor aerial vehicles.
6
Ozdemir, Segah. "Multi Objective Conceptual Design Optimization Of An Agricultural Aerial Robot (aar)." Master's thesis, METU, 2005. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12606610/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Multiple Cooling Multi Objective Simulated Annealing algorithm has been combined with a conceptual design code written by the author to carry out a multi objective design optimization of an Agricultural Aerial Robot. Both the single and the multi objective optimization problems are solved. The performance figures of merits for different aircraft configurations are compared. In this thesis the potential of optimization as a powerful design tool to the aerospace problems is demonstrated.
7
Hager, Daniel Michael. "Situational Awareness of a Ground Robot From an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32825.
Full textAbstract:
In the operation of unmanned vehicles, safety is a primary concern. This thesis focuses on the use of computer vision in the development of a situational awareness system that allows for safe deployment and operation of a ground robot from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A method for detecting utility cables in 3D range images is presented. This technique finds areas of an image that represent edges in 3D space, and uses the Hough transform to find those edges that take the shape of lines, indicating potential utility cables. A mission plan for stereo image capture is laid out as well for overcoming some weaknesses of the stereo vision system; this helps ensure that all utility cables in a scene are detected. In addition, the system partitions the point cloud into best-fit planes and uses these planes to locate areas of the scene that are traversable by a ground robot. Each planeâ s slope is tested against an acceptable value for negotiation by the robot, and the drop-off between the plane and its neighbors is examined as well. With the results of this analysis, the system locates the largest traversable region of the terrain using concepts from graph theory. The system displays this region to the human operator with the drop-offs between planes clearly indicated. The position of the robot is also simulated in this system, and real-time feedback regarding dangerous moves is issued to the operator.
After a ground robot is deployed to the chosen site, the system must be capable of tracking it in real time as well. To this end, a software routine that uses ARToolkitâ s marker tracking capabilities is developed. This application computes the distance to the robot, as well as the horizontal distance from camera to the robot; this allows the flight controller to issue the proper commands to keep the robot centered underneath the UAV.Master of Science
8
Yu, Kevin L. "Persistent Monitoring with Energy-Limited Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Assisted by Mobile Recharging Stations." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83493.
Full textAbstract:
We study the problem of planning a tour for an energy-limited Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to visit a set of sites in the least amount of time. We envision scenarios where the UAV can be recharged along the way either by landing on stationary recharging stations or on Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) acting as mobile recharging stations. This leads to a new variant of the Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) with mobile recharging stations. We present an algorithm that finds not only the order in which to visit the sites but also when and where to land on the charging stations to recharge. Our algorithm plans tours for the UGVs as well as determines the best locations to place stationary charging stations. While the problems we study are NP-Hard, we present a practical solution using Generalized TSP that finds the optimal solution. If the UGVs are slower, the algorithm also finds the minimum number of UGVs required to support the UAV mission such that the UAV is not required to wait for the UGV. We present a calibration routine to identify parameters that are needed for our algorithm as well as simulation results that show the running time is acceptable for reasonably sized instances in practice. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm through simulations and proof-of-concept experiments with a fully autonomous system of one UAV and UGV.Master of Science
Commercially available Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), especially multi-rotor aircrafts, have a flight time of less than 30 minutes. However many UAV applications, such as surveillance, package delivery, and infrastructure monitoring, require much longer flight times. To address this problem, we present a system in which an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) can recharge the UAV during deployments. This thesis studies the problem of finding when, where, and how much to recharge the battery. We also allow for the UGV to recharge while moving from one site to another. We present an algorithm that finds the paths for the UAV and UGV to visit a set of points of interest in the least time possible. We also present algorithms for cases when the UGV is slower than the UAV, and more than one UGV may be required. We evaluate our algorithms through simulations and proof-of-concept experiments.
9
Ingalls, Stephen A. "Application of concurrent engineering methods to the design of an autonomous aerial robot." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/12222.
Full text
10
Ramos, Nicole R. "Assessment of vision-based target detection and classification solutions using an indoor aerial robot." Thesis, Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/43984.
Full textAbstract:
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedThe role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in military, commercial and recreational applications is continuously evolving as devel-opments in technology increase capabilities. The research herein presents an inexpensive computer-vision-based solution for detection and classification of a stationary target with a mobile aerial sensor as a prototyping platform. The main goal of this system is to use commercial-off-the-shelf and open-source components to reduce design complexity to provide a legacy product for future develop-ment of specific capabilities. Color imagery collected during flight using a low-resolution camera is used to test the application of a simple algorithm against a commercially available and low cost sensor. Original image processing algorithms that leverage the existing body of works in the open-source community are developed and tested within the Systems Engineering construct. System architec-ture leverages a modular approach that can be easily modified and adapted to changing requirements and objectives. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further study and system development are presented.
11
Shah, Syed Irtiza Ali. "Single camera based vision systems for ground and; aerial robots." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/37143.
Full textAbstract:
Efficient and effective vision systems are proposed in this work for object detection for ground&aerial robots venturing into unknown environments with minimum vision aids, i.e. a single camera. The first problem attempted is that of object search and identification in a situation similar to a disaster site. Based on image analysis, typical pixel-based characteristics of a visual marker have been established to search for, using a block based search algorithm, along with a noise and interference filter. The proposed algorithm has been successfully utilized for the International Aerial Robotics competition 2009. The second problem deals with object detection for collision avoidance in 3D environments. It has been shown that a 3D model of the scene can be generated from 2D image information from a single camera flying through a very small arc of lateral flight around the object, without the need of capturing images from all sides. The forward flight simulations show that the depth extracted from forward motion is usable for large part of the image. After analyzing various constraints associated with this and other existing approaches, Motion Estimation has been proposed. Implementation of motion estimation on videos from onboard cameras resulted in various undesirable and noisy vectors. An in depth analysis of such vectors is presented and solutions are proposed and implemented, demonstrating desirable motion estimation for collision avoidance task.
12
Bonnín, Pascual Francisco. "Contributions to Robot-based Vessel Visual Inspection." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/543844.
Full textAbstract:
[cat]El transport marítim és una de les maneres més efectives de transportar béns d’un lloc a l’altre
del món. Encara que avui dia es realitzen grans esforços per tal d’evitar els accidents
marítims, aquests encara ocorren i, de tant en tant, tenen conseqüències catastròfiques en
termes ambientals, humans i/o econòmics. Els problemes estructurals causats per esquerdes
i/o corrosió són la causa principal d’aquests accidents i, per això, els vaixells són sotmesos a
ins-peccions periòdiques amb l’objectiu de garantir la seva integritat estructural. Per dur a
terme una inspecció, els vaixells són buidats i portats a una drassana on s’instal·len bastides
que permeten als inspectors arribar a les zones més altes de la seva estructura. Aquestes
inspeccions es realitzen sovint en compartiments perillosos o de difícil accés. En termes
econòmics, el procés pot suposar un desemborsament de fins a un milió de dòlars. Per tot
això, qualsevol contribució que suposi una reducció en el temps/cost de la inspecció, o un
increment en la seguretat dels operaris, està justificada. En aquesta tesi es proposen noves
eines tecnològiques que pretenen contribuir al redisseny dels processos d’inspecció visual de
vaixells. D’una banda, es proposa una nova plataforma robòtica aèria que permet a l’operari
realitzar la ins-pecció del vaixell des d’una posició segura i còmoda. Aquesta plataforma
consisteix en un dispositiu de fàcil ús que ha estat desenvolupat seguint el paradigma de
l’Autonomia Supervisada, de tal manera que el vehicle s’encarrega de totes les tasques
referents a la seguretat, mentre que l’operari proporciona les consignes de desplaçament i pot
centrarse en el procés d’inspecció. D’altra banda, es proposen diversos algorismes basats en
visió per a la detecció de defectes en l’estructura del vaixell. En primer lloc, es proposen
diversos mètodes per a la detecció de corrosió, basats en la combinació de diferents
descriptors de color i de textura. En segon lloc, es proposa un algorisme per a la detecció
d’esquerdes que combina l’extracció de contorns amb un procés de creixement de regions.
