Kinematic modeling of head-neck movements

The main objective is to generate kinematic models for the head and neck movements. The motivation comes from our study of individuals with quadriplegia and the need to design rehabilitation aiding devices such as robots and teletheses that can be controlled by head-neck movements. It is then necessary to develop mathematical models for the head and neck movements. Two identification methods have been applied to study the kinematics of head-neck movements of able-body as well as neck-injured subjects. In particular, sagittal plane movements are well modeled by a planar two-revolute-joint linkage. In fact, the motion in joint space seems to indicate that sagittal plane movements may be classified as a single DOF motion. Finally, a spatial three-revolute-joint system has been employed to model 3D head-neck movements     

Kinematic modeling of wheeled mobile robots

We formulate the kinematic equations of motion of wheeled mobile robots incorporating conventional, omnidirectional, and ball wheels.¹ We extend the kinematic modeling of stationary manipulators to accommodate such special characteristics of wheeled mobile robots as multiple closed-link chains, higher-pair contact points between a wheel and a surface, and unactuated and unsensed wheel degrees of freedom. We apply the Sheth-Uicker convention to assign coordinate axes and develop a matrix coordinate transformation algebra to derive the equations of motion. We introduce a wheel Jacobian matrix to relate the motions of each wheel to the motions of the robot. We then combine the individual wheel equations to obtain the composite robot equation of motion. We interpret the properties of the composite robot equation to characterize the mobility of a wheeled mobile robot according to a mobility characterization tree. Similarly, we apply actuation and sensing characterization trees to delineate the robot motions producible by the wheel actuators and discernible by the wheel sensors, respectively. We calculate the sensed forward and actuated inverse solutions and interpret the physical conditions which guarantee their existence. To illustrate the development, we formulate and interpret the kinematic equations of motion of Uranus, a wheeled mobile robot being constructed in the CMU Mobile Robot Laboratory.     

Kinematic modeling of Exechon parallel kinematic machine

The studies on PKMs have attracted a great attention to robotics community. By deploying a parallel kinematic structure, a parallel kinematic machine (PKM) is expected to possess the advantages of heavier working load, higher speed, and higher precision. Hundreds of new PKMs have been proposed. However, due to the considerable gaps between the desired and actual performances, the majorities of the developed PKMs were the prototypes in research laboratories and only a few of them have been practically applied for various applications; among the successful PKMs, the Exechon machine tool is recently developed. The Exechon adopts unique over-constrained structure, and it has been improved based on the success of the Tricept parallel kinematic machine. Note that the quantifiable theoretical studies have yet been conducted to validate its superior performances, and its kinematic model is not publically available. In this paper, the kinematic characteristics of this new machine tool is investigated, the concise models of forward and inverse kinematics have been developed. These models can be used to evaluate the performances of an existing Exechon machine tool and to optimize new structures of an Exechon machine to accomplish some specific tasks.     

Kinematic modeling of wheeled mobile robots with slip

This work presents a kinematic modeling method for wheeled mobile robots with slip based on physical principles. First, we present the kinematic modeling of a mobile robot with no-slip considering four types of wheels: fixed, centered orientable, off-centered orientable (castor) and Swedish (also called Mecanum, Ilon or universal). Then, the dynamics of a wheeled mobile robot based on Lagrange formulation are derived and discussed. Next, a quasi-static motion is considered to obtain the kinematic conditions that provide the slip modeling equations. Several types of traction models for the slip between the wheel and the floor are indicated. In particular, for a frictional force linearly dependent on the sliding velocity, the no-slip kinematic equation of the wheeled mobile robot is related, through the weighted least-squares algorithm, with the slip modeling equations. To illustrate the applications of the proposed approach a tricycle vehicle is considered in a real situation. The experimental results obtained for the slip kinematic model are compared with the ones obtained for the well-known Kalman filter.     

