Design, Control and Optimization of Robotic Systems with Energy Regeneration

许多工业、消费和医疗产品都涉及运动的质量。这些运动由能源提供动力，并且总是涉及加速和减速的循环。传统的制动是一种非常低效的减速方法，因为物体的能量被浪费为热量。相反，再生涉及剩余能量捕获和存储到电源中。再生工程在电动和混合动力汽车中是先进的和可见的，但它在移动的和工业机器人中的理解和最佳利用仍然是一个具有挑战性的研究领域。这项研究的结果有可能在使用许多机器人的工业设施中节省大量能源。由电能源供电的移动的生物医学设备，如轮椅、假肢和外骨骼是本研究的另一个目标应用。这些设备的最佳能源利用率将转化为更轻的设备，减少频繁充电的需求。戴上先进再生假肢的残疾人将能够扩大他们的日常活动范围，提高他们的生活质量。这项研究将引入一个系统的治疗一般运动控制问题，明确考虑双向能量流。该项目的智力意义集中在它的一般性和广泛的适用性，这与大多数情况下，面向再生系统的当前文献。该项目的重点是使用超级电容器作为先进再生系统的关键要素。与电池相比，超级电容器具有非常高的功率密度。这意味着可以快速实现能量提取和返回。该特征提供了通过控制来改变机器人的动态行为的极大灵活性，特别是其机械阻抗。此外，石墨烯基超级电容器的最新进展已经导致能量密度接近锂离子电池的设备。这些进步有可能消除某些移动的机器人系统中的电池，特别是在医疗辅助设备中。该项目将建立一个设计、控制和优化此类系统的框架。该项目有三个目标：1。开发新的方法，用于建模，控制和设计具有先进再生硬件（如超级电容器）的机器人系统; 2.基本能量-运动多目标优化问题的公式化和求解; 3.通过定制的学习机器人将理论与实践联系起来。

Many industrial, consumer and medical products involve masses in motion. These motions are powered from energy sources, and always involve cycles of acceleration and deceleration. Conventional braking is a very inefficient method of deceleration because the object's energy is wasted as heat. In contrast, regeneration involves surplus energy capture and storage into the power supply. Regeneration engineering is advanced and visible in electric and hybrid vehicles, but its understanding and optimal utilization in mobile and industrial robotics remains a challenging area of research. The outcomes of this research have the potential for significant energy savings in industrial installations where many robots are in use. Mobile biomedical devices powered from electric energy sources such as wheelchairs, prostheses and exoskeletons are another target application of this research. Optimal energy utilization in these devices will translate into lighter units with a reduced need for frequent recharging. Impaired people wearing advanced regenerative prostheses will be able to extend the range of their daily activities, improving their quality of life.This research will introduce a systematic treatment of general motion control problems with explicit consideration of bidirectional energy flow. The intellectual significance of the project is centered in its generality and broad applicability, which contrasts with the mostly case-oriented current literature on regenerative systems. The project focuses on the use of ultracapacitors as key elements of advanced regenerative systems. In comparison to batteries, ultracapacitors have very high power densities. This means that energy extraction and return can be achieved at fast rates. This feature affords great flexibility to alter a robot's dynamic behavior by means of control, in particular its mechanical impedance. Moreover, recent advances in graphene-based ultracapacitors have resulted in devices with energy densities approaching those of lithium-ion batteries. These advances have the potential for the elimination of batteries in certain mobile robotic systems, particularly in medical assistive devices. The project will establish a framework to design, control and optimize such systems. The project has three goals: 1. development of new approaches for modeling, control and design of robotic systems with advanced regenerative hardware such as ultracapacitors; 2. formulation and solution of fundamental energy-motion multi-objective optimization problems for the same; 3. bridging of theory and practice with a custom-built study robot.