Finalment, s’avalua el concepte de notorietat per a la detecció de defectes genèrics, i per a la
millora del rendiment dels detectors de corrosió i d’esquerdes. La plataforma robòtica i els detectors de defectes proposats han estat avaluats tant en laboratori com durant proves de
camp realitzades a bord d’un vaixell real. Els resultats obtinguts permeten confirmar la utilitat i
el bon rendiment de les diferents eines tecnològiques propostes.[spa]El transporte marítimo es una de las maneras más efectivas de transportar mercancías de un lugar a otro del mundo. Aunque hoy en día se llevan a cabo muchos esfuerzos para evitar los accidentes marítimos, estos todavía ocurren y, de vez en cuando, tienen consecuencias catastróficas en términos ambientales, humanos y/o económicos. Los daños estructurales causados por grietas y/o corrosión son la causa principal de estos accidentes y, por ello, los barcos son sometidos a inspecciones periódicas con el objetivo de garantizar su integridad estructural. Para llevar a cabo una inspección, los barcos son vaciados y llevados a un astillero donde se instalan andamiajes para permitir a los inspectores alcanzar las zonas más altas de su estructura. Estas inspecciones se realizan muchas veces en entornos peligrosos o de difícil acceso. En términos económicos, el proceso puede suponer un desembolso de hasta un millón de dolares. Por todo ello, cualquier contribución que suponga una reducción en el tiempo/coste de la inspección, o un incremento en la seguridad de los operarios, está justificada. En esta tesis se proponen nuevas herramientas tecnológicas que pretenden contribuir al rediseño de los procesos de inspección visual de barcos. Por un lado, se propone una nueva plataforma robótica aérea que permite al operario realizar la inspección del barco desde una posición segura y cómoda. Esta plataforma consiste en un dispositivo de fácil manejo que ha sido desarrollado siguiendo el paradigma de la Autonomía Supervisada, de tal manera que el vehículo se encarga de todas las tareas referentes a la seguridad, mientras que el operario proporciona las consignas de desplazamiento y puede centrarse en el proceso de inspección. Por otro lado, se proponen diversos algoritmos basados en visión para la detección de defectos en la estructura del barco. En primer lugar, se proponen varios métodos para la detección de corrosión, basados en la combinación de diferentes descriptores de color y de textura. En segundo lugar, se propone un algoritmo para la detección de grietas que combina la extracción de contornos con un proceso de crecimiento de regiones. Finalmente, se evalúa el concepto de notoriedad para la detección de defectos genéricos, y para la mejora del rendimiento de los detectores de corrosión y de grietas. La plataforma robótica y los detectores de defectos propuestos han sido evaluados tanto en laboratorio como durante pruebas de campo realizadas a bordo de un barco real. Los resultados obtenidos permiten confirmar la utilidad y el buen rendimiento de las diferentes herramientas tecnológicas propuestas.
[eng]Vessels are nowadays one of the most cost effective ways to transport goods around the world. Despite the efforts to avoid maritime accidents, these still occur and, from time to time, have catastrophic consequences in environmental, human and/or economic terms. Structural failures caused by cracks and/or corrosion are the main cause of these accidents and, as such, vessels are submitted to periodical inspections in order to ensure their structural integrity. To carry out this task, vessels have to be emptied and situated in a dockyard where high scaffoldings are installed to allow the human inspectors to reach the highest parts of the vessel structure. Besides, the surveys are on many occasions performed in hazardous environments with difficult access. In economic terms, total expenses can reach up to one million dollars. Therefore, it is clear that any level of automation of the inspection process that can lead to a reduction of the inspection time, a reduction of the financial costs and/or an increase in the safety of the operation is fully justified. In this regard, this dissertation presents novel technological tools to contribute to re-engineering the process of vessel visual inspection. On the one hand, a novel aerial robotic platform is proposed to allow the surveyor to perform a proper inspection from a safe and comfortable position. It consists in an easy-to-use device which has been developed around the Supervised Autonomy paradigm, so that the vehicle is in charge of all the safety-related issues, while the surveyor provides the displacement commands and focuses on the inspection process. On the other hand, novel vision-based algorithms for defect detection on vessels structures are proposed. Firstly, several corrosion detection methods are described, based on the combination of different colour and texture descriptors. Secondly, a crack detection method, which combines edge detection with a region growing procedure, is proposed. Finally, the idea of saliency for detecting generic defects on vessel structures is evaluated, and also to improve the performance of the corrosion and crack detectors. The aerial platform and the defect detectors are evaluated both under laboratory conditions and during field tests performed on board real vessels. The results obtained allow to confirm the usability and the good performance of all the proposed technological tools.
13
Shair, Sultan. "The investigation of mobile robot waypoint navigation utilising the Global Positioning System and aerial imagery." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2008. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/34906.
Full textAbstract:
Problems faced by UK farmers formed the raison d'etre for this research. Agriculture plays an important role in the UK economy. However, due to difficulties securing the necessary workforce, problems associated with hiring migrant labourers, and competition from cheap imported produce, the UK's Gross Value Added (GVA) plummeted from £9.8 to £5.2 billion in the decade leading up to 2005. As a result, the automation of certain farming (and horticultural) jobs is becoming a desirable alternative to man-power, in an aim to re-establish the supply and demand for local and exported produce. The need for low-cost, robust and manoeuvrable robots to attract farmers' interest in agricultural/horticultural automation was met by the introduction of Ransomes Jacobsen's Spider®, a grass cutting mower that could be converted into an autonomous robot. With the appropriate transformation in hardware and computer software, it has provided the opportunity for such research.
14
Saxena, Anujj. "Robot Localization Using Artificial Neural Network Under Intermittent Positional Signal." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1613731846524738.
Full text
15
Bailon-Ruiz, Rafael. "Design of a wildfire monitoring system using fleets of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020ISAT0011.
Full textAbstract:
Les feux de forêt sont des incendies de végétation incontrôlés qui causent des dégâts importants à l’environnement, aux biens et aux personnes. Les actions de lutte contre de tels feux sont risqués et peuvent par conséquent bénéficier de techniques d'automatisation pour réduire l’exposition humaine. La télédétection aérienne est une technique qui permet d’obtenir des informations précises sur l’état d'un feu de forêt, afin que les équipes d’intervention puissent préparer des contre-mesures. Avec des véhicules aériens habités, elle expose les opérateurs à des risques élevés, qui peuvent être évités par l’utilisation de véhicules autonomes. Cette thèse présente un système de surveillance de feux de forêt basé sur des flottes de véhicules aériens sans pilote (UAV) afin de fournir aux pompiers des renseignements précis et à jour sur un feu de forêt. Nous présentons une approche pour planifier les trajectoires d’une flotte de drones à voilure fixe afin d’observer un feu de forêt évoluant au fil du temps. Des modèles réalistes du terrain, du processus de propagation du feu et des drones sont exploités, ainsi qu’un modèle du vent, pour prédire la propagation des feux de forêt et planifier le mouvement des drones. L’approche présentée adapte une méthode générique de recherche à voisinage variable (VNS) à ces modèles et les contraintes associées. L’exécution de la mission d’observation planifiée fournit des cartes des feux de forêt qui sont transmises à l’équipe d’intervention et exploitées par l’algorithme de planification pour déterminer de nouvelles trajectoires d’observation. Les algorithmes et les modèles sont intégrés dans une architecture logicielle permettant l’exécution dans des scénarios avec différents niveaux de réalisme, avec des drones réels et simulés survolant un feu de forêt réel ou synthétique. Les résultats de simulation mixte montrent la capacité de planifier les trajectoires d’observation d’une petite flotte de drones et de mettre à jour les plans lorsque de nouvelles informations sur l’incendie sont incorporées dans le modèle de propagation de feuWildfires, also known as forest or wildland fires, are uncontrolled vegetation fires occurring in rural areas that cause tremendous damage to the society, harming environment, property and people. The firefighting endeavor is a dull, dirty and dangerous job and as such, can greatly benefit from automation to reduce human exposure to hazards. Aerial remote sensing is a common technique to obtain precise information about a wildfire state so fire response teams can prepare countermeasures. This task, when performed with manned aerial vehicles, expose operators to high risks that can be eliminated by the use of autonomous vehicles. This thesis introduces a wildfire monitoring system based on fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide firefighters with timely updated information about a wildland fire. We present an approach to plan trajectories for a fleet of fixed-wing UAVs to observe a wildfire evolving over time. Realistic models of the terrain, of the fire propagation process, and of the UAVs are exploited, together with a model of the wind, to predict wildfire spread and plan UAV motion. The approach tailors a generic Variable Neighborhood Search method to these models and the associated constraints. The execution of the planned monitoring mission provides wildfire maps that are transmitted to the fire response team and exploited by the planning algorithm to plan new observation trajectories. Algorithms and models are integrated within a software architecture allowing for execution under scenarios with different levels of realism, with real and simulated UAVs flying over a real or synthetic wildfire. Mixed-reality simulation results show the ability to plan observation trajectories for a small fleet of UAVs, and to update the plans when new information on the fire are incorporated in the fire model
16
Duberg, Daniel. "Safe Navigation of a Tele-operated Unmanned Aerial Vehicle." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för datavetenskap och kommunikation (CSC), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-221701.