Kinematic modeling and singularity of wheeled mobile robots

This paper presents a global singularity analysis for wheeled mobile robots (WMRs). First, a kinematic model of a generic wheel is obtained using a recursive kinematics formulation. This novel and efficient approach is valid for all the common types of wheels: fixed, centered orientable, off-centered orientable (caster or castor) and Swedish or Mecanum. Then, a procedure for generating robot kinematic models is presented based on the set of wheel equations and the null space concept. Next, the singularity of kinematic models is discussed: first, the kinematic singularity condition in forward models is obtained, and then the singularity condition in inverse, or even mixed, models. A generic and practical geometric approach is established to characterize the singularity of any kinematic model of any WMR with the mentioned wheels. To illustrate the applications of the proposed approach, the singular configurations for many types of WMRs are depicted. Finally, the singularity characterization is extended to include other specialized wheels: dual-wheel, dual-wheel castor, ball-type and orthogonal.     

Kinematic analysis and error modeling of TAU parallel robot

The TAU robot presents a new configuration of parallel robots with three degrees of freedom. This robotic configuration is well adapted to perform with a high precision and high stiffness within a large working range compared with a serial robot. It has the advantages of both parallel robots and serial robots. In this paper, the kinematic modeling and error modeling are established with all errors considered using Jacobian matrix method for the robot. Meanwhile, a very effective Jacobian approximation method is introduced to calculate the forward kinematic problem instead of Newton–Raphson method. It denotes that a closed form solution can be obtained instead of a numerical solution. A full size Jacobian matrix is used in carrying out error analysis, error budget, and model parameter estimation and identification. Simulation results indicate that both Jacobian matrix and Jacobian approximation method are correct and with a level of accuracy of micron meters. ADAMS's simulation results are used in verifying the established models.     

仿生波动长鳍运动学建模及算法研究

长鳍波动推进鱼类在稳定性、机动性、低速下状态保持等方面较其它鱼类有着显著优势.本文将鱼类波动 长鳍抽象为零厚度理想波动而,引入直纹面建立曲线坐标意义下波动长鳍的运动学模型,描述了长鳍波动推进时的 非等幅波动、非对称波形等运动特征.面向理论分析和数值模拟,进一步扩充直纹面模型,使之满足弯曲基线、非零 厚度等长鳍形态及运动特征,进而建立筲卡尔坐标系下的长鳍波动描述方程,相应地,设计了鱼类长鳍波动推进的 运动描述算法.根据给定形体和运动参数,对零厚度理想波动板和弓鳍目"尼罗河魔鬼"鱼进行运动学仿真,验证 了运动学模型及运动描述算法的有效性.     

An FCM modeling for using a priori knowledge: application study in modeling quadruped walking

Fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is well established as a decision-making mechanism with many applications. This paper presents a new strategy for realistic FCM-based inference named input-sensitive FCM. The problem of lack of influence from initial concepts’ weights or priory knowledge on decision outputs is resolved. The results and comparisons with the existing inference models are included to evaluate the strength of the new strategy. The quadruped walking cycle is simulated as a case study for sanity testing and validation of the developed model in terms of realistic decision outputs.     

Kinematic modeling,mobility analysis and design of wheeled mobile robots

Wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) consist of interconnections of many electromechanical systems. Their mechanical subsystem comprises primarily the platform and the wheel units. To formulate the kinematic model of this class of robots, we model the individual subsystems separately. The composite kinematic model of a WMR is then a coupling of the various kinematic submodels. We study WMRs with different wheels, i.e. offset wheels, centered wheels and dual-wheels. The study focuses on system mobility, which is derived using the functional matrix. We also identified the kinematic equivalence between the dual-wheel and the centered wheels, and some advantages of the dual-wheels over the centered wheels and offset wheels. Results suggest that WMRs with mobility less than 3 cannot track a trajectory with a discontinuous heading without incorporating a time delay, during which the wheel orientation should be changed. Moreover, the steering angles of WMRs equipped with steered wheels require proper coordination to avoid jamming of the drive subsystem. For design purposes, we aim at a kinetostatically robust WMR. The concept of kinetostatic isotropy is applied to find the location of the wheels with respect to the platform and their type in order to achieve isotropy. It is shown that WMRs with three conventional wheels can be made isotropic if the offset either vanishes or equals the radius of the wheel, and if the three wheels are mounted at the vertices of an equilateral triangle.     

