Motion Planning and Control for Shape Accelerated Systems

该奖项的研究目标是开发运动规划器和控制器，利用平衡移动机器人的动力学来产生快速、动态、优美的运动。该方法有两个主要组成部分：基本闭环运动策略的开发和混合控制体系结构的开发，混合控制体系结构将运动策略组合在一起以产生更复杂的行为。尊重系统潜在动态约束的运动策略将通过首先在形状空间中规划轨迹，然后创建跟踪结果轨迹的反馈控制器来创建。规划层了解哪些运动策略可以优雅地组合，用于确定避免障碍物和实现某些全局导航任务的运动序列。这些序列被编码在一个图中，创建一个混合控制架构，适当地在运动策略之间切换，以实现所需的全局运动。交付成果包括算法开发、软件、研究文档、研究生教育，以及在人类大小的圆球机器人平衡机器人上演示所产生的集成系统。该奖项将为高中和初中女生提供与平衡机器人互动的机会。如果成功，该奖项将提高平衡机器人在人类周围安全、敏捷地操作的能力。平衡机器人具有许多特性，使它们成为人类伴侣和辅助机器人的理想人选。与静态稳定的移动机器人不同，平衡机器人可以同时足够高，以便与人类进行视线水平的互动，也可以足够窄，以适应混乱的环境。当被推来推去时，平衡机器人会自然地做出反应，这使它们成为与人类进行身体互动的独特平台。本项目开发的运动规划和控制算法将为这些机器人在人类环境中以自然的方式移动提供一种手段。研究结果将得到传播，促进这些技术的进一步发展，并激励公众。研究生和本科生将通过直接参与研究而受益，7-12年级的女生将参与探索平衡机器人潜力的活动。

The research objective of this award is to develop motion planners and controllers that exploit the dynamics of balancing mobile robots to produce fast, dynamic, graceful motions. The approach has two main components: the development of elemental closed-loop motion policies and the development of a hybrid control architecture that pieces the motion policies together to produce more complex behaviors. Motion policies that respect the underlying dynamic constraints of the system will be created by first planning trajectories in shape space and then creating feedback controllers that track the resulting trajectories. A planning layer that has an understanding of which motion policies can be gracefully composed is used to determine motion sequences that avoid obstacles and achieve some global navigation task. These sequences are encoded in a graph, creating a hybrid control architecture that appropriately switches between motion policies to achieve the desired global motion. Deliverables include algorithm development, software, research documentation, graduate student education, and demonstration of the resulting integrated system on the human-sized ballbot balancing robot. The award will provide opportunities for high- and middle-school girls to interact with balancing robots.If successful, this award will increase the ability of balancing robots to operate safely and agilely around humans. Balancing robots have many properties that make them ideal candidates as human companions and assistive robots. Unlike statically-stable mobile robots, balancing robots can simultaneously be tall enough for eye-level interaction with humans and narrow enough to negotiate cluttered environments. Balancing robots react naturally when nudged and pushed around, making them unique platforms for physical interaction with humans. The motion planning and control algorithms developed in this project will provide a means for these robots to move in a natural-looking manner through human environments. Results will be disseminated promote further development of these technologies and to inspire the general public. Graduate and undergraduate students will benefit through direct involvement in the research, and 7-12 grade girls will be engaged in activities to explore the potential of balancing robots.