Extensive growth of the soft robotics field has made possible the application of soft mobile robots for real world tasks such as search and rescue missions. Soft robots provide safer interactions with humans when compared to traditional rigid robots. Additionally, soft robots often contain more degrees of freedom than rigid ones, which can be beneficial for applications where increased mobility is needed. However, the limited number of studies for the autonomous navigation of soft robots currently restricts their application for missions such as search and rescue. This paper presents a path following technique for a compliant origami crawling robot. The path following control adapts the well-known pure pursuit method to account for the geometric and mobility constraints of the robot. The robot motion is described by a kinematic model that transforms the outputs of the pure pursuit into the servo input rotations for the robot. This model consists of two integrated sub-models: a lumped kinematic model and a segmented kinematic model. The performance of the path following approach is demonstrated for a straight-line following simulation with initial offset. Finally, a feedback controller is designed to account for terrain or mission uncertainties.
{"title":"Path Following for the Soft Origami Crawling Robot","authors":"O. Angatkina, K. Gustafson, A. Wissa, A. Alleyne","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9175","url":null,"abstract":"Extensive growth of the soft robotics field has made possible the application of soft mobile robots for real world tasks such as search and rescue missions. Soft robots provide safer interactions with humans when compared to traditional rigid robots. Additionally, soft robots often contain more degrees of freedom than rigid ones, which can be beneficial for applications where increased mobility is needed. However, the limited number of studies for the autonomous navigation of soft robots currently restricts their application for missions such as search and rescue. This paper presents a path following technique for a compliant origami crawling robot. The path following control adapts the well-known pure pursuit method to account for the geometric and mobility constraints of the robot. The robot motion is described by a kinematic model that transforms the outputs of the pure pursuit into the servo input rotations for the robot. This model consists of two integrated sub-models: a lumped kinematic model and a segmented kinematic model. The performance of the path following approach is demonstrated for a straight-line following simulation with initial offset. Finally, a feedback controller is designed to account for terrain or mission uncertainties.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82240237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Yazji, Hamza Zaidi, Luke Thomas Torres, C. Leroy, A. Keow, Zheng Chen
Buoyancy control devices are essential to maneuver ROV effectively underwater. Many approaches have been used to tackle this problem such as compressed air ballast which can take in water and eject it using compressed air and the use of high-density foam plates that can be added or removed to increase or decrease the buoyancy. Presented in this paper is a novel approach for buoyancy control, which utilizes the electrolysis and reverse electrolysis capabilities of a reversible polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell to adjust the volume of a small vehicle, and change its depth. Making use of the two processes helps restore some of the energy consumed by the system through the process of reverse electrolysis and also for building a fully-closed system, that is, one that does not require any water or gas flow to the surrounding. Modeling of the device is explained and a proportional-derivative (PD) controller is designed to control it at a certain depth using a single sensor measurement. Experiments validate the controller performance.
{"title":"A Novel Buoyancy Control Device Using Reversible PEM Fuel Cells","authors":"J. Yazji, Hamza Zaidi, Luke Thomas Torres, C. Leroy, A. Keow, Zheng Chen","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9155","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Buoyancy control devices are essential to maneuver ROV effectively underwater. Many approaches have been used to tackle this problem such as compressed air ballast which can take in water and eject it using compressed air and the use of high-density foam plates that can be added or removed to increase or decrease the buoyancy. Presented in this paper is a novel approach for buoyancy control, which utilizes the electrolysis and reverse electrolysis capabilities of a reversible polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell to adjust the volume of a small vehicle, and change its depth. Making use of the two processes helps restore some of the energy consumed by the system through the process of reverse electrolysis and also for building a fully-closed system, that is, one that does not require any water or gas flow to the surrounding. Modeling of the device is explained and a proportional-derivative (PD) controller is designed to control it at a certain depth using a single sensor measurement. Experiments validate the controller performance.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77844497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper deals with electrostatically actuated Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (DWCNT) and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) cantilever resonators. Frequency response of parametric resonance is investigated. Euler-Bernoulli cantilever beam model is used for both DWCNT and SWCNT. Electrostatic and viscous damping forces are applied on both types of resonators, DWCNT and SWCNT. In this investigation, soft AC voltage excitation is assumed. For the DWCNT, an intertube van der Waals force is present between the two concentric carbon nanotubes (CNTs), coupling their motion and acting as a nonlinear spring. The nonlinearities in the vibration are provided by the electrostatic (both SWCNT and DWCNT) and intertube van der Waals forces (DWCNT). The Method of Multiple Scales (MMS) is a perturbation method that provides uniformly valid approximations for weakly nonlinear systems. A Reduced-Order-Model (ROM) is developed and numerically solved using AUTO-07P (bifurcation and continuation software). Since large tip deflections are investigated in this paper, only coaxial vibration of the DWCNT is considered. Parametric resonance is investigated, as well as the influences of damping and voltage. Lastly, the effect of intertube van der Waals force on the bifurcation and stability of the DWCNT is reported.