Personalization and user verification in wearable systems using biometric walking patterns

In this article, a novel technique for user’s authentication and verification using gait as a biometric unobtrusive pattern is proposed. The method is based on a two stages pipeline. First, a general activity recognition classifier is personalized for an specific user using a small sample of her/his walking pattern. As a result, the system is much more selective with respect to the new walking pattern. A second stage verifies whether the user is an authorized one or not. This stage is defined as a one-class classification problem. In order to solve this problem, a four-layer architecture is built around the geometric concept of convex hull. This architecture allows to improve robustness to outliers, modeling non-convex shapes, and to take into account temporal coherence information. Two different scenarios are proposed as validation with two different wearable systems. First, a custom high-performance wearable system is built and used in a free environment. A second dataset is acquired from an Android-based commercial device in a ‘wild’ scenario with rough terrains, adversarial conditions, crowded places and obstacles. Results on both systems and datasets are very promising, reducing the verification error rates by an order of magnitude with respect to the state-of-the-art technologies.     

Kinematic modeling of mobile robots by transfer method of augmented generalized coordinates

A kinematic modeling method, which is directly applicable to any type of planar mobile robots, is proposed in this work. Since holonomic constraints have the same differential form as nonholonomic constraints, the instantaneous motion of the mobile robot at current configuration can be modeled as that of a parallel manipulator. A pseudo joint model denoting the interface between the wheel and the ground (i.e., the position of base of the mobile robot) enables the derivation of this equivalent kinematic model. The instantaneous kinematic structures of four different wheels are modeled as multiple pseudo joints. Then, the transfer method of augmented generalized coordinates, which has been popularly employed in modeling of parallel manipulators, is applied to obtain the instantaneous kinematic models of mobile robots. The kinematic models of six different types of planar mobile robots are derived to show the effectiveness of the proposed modeling method. Lastly, for the mobile robot equipped with four conventional wheels, an algorithm estimating a sensed forward solution for the given information of the rotational velocities of the four wheels is discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Anatomically-based musculoskeletal modeling: prediction and validation of muscle deformation during walking

Accurate modeling of the musculoskeletal system during motion is a challenging task that has not yet been solved. In this paper, we outline and validate a free-form deformation method called the Host Mesh Fitting (HMF) technique for predicting muscle deformation during walking of a subject-specific musculoskeletal model. 20 lower limb muscles were deformed according to the HMF solution of a surrounding host mesh that resembled the skin boundary, resulting in a realistic walking simulation of the anatomically-based model. The shape changes of five muscles were further validated by comparing the predicted deformations with magnetic resonance image data in two lower limb positions.

Student modeling and assessment in intelligent tutoring of software patterns

This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a student model in DEPTHS (Design Pattern Teaching Help System), an intelligent tutoring system for learning software design patterns. There are many approaches and technologies for student modeling, but choosing the right one depends on intended functionalities of an intelligent system that the student model is going to be used in. Those functionalities often determine the kinds of information that the student model should contain. The student model used in DEPTHS is a result of combining two widely known modeling approaches, namely, stereotype and overlay modeling. The model is domain independent and can be easily applied in other learning domains as well. To keep student model update during the learning process, DEPTHS makes use of a knowledge assessment method based on fuzzy rules (i.e., a combination of production rules and fuzzy logics). The evaluation of DEPTHS performed with the aim of assessing the system’s overall effectiveness and the accuracy of its student model, indicated several advantages of the DEPTHS system over the traditional approach to learning design patterns, and encouraged us to move on further with this research.     

Association patterns for data modeling and definition

Association patterns provide guidance for modeling the associations that occur among objects within both the real world and the solution domains of computer applications. The patterns help the designer better understand and more precisely define the semantics of these associations, which allows them to be more easily and properly implemented. This paper describes a number of association patterns using Object Relationship Notation (ORN) and by doing so provides evidence for the effectiveness of this notation. It also shows how the development of database systems can be improved by an approach that uses association patterns to build a database model and then implements the model by mapping it to an ORN-extended database definition that is supported by a DBMS. The feasibility of this approach and the applicability of our association patterns have been validated by DBMS research prototypes and by the modeling, implementing, and testing of numerous associations.     

