• 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.

• 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 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 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 Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.679-685
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• 2006

In this paper, development of an omni-directional mobile robot with rocker-bogie link structure is addressed. The overall mobile robot system consists of the robot mechanism with embedded control architecture, wireless communication with host graphic monitoring system, and the joy stick tole-controller. In the cluttered environment with various sizes of obstacles, the omni-directionality and the traversality are required for a mobile robot, so that the robot call go around or climb over the obstacles according to the size. The mobile robot mechanism developed in this paper has both of the omni-directionality and the traversality by 4 steerable driving wheels and the 2 additional passive omni-directional wheels linked with the rocker-bogie structure. The kinematic modeling for the mobile robot is described based on the well-known Sheth-Uicker convention and the instantaneous coordinate system.

• 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.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.1014-1020
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• 2009

This work deals with navigation of an omni-directional mobile robot with active caster wheels. Initially, the posture of the omni-directional mobile robot is calculated by using the odometry information. Next, the position accuracy of the mobile robot is measured through comparison of the odometry information and the external sensor measurement. Finally, for successful navigation of the mobile robot, a motion planning algorithm that employs kinematic redundancy resolution method is proposed. Through experiments for multiple obstacles and multiple moving obstacles, the feasibility of the proposed navigation algorithm was verified.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2015

In this study, a position control algorithm for an omni-directional mobile robot based on Mecanum wheels was introduced and experimentally evaluated. Multiple ultrasonic sensors were installed around the mobile robot to obtain position feedback. Using the distance of the robot from the wall, the position and orientation of the mobile robot were calculated. In accordance with the omni-directional velocity generation mechanism, the velocity kinematics between the Mecanum wheel and the mobile platform were determined. Based on this formulation, a simple and intuitive position control algorithm was suggested. To evaluate the control algorithm, a test bed composed of artificial walls was designed and implemented. While conventional control algorithms based on normal wheels require additional path planning for two-dimensional planar motion, the omni-directional mobile robot using distance sensors was able to directly follow target positions with the simple proposed position feedback algorithm.

• 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 for Precision Engineering
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• v.16 no.1 s.94
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• pp.253-264
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• 1999

Most autonomous mobile robots view only things in front of them, and as a result, they may collide with objects moving from the side or behind. To overcome this problem. an Active Omni-directional Range Sensor System has been built that can obtain an omni-directional range data through the use of a laser conic plane and a conic mirror. Also, mobile robot has to know its current location and heading angle by itself as accurately as possible to successfully navigate in real environments. To achieve this capability, we propose a self-localization algorithm of a mobile robot using an active omni-directional range sensor in an unknown environment. The proposed algorithm estimates the current position and head angle of a mobile robot by a registration of the range data obtained at two positions, current and previous. To show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, a series of simulations was conducted and the results show that the proposed algorithm is very efficient, and can be utilized for self-localization of a mobile robot in an unknown environment.