Control in Robotics and Automation: Sensor-Based Integration

Microcomputer technology and micromechanical design have contributed to recent rapid advances in Robotics. Particular advances have been made in sensor technology that allow robotic systems to gather data and react "intelligently" in flexible manufacturing systems. The analysis and recording of the data are vital to controlling the robot. In order to solve problems in control and planning for a Robotic system it is necessary to meet the growing need for the integration of sensors in to the system. Control in Robotics and Automation addresses this need. This book covers integration planning and control based on prior knowledge and real-time sensory information. A new task-oriented approach to sensing, planning and control introduces an event-based method for system design together with task planning and three dimensional modeling in the execution of remote operations. Typical remote systems are teleoperated and provide work efficiencies that are on the order of ten times slower than what is directly achievable by humans. Consequently, the effective integration of automation into teleoperated remote systems offers potential to improve remote system work efficiency. The authors introduce visually guided control systems and study the role of computer vision in autonomously guiding a robot system.

Control in Robotics and Automation has been written to meet the rapidly growing need for sensor-based integration to solve problems in the control and planning of robotic systems. Applications of these control methods range from assembly tasks in industrial automation to material handling in hazardous environments and servicing tasks in space. Many advances in a wide range of new applications in robotics and automation will depend on methods presented in this book, including robot-assisted surgery, space exploration, and micro-fabrication.

In order to meet the challenges of developing and refining new applications, emphasis is placed on the importance of creating planning and control systems that will integrate a variety of sensory information and human knowledge in order to efficiently carry out a task-with or without human intervention. Control in Robotics and Automation: Sensor-Based Integration stresses that the structure of the sensing, planning, and control system, as well as the computer architecture, is to be designed for a large number of tasks rather than for a specific task.

The new robotic technology introduced in this book integrates planning and control based on prior knowledge, with real-time sensory information. A new task-oriented approach introduces an event-based method for system design, together with task planning and 3-D modeling, in the execution of remote operations. In the realm of autonomous control, the authors introduce visually guided control systems and study the role of computer vision in autonomously guiding a robot system.