一种改进的叶脉建模方法

提出了一种改进的叶脉建模方法。该方法将L-system加入到Runions的叶脉建模方法当中,较好地解决了主侧脉生长比较慢的问题。作为整体算法中的一步,采用一种新的dart-throwing算法得到均匀分布的营养点集,有效地提高了整个算法的绘制速度。实验结果表明,改进后的方法能够以更快的速度生成更加逼真的叶脉模型。     

The effect of carried loads on the walking patterns of men and women

In order to determine the effect of loads worn or carried on walking mechanics, 11 men and 11 women were filmed using high speed cinematography as they performed overground walking at 1·78 m/s under five load conditions. The loads included a baseline condition in which subjects carried no added load, and additional loads of approximately 9, 17, 29 and 36 kg consisting of standard military items. The latter two loads were added in the form of a framed rucksack system. Values for several variables frequently used to described temporal and kinematic characteristics of walking were quantified from the film. These included stride length, stride rate, single leg support time, double-support time, swing time and the forward inclination of the trunk. The results of the study demonstrated that the males and females displayed significantly different gait patterns under all load conditions. Not unexpectedly, the females required a higher rate of stepping than the males because of their shorter stride lengths. The results also demonstrated that the walking patterns of both the male and female subjects were affected by the increases in carried load. In general, stride length and swing time decreased while stride rate and double-support time increased with increases in load. There was also an increased forward inclination of the trunk but only for the two heaviest loads which were carried in a rucksack. While the changes in gait characteristics were relatively small for the male subjects, the females were affected to a greater extent thereby demonstrating a greater sensitivity to load magnitude. It was concluded that careful consideration must be given to the absolute loads carried by males and females. Not only is it important for load requirements to be lower for females because of the physiological implications but also because of biomechanical implications and the associated mechanical stresses which must be endured during locomotion. While this study was directed primarily towards military applications, the results should also have implications for load carrying in a variety of situations and environments, including industrial and recreational applications.     

Dynamic modeling,stability, and energy efficiency of a quadrupedal walking machine

In the past, the dynamics of walking machines was studied based on very simple or simplified leg structures. A more complete dynamic model is essential for the further development of a practical walking machine. In this paper, the dynamic model of a realistic quadrupedal walking machine is derived for simulation and real‐time control purposes. The walker has four cylindrical pantograph legs, and the whole system consists of twenty‐nine links. The walking gait is wave gait with at least three feet on the ground at any time. Significant efforts have been made to improve the computational efficiency of the inverse dynamics, and the required CPU time is less than 10 ms on an IBM 3090. The derived dynamic model is then applied to study two practical issues of walking: dynamic stability and mechanical efficiency of different legs and gaits. Simulation results show clear advantages of one leg type over another, and of some walking strategies in terms of adjusting velocities, strokes, and duty factors for greater efficiency. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Facial expression recognition through modeling age-related spatial patterns

In this paper we tackle the problem of expression recognition by exploiting age-related spatial facial expression patterns, which carry crucial information that have not been thoroughly exploited. First, we conduct two statistic hypothesis tests to investigate age effect on the spatial patterns of expressions and on facial expression recognition respectively. Second, we propose two methods to recognize expressions by modeling age-related spatial facial expression patterns. One is a three-node Bayesian Network to classify expressions with the help of age from person-independent geometric features. The other is to construct multiple Bayesian networks to explicitly capture the spatial facial expression patterns for different ages. For both methods, age information is used as privileged information, which is only available during training, and is exploited during training to construct a better classifier. Statistic analyses on two benchmark databases, i.e. the Lifespan and the FACES, verify the age effect on spatial patterns of expressions and on facial expression recognition. Experimental results of expression recognition demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in modelling age-related spatial patterns as well as their superior expression recognition performance to existing approaches.