Download or read book Design and Control of Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Federico Parietti and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humans possess the remarkable ability to control their four natural limbs in a voluntary, accurate and independent manner. The simultaneous use of two or more limbs allows humans to learn and robustly perform a wide range of complex tasks. Since the use of multiple limbs enables humans to master advanced motor skills, it would be interesting to study whether having additional limbs would enable users to expand their skill set beyond its natural limits. Inspired by this vision, we propose a new form of human augmentation: a wearable robot that augments its user by providing him with an additional set of robotic limbs. We named this new device Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRL). However, humans have never had the possibility to control additional, powered limbs besides their natural arms and legs. The main theme of this thesis, besides realizing a prototype of the robot and proving its usefulness in realworld tasks, is demonstrating that humans can voluntarily control additional limbs as if they were a part of their own body. We realized a lightweight (3.5 kg), comfortable prototype of the SRL that can be easily worn by an unassisted user. Two robotic limbs can assist the user in both manufacturing and locomotion tasks. We created control strategies that take advantage of the independence of the robotic limbs, enabling them to provide optimal assistance in specific tasks such as weight support, body stabilization, using powered tools, sitting/standing and dynamic walking. Finally, we developed an EMG-based control interface that enables users to voluntarily control the motion of the robotic limbs, without interfering with the posture of the rest of the body. The new augmentation technology presented in this thesis opens up new possibilities in the field of wearable robotics. The voluntary control of additional robotic limbs falls within the range of motor skills that humans can learn, and enables the acquisition of a new set of complex skills that would not be achievable using only the natural body..

Download or read book Augmenting Human Manipulation Abilities with Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Irfan Hussain and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-17 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a timely report on an emerging topic in the field of wearable assistive technology: the design and development of robotic extra fingers. After a concise review of the state of the art and a description of earlier prototypes, it discusses the authors’ efforts to address issues such as portability and wearability of the devices, including strategies to reduce fatigue and to integrate the motion of the extra fingers with that of the human hand. The book also explores optimized control algorithms and the design of wearable sensorimotor interfaces, and presents a set of tests carried out on healthy subjects and chronic stroke patients. Merging concepts from robotics, biomechanics, human factors and control theory and offering an overview of supernumerary robotic fingers, including the challenges, this book will inspire researchers involved in the development of wearable robotic devices and interfaces based on the principles of wearability, safety, ergonomics and user comfort.

Download or read book Supernumerary Robotic Limbs for Human Augmentation in Overhead Assembly Tasks written by Lawrence Zack Bright and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Manufacturing tasks are highly demanding of work, and there is an especially high prevalence of injury associated with overhead tasks which are taxing to the shoulder and upper body. To assist workers completing these tasks, and to increase overall productivity, safety and effectiveness, we introduce a novel design of Supernumerary Robotic Limb (SRL). This is a robotic arm worn on the shoulder of the technician/- worker which extends the human capability with implicit force control algorithms that allow for intuitive control and interface of the extra robot arm. Affectionately dubbed Aucto, the robotic arm can lift an object and hold it while the wearer is securing the object using a tool with both hands. The worker does not have to take a laborious posture for a long time, reducing fatigue and injuries. Furthermore, a single worker can execute the task, which would otherwise require two workers. Two technical challenges and novel solutions are presented. One is to make the wearable robot simple and lightweight with use of a new type of granular jamming gripper that can grasp diverse objects from an arbitrary direction. This eliminates the need for orienting the gripper against the object with three-axis wrist joints, reducing the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) from 6 to 3. The other is an effective control algorithm that allows the wearer to move freely while the robot on the shoulder is holding an object. Unlike a robot sitting on a floor, the SRL worn by a human is disturbed by the movement of the wearer. An admittance-based control algorithm allows the robot to hold the object stably and securely despite the human movement and changes in posture. A 3 DOF prototype robot with a new granular jamming gripper and an ergonomic body mounting gear is developed and tested. It is demonstrated that the robot can hold a large object securely in the overhead area despite the movement of the wearer while performing an assembly work.

Download or read book Design and Control of Supernumerary Robotic Limbs for Near ground Work written by Daniel Kurek and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) are a recent form of robot that augment natural human abilities through the addition of body-mounted robotic appendages which can move independently of the wearer. This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the MantisBot, an SRL morphology that provides a wearer with two torso-mounted limbs that support the body in crawling- and kneeling-like positions, such that the wearer's natural arms are free to do useful work near the ground. First, the concept and its motivations are discussed, followed by a biomechanical analysis of the human-robot system. Two full-scale prototypes are then introduced, and control laws used in supporting a wearer's body both statically using impedance control, and dynamically using predictive models of natural crawling gaits, are developed. Finally, the system is experimentally validated, and it is concluded that SRLs for near-ground work are a valid and useful tool for improving worker comfort and productivity.