{"title":"Comparison of Frequency Response of Parametric Resonance of DWCNT and SWCNT Under Electrostatic Actuation","authors":"D. Caruntu, E. Juarez","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9171","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper deals with electrostatically actuated Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (DWCNT) and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) cantilever resonators. Frequency response of parametric resonance is investigated. Euler-Bernoulli cantilever beam model is used for both DWCNT and SWCNT. Electrostatic and viscous damping forces are applied on both types of resonators, DWCNT and SWCNT. In this investigation, soft AC voltage excitation is assumed. For the DWCNT, an intertube van der Waals force is present between the two concentric carbon nanotubes (CNTs), coupling their motion and acting as a nonlinear spring. The nonlinearities in the vibration are provided by the electrostatic (both SWCNT and DWCNT) and intertube van der Waals forces (DWCNT). The Method of Multiple Scales (MMS) is a perturbation method that provides uniformly valid approximations for weakly nonlinear systems. A Reduced-Order-Model (ROM) is developed and numerically solved using AUTO-07P (bifurcation and continuation software). Since large tip deflections are investigated in this paper, only coaxial vibration of the DWCNT is considered. Parametric resonance is investigated, as well as the influences of damping and voltage. Lastly, the effect of intertube van der Waals force on the bifurcation and stability of the DWCNT is reported.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75231005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Haber, F. Pecora, Mobin Uddin Chowdhury, Melvin Summerville
Identification, estimation, and control of temperature dynamics are ubiquitous and challenging control engineering problems. The main challenges originate from the fact that the temperature dynamics is usually infinite dimensional, nonlinear, and coupled with other physical processes. Furthermore, the dominant system time constants are often long, and due to various time constraints that limit the measurement time, we are only able to collect a relatively small number of input-output data samples. Motivated by these challenges, in this paper we present experimental results of identifying the temperature dynamics using subspace and machine learning techniques. We have developed an experimental setup consisting of an aluminum bar whose temperature is controlled by four heat actuators and sensed by seven thermocouples. We address noise reduction, experiment design, model structure selection, and overfitting problems. Our experimental results show that the temperature dynamics of the experimental setup can be relatively accurately represented by low-order models.
{"title":"Identification of Temperature Dynamics Using Subspace and Machine Learning Techniques","authors":"A. Haber, F. Pecora, Mobin Uddin Chowdhury, Melvin Summerville","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Identification, estimation, and control of temperature dynamics are ubiquitous and challenging control engineering problems. The main challenges originate from the fact that the temperature dynamics is usually infinite dimensional, nonlinear, and coupled with other physical processes. Furthermore, the dominant system time constants are often long, and due to various time constraints that limit the measurement time, we are only able to collect a relatively small number of input-output data samples. Motivated by these challenges, in this paper we present experimental results of identifying the temperature dynamics using subspace and machine learning techniques. We have developed an experimental setup consisting of an aluminum bar whose temperature is controlled by four heat actuators and sensed by seven thermocouples. We address noise reduction, experiment design, model structure selection, and overfitting problems. Our experimental results show that the temperature dynamics of the experimental setup can be relatively accurately represented by low-order models.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75312662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sliding mode controllers (SMCs) are well-known nonlinear control techniques. The design of a SMC involves the selection of a sliding mode surface and reaching law. The constant, exponential, and power rate reaching laws are the most widely used. Selecting a reaching law is often based on the desired reaching time; that is how fast the state trajectory approaches the switching manifold. However, the selection of a reaching law does not only affect the reaching time (tr) but also other design specifications such as the settling time (ts), overshoot (Mp), and tracking error (JIAE). Indeed, the design of a closed-loop system usually involves multiple and often conflicting objectives. Therefore, a multi-objective optimal design approach that takes into consideration all the design requirements should be adopted. Furthermore, a systematic study is needed to evaluate and compare the performance of a SMC controller under these reaching laws in multi-objective settings. To this end, the problems of designing a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) sliding mode controller applied to linear and nonlinear dynamic systems using the three reaching laws are formulated as multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). The objective space includes tr, Mp, ts, and JIAE and the parameter space consists of the design gains of the reaching laws and the sliding mode surface. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA – II) is used to solve the optimization problem. The solution of the MOP is a Pareto front of optimal design points. Therefore, comparing three Pareto fronts is not a straightforward task. As a result, sections of the Pareto fronts that satisfy some legitimate constraints on the objective space are extracted. Then, a comparison among these sections is conducted graphically. The results show that the exponential rate reaching law outperforms the other two laws in most of the objectives under investigation.