Full textAbstract:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can navigate in indoor environments and through environments that are hazardous or hard to reach for humans. This makes them suitable for use in search and rescue missions and by emergency response and law enforcement to increase situational awareness. However, even for an experienced UAV tele-operator controlling the UAV in these situations without colliding into obstacles is a demanding and difficult task. This thesis presents a human-UAV interface along with a collision avoidance method, both optimized for a human tele-operator. The objective is to simplify the task of navigating a UAV in indoor environments. Evaluation of the system is done by testing it against a number of use cases and a user study. The results of this thesis is a collision avoidance method that is successful in protecting the UAV from obstacles while at the same time acknowledges the operator’s intentions.Obemannad luftfarkoster (UAV:er) kan navigera i inomhusmiljöer och genom miljöer som är farliga eller svåra att nå för människor. Detta gör dem lämpliga för användning i sök- och räddningsuppdrag och av akutmottagning och rättsväsende genom ökad situationsmedvetenhet. Dock är det även för en erfaren UAV-teleoperatör krävande och svårt att kontrollera en UAV i dessa situationer utan att kollidera med hinder. Denna avhandling presenterar ett människa-UAV-gränssnitt tillsammans med en kollisionsundvikande metod, båda optimerade för en mänsklig teleoperatör. Målet är att förenkla uppgiften att navigera en UAV i inomhusmiljöer. Utvärdering av systemet görs genom att testa det mot ett antal användningsfall och en användarstudie. Resultatet av denna avhandling är en kollisionsundvikande metod som lyckas skydda UAV från hinder och samtidigt tar hänsyn till operatörens avsikter.
17
Persson, Martin. "Semantic Mapping using Virtual Sensors and Fusion of Aerial Images with Sensor Data from a Ground Vehicle." Doctoral thesis, Örebro : Örebro University, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-2186.
Full text
18
Schiano, Fabrizio. "Bearing-based localization and control for multiple quadrotor UAVs." Thesis, Rennes 1, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018REN1S009/document.
Full textAbstract:
Le but de cette thèse est d'étendre l'état de l'art par des contributions sur le comportement collectif d'un groupe de robots volants, à savoir des quadrirotors UAV. Afin de pouvoir sûrement naviguer dans un environnement, ces derniers peuvent se reposer uniquement sur leurs capacités à bord et non sur des systèmes centralisés (e.g., Vicon ou GPS). Nous réalisons cet objectif en offrant une possible solution aux problèmes de contrôle en formation et de localisation à partir de mesures à bord et via une communication locale. Nous abordons ces problèmes exploitant différents concepts provenant de la théorie des graphes algébriques et de la théorie de la rigidité. Cela nous permet de résoudre ces problèmes de façon décentralisée et de proposer des algorithmes décentralisés capables de prendre en compte également des limites sensorielles classiques. Les capacités embarquées que nous avons mentionnées plus tôt sont représentées par une caméra monoculaire et une centrale inertielle (IMU) auxquelles s'ajoute la capacité de chaque robot à communiquer (par RF) avec certains de ses voisins. Cela est dû au fait que l'IMU et la caméra représentent une possible configuration économique et légère pour la navigation et la localisation autonome d'un quadrirotor UAVThe aim of this Thesis is to give contributions to the state of the art on the collective behavior of a group of flying robots, specifically quadrotor UAVs, which can only rely on their onboard capabilities and not on a centralized system (e.g., Vicon or GPS) in order to safely navigate in the environment. We achieve this goal by giving a possible solution to the problems of formation control and localization from onboard sensing and local communication. We tackle these problems exploiting mainly concepts from algebraic graph theory and the so-called theory of rigidity. This allows us to solve these problems in a decentralized fashion, and propose decentralized algorithms able to also take into account some typical sensory limitations. The onboard capabilities we referred to above are represented by an onboard monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) in addition to the capability of each robot to communicate (through RF) with some of its neighbors. This is due to the fact that an IMU and a camera represent a possible minimal, lightweight and inexpensive configuration for the autonomous localization and navigation of a quadrotor UAV
19
Lallement, Raphael. "Symbolic and Geometric Planning for teams of Robots and Humans." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016ISAT0010/document.
Full textAbstract:
La planification HTN (Hierarchical Task Network, ou Réseau Hiérarchique de Tâches) est une approche très souvent utilisée pour produire des séquences de tâches servant à contrôler des systèmes intelligents. Cette thèse présente le planificateur HATP (Hierarchical Agent-base Task Planner, ou Planificateur Hiérarchique centré Agent) qui étend la planification HTN classique en enrichissant la représentation des domaines et leur sémantique afin d'être plus adaptées à la robotique, tout en offrant aussi une prise en compte des humains. Quand on souhaite générer un plan pour des robots tout en prenant en compte les humains, il apparaît que les problèmes sont complexes et fortement interdépendants. Afin de faire face à cette complexité, nous avons intégré à HATP un planificateur géométrique apte à déduire l'effet réel des actions sur l'environnement et ainsi permettre de considérer la visibilité et l'accessibilité des éléments. Cette thèse se concentre sur l'intégration de ces deux planificateurs de nature différente et étudie comment par leur combinaison ils permettent de résoudre de nouvelles classes de problèmes de planification pour la robotiqueHierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning is a popular approach to build task plans to control intelligent systems. This thesis presents the HATP (Hierarchical Agent-based Task Planner) planning framework which extends the traditional HTN planning domain representation and semantics by making them more suitable for roboticists, and by offering human-awareness capabilities. When computing human-aware robot plans, it appears that the problems are very complex and highly intricate. To deal with this complexity we have integrated a geometric planner to reason about the actual impact of actions on the environment and allow to take into account the affordances (reachability, visibility). This thesis presents in detail this integration between two heterogeneous planning layers and explores how they can be combined to solve new classes of robotic planning problems
20
Rutkowski, Adam J. "A BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED SENSOR FUSION APPROACH TO TRACKING A WIND-BORNE ODOR IN THREE DIMENSIONS." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1196447143.
Full text
21
Kontitsis, Michail. "Design and implementation of an integrated dynamic vision system for autonomous systems operating in uncertain domains." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002852.
Full text
22
Nagori, Chinmay. "Unmanned Aerial Manipulators in Construction - Opportunities and Challenges." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/101663.
Full textAbstract:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have now been accepted as an alternative medium to human workers for data collection processes in various industries. The capabilities of UAVs are now being extended from passive tasks of data collection to active tasks of interacting with the environment by equipping them with robotic arms and function as Unmanned Aerial Manipulators (UAMs).
Research on Unmanned Aerial Manipulators has been growing in the last few years. The applications of UAMs in terms of sensor installation, inspections, door opening, valve turning, pick and drop, etc. have been studied for the oil and gas industry, and civil applications, etc. However, there is a lack of studies in understanding applications of UAMs and their capabilities in construction and in advancing construction activities. The goal of this research is to identify potential opportunities and challenges of the application of UAM in construction projects. The study will undertake an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews with industry experts to address research questions. This study will have a significant contribution to the introduction and development of new contact-based UAV-guided technologies in construction.Master of Science
Drones or Unmanned Aerial Manipulators have been used in the construction industry to collect visual data in form of images, videos, or to map surveys, and visually inspect the structures. However, if equipped with a robotic arm, they attain the capability of touching and interacting with the environment to effectively function as an Unmanned Aerial Manipulator (UAM). UAMs have researched for various applications such as sensor installation, touch-based sensor inspections, door opening, and closing, and pick up and drop, etc. However, there is a lack of study for their opportunities and challenges in the construction industry. This research focuses on understanding the opportunities and challenges associated with the application of UAMs in the construction industry.
23
Juston, Raphael. "De l'oeil élémentaire à l'oeil composé artificiel : application à la stabilisation visuelle en vol stationnaire." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013AIXM4118.