Download or read book Contributions of the Human Operator to Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Jacob William Guggenheim and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expanding literature base has applied Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (Superlimbs) to fields as diverse as heavy industry, robotic surgery, and assistive technology. While the list of applications has grown, and the designs have become more diverse, the research community has focused almost exclusively on the robotic system's role in augmenting the humans capabilities. This represents only one side of the issue; little research has explored the role of the human operator. This thesis represents the first in-depth exploration of the humans contributions to the Superlimb-human system. We began by examining the control strategy of Superlimbs by asking whether fully manual control of the Superlimbs was viable when the human operator was asked to perform simultaneous and independent tasks with both their robotic and natural limbs. Although we found that the human operator was able to control all four limbs-two robotic, two natural-simultaneously, we found that the human operator performed worse with their natural limbs when controlling all four limbs as compared to when the human operator was only controlling their natural limbs. Thus, when designing Superlimbs for a task set that requires the human and the robot to perform simultaneous independent tasks, this study points to the need for reducing the number of Superlimb degrees of freedom (DOFs) the human must manually control either through design or control. In order to achieve this reduction, we next exploited the high redundancy and flexibility of the human body. First, we proposed a methodology for reduced-actuator Superlimbs by exploiting the human operators' ability to manipulate the base of the Superlimb. Based upon this methodology, we realized a lightweight Superlimb that could assist a human operator by opening a door when the human operator's hands are busy. Second, we proposed a novel control input methodology for communicating a rich variety of commands to the Superlimbs while both hands are busy. Based upon this methodology, and in combination with an intermittent control structure, we controlled the reduced-actuator Superlimb described above with action primitives to assist a human operator by opening a door when the human operator was holding a large box. Finally, as the Superlimb's state changes, that change is reflected as a change in the forces and torques felt by the human operator at the base of the Superlimb. We found that this inherent haptic feedback allowed the operator to both perform closed-loop manually control of the force output of a Superlimb and to supervise the autonomous actions of a Superlimb. In sum, this thesis explores how Superlimbs can be designed to exploit the benefits while limiting the challenges of being attached to a human operator.

Download or read book Analysis Design and Control of Supernumerary Robotic Limbs Coupled to a Human written by Phillip Howard Daniel and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a prevalent type of injury in many careers such as ship and aircraft building, farming, and construction. These injuries cost companies and governments a great deal of money, and cause workers a great deal of discomfort. This thesis investigates how a new type of wearable robot can reduce the risk of contracting a MSD.

Download or read book Foot controlled Supernumerary Robotic Arm written by Zachary Joseph Dougherty and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) are extra robotic appendages that help a user with various tasks. A challenge with SRLs is how to operate them effectively. One solution is to use the foot to teleoperate the arm, freeing the person to use their arms for other tasks. However, unlike hand interfaces, it is not known how to create effective foot control for robotic teleoperation. A foot interface is developed for an experiment to compare position and rate control with the foot. Position control is shown to be more effective than rate control for 2D positioning tasks. Even if an effective control strategy is implemented, it is currently unknown if a person has the ability to control a robot with their foot while simultaneously using both arms. A second experiment shows that humans can operate an SRL with the foot while performing a task with both hands.

Download or read book Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Clark Michael Davenport and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the workforce within manufacturing grows older, especially within aircraft manufacturing, the need for new technologies to assist workers arises. If a technology could offer improvements to an aircraft manufacturing laborer's efficiency, as well as reduce the load on his body, it could potentially see vast use. This thesis discusses a potential solution to these issues - the Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRL). These limbs could potentially increase the workspace of the human operator to him more efficient, as well as reduce the load on the human while he performs staining tasks. It accomplishes this by providing the worker with extra arms in the form of a wearable backpack. This thesis first evaluates how the torques imposed on a human are affected when he uses an SRL-like device to help bear a static load. It is shown that the human work load necessary to bear such a load is reduced substantially. The second focus of this thesis is the skill acquisition. A data-driven approach is taken to learn trajectories and a leader-follower coordination relationship. This is done by generating teaching data representing trajectories and coordination information with two humans, then transferring the pertinent information to a robot that assumes the role of the follower. This coordination is validated in a simple one-dimension example, and is implemented on a robot that coordinates with a human leader during a control-box wiring task.