{"title":"Multi-Objective Optimal Design of a PID Sliding Mode Controller With Three Different Reaching Laws","authors":"Xiaotian Xu, Y. Sardahi, Almuatazbellah M. Boker","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-8990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-8990","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Sliding mode controllers (SMCs) are well-known nonlinear control techniques. The design of a SMC involves the selection of a sliding mode surface and reaching law. The constant, exponential, and power rate reaching laws are the most widely used. Selecting a reaching law is often based on the desired reaching time; that is how fast the state trajectory approaches the switching manifold. However, the selection of a reaching law does not only affect the reaching time (tr) but also other design specifications such as the settling time (ts), overshoot (Mp), and tracking error (JIAE). Indeed, the design of a closed-loop system usually involves multiple and often conflicting objectives. Therefore, a multi-objective optimal design approach that takes into consideration all the design requirements should be adopted. Furthermore, a systematic study is needed to evaluate and compare the performance of a SMC controller under these reaching laws in multi-objective settings. To this end, the problems of designing a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) sliding mode controller applied to linear and nonlinear dynamic systems using the three reaching laws are formulated as multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). The objective space includes tr, Mp, ts, and JIAE and the parameter space consists of the design gains of the reaching laws and the sliding mode surface. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA – II) is used to solve the optimization problem. The solution of the MOP is a Pareto front of optimal design points. Therefore, comparing three Pareto fronts is not a straightforward task. As a result, sections of the Pareto fronts that satisfy some legitimate constraints on the objective space are extracted. Then, a comparison among these sections is conducted graphically. The results show that the exponential rate reaching law outperforms the other two laws in most of the objectives under investigation.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73960122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Publisher’s Note: This paper was selected for publication in ASME Letters in Dynamic Systems and Control. https://www.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/lettersdynsys/article/doi/10.1115/1.4046610/1075844/Combining-Reachability-Analysis-and-Importance
{"title":"Combining Reachability Analysis and Importance Sampling for Accelerated Evaluation of Highly Automated Vehicles at Pedestrian Crossing","authors":"Xinpeng Wang, H. Peng, Ding Zhao","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9179","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Publisher’s Note:\u0000 This paper was selected for publication in ASME Letters in Dynamic Systems and Control.\u0000 https://www.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/lettersdynsys/article/doi/10.1115/1.4046610/1075844/Combining-Reachability-Analysis-and-Importance","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74796849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, a distributed algorithm with obstacle avoidance capability is presented to deploy a group of ground robots for field-based agriculture applications. To this end, the field (consisting of many plots) is first modeled as a directed graph, and the robots are deployed to collect data from some important areas of the field (e.g., areas with high water stress or biotic stress). The key idea is to formulate the underlying problem as a locational optimization problem and then find the optimal solution based on the Voronoi partitioning of the associated graph. The proposed partitioning method is validated through simulation studies, as well as experiments using a group of mobile robots.
{"title":"Agricultural Field Coverage Using Cooperating Unmanned Ground Vehicles","authors":"S. Faryadi, Mohammadreza Davoodi, J. M. Velni","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-8992","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-8992","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this paper, a distributed algorithm with obstacle avoidance capability is presented to deploy a group of ground robots for field-based agriculture applications. To this end, the field (consisting of many plots) is first modeled as a directed graph, and the robots are deployed to collect data from some important areas of the field (e.g., areas with high water stress or biotic stress). The key idea is to formulate the underlying problem as a locational optimization problem and then find the optimal solution based on the Voronoi partitioning of the associated graph. The proposed partitioning method is validated through simulation studies, as well as experiments using a group of mobile robots.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77179278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Srivatsan Srinivasan, Matthias J. Schmid, V. Krovi
Incorporation of electronic yaw stabilization in on-road vehicles can take many forms. Although the most popular ones are differential braking and torque distribution, a potentially better alternative would be the inclusion of a controller into the steering process. However, this is not often pursued in mechanically-coupled steering systems since the controller could work against the driver’s intentions creating potential challenges to safety. The growing adoption of steer-by-wire (SbW) systems now in autonomous/semi-autonomous vehicles offers an opportunity to simplify the incorporation of such steering-controller based assistance. Most current steering-assistance systems focus either on adaptive steering control (adaptive power steering and gear ratios) or on total steering control in autopilot functions (lane keeping control). Such steering-controllers (incorporated via SbW modality) can improve driving performance and maneuverability and contribute to the overall suite of active-safety vehicle systems. In this study, we introduce a new pure-feedforward (open loop) controller for the steer-by-wire system based on the concept of reference shaping control aimed at reducing the vibration/oscillation caused in vehicles during fast (evasive) maneuvers.
