• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.483-488
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• 2008

An active omni-directional raging system using an omni-directional vision with structured light has many advantages compared to the conventional ranging systems: robustness against external illumination noise because of the laser structured light and computational efficiency because of one shot image containing $360^{\circ}$ environment information from the omni-directional vision. The omni-directional range data represents a local distance map at a certain position in the workspace. In this paper, we propose a matching algorithm for the local distance map with the given global map database, thereby to localize a mobile robot in the global workspace. Since the global map database consists of line segments representing edges of environment object in general, the matching algorithm is based on relative position and orientation of line segments in the local map and the global map. The effectiveness of the proposed omni-directional ranging system and the matching are verified through experiments.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.11 no.4 s.33
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• pp.396-406
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• 2006

This paper proposes an omni-directional image generation algorithm with parametric image compensation. The algorithm generates an omni-directional image by transforming each planar image to the spherical image on spherical coordinate. Parametric image compensation method is presented in order to compensate vignetting and illumination distortions caused by properties of a camera system and lighting condition. The proposed algorithm can generates realistic and seamless omni-directional video and synthesize any point of view from the stitched omni-directional image on the spherical image. Experimental results show that the proposed omni-directional system with vignetting and illumination compensation is approximately $1{\sim}4dB$ better than that which does not consider the said effects.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.338-344
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• 2008

Most omni-directional mobile robots have to change their trajectory for avoiding obstacles regardless of the size of the obstacles. However, an omni-directional mobile robot having kinematic redundancy can maintain the trajectory while the robot avoids small obstacles. This works deals with the kinematic modeling and motion planning of an omni-directional mobile robot with kinematic redundancy. This robot consists of three wheel mechanisms. Each wheel mechanism is modeled as having four joints, while only three joints are necessary for creating the omni-directional motion. Thus, each chain has one kinematic redundancy. Two types of wheel mechanisms are compared and its kinematic modeling is introduced. Finally, several motion planning algorithms using the kinematic redundancy are investigated. The usefulness of this robot is shown through experiment.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.766-773
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• 2001

Omni-directional mobile robots have been popularly employed in several application areas. However, the kinematics for these systems have not been clearly identified, specially for redundantly actuated case which is common in omni-directional mobile robot such as the Nomadic model. For such mobile robot systems, exploitation of redundant actuation as well as singularity analysis has not been extensively addressed. In light of this fact, this paper introduces two different kinematic approaches for omni-directional mobile robots. Then, a singular-free load distribution scheme for redundantly actuated three-wheeled omni-directional mobile robot is proposed. Through simulation, several advantages of redundantly actuated mobile robot in aspect of singularity avoidance, minimization of torque norm, and exploiting several subtasks are presented.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.1597-1600
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• 1997

Most autonomous mobile robots view things only in front of them. As a result they may collide against objects moving from the side or behind. To overcome the problem we have built an Active Omni-directional Range Sensor that can obtain omni-directional depth data by a laser conic plane and a conic mirror. Also we proposed a self-localization algorithm of mobile robot in unknown environment by fusion of Odometer and Active Omn-directional Range Sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.374-379
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• 2014

Mobile robots with omni-directional wheels can generate instant omni-directional motion without requiring extra space to change the direction of the body. Therefore, they are capable of moving in an arbitrary direction under any orientation even in narrow aisles or tight areas. In this research, an omni-directional mobile robot based on Mecanum wheels was developed to achieve omni-directionality. A CompactRIO embedded real-time controller and C series motion and I/O modules were employed in the control system design. Ultrasonic sensors installed on the front and lateral sides were utilized to measure the distance between the mobile robot and the side wall of a workspace. Through intensive experiments, a performance evaluation of the mobile robot was conducted to confirm its feasibility for industrial purposes. Mobility, omni-directionality, climbing capacity, and tracking performance of a squared trajectory were selected as performance indices to assess the omni-directional mobile robot.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2007

Autonomous navigation of mobile robot requires a ranging system for measurement of distance to environmental objects. It is obvious that the wider and the faster distance measurement gives a mobile robot more freedom in trajectory planning and control. The active omni-directional ranging system proposed in this paper is capable of obtaining the distance for all 3600 directions in real-time because of the omni-directional mirror and the structured light. Distance computation including the sensitivity analysis and the experiments on the omni-directional ranging are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2010

This paper presents integrated path planning and collision avoidance for an omni-directional mobile robot. In this scheme, the autonomous mobile robot finds the shortest path by the descendent gradient of a navigation function to reach a goal. In doing so, the robot based on the proposed approach attempts to overcome some of the typical problems that may pose to the conventional robot navigation. In particular, this paper presents a set of analysis for an omni-directional mobile robot to avoid trapped situations for two representative scenarios: 1) Ushaped deep narrow obstacle and 2) narrow passage problem between two obstacles. The proposed navigation scheme eliminates the nonfeasible area for the two cases by the help of the descendent gradient of the navigation function and the characteristics of an omni-directional mobile robot. The simulation results show that the proposed navigation scheme can effectively construct a path-planning system in the capability of reaching a goal and avoiding obstacles despite possible trapped situations under uncertain world knowledge.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2013

Omni-directional robot is a typical holonomic constraint robot that has three degrees of freedom movement in 2D plane. In this study, a new omni-directional robot whose wheels are arranged in radial directions was proposed to improve driving performance of the robot. Unlike a general omni-directional robot whose wheels were arranged in a circumferential direction, moments do not arises in the proposed robot when the robot travels in a straight line. To analyze driving performance, dynamic modeling of the omni-directional robot, which considers friction and slip, was carried out. By friction measurement experiments, the relationship between dynamic friction coefficient and relative velocity was derived. Dynamic friction coefficient according to the angle difference between robot travel direction and wheel rotation direction was also obtained. By applying these results to the dynamic model, driving performance of the robot was calculated. As a result, the proposed robot was 1.5 times faster than the general robot.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1161-1169
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• 2013

In this paper an omni-directional mobile robot is suggested for educational robot platform. Comparing to other robots, a mobile robot can be easily designed and manufactured due to its simple geometric structure. Moreover, since it is required to have low DOF motion on planar space, fabrication of control system is also simple. In this research, omni-directional wheels were adopted to remove the non-holonomic characteristic of conventional wheels and facilitate control system design. Firstly, geometric structure of a Mecanum wheel which is a most frequently used omni-directional wheel was demonstrated. Then, the organization of the mobile platform was suggested in aspects of mechanism manufacturing and electronic hardware design. Finally, a methodology of control system development was introduced for educational purpose. Due to an intuitive motion generating ability, simple hardware composition, and convenient control algorithm applicability, the omni-directional mobile robot suggested in this research is expected to be a promising educational platform.