Autonomous Robots: From Biological Inspiration to Implementation and Control

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MIT Press, 2005 - Computers - 577 pages

Autonomous robots are intelligent machines capable of performing tasks in the world by themselves, without explicit human control. Examples range from autonomous helicopters to Roomba, the robot vacuum cleaner. In this book, George Bekey offers an introduction to the science and practice of autonomous robots that can be used both in the classroom and as a reference for industry professionals. He surveys the hardware implementations of more than 300 current systems, reviews some of their application areas, and examines the underlying technology, including control, architectures, learning, manipulation, grasping, navigation, and mapping. Living systems can be considered the prototypes of autonomous systems, and Bekey explores the biological inspiration that forms the basis of many recent developments in robotics. He also discusses robot control issues and the design of control architectures.

After an overview of the field that introduces some of its fundamental concepts, the book presents background material on hardware, control (from both biological and engineering perspectives), software architecture, and robot intelligence. It then examines a broad range of implementations and applications, including locomotion (wheeled, legged, flying, swimming, and crawling robots), manipulation (both arms and hands), localization, navigation, and mapping. The many case studies and specific applications include robots built for research, industry, and the military, among them underwater robotic vehicles, walking machines with four, six, and eight legs, and the famous humanoid robots Cog, Kismet, ASIMO, and QRIO. The book concludes with reflections on the future of robotics -- the potential benefits as well as the possible dangers that may arise from large numbers of increasingly intelligent and autonomous robots.

 

Contents

Autonomy and Control in Animals and Robots
1
12 What Is a Robot?
2
14 Biologically Inspired Robot Control
7
15 Sensors
10
16 Actuators
12
18 A Brief Survey of Current Robots and Associated Control Issues
13
19 Concluding Remarks and Organization of the Book
25
Control and Regulation in Biological Systems
27
810 Concluding Remarks
283
Locomotion in Animals and Robots with Four Six and Eight Legs
285
92 Neural Control of Locomotion
286
93 Walking Multilegged Robots
287
94 SixLegged Walking Machines
289
95 Locomotion in FourLegged Animals
303
96 FourLegged Walking Machines
304
97 FiniteState Models of Legged Locomotion
321

22 Engineering and Biological Control Systems
29
Control Architecture
33
24 Other Biological Control Systems
34
25 Nonlinearities in Biological Control Systems
38
26 Cost Functions
42
27 Control of Functional Morions in Humans
43
29 Historical Background
44
Fundamental Structural Elements
45
32 Actuators for Robots
47
33 Sensors for Robots
57
34 Localization
68
LowLevel Robot Control
71
42 Robot Controller Design Principles
76
43 Control of Multilink Structures
79
Theory Advantages and Limitations
82
45 Nonlinear Robot Control
85
46 Adaptive Control and Other Approaches
88
47 ModelFree Approaches to Control
91
48 Uncertainty in Control System Design
92
Basic Principles
93
Software Architectures for Autonomous Robots
97
52 Where Does Control Fit into Robot Software?
98
53 A Brief History
99
54 Hierarchical and Deliberative Architectures
100
55 Reactive and BehaviorBased Architectures
104
56 Hybrid ReactiveDeliberative Architectures
107
57 Major Features of Hybrid Architectures
110
The TropismBased Architecture
113
The USC AVATAR Architecture for Autonomous Helicopter Control
117
510 Open Architectures in Robotics
121
511 Concluding Remarks
122
Robot Learning
125
62 Learning and Control
126
63 Genera Issues in Learning by Robotic Systems
128
64 Reinforcement Learning
129
65 QLearning
134
Learning to Avoid Obstacles Using Reinforcement Learning
135
67 Learning Using Neural Networks
140
Learning How to Grasp Objects of Different Shapes
149
69 Evolutionary Algorithms
153
Learning to Walk Using Genetic Algorithms
156
Learning in the Tropism Architecture
165
612 Learning by Imitation
175
613 Whither Robot Learning?
184
Robot Locomotion An Overview
185
72 Wheeled Vehicles
186
73 Tracked Vehicles
197
74 Legged Robots
199
75 Hopping Robots
200
76 Serpentine Snake Robots
203
77 Underwater Robotic Vehicles
209
78 Biologically Inspired Underwater Robots
217
79 Climbing and Other Unusual Locomotion Methods
225
710 Flying Robots
232
711 SelfReconfigurable Robots
245
712 Concluding Remarks
251
Biped Locomotion
253
82 The Nature of Human Walking
254
83 Musculoskeletal Dynamics
256
84 Control of Human Locomotion
258
85 Robotic Models of Biped Locomotion
262
86 Some Biped Robots
263
87 Mathematical Models of Biped Kinematics and Dynamics
274
88 Modeling Compensatory Trunk Movements While Walking
276
89 Mechanical Aids to Human Walking
277
Control and Stability in the Quadruped Meno
323
99 EightLegged Walking Machines
327
910 Concluding Remarks
332
Arm Motion and Manipulation
333
102 Control of Arm Motion in Humans
335
103 Robot Manipulators
338
104 Some Typical Robot Arms
341
105 Forward Kinematics of Manipulators
347
106 Inverse Kinematics
348
107 Dynamics
350
108 Manipulator Control
351
109 Alternative Approaches to Manipulator Control
352
1010 Arm Prosthetics and Orthotics
355
1011 Concluding Remarks
361
Control of Grasping in Human and Robot Hands
363
112 Reaching and Grasping
365
113 Simple Robot End Effectors
368
114 Multifingered Robot Hands
371
The BelgradeUSC Hand
378
116 Prosthetic Hands
385
117 Concluding Remarks
390
Control of Multiple Robots
391
Sociobiology
393
123 A Brief History of Multiple Robots
395
124 Control Issues in AutonomousRobot Colonies
399
Centralized Control of Very Simple Robots
400
126 Some MultipleRobot Architectures
402
127 Swarm and Cellular Robotics
412
128 Communication among Multiple Robots
415
129 Formation Control
420
1210 Robot Soccer
427
1211 Heterogeneous Robot Teams
429
1212 Task Assignment
431
1213 Design Issues in MultipleRobot Systems
435
1214 Conclusions
439
Humanoid Robots
441
132 Historical Background
444
133 FullBody Humanoids
448
134 Interaction with Humans
457
135 SpecialPurpose Humanoids
463
136 Trends in Humanoid Research
471
Localization Navigation and Mapping
473
142 Biological Inspiration
475
143 Robot Navigation
478
144 Mapping
483
Incremental Topological Mapping
488
146 Localization
494
147 Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
504
149 Concluding Remarks
507
The Future of Autonomous Robots
509
152 Current Trends in Robotics
510
153 HumanRobot Cooperation and Interaction
512
154 Multirobot Systems
513
156 Reconfigurability
514
158 SelfOrganization SelfRepair Autonomous Evolution and SelfReplication
515
159 The Potential Dangers of Robotics
516
1510 Concluding Remarks
518
Introduction to Linear Feedback Control Systems
519
A2 The Transfer Function
522
A3 Stability
526
A4 Control System Design
529
References
531
Author Index
557
Subject Index
563
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About the author (2005)

George A. Bekey is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He has published over 200 papers and several books in robotics, biomedical engineering, computer simulation, control systems, and human-machine systems. Dr. Bekey is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He is editor-in-chief of the journal Autonomous Robots and founding editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation.

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