Full textAbstract:
La stratégie de l'équipe biorobotique est de s'inspirer de découvertes faites en biologie chez l'insecte ailé dont la vision est adaptée à la navigation autonome dans un environnement 3D inconnu. Cette inspiration donne naissance la réalisation de capteurs visuels minimalistes permettant de rendre autonomes des robots volants, pour des tâches complexes telles que : le décollage et l'atterrissage automatiques, l'évitement d'obstacles et, dans le cas de cette thèse, le vol stationnaire.Cette thèse présente la mise en œuvre des capteurs visuels minimalistes bio-inspirés qui, grâce à des algorithmes de traitement que nous avons réalisés, sont capables de localiser la position d'objets visuels en tirant partie de propriétés souvent bannies en optique : un flou, obtenu par défocalisation, associé à un micro-mouvement rétinien actif. Nous montrons que la précision en localisation ainsi obtenue est considérablement améliorée par rapport à la résolution statique définie par l'échantillonnage spatial : ces capteurs optiques bio-inspirés sont donc dotés d'hyperacuité.Cette thèse présente aussi l'œil composé artificiel miniature CurvACE (de 2,2cm3 pour 1,75g) doté d'une vision panoramique (180x60°). Cette thèse décrit la caractérisation et la mise en œuvre du capteur CurvACE sur le robot HyperRob. En fusionnant les mesures de position données par une quarantaine de pixels couvrant un grand champ visuel, l'œil CurvACE mesure sa position par rapport à un environnement visuel texturé complexe. Nous montrons aussi que le robot volant HyperRob, attaché au bout d'un bras, stabilise son roulis et sa position, dans le plan azimutal, grâce à son œil composé artificiel doté d'hyperacuitéThe biorobotics team from the Institute of Movement Sciences (Marseille, France) takes its inspiration from biological studies on flying insects which are able to navigate into unknown 3D environments with a high maneuverability. These studies led us to build minimalist optical sensors to make aerial robots autonomous for achieving complex tasks such as automatic landing and take-off, obstacle avoidance and very accurate hovering flight depicted in this doctoral thesis. This work presents several bio-inspired visual sensors implemented with different visual processing algorithms. All these sensors are able to locate visual objects (contrasting edges and bars) with unusual properties for optical sensing devices: a blur obtained by defocusing optics related with active retinal micro-movements to improve the sensor resolution. We showed that the resolution in locating contrasting objects can be improved up to 160 fold better than the static resolution defined by the pixel pitch, which means that these bio-inspired optical sensors are endowed with hyperacuity.The thesis presents a miniature artificial compound eye CurvACE (of 1.75g for 2.2cm3) with a panoramic field of view (180x60°). This thesis describes thoroughly the characterization and the implementation of the CurvACE sensor onboard an aerial robot named HyperRob. This artificial compound eye acts as a position sensing device able to measure its position relative to a complex textured scene by fusing the position measurements obtained by 40 pixels. The tethered flying robot HyperRob (a 150-g bi-rotor with a 23-cm wingspan) stabilizes its roll and its position thanks to its hyperacute artificial compound eye
24
Boeuf, Alexandre. "Kinodynamic motion planning for quadrotor-like aerial robots." Phd thesis, Toulouse, INPT, 2017. http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/20169/1/Boeuf.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Motion planning is the field of computer science that aims at developing algorithmic techniques allowing the automatic computation of trajecto- ries for a mechanical system. The nature of such a system vary according to the fields of application. In computer animation it could be a humanoid avatar. In molecular biology it could be a protein. The field of application of this work being aerial robotics, the system is here a four-rotor UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) called quadrotor. The motion planning problem consists in computing a series of motions that brings the system from a given initial configuration to a desired final configuration without generating collisions with its environment, most of the time known in advance. Usual methods explore the system’s configuration space regardless of its dynamics. By construction the thrust force that allows a quadrotor to fly is tangential to its attitude which implies that not every motion can be performed. Furthermore, the magnitude of this thrust force and hence the linear acceleration of the center of mass are limited by the physical capabilities of the robot. For all these reasons, not only position and orientation must be planned, higher derivatives must be planned also if the motion is to be executed. When this is the case we talk of kinodynamic motion planning. A distinction is made between the local planner and the global planner. The former is in charge of producing a valid trajectory between two states of the system without necessarily taking collisions into account. The later is the overall algorithmic process that is in charge of solving the motion planning problem by exploring the state space of the system. It relies on multiple calls to the local planner. We present a local planner that interpolates two states consisting of an arbitrary number of degrees of freedom (dof) and their first and second derivatives. Given a set of bounds on the dof derivatives up to the fourth order (snap), it quickly produces a near-optimal minimum time trajectory that respects those bounds. In most of modern global motion planning algorithms, the exploration is guided by a distance function (or metric). The best choice is the cost-to-go, i.e. the cost associated to the local method. In the context of kinodynamic motion planning, it is the duration of the minimal-time trajectory. The problem in this case is that computing the cost-to-go is as hard (and thus as costly) as computing the optimal trajectory itself. We present a metric that is a good approximation of the cost-to-go but which computation is far less time consuming. The dominant paradigm nowadays is sampling-based motion planning. This class of algorithms relies on random sampling of the state space in order to quickly explore it. A common strategy is uniform sampling. It however appears that, in our context, it is a rather poor choice. Indeed, a great majority of uniformly sampled states cannot be interpolated. We present an incremental sampling strategy that significantly decreases the probability of this happening.
25
Cowlagi, Raghvendra V. "Hierarchical motion planning for autonomous aerial and terrestrial vehicles." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/41066.
Full textAbstract:
Autonomous mobile robots - both aerial and terrestrial vehicles - have gained immense importance due to the broad spectrum of their potential military and civilian applications. One of the indispensable requirements for the autonomy of a mobile vehicle is the vehicle's capability of planning and executing its motion, that is, finding appropriate control inputs for the vehicle such that the resulting vehicle motion satisfies the requirements of the vehicular task. The motion planning and control problem is inherently complex because it involves two disparate sub-problems: (1) satisfaction of the vehicular task requirements, which requires tools from combinatorics and/or formal methods, and (2) design of the vehicle control laws, which requires tools from dynamical systems and control theory.
Accordingly, this problem is usually decomposed and solved over two levels of hierarchy. The higher level, called the geometric path planning level, finds a geometric path that satisfies the vehicular task requirements, e.g., obstacle avoidance. The lower level, called the trajectory planning level, involves sufficient smoothening of this geometric path followed by a suitable time parametrization to obtain a reference trajectory for the vehicle.
Although simple and efficient, such hierarchical separation suffers a serious drawback: the geometric path planner has no information of the kinematic and dynamic constraints of the vehicle. Consequently, the geometric planner may produce paths that the trajectory planner cannot transform into a feasible reference trajectory. Two main ideas appear in the literature to remedy this problem: (a) randomized sampling-based planning, which eliminates altogether the geometric planner by planning in the vehicle state space, and (b) geometric planning supported by feedback control laws. The former class of methods suffer from a lack of optimality of the resultant trajectory, while the latter class of methods makes a restrictive assumption concerning the vehicle kinematic model.
In this thesis, we propose a hierarchical motion planning framework based on a novel mode of interaction between these two levels of planning. This interaction rests on the solution of a special shortest-path problem on graphs, namely, one using costs defined on multiple edge transitions in the path instead of the usual single edge transition costs. These costs are provided by a local trajectory generation algorithm, which we implement using model predictive control and the concept of effective target sets for simplifying the non-convex constraints involved in the problem. The proposed motion planner ensures "consistency" between the two levels of planning, i.e., a guarantee that the higher level geometric path is always associated with a kinematically and dynamically feasible trajectory. We show that the proposed motion planning approach offers distinct advantages in comparison with the competing approaches of discretization of the state space, of randomized sampling-based motion planning, and of local feedback-based, decoupled hierarchical motion planning. Finally, we propose a multi-resolution implementation of the proposed motion planner, which requires accurate descriptions of the environment and the vehicle only for short-term, local motion planning in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle.
26
Geisert, Mathieu. "Optimal control and machine learning for humanoid and aerial robots." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018ISAT0011/document.
Full textAbstract:
Quelle sont les points communs entre un robot humanoïde et un quadrimoteur ? Et bien, pas grand-chose… Cette thèse est donc dédiée au développement d’algorithmes permettant de contrôler un robot de manière dynamique tout en restant générique par rapport au model du robot et à la tâche que l’on cherche à résoudre. Le contrôle optimal numérique est pour cela un bon candidat. Cependant il souffre de plusieurs difficultés comme un nombre important de paramètres à ajuster et des temps de calcul relativement élevés. Ce document présente alors plusieurs améliorations permettant d’atténuer ces difficultés. D’un côté, l’ordonnancement des différentes tâches sous la forme d’une hiérarchie et sa résolution avec un algorithme adapté permet de réduire le nombre de paramètres à ajuster. D’un autre côté, l’utilisation de l’apprentissage automatique afin d’initialiser l’algorithme d’optimisation ou de générer un modèle simplifié du robot permet de fortement diminuer les temps de calculWhat are the common characteristics of humanoid robots and quadrotors? Well, not many… Therefore, this thesis focuses on the development of algorithms allowing to dynamically control a robot while staying generic with respect to the model of the robot and the task that needs to be solved. Numerical optimal control is good candidate to achieve such objective. However, it suffers from several difficulties such as a high number of parameters to tune and a relatively important computation time. This document presents several ameliorations allowing to reduce these problems. On one hand, the tasks can be ordered according to a hierarchy and solved with an appropriate algorithm to lower the number of parameters to tune. On the other hand, machine learning can be used to initialize the optimization solver or to generate a simplified model of the robot, and therefore can be used to decrease the computation time
27
Dierks, Travis. "Formation control of mobile robots and unmanned aerial vehicles." Diss., Rolla, Mo. : Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2009. http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/thesis/pdf/Dierks_09007dcc806d7f16.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2009.Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed January 13, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.