Download or read book Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Baldin Adolfo Llorens-Bonilla and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full automation of repetitive and/or specialized tasks has become a preferred means to meet the needs of manufacturing industries. However, some tasks cannot be fully automated due to their complexity or the nature of the work environment. In such cases, semi-automation through human-robot collaboration is a strong alternative that still maintains a high level of efficiency in task execution. This thesis focused on the control and coordination issues of the Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRL); a pair of wearable robotic limbs that are a potential solution to these issues. The first purpose of this study was to adequately model the collaborative aspect of a task that is conventionally performed by two coworkers. This was achieved through the Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) tool, which was able to model the collaboration between two coworkers by using the SRL and its operator instead. The second purpose of this work was to evaluate how to implement a sensor suit to establish reliable communication between the SRL and its operator. Using data-driven methods for detection, we were able to monitor the operator's current state. By combining this data with the CPN task model we were able to relay the operator's intentions to the SRL. This enabled the SRL to follow the CPN process model in a timely and coordinated manner together with its operator. The third and final section of this thesis focused on considering the interchangeability of roles between the SRL and its operator. We used a datadriven approach to model a task where the SRL and its operator had to perform a simultaneous dynamic task. This was performed by using teach by demonstration techniques on process data from two workers. A control algorithm was then extracted from the actions of the supporting worker. Both the process model and the sensor suit, together with the detection algorithms, were implemented and validated using the first prototype of the SRL. Results show that the SRL was successful in autonomously coordinating with its operator and completing an intercostal assembly task.

Download or read book Mechanical and Trajectory Design of Wearable Supernumerary Robotic Limbs for Crutch Use written by Michael Yanshun Cheung and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRL) is a wearable robot that augments its user with two robotic limbs, kinematically independent from the user's own limbs. This thesis explores the use of the SRL as a hands-free robotic crutch for assisting injured or elderly people. This paper first details the mechanical and material design choices that drastically reduced the weight of this SRL prototype, including advanced composite materials, efficient joint structure, and high-performance pneumatic actuators. The latter half of this paper characterizes the biomechanics of both traditional crutch-assisted and SRL-assisted ambulation, models this gait pattern with an inverted pendulum system, and derives equations of motion to create a simulation that examines the effect of various initial parameters. Finally, an optimum set of initial parameters is identified to produce a successful SRL-assisted swing.

Download or read book Control of a Pneumatically Actuated Joint for Wearable Supernumerary Robotic Limbs Application written by Roger D. Lo and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presented is work on the development of the Supernumerary Robotic Limbs project, headed by Federico Parietti in the d'Arbeloff Labs under Prof. Harry Asada. Specifically, this paper focuses on the integration of lightweight, pneumatic systems for prismatic joint actuation, and the various control schemes studied. This joint serves as the leg of the robot, and extends from the hip of the wearer to contact the ground. The design consists of a two-way pneumatic cylinder inside a load bearing carbon fiber sleeve, actuated with a nominally closed 5-3 way solenoid valve, and weighs in at

Download or read book Foot controlled Supernumerary Robotic Arm written by Brandon William Rudolph and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A supernumerary robotic limb (SRL) is a robotic limb that can act as an extra arm or leg for a human user. An unsolved issue with SRLs is how to operate them well. One possibility is to control an SRL with the foot, which offers the benefit of a third arm because the user's arms remain unoccupied. While hand interfaces are common, foot interfaces are not well understood. Developing a good foot interface is challenging because of differences between feet and hands, such as the larger inertia of the leg. This thesis presents work to determine some design principles for foot interfaces. First, an experiment is done to test if the addition of friction to a foot interface can improve performance. The results show that friction can help a user stop and hold position without reducing the dynamic performance of the user. A second experiment looks at the performance of isometric interfaces, which, unlike isotonic interfaces, use force inputs rather than motion. Isotonic interfaces generally outperformed isometric, although there were only small differences between rate control for both isotonic and isometric. Additionally, rate control was found to be better than position control for the isometric interface. Finally, an experiment was conducted to evaluate how well a human user can use a foot-controlled SRL to coordinate motion with both of their hands. People showed that they could reliably use their foot in conjunction with their hands to perform a two-dimensional positioning task better than they can with just two hands, and with performance resembling that of two human users.