{"title":"Analysis of Reference Shaping Control for Improved Yaw Stability in a Steer-by-Wire Vehicle","authors":"Srivatsan Srinivasan, Matthias J. Schmid, V. Krovi","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9153","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Incorporation of electronic yaw stabilization in on-road vehicles can take many forms. Although the most popular ones are differential braking and torque distribution, a potentially better alternative would be the inclusion of a controller into the steering process. However, this is not often pursued in mechanically-coupled steering systems since the controller could work against the driver’s intentions creating potential challenges to safety. The growing adoption of steer-by-wire (SbW) systems now in autonomous/semi-autonomous vehicles offers an opportunity to simplify the incorporation of such steering-controller based assistance. Most current steering-assistance systems focus either on adaptive steering control (adaptive power steering and gear ratios) or on total steering control in autopilot functions (lane keeping control). Such steering-controllers (incorporated via SbW modality) can improve driving performance and maneuverability and contribute to the overall suite of active-safety vehicle systems. In this study, we introduce a new pure-feedforward (open loop) controller for the steer-by-wire system based on the concept of reference shaping control aimed at reducing the vibration/oscillation caused in vehicles during fast (evasive) maneuvers.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75607821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper introduces a new quasi-steady in-ground effect model for rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicles to predict the aerodynamic behavior when the vehicle’s rotors approach ground plane. The model assumes that the compression of the outflow due to the presence of ground plane induces a change in the induced velocity that can drastically affect the thrust and power output. The new empirical model describes the change in thrust as a function of the distance to an obstacle for a rotor in hover condition. Using blade element theory and the method of image, the model parameters are described in terms of the rotor pitch angle and solidity. Experiments with off-the-shelf, fixed-pitch propellers and 3D-printed variable pitch propellers are carried out to validate the model. Experimental results suggest good agreement with 9.5% root-mean-square error (RMSE) and 97% p-value of statistic significance.
{"title":"A New Quasi-Steady In-Ground Effect Model for Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicles","authors":"Xiang He, K. Leang","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9025","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper introduces a new quasi-steady in-ground effect model for rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicles to predict the aerodynamic behavior when the vehicle’s rotors approach ground plane. The model assumes that the compression of the outflow due to the presence of ground plane induces a change in the induced velocity that can drastically affect the thrust and power output. The new empirical model describes the change in thrust as a function of the distance to an obstacle for a rotor in hover condition. Using blade element theory and the method of image, the model parameters are described in terms of the rotor pitch angle and solidity. Experiments with off-the-shelf, fixed-pitch propellers and 3D-printed variable pitch propellers are carried out to validate the model. Experimental results suggest good agreement with 9.5% root-mean-square error (RMSE) and 97% p-value of statistic significance.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73189448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this work, we develop a system that can be used for real-time monitoring of multiple important areas in controlled environment agriculture (and in particular greenhouses) using an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV). To model the greenhouse layout, as well as the tasks that should be accomplished by the AGV, we generate two weighted directed graphs. Based on those graphs, an algorithm is then proposed for finding the optimal (in the sense of traveled distance) trajectory of the vehicle with the goal of precisely monitoring important areas in the greenhouse. Furthermore, a data collection system and image processing algorithm is proposed and implemented so that the vehicle: (i) can capture images and detect changes that have occurred on the crops in real time, and (ii) construct (if needed) a map of the plant rows, when arriving at each one of the important areas. Based on this work, the images can either be stitched onboard the vehicle and then sent to a server or be sent directly to the server and then processed (stitched) there. Both simulation and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed system.
{"title":"Autonomous Real-Time Monitoring of Crops in Controlled Environment Agriculture","authors":"S. Faryadi, Mohammadreza Davoodi, J. M. Velni","doi":"10.1115/dscc2019-9176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1115/dscc2019-9176","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this work, we develop a system that can be used for real-time monitoring of multiple important areas in controlled environment agriculture (and in particular greenhouses) using an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV). To model the greenhouse layout, as well as the tasks that should be accomplished by the AGV, we generate two weighted directed graphs. Based on those graphs, an algorithm is then proposed for finding the optimal (in the sense of traveled distance) trajectory of the vehicle with the goal of precisely monitoring important areas in the greenhouse. Furthermore, a data collection system and image processing algorithm is proposed and implemented so that the vehicle: (i) can capture images and detect changes that have occurred on the crops in real time, and (ii) construct (if needed) a map of the plant rows, when arriving at each one of the important areas. Based on this work, the images can either be stitched onboard the vehicle and then sent to a server or be sent directly to the server and then processed (stitched) there. Both simulation and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed system.","PeriodicalId":41412,"journal":{"name":"Mechatronic Systems and Control","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72819483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}