[...]... one important part of what makes an autonomous robot For example, mission planning, machine vision, global path planning and obstacle avoidance, cooperative work of multiple robots, human-machine interaction, local path planning and obstacle avoidance, middle level trajectory-tracking controller development, low-level actuator controller design, navigational sensors, and platform development are all active... Military and Security Applications One of the military applications of ASVs is reconnaissance and surveillance in the open ocean and coastal waters ASVs can furnish situational awareness to remote command stations in real-time ASVs operate via remote control from a command center on a ship, or a plane, or on land, or autonomously They can send pictures, video, and other electronic data to a land-based,... Mobile Robots 163 6.2.1 Hilare Mobile Robots 163 6.2.2 Car-Like Mobile Robots 166 6.3 Trajectory-Tracking Control Based on Kinematic Models 168 6.3.1 Hilare-Type Mobile Robots 168 6.3.2 Car-Like Mobile Robots 175 6.4 Formation Control for Hilare Mobile Robots. .. homeland security, drug control, and search and rescue missions ASVs can patrol coastal waters, ports, and sensitive facilities and surveil for law enforcement and drug trafficking control By cooperation with manned or unmanned aerial vehicles, ASVs can closely observe suspicious activities in important maritime locations and passages and issue early warning of any hostile or illegal activity to a command... can take place 1.3 Mobile Robots 5 1.3 Mobile Robots 1.3.1 Common Types There are two common types of mobile robots that have well-designed kinematic drive chains, which reduce the chances of slip at the wheels of the robot The two mobile robot types are Hilare-type and car-like mobile robots Hilare-type robots have two independently driven wheels as the drive mechanism and are usually balanced by... in reality Some of the more common theories and methods for motion planning and control of the two common types of mobile robots, Hilare-type and car-like, are introduced in Chapters 4 and 6 1.4 Autonomous Surface Vessels An autonomous surface vessel (ASV) is a robotic boat or ship that can react to the environmental changes and accomplish a task with minimum human interference Similar to many advanced... Unmanned small-size helicopters already have numerous civilian applications These unmanned, helicopters are mostly remotely controlled, especially for take-off and landing However, they extensively use computer-controlled mode for stabilization of the helicopter in hover and near hover maneuvers Although the unmanned helicopters used for commercial applications are not autonomous (computer-stabilized... from ground to higher floors, providing temporary and immediate platforms for communications, and for delivering mail to remote areas 1.5.3 Security and Military Applications Drug control and search and rescue missions are ideal applications for autonomous helicopters Autonomous helicopters can patrol boarders, ports, and sensitive 1.6 Summary 13 facilities and surveil for law enforcement They can closely... situational awareness in real-time via sending pictures, video, and other electronic data to a land-based or ship-based command center 1.5.4 Mathematical Models and Methods One part of autonomy of an autonomous helicopter is its ability to plan its trajectory in an environment with obstacles The material presented in Section 4.10 is one of the efficient ways for path planning for aerial robots working in environments... Leader-Follower Formation Schemes 183 6.4.2 Design of the l – α Controller 183 6.4.3 Design of the l – l Controller 188 6.5 Dynamics of Mobile Robots 194 6.5.1 Hilare-Type Mobile Robots 194 6.6 Trajectory-Tracking Control Based on Dynamic Models 201 6.6.1 Hilare-Type Mobile Robots . Autonomous Robots Modeling, Path Planning, and Control Farbod Fahimi Autonomous Robots Modeling, Path Planning, and Control 123 Farbod Fahimi Mechanical Engineering. Alberta Edmonton, Alberta Canada ffahimi@ualberta.ca ISBN: 97 8-0 -3 8 7-0 953 7-0 e-ISBN: 97 8-0 -3 8 7-0 953 8-7 DOI 10.1007/97 8-0 -3 8 7-0 953 8-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931982 c  Springer Science+Business. address mobile robots. Recently, the application of autonomous robots (redundant and hyper-redundant manipulators, and ground, marine, and aerial robots) is finding its way into industries and even