Download or read book Performing Overhead Tasks with Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Jay P. McKenna and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overhead tasks such as those frequently found in aircraft manufacturing pose health risks to the workers due to the strain imposed on the shoulders. To reduce the risk of injury, a set of supernumerary robotic limbs (SRL) were designed to perform these overhead tasks. The SRL is designed with limits in the hardware and software to protect the human and prevent collisions between robot and operator. The arms are designed to have a workspace above and in front of the head of the user free from singular configurations so the robot is free to operate where the tasks will be performed. To further protect the human, the mount that attaches the SRL to the shoulders was redesigned to be lighter and to better distribute the load. In this manner, the shoulders will become less fatigued from the static load of carrying the SRL To complete the task of positioning cables and routing them through the ceiling of an airplane, a winch end effector was designed to latch onto the fuselage arches and pull the cable through these arches. In order to control the SRL, the concept of principal components analysis was used to reduce the input space. This concept was specifically used to map the motion of the operator's hands onto the appropriate speed for the winch motor to operate. In this manner, the winch would pull the cable at the same rate that the human fed the cable. The human would then be able to control the speed of the winch simply by executing the task at whatever pace they so desired.

Download or read book 2016 International Symposium on Experimental Robotics written by Dana Kulić and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 858 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experimental Robotics XV is the collection of papers presented at the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan on October 3-6, 2016. 73 scientific papers were selected and presented after peer review. The papers span a broad range of sub-fields in robotics including aerial robots, mobile robots, actuation, grasping, manipulation, planning and control and human-robot interaction, but shared cutting-edge approaches and paradigms to experimental robotics. The readers will find a breadth of new directions of experimental robotics. The International Symposium on Experimental Robotics is a series of bi-annual symposia sponsored by the International Foundation of Robotics Research, whose goal is to provide a forum dedicated to experimental robotics research. Robotics has been widening its scientific scope, deepening its methodologies and expanding its applications. However, the significance of experiments remains and will remain at the center of the discipline. The ISER gatherings are a venue where scientists can gather and talk about robotics based on this central tenet.

Download or read book Supernumerary Robotic Arm for Three Handed Surgical Application written by Elahe Abdi and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mots-clés de l'autrice: Supernumerary arm ; Robotic assistant ; Intuitive control ; Limbs coordination ; Foot interface ; Ownership ; Behavioral study.

Download or read book Design of a Fail safe Wearable Robot with Novel Extendable Arms for Ergonomic Accommodation During Floor Work written by Katie Soyoung Hahm and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aircraft manufacturing, construction, and agricultural production often involve workers maintaining uncomfortable postures, such as stooping and kneeling, for extended periods of time. We present a wearable robot, named MantisBot Alpha, that consists of two expandable robotic arms that brace a worker near the ground. It allows them to perform bi-manual tasks and assists them in standing up and kneeling down. The key component of this new design is a novel linkage mechanism that provides adjustment of both the worker's distance to the ground and the tilt of their torso. The mechanism link parameters are optimized such that a) its expansion rate is high enough, 1:2.43, to push off the human body from the ground and fully contract the scissor arm when not used, and b) it allows the worker to reach within a larger working space while c) it is light enough for wearability. The linkage mechanism avoids the singularity problem in standard scissor mechanisms. The mechanical design of the system ensures it is fail-safe. A prototype has been fabricated to demonstrate the feasibility of the system. Keywords: Human Augmentation, Supernumerary Robotic Limbs, Exoskeletons, Mechanism Design, Industrial Robotics

Download or read book Development of a Human Body Upper Arm Dynamic Model for Compensation and Control of a Body Mounted Robot written by Nicholas Charles Hensel and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) are robotic manipulators worn on the human body which seek to augment the abilities of their wearers. A critical element to the design and implementation of these robotic systems is the development of a control framework which allows for intuitive control. The control of SRLs is further complicated by the relative motion of the manipulator with respect to its environment due to motion of the human body. Developing a dynamic model of the human body on which an SRL is mounted can serve as a useful tool, both for understanding the configuration of the SRL with respect to its user and for controlling the mechanism given a well-structured task process model. Subspace identification was investigated as a possible technique for generating a dynamic model of the human body from a set of defined input and output data. To validate the potential applicability of this approach, a simulated system was developed to model simple human arm reaching motions. From this simulated system, a set of virtual measurements were made to construct input/ output data sets. Subspace identification applied to these data sets indicated the applicability of the approach. Further testing was then conducted via the development of an experimental system for measuring actual human reaching motions. Using appropriate measurements, the simulation framework was reproduced with a physical system. Applying subspace identification techniques to the real data, a dynamic model was produced which could effectively reproduce the arm configuration. The success of both the simulated and experimental systems indicates that subspace techniques may be appropriate for generating human body dynamic models.