28
Ahmad, Iftikhar. "Attitude estimation of accelerated aerial vehicles using IMU/GPS." Versailles-St Quentin en Yvelines, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013VERS0062.
Full textAbstract:
Ce travail de recherche porte sur l’estimation de l’attitude d’un corps rigide se déplaçant dans l’espace 3D avec une accélération qui n’est ni constante, ni négligeable par rapport à la gravité. Les capteurs utilisés sont une centrale inertielle (IMU) et un GPS qui fournissent respectivement les mesures de vecteurs accélération linéaire, champ magnétique terrestre et vitesse angulaire (données IMU) et la vitesse linéaire absolue (données GPS) du corps en mouvement. Nous avons proposé, dans un premier temps, un observateur par mode glissant d’ordre deux assurant la convergence exponentielle, capable d’estimer d’une manière exacte une entrée inconnue supposée bornée et variant dans le temps d’un système dynamique non linéaire. Cet observateur utilise la mesure de tout son état. Celui-ci a ensuite été appliqué à l’estimation de l’accélération linéaire inconnue dans le repère inertiel nécessaire dans la plupart des algorithmes d’estimation d’attitude connus (méthode algébrique ou dynamique). A partir de ce résultat, un observateur à deux étapes a été proposé pour estimer l’attitude du corps rigide en mouvement accéléré, où l’estimation de l’accélération linéaire constitue la première étape, tandis que la deuxième étape se résume à l’utilisation de cette accélération dans un algorithme d’estimation dynamique. En utilisant, le principe de séparation, nous arrivons à montrer la convergence asymptotique presque globale (almost global) de l’erreur d’estimation. Afin de prendre en compte les imperfections des capteurs de la centrale inertielle telles que le bruit et les biais, et par conséquent améliorer l’estimation de l’attitude, un filtre complémentaire non linéaire a été proposéThis research work addresses the problems of attitude estimation of rigid bodies moving in 3D-space with an acceleration which is neither constant, nor negligible as compared to the gravity, using IMU and GPS. We propose an observer based on proportional-integral type second order sliding mode to estimate unknown bounded time-varying input to a nonlinear dynamical system. Exponential convergence on the observed is demonstrated using Lyapunov theory in a general case. This observer has been applied to estimate the unknown linear acceleration in the inertial frame from the equations of rigid bodies translational dynamics. We then propose a two-step observer for which the estimation of linear acceleration is the first step which is then used in the equations of rigid bodies rotational dynamics at second step. The exponentially convergence at first step is sufficient excuse to study the convergence analysis of the rigid bodies rotational dynamics separately. The combined system is found to be almost global asymptotic convergent by using separation principle. We also propose a complementary filter to filter raw measurements of two non-collinear vectors in the body frame, for which we get global asymptotic convergence. Note that we get global exponential convergence if gyro-bias is not considered. After filtering these directions, the doors of attitude estimation through using some algebraic algorithm, are open. The performance of the proposed observers is illustrated by simulation results as well
29
Selvatici, Luca. "Distributed cooperative MPC for aerial robots: a ROS 2 implementation." Master's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2021.
Find full textAbstract:
The significant decrease in manufacturing costs of hardware components for quadrotors has greatly encouraged research into the design of flight control algorithm for quadrotors, which has seen great growth in recent years. One of the key aspects of the research is the communication between the quadrotors. Nowadays it is considered essential that the quadrotors can communicate with each other. This feature allows numerous advantages: it is possible to generate a network capable of collaborating to solve complex tasks that single quadrotors would not be able to perform, or complete them in a shorter time.
The objective of this thesis is the design of a distributed algorithm to control the navigation of a set of quadrotors flying through the same navigation space. A surveillance task has been chosen as a case study, where quadrotors are in charge of arranging themselves in order to protect a target from intruders. Each quadrotor needs to complete both a specific task assigned to it (prevent a certain intruders from reaching the target) and a task in common with the other quadrotors (make sure that the center of the drones coincides with the target and the quadrotors do not collide). With this goal in mind, the project starts with the design of the quadrotor model, controller and trajectories from scratch. Then a Distributed Model Predictive Control algorithm is designed ad hoc to control the navigation of quadrotors. One of the challenges in the creation of this algorithm is the adaptation of the control algorithm to the simultaneous use of Model Predictive Control (MPC) and Online Distributed Gradient Tracking (O-DGT). Indeed, the speed required for the optimization calculations led us to reformulate the MPC in order to make the calculations faster and thus satisfy the limits imposed by the chosen time-step. The proposed model is tested with numerical examples, analyzing a series of cases that allowed us to test different combinations of the developed algorithms.
30
Chamberlain, Caleb H. "System Identification, State Estimation, and Control of Unmanned Aerial Robots." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2011. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2605.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis describes work in a variety of topics related to aerial robotics, including system identification, state estimation, control, and path planning. The path planners described in this thesis are used to guide a fixed-wing UAV along paths that optimize the aircraft's ability to track a ground target. Existing path planners in the literature either ignore occlusions entirely, or they have limited capability to handle different types of paths. The planners described in this thesis are novel in that they specifically account for the effect of occlusions in urban environments, and they can produce a much richer set of paths than existing planners that account for occlusions. A 3D camera positioning system from Motion Analysis is also described in the context of state estimation, system identification, and control of small unmanned rotorcraft. Specifically, the camera positioning system is integrated inside a control architecture that allows a quadrotor helicopter to fly autonomously using truth data from the positioning system. This thesis describes the system architecture in addition to experiments in state estimation, control, and system identification. There are subtleties involved in using accelerometers for state estimation onboard flying rotorcraft that are often ignored even by researchers well-acquainted with the UAV field. In this thesis, accelerometer-rotorcraft behavior is described in detail. The consequences of ignoring accelerometer-rotorcraft behavior are evaluated, and an observer is presented that achieves better performance by specifically modeling actual accelerometer behavior. The observer is implemented in hardware and results are presented.
31
Bicego, Davide. "Design and Control of Multi-Directional Thrust Multi-Rotor Aerial Vehicles with applications to Aerial Physical Interaction Tasks." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019ISAT0025.
Full textAbstract:
Cette thèse aborde l’étude de véhicules aériens autonomes interagissant d’une façon active avec l’environnement, en portant une attention particulière au développement des techniques de modélisation, de conception, et de stratégies de commande appropriées pour ces systèmes. L’étude de ces systèmes étant intrinsèquement complexe et relativement récente, de nouvelles techniques sont nécessaires pour : i) mieux décrire la dynamique du véhicule aérien et ses contraintes d’actionnement ; ii) concevoir efficacement de nouveaux prototypes aériens dotés de propriétés particulières de dextérité et de résilience ; iii) garantir un contrôle stable pendant les opérations sans contact malgré les contraintes d’actionnement ; et iv) préserver la stabilité du système pendant la phase de contact avec l’environnement tout en garantissant l’accomplissement de la tâche de manipulation. Cette thèse explore de nouvelles stratégies pour surmonter, dans une certaine mesure, les problèmes de sous-actionnement des véhicules traditionnels, conçus avec les hélices orientées dans une même direction. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’enrichir les résultats théoriques préliminaires sur de nouvelles plateformes et, en outre, de contribuer au développement de systèmes robotiques aériens réels plus appropriés aux moyens de manipulation améliorés et adaptés aux tâches d’interaction physique aérienne. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet européen H2020 AeroArms, dont le but est de développer des systèmes robotiques aériens dotés de capacités de manipulation avancées à appliquer dans les domaines de l’inspection et de la maintenance industrielles. Par conséquent, l’impact sur l’industrie joue ici un rôle important.629.8This thesis addresses the study of autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AVs) actively interacting with the surrounding environment, with particular attention to the development of modeling and design techniques, and suitable control strategies for these systems. Due to the intrinsic difficulty and the novelty associated with the study of these systems, new techniques are needed to: i) better describe the aerial vehicle dynamics and its actuation limits; ii) effectively design new aerial prototypes with particular properties of dexterity and resilience; iii) guarantee a stable control during contact-less operations despite the actuation limits; and iv) preserve the system stability also during the contact phase with the environment while guaranteeing the fulfillment of the sought manipulation task. This thesis explores new strategies to overcome, to a certain extent, the under-actuation problem of classical multi-rotor platforms, conceived with the propellers aligned towards a common direction. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to a wise growth of the preliminary theoretical results on multi-directional thrust aerial vehicles laid by the state of the art and, furthermore, to the development of more suitable real aerial robotic systems with enhanced manipulation means, tailored for aerial physical interaction tasks. This thesis takes place inside the context of the European H2020 AeroArms project, whose goal is to develop aerial robotic systems with advanced manipulation capabilities to be applied in industrial inspection and maintenance. Hence, also the technology transfer and the impact on the industry plays here an important role
32
Naldi, Roberto <1980>. "Prototyping, modelling and control of a class of VTOL aerial robots." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2008. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/636/.
