Physical Design and Feedback Control of Hybrid Mechanical Systems

该奖项的目的是开发计算上易于处理的方法，用于设计和控制受到影响的系统。 碰撞在运动方程中引入了不连续性，使得控制理论中的传统技术难以使用。 然而，如果系统可以在撞击期间指定其配置，则可以利用反馈控制的形式。 这项工作将结合机械系统的变分分析、形状优化和控制理论，为一类具有稳定性、最优性和计算复杂性保证的影响系统合成嵌入式控制器。 这项工作将从一个简单的例子开始，一个两条腿的机器人在地形上行走;后面的例子将包括高自由度的机器人在不平坦的地形上行走的数值模型和人手与物体相互作用的生物力学模型。 这些成果包括算法特性的数学证明、反馈合成技术的软件实现、描述反馈合成技术的文章以及控制工程和生物医学工程学生的培训，其影响范围从机器人运动和抓取到制造业，甚至是人类假肢。 这些系统的计算机控制取决于将冲击纳入稳定运动的算法。 如果成功的话，所提出的技术将使许多影响系统的实际监管与非影响系统的监管一样简单。 此外，这些技术将提供一个更好的理解的作用，接触在人类神经肌肉控制。 该项目将通过NSF国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）全球风险基金（GVF）共同资助的国际合作，与德国的研究人员开展长期合作。 作为这项工作的一部分开发的软件将被纳入芝加哥康复研究所正在进行的手部康复临床研究中，并将免费向公众提供。 除了实现重要的技术，这项工作将在博物馆中突出显示，学生将参加芝加哥一所城市高中的外展活动。

The aim of this award is to develop computationally tractable methods for designing and controlling systems that experience impact. Impacts introduce discontinuities into the equations of motion, making traditional techniques in control theory difficult to employ. However, if a system can specify its configuration during impact a form of feedback control may be utilized. The work will use a combination of variational analysis for mechanical systems, shape optimization, and control theory to synthesize embedded controllers for a class of impacting systems with guarantees on stability, optimality, and computational complexity. The work will start with a simple example of a two-legged robot walking on terrain; later examples will include numerical models of high degree-of-freedom robots walking on uneven terrain and a biomechanical model of a human hand interacting with objects. Deliverables include mathematical proofs of algorithm properties, a software implementation of the feedback synthesis techniques in a variety of documented examples, articles describing the techniques, and training for students in control engineering and biomedical engineering.Impacts are present in applications ranging from robotic locomotion and grasping to manufacturing and even human prosthetics. Computer control of these systems depends on incorporating impacts into algorithms that stabilize motion. If successful, the proposed techniques will make practical regulation of many impacting systems as straightforward as regulation of non-impacting systems. Moreover, the techniques will provide an improved understanding of the role that contact plays in human neuromuscular control. The project will leverage international collaboration through NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) Global Venture Fund (GVF) co-funding to develop long-term collaboration with researchers in Germany. Software developed as part of this work will be incorporated into an ongoing clinical study of hand rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and will be freely available to the public. In addition to enabling important technologies, the work will be highlighted in a museum, and student will participate in outreach with an urban high school in Chicago.