Full text
33
Yang, Jian. "Real-time trajectory planning for ground and aerial vehicles in a dynamic environment." Orlando, Fla. : University of Central Florida, 2008. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002031.
Full text
34
Riccardo, Zanella Riccardo. "Decoupled Controllers for Mobile Manipulation with Aerial Robots : Design, Implementation and Test." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektro- och systemteknik (EES), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-187649.
Full textAbstract:
This work considers an aerial robot system composed of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and a rigid manipulator, to be employed in mobile manipulation tasks. The strategy adopted for accomplishing the aerial manipulation is a decomposition of the previous system in two decoupled subsystems: one concerning the center of mass of the aerial robot; and another concerning the manipulator's orientation. Two Lyapunov-based controllers are developed, using a back stepping procedure, for solving the trajectory tracking problems related to the two subsystems. In the controller design, three inputs are assumed available: a translational acceleration along a body direction of the UAV; an angular velocity vector of this body rotation; and, finally, a torque at the spherical, or revolute, joint connecting the UAV and the manipulator. The first two inputs are generated by the same controller in order to drive the center of mass on a desired trajectory; while a second controller drives, through the third input, the manipulator's orientation to track a desired orientation. Formal stability proofs are provided that guarantee asymptotic trajectory tracking. Finally, the proposed control strategy is experimentally tested and validated.
35
Sharma, Rajnikant. "Bearing-Only Cooperative-Localization and Path-Planning of Ground and Aerial Robots." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2011. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2884.
Full textAbstract:
In this dissertation, we focus on two fundamental problems related to the navigation of ground robots and small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs): cooperative localization and path planning. The theme running through in all of the work is the use of bearing only sensors, with a focus on monocular video cameras mounted on ground robots and UAVs. To begin with, we derive the conditions for the complete observability of the bearing-only cooperative localization problem. The key element of this analysis is the Relative Position Measurement Graph (RPMG). The nodes of an RPMG represent vehicle states and the edges represent bearing measurements between nodes. We show that graph theoretic properties like the connectivity and the existence of a path between two nodes can be used to explain the observability of the system. We obtain the maximum rank of the observability matrix without global information and derive conditions under which the maximum rank can be achieved. Furthermore, we show that for the complete observability, all of the nodes in the graph must have a path to at least two different landmarks of known location. The complete observability can also be obtained without landmarks if the RPMG is connected and at least one of the robots has a sensor which can measure its global pose, for example a GPS receiver. We validate these conditions by simulation and experimental results. The theoretical conditions to attain complete observability in a localization system is an important step towards reliable and efficient design of localization and path planning algorithms. With such conditions, a designer does not need to resort to exhaustive simulations and/or experimentation to verify whether a given selection of a control strategy, topology of the sensor network, and sensor measurements meets the observability requirements of the system. In turn, this leads to decreased requirements of time, cost, and effort for designing a localization algorithms. We use these observability conditions to develop a technique, for camera equipped UAVs, to cooperatively geo-localize a ground target in an urban terrain. We show that the bearing-only cooperative geo-localization technique overcomes the limitation of requiring a low-flying UAV to maintain line-of-sight while flying high enough to maintain GPS lock. We design a distributed path planning algorithm using receding horizon control that improves the localization accuracy of the target and of all of the UAVs while satisfying the observability conditions. Next, we use the observability analysis to explicitly design an active local path planning algorithm for UAVs. The algorithm minimizes the uncertainties in the time-to-collision (TTC) and bearing estimates while simultaneously avoiding obstacles. Using observability analysis we show that maximizing the observability and collision avoidance are complementary tasks. We provide sufficient conditions of the environment which maximizes the chances obstacle avoidance and UAV reaching the goal. Finally, we develop a reactive path planner for UAVs using sliding mode control such that it does not require range from the obstacle, and uses bearing to obstacle to avoid cylindrical obstacles and follow straight and curved walls. The reactive guidance strategy is fast, computationally inexpensive, and guarantees collision avoidance.
36
Staub, Nicolas. "Models, algorithms and architectures for cooperative manipulation with aerial and ground robots." Thesis, Toulouse 3, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018TOU30169/document.
Full textAbstract:
Les dernières années ont vu le développement de recherches portant sur l'interaction physique entre les robots aériens et leur environnement, accompagné de l'apparition de nombreux nouveaux systèmes mécaniques et approches de régulation. La communauté centrée autour de la robotique aérienne observe actuellement un déplacement de paradigmes des approches classiques de guidage, de navigation et de régulation vers des tâches moins triviales, telle le développement de l'interaction physique entre robots aériens et leur environnement. Ceci correspond à une extension des tâches dites de manipulation, du sol vers les airs. Cette thèse contribue au domaine de la manipulation aérienne en proposant un nouveau concept appelé MAGMaS, pour " Multiple Aerial Ground Manipulator System ". Les motivations qui ont conduites à l'association de manipulateurs terrestres et aériens pour effectuer des tâches de manipulation coopérative, résident dans une volonté d'exploiter leurs particularités respectives. Les manipulateurs terrestres apportant leur importante force et les manipulateurs aériens apportant leur vaste espace de travail. La première contribution de cette thèse présente une modélisation rigoureuse des MAGMaS. Les propriétés du système ainsi que ses possibles extensions sont discutées. Les méthodes de planning, d'estimation et de régulation nécessaire à l'exploitation des MAGMaS pour des tâches de manipulation collaborative sont dérivées. Ce travail propose d'exploiter les redondances des MAGMaS grâce à un algorithme optimal d'allocation de forces entre les manipulateurs. De plus, une méthode générale d'estimation de forces pour robots aériens est introduite. Toutes les techniques et les algorithmes présentés dans cette thèse sont intégrés dans une architecture globale, utilisée à la fois pour la simulation et la validation expérimentale. Cette architecture est en outre augmentée par l'addition d'une structure de télé-présence, afin de permettre l'opération à distances des MAGMaS. L'architecture générale est validée par une démonstration de levage de barre, qui est une application représentative des potentiels usages des MAGMaS. Une autre contribution relative au développement des MAGMaS consiste en une étude exploratoire de la flexibilité dans les objets manipulés par un MAGMaS. Un modèle du phénomène vibratoire est dérivé afin de mettre en exergue ses propriétés en termes de contrôle. La dernière contribution de cette thèse consiste en une étude exploratoire sur l'usage des actionneurs à raideur variable dans les robots aériens, dotant ces systèmes d'une compliance mécanique intrinsèque et de capacité de stockage d'énergie. Les fondements théoriques sont associés à la synthèse d'un contrôleur non-linéaire. L'approche proposée est validée par le biais d'expériences reposant sur l'intégration d'un actionneur à raideur variable léger sur un robot aérienIn recent years, the subject of physical interaction for aerial robots has been a popular research area with many new mechanical designs and control approaches being proposed. The aerial robotics community is currently observing a paradigm shift from classic guidance, navigation, and control tasks towards more unusual tasks, for example requesting aerial robots to physically interact with the environment, thus extending the manipulation task from the ground into the air. This thesis contributes to the field of aerial manipulation by proposing a novel concept known has Multiple Aerial-Ground Manipulator System or MAGMaS, including what appears to be the first experimental demonstration of a MAGMaS and opening a new route of research. The motivation behind associating ground and aerial robots for cooperative manipulation is to leverage their respective particularities, ground robots bring strength while aerial robots widen the workspace of the system. The first contribution of this work introduces a meticulous system model for MAGMaS. The system model's properties and potential extensions are discussed in this work. The planning, estimation and control methods which are necessary to exploit MAGMaS in a cooperative manipulation tasks are derived. This works proposes an optimal control allocation scheme to exploit the MAGMaS redundancies and a general model-based force estimation method is presented. All of the proposed techniques reported in this thesis are integrated in a global architecture used for simulations and experimental validation. This architecture is extended by the addition of a tele-presence framework to allow remote operations of MAGMaS. The global architecture is validated by robust demonstrations of bar lifting, an application that gives an outlook of the prospective use of the proposed concept of MAGMaS. Another contribution in the development of MAGMaS consists of an exploratory study on the flexibility of manipulated loads. A vibration model is derived and exploited to showcase vibration properties in terms of control. The last contribution of this thesis consists of an exploratory study on the use of elastic joints in aerial robots, endowing these systems with mechanical compliance and energy storage capabilities. Theoretical groundings are associated with a nonlinear controller synthesis. The proposed approach is validated by experimental work which relies on the integration of a lightweight variable stiffness actuator on an aerial robot
37
Tognon, Marco. "Theory and Applications for Control and Motion Planning of Aerial Robots in Physical Interaction with particular focus on Tethered Aerial Vehicles." Thesis, Toulouse, INSA, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018ISAT0030.
Full textAbstract:
Cette thèse se concentre sur les robots aériens autonomes qui interagissent avec l’environnement et en particulier sur la conception de nouvelles méthodes de commande et de planification de mouvement pour tels systèmes. De nos jours, les véhicules aériens autonomes sont de plus en plus utilisés dans des nombreux domaines d’application, mais ils viennent utilisés surtout comme des simples capteurs. Au vu de ça, les défis majeurs dans le domaine de l’interaction physique aérienne, est aujourd’hui d’aller au-delà de cette application limitée, et d’exploiter entièrement les capacités des robots aériens afin d’interagir avec l’environnement. Dans le but de réaliser cet objectif, cette thèse considère l’analyse d’une classe spécifique de systèmes aériens interagissant avec l’environnement : les véhicules aériens attachés avec des câbles ou des bars. Ce travail se concentre sur l’analyse formelle et minutieuse de véhicules aériens attachés, en allant du contrôle et l’évaluation d’état à la planification du mouvement. Nous avons examiné notamment la platitude différentielle du système, trouvant deux sorties plate possibles qui révèlent des nouvelles capacités de tel système pour l’interaction physiques. En plus, poussé par l’intérêt pour l’interaction physique aérienne d’A à Z, nous avons abordés des problèmes supplémentaires liés à la conception, au contrôle et à la planification du mouvement pour des manipulateurs aériensThis thesis focuses on the study of autonomous aerial robots interacting with the surrounding environment, and in particular on the design of new control and motion planning methods for such systems. Nowadays, autonomous aerial vehicles are extensively employed in many fields of application but mostly as autonomously moving sensors. On the other hand, in the recent field of aerial physical interaction, the goal is to go beyond sensing-only applications and fully exploit the aerial robots capabilities in order to interact with the environment. With the aim of achieving this goal, this thesis considers the analysis of a particular class of aerial robots interacting with the environment: tethered aerial vehicles. This work focuses on the thorough formal analysis of tethered aerial vehicles ranging from control and state estimation to motion planning. In particular, the differential flatness property of the system is investigated, finding two possible flat outputs that reveal new capabilities of such system for the physical interaction. The theoretical results were finally employed to solve the challenging problem of landing and takeoff on/from a sloped surface. In addition, moved by the interest on aerial physical interaction from A to Z, we addressed supplementary problems related to the design, control and motion planning for aerial manipulators
38
Ait, Jellal Radouane [Verfasser], and Andreas [Akademischer Betreuer] Zell. "Stereo vision and mapping with aerial robots / Radouane Ait Jellal ; Betreuer: Andreas Zell." Tübingen : Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, 2020. http://d-nb.info/1212025172/34.
Full text
39
Fan, Jiankun. "Optimal Path Planning and Control of Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Area Coverage." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1417345596.
Full text
40
Sevcik, Keith Wayne Oh Paul Yu. "A hardware-in-the-loop testing facility for unmanned aerial vehicle sensor suites and control algorithms /." Philadelphia, Pa. : Drexel University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1860/3262.
Full text
41
Forsslund, Patrik, and Simon Monié. "MULTI-DRONE COLLABORATION FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSIONS." Thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för innovation, design och teknik, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-54439.
Full textAbstract:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also called drones, are used for Search And Rescue (SAR) missions, mainly in the form of a pilot manoeuvring a single drone. However, the increase in labour to cover larger areas quickly would result in a very high cost and time spent per rescue operation. Therefore, there is a need for an easy to use, low-cost, and highly autonomous swarm of drones for SAR missions where the detection and rescue times are kept to a minimum. In this thesis, a Subsumption-based architecture is proposed, which combines multiple behaviours to create more complex behaviours. An investigation of (1) what are the critical aspects of controlling a swarm of drones, (2) how can a combination of different behavioural algorithms increase the performance of a swarm of drones, and (3) what benchmarks are necessary when evaluating the fitness of the behavioural algorithms. The proposed architecture was simulated in AirSim using the SimpleFlight flight controller through experiments that evaluated the individual layers and missions that simulated real-life scenarios. The results validate the modularity and reliability of the architecture, where the architecture has the potential for improvements in future iterations. For the search area of 400×400meters, the swarm consistently produced an average area coverage of at least 99.917% and found all the missing people in all missions, with the slowest average being 563 seconds. Compared to related work, the result produced similar or better times when scaled to the same proportions and higher area coverage. As comparisons of results in SAR missions can be difficult, the introduction of Active time can serve as a benchmark for others in future swarm performance measurements.
42
Sattigeri, Ramachandra Jayant. "Adaptive Estimation and Control with Application to Vision-based Autonomous Formation Flight." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/16272.
Full textAbstract:
The role of vision as an additional sensing mechanism has received a lot of attention in recent years in the context of autonomous flight applications. Modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are equipped with vision sensors because of their light-weight, low-cost characteristics and also their ability to provide a rich variety of information of the environment in which the UAVs are navigating in. The problem of vision based autonomous flight is very difficult and challenging since it requires bringing together concepts from image processing and computer vision, target tracking and state estimation, and flight guidance and control.
This thesis focuses on the adaptive state estimation, guidance and control problems involved in vision-based formation flight. Specifically, the thesis presents a composite adaptation approach to the partial state estimation of a class of nonlinear systems with unmodeled dynamics. In this approach, a linear time-varying Kalman filter is the nominal state estimator which is augmented by the output of an adaptive neural network (NN) that is trained with two error signals. The benefit of the proposed approach is in its faster and more accurate adaptation to the modeling errors over a conventional approach.
The thesis also presents two approaches to the design of adaptive guidance and control (G&C) laws for line-of-sight formation flight. In the first approach, the guidance and autopilot systems are designed separately and then combined together by assuming time-scale separation. The second approach is based on integrating the guidance and autopilot design process. The developed G&C laws using both approaches are adaptive to unmodeled leader aircraft acceleration and to own aircraft aerodynamic uncertainties.
The thesis also presents theoretical justification based on Lyapunov-like stability analysis for integrating the adaptive state estimation and adaptive G&C designs. All the developed designs are validated in nonlinear, 6DOF fixed-wing aircraft simulations.
Finally, the thesis presents a decentralized coordination strategy for vision-based multiple-aircraft formation control. In this approach, each aircraft in formation regulates range from up to two nearest neighboring aircraft while simultaneously tracking nominal desired trajectories common to all aircraft and avoiding static obstacles.
43
Archontakis, Andreas. "Assessing the flight quality of a large UAV for sensors/ground robots aerial delivery." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/5116.
Full textAbstract:
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedThe new goal for unmanned aerial systems will be to find creative methods of keeping the cost low and still maintain effectiveness. This thesis discusses the importance of UAVs over the last few years, suggests the development of a low-cost, large UAV, and evaluates the results. We also examine the idea of a platform for deploying multiple aerial-delivery, parafoil-based systems and discuss scenarios for the improvement of the collaboration of the large UAV with the Snowflake project.
44
Nieuwenhuisen, Matthias [Verfasser]. "Planning and Navigation in Dynamic Environments for Mobile Robots and Micro Aerial Vehicles / Matthias Nieuwenhuisen." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1198933445/34.
Full text
45
Moletta, Marco. "Path planning for autonomous aerial robots in unknown underground zones optimized for vertical tunnels exploration." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-285574.
Full textAbstract:
Robotics is revolutionizing the work in dangerous environments like mines and tunnels, making life easier and safer for the workers. The specific case considered in this thesis regards UAVs used for 3D mapping of these zones. However, the use of UAVs in underground mines can be challenging for many reasons, such as reduced visibility, no GPS localization available and limited wireless communication, challenges that can be partially solved by using au- tonomous robots. Precisely for these reasons, this work aims to contribute on this application with the implementation of an autonomous path planning algorithm for aerial vehicles in underground zones.However, the peculiar contribution of this work regards shaft mines, which are vertical or near-vertical tunnels with access from the top and the bottom. This particular scenario is extremely challenging for UAVs, since the length of these tunnels (typically 100-200 m) cause the lost of signal from the con- trol station during the mission. Hence, the implemented algorithm is chosen in order to succeed in shaft scenarios. Then, an optimization of the algorithm has been made in order to decrease the time of the mission, thus increasing the chances of success by saving the battery of the robot.Robotik revolutionerar arbetet i farliga miljöer som gruvor och tunnlar, vilket gör livet enklare och säkrare för arbetarna. Det specifika fallet som behandlas i denna avhandling gäller UAV: er som används för 3D-kartläggning av dessa zoner. Användningen av UAV i underjordiska gruvor kan dock vara utmanan- de av många anledningar, till exempel minskad sikt, ingen GPS-lokalisering tillgänglig och begränsad trådlös kommunikation, utmaningar som delvis kan lösas genom att göra roboten autonom. Just av dessa skäl syftar detta arbe- te till att bidra till denna applikation med implementeringen av en autonom vägplaneringsalgoritm för flygfordon i underjordiska zoner. Det relaterade ar- betet har utvecklats med stöd av Inkonova AB, ett robotföretag i Stockholm. Emellertid gäller det speciella bidraget till detta arbete axelminor, som är ver- tikala eller nästan vertikala tunnlar med åtkomst från toppen och botten. Det- ta speciella scenario är extremt utmanande för UAV: er, eftersom längden på dessa tunnlar (vanligtvis 100-200 m) orsakar förlorad signal från kontroll- stationen under uppdraget. Därför väljs den implementerade algoritmen för att lyckas i axelscenarier. Sedan har en optimering av algoritmen gjorts för att minska uppdragstiden och därmed öka chanserna för framgång genom att spara i robotens batteri.
46
Pfeil, Kevin. "An Exploration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Direct Manipulation Through 3D Spatial Interaction." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5836.
Full textAbstract:
We present an exploration that surveys the strengths and weaknesses of various 3D spatial interaction techniques, in the context of directly manipulating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Particularly, a study of touch- and device- free interfaces in this domain is provided. 3D spatial interaction can be achieved using hand-held motion control devices such as the NintendoWiimote, but computer vision systems offer a different and perhaps more natural method. In general, 3D user interfaces (3DUI) enable a user to interact with a system on a more robust and potentially more meaningful scale. We discuss the design and development of various 3D interaction techniques using commercially available computer vision systems, and provide an exploration of the effects that these techniques have on an overall user experience in the UAV domain. Specific qualities of the user experience are targeted, including the perceived intuition, ease of use, comfort, and others. We present a complete user study for upper-body gesture, and preliminary reactions towards 3DUI using hand-and-finger gestures are also discussed. The results provide evidence that supports the use of 3DUI in this domain, as well as the use of certain styles of techniques over others.M.S.
Masters
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Engineering and Computer Science
Computer Science
47
Polakowski, Matthew Ryan. "An Improved Lightweight Micro Scale Vehicle Capable of Aerial and Terrestrial Locomotion." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1334600182.
Full text
48
Hayajneh, Mohammad Radi Mohammad <1987>. "Nonlinear State Estimation and Control of Autonomous Aerial Robots: Design and Experimental Validation of Smartphone Based Quadrotor." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2016. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/7297/.
Full textAbstract:
This work presents developments of Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) systems with application to autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Precisely, this work shows the development of navigation system based on nonlinear complementary filters for position, velocity and attitude estimation using low-cost sensors. The proposed filtering method provides attitude estimates in quaternion representations and position and velocity estimates by fusing measurements from Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), GPS, and a barometer. Least Square Method (LSM) was used in gains tuning to find the best-fitting of the estimated states with precise measurements obtained by a vision based motion capture system. A complete navigation system was produced by integrating both the attitude and the position filters. The integration of the filtering approach based primarily on the ease of design and computational load. Furthermore, the structure of the filtering design allow for straightforward implementation without a need of high performance signal processing. Moreover, the filters can be tuned totally independent of each other. This work also introduces a nonlinear flight controller for stability and trajectory tracking that is practical for real-time implementation. This controller is also demonstrated the ability of a supervisory controller to provide effective waypoint navigation capabilities in autonomous UAV. The implementation of the guidance, navigation, and control algorithms were adopted in the design of a novel smartphone based autopilot for particular quadrotor aerial platforms. The performances of the proposed work are then evaluated by means of several flight tests. The work also includes a design of advanced navigation and guidance systems based on Robot Operating System (ROS) for Search And Rescue (SAR) missions. Primarily, the performance of the navigation and guidance systems were tested in laboratory by simulating GPS measurements in Linux computer mounted on the top of a quadrotor. This activity facilitates moving by the experiments from indoor to outdoor.
49
Tadiello, Matteo. "Deep reinforcement learning method for autonomous exploration of unknown underground zones using aerial robots with 3D LIDAR." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-289156.
Full textAbstract:
The capability of robots to works in dangerous environments like underground mines can allow workers to work in a safer environment. In particular mapping and explore mines and tunnels can save lives and money. For this kind of missions, UAVs are often chosen, thanks to their high mobility in 3D spaces. However, to do that, the robot needs to work in a complex environment with reduced visibility and poor connections. Artificial intelligence and in particular Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) is becoming a more popular approach to solve this kind of problems, but the implementation of this techniques is still difficult and limited, especially when treating with 3D data. For these reasons, the aim of this work is to provide a new approach to solve the problem of autonomous exploration of 3D underground environments using DRL. We present and explain the approaches which has worked and why other approaches have not, with particular attention in the resources used. Moreover, we implement the new technique paying attention to provide a system which can be easily transferred in a real UAV. Hence, we test the new approach with the actual state of the art in the field, explaining which technique use today and why DRL is a valuable alternative to more analytical approaches used nowadays.Roboternas förmåga att arbeta i farliga miljöer som underjordiska gruvor kan göra det möjligt för arbetare att arbeta i en säkrare miljö. I synnerhet kan kartläggning och utforska gruvor och tunnlar spara liv och pengar. För denna typ av uppdrag väljs ofta UAV: er tack vare deras höga rörlighet i 3D-utrymmen. Men för att göra det måste roboten arbeta i en komplex miljö med nedsatt synlighet och dåliga anslutningar. Artificiell intelligens och särskilt Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) blir ett mer populärt tillvägagångssätt för att lösa denna typ av problem, men implementeringen av denna teknik är fortfarande svår och begränsad, särskilt vid behandling med 3D-data. Av dessa skäl är syftet med detta arbete att tillhandahålla ett nytt tillvägagångssätt för att lösa problemet med autonom utforskning av 3D-underjordiska miljöer med hjälp av DRL. Vi presenterar och förklarar de metoder som har fungerat och varför andra metoder inte har, med särskild uppmärksamhet i de resurser som används. Dessutom implementerar vi den nya tekniken med uppmärksamhet åt att tillhandahålla ett system som enkelt kan överföras i en riktig UAV. Därför testar vi det nya tillvägagångssättet med det faktiska tillståndet i fältet och förklarar vilken teknik som används idag och varför DRL är ett värdefullt alternativ till mer analytiska tillvägagångssätt som används idag.
50
Six, Damien. "Conception et commande de robots parallèles volants." Thesis, Ecole centrale de Nantes, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018ECDN0046/document.
Full textAbstract:
La manipulation aérienne est l’un des défis de la robotique au cours de cette dernière décennie. L’un des freins au développement des manipulateurs aériens est l’autonomie limitée des drones, réduite par la charge et la consommation électrique du manipulateur embarqué. Une solution pour dépasser cette limite passe par la collaboration de plusieurs drones dans une tâche de manipulation. Cette thèse porte sur la conception et la commande d’un nouveau type de véhicule autonome aérien destiné à la manipulation. Le concept consiste à faire collaborer plusieurs drones, en particulier des quadricoptères, au travers d’une architecture passive polyarticulée. Le robot ainsi obtenu est une fusion entre l’architecture passive d’un robot parallèle et plusieurs drones. L’étude du modèle dynamique de cette classe de robots met en avant un découplage dans le modèle dynamique. Ce découplage permet la conception d’une commande en cascade qui assure la stabilisation et le suivi de trajectoire pour ces robots. Deux cas d’étude sont ensuite déclinés dans cette thèse : un robot parallèle volant à deux drones et un robot parallèle volant à trois drones. Pour ces deux robots, une simulation numérique est effectuée afin de valider le fonctionnement de la commande. Ces simulations ont également permis de valider la possibilité de changer la configuration de l’architecture passive en vol. Les travaux ont été portés avec succès jusqu’au stade expérimental pour le robot volant à deux dronesAerial manipulation is one of the challenges of robotics over the last decade. One of the constraints on the development of aerial manipulators is the limited autonomy of drones, reduced by the load and energy consumption of the on-board manipulator. One way to overcome this limit is to have several drones collaborate on a manipulation task. This thesis deals with the design and control of a new type of autonomous aerial vehicle for manipulation tasks. The concept consists in the collaboration of several drones, in particular quadrotors, through a polyarticulated passive architecture. The robot thus obtained is a fusion between the passive architecture of a parallel robot and several drones. The study of the dynamic model of this robot class highlights a decoupling in the dynamic model. This decoupling allows the design of a cascade control law. This controller provides stabilization and trajectory tracking for these robots. Two study cases are then presented in this thesis: a flying parallel robot with two drones and a flying parallel robot with three drones. For these two robots, a numerical simulation is performed to validate the controller performances. These simulations also allowed to validate the reconfiguration abilities of passive architecture in flight. The work was successfully carried to the experimental stage for the flying robot with two drones