Penn Engineering
The School of Engineering and Applied Science, established in 1852, is composed of six academic departments and numerous interdisciplinary centers, institutes, and laboratories. At Penn Engineering, we are preparing the next generation of innovative engineers, entrepreneurs and leaders. Our unique culture of cooperation and teamwork, emphasis on research, and dedicated faculty advisors who teach as well as mentor, provide the ideal environment for the intellectual growth and development of well-rounded global citizens.
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Publication Active Sensing for Dynamic, Non-holonomic, Robust Visual Servoing(2014-05-01) De, Avik; Bayer, Karl S.; Koditschek, Daniel EWe consider the problem of visually servoing a legged vehicle with unicycle-like nonholonomic constraints subject to second-order fore-aft dynamics in its horizontal plane. We target applications to rugged environments characterized by complex terrain likely to perturb significantly the robot’s nominal dynamics. At the same time, it is crucial that the camera avoid “obstacle” poses where absolute localization would be compromised by even partial loss of landmark visibility. Hence, we seek a controller whose robustness against disturbances and obstacle avoidance capabilities can be assured by a strict global Lyapunov function. Since the nonholonomic constraints preclude smooth point stabilizability we introduce an extra degree of sensory freedom, affixing the camera to an actuated panning axis mounted on the robot’s back. Smooth stabilizability to the robot-orientation-indifferent goal cycle no longer precluded, we construct a controller and strict global Lyapunov function with the desired properties. We implement several versions of the scheme on a RHex robot maneuvering over slippery ground and document its successful empirical performance. For more information: Kod*LabPublication A leg configuration sensory system for dynamical body state estimates in a hexapod robot(2003-09-14) Lin, Pei-Chun; Komsuoglu, Haldun; Koditschek, Daniel EWe report on a novel leg strain sensory system for the autonomous robot RHex [Saranli U. et al., 2001] implemented upon a cheap, high performance local wireless network [H. Komsuoglu, 2002]. We introduce a model for RHex's 4-bar legs [E.Z. Moore, 2001] relating leg strain to leg kinematic configuration in the body coordinate frame. We compare against ground truth measurement the performance of the model operating on real-time leg strain data generated under completely realistic operating conditions. We introduce an algorithm for computing six degree of freedom body posture measurements in world frame coordinates from the outputs of the six leg configuration models, together with a priori information about the ground. We discuss the manner in which such stance phase configuration estimates will be fused with other sensory data to develop the continuous time full body state estimates for RHex.Publication Hybrid Zero Dynamics of Planar Biped Walkers(2003-01-01) Westervelt, E. R.; Grizzle, J. W.; Koditschek, Daniel EPlanar, underactuated, biped walkers form an important domain of applications for hybrid dynamical systems. This paper presents the design of exponentially stable walking controllers for general planar bipedal systems that have one degree-of-freedom greater than the number of available actuators. The within-step control action creates an attracting invariant set—a two-dimensional zero dynamics submanifold of the full hybrid model—whose restriction dynamics admits a scalar linear time-invariant return map. Exponentially stable periodic orbits of the zero dynamics correspond to exponentially stabilizable orbits of the full model. A convenient parameterization of the hybrid zero dynamics is imposed through the choice of a class of output functions. Parameter optimization is used to tune the hybrid zero dynamics in order to achieve closed-loop, exponentially stable walking with low energy consumption, while meeting natural kinematic and dynamic constraints. The general theory developed in the paper is illustrated on a five link walker, consisting of a torso and two legs with knees.Publication Analysis of A Simplified Hopping Robot(1991-12-01) Koditschek, Daniel E; Buehler, MartinThis article offers some analytical results concerning simplified models of Raibert's hopper. We represent the task of achieving a recurring hopping height for an actuated "ball" robot as a stability problem in a nonlinear discrete dynamical control system. We model the properties of Raibert's control scheme in a simplified fashion and argue that his strategy leads to closed-loop dynamics governed by a well-known class of functions, the unimodal maps. The rich mathematical literature on this subject greatly advances our ability to determine the presence of an essentially globally attracting fixed point-the formal rendering of what we intuitively mean by a "correct" strategy. The motivation for this work is the hope that it will facilitate the development of general design principles for "dynamically dexterous" robots.Publication Event Driven Parts Moving in 2D Endogenuous Environments(2000-04-01) Karagoz, C. Serkan; Bozma, H. Isil; Koditschek, Daniel EThis paper is concerned with the parts’ moving problem based on an event-driven planning and control. We are interested in developing feedback based approaches to the automatic generation of actuator commands that cause the robot to move a set of parts from an arbitrary initial disassembled configuration to a specif ed final configuration. In the Phase I of this project, a composite algorithm that reactively switches between different feedback controllers has been shown to induce a noncooperative game being played among the parts being manipulated. This paper describes experimental results with EDAR - Event-Driven Assembler Robot - developed for moving parts based on feedback techniques. For more information: Kod*LabPublication Rigid body visual servoing using navigation functions(2000-12-12) Cowan, Noah J; Lopes, Gabriel A. D.; Koditschek, Daniel EVisual servo controllers in the literature rarely achieve provably large domains of attraction, and seldom address two important sensor limitations: (i) susceptibility to self-occlusions and (ii) finite field of view (FOV). We tackle the problem of global, occlusion-free visual servoing of a fully actuated rigid body by recourse to navigation functions on a compact manifold which encode these restrictions as control obstacles. For occlusion free rigid body servoing, the manifold of interest is the "visible" set of rigid body configurations, that is, those for which the feature points are within the field of view and unoccluded by the body. For a set of coplanar feature points on one face of a convex polyhedron, we show that a slightly conservative subset of the visible set has a simple topology amenable to analytical construction of a navigation function. We construct the controller via a closed form coordinate transformation from our problem domain into the topological model space and conclude with simulation results.Publication Averaged Anchoring of Decoupled Templates in a Tail-Energized Monoped(2015-01-01) De, Avik; Koditschek, Daniel EWe refine and advance a notion of parallel composition to achieve for the first time a stability proof and empirical demonstration of a steady-state gait on a highly coupled 3DOF legged platform controlled by two simple (decoupled) feedback laws that provably stabilize in isolation two simple 1DOF mechanical subsystems. Specifically, we stabilize a limit cycle on a tailed monoped to excite sustained sagittal plane translational hopping energized by tail-pumping during stance. The constituent subsystems for which the controllers are nominally designed are: (i) a purely vertical bouncing mass (controlled by injecting energy into its springy shaft); and (ii) a purely tangential rimless wheel (controlled by adjusting the inter-spoke stepping angle).We introduce the use of averaging methods in legged locomotion to prove that this “parallel composition” of independent 1DOF controllers achieves an asymptotically stable closed-loop hybrid limit cycle for a dynamical system that approximates the 3DOF stance mechanics of our physical tailed monoped.We present experimental data demonstrating stability and close agreement between the motion of the physical hopping machine and numerical simulations of the (mathematically tractable) approximating model. More information: http://kodlab.seas.upenn.edu/Avik/AveragingTSLIPPublication Multistable Phase Regulation for Robust Steady and Transitional Legged Gaits(2011-09-29) Haynes, G. C; Rizzi, Alfred A; Koditschek, Daniel EWe develop robust methods that allow specification, control, and transition of a multi-legged robot’s stepping pattern—its gait—during active locomotion over natural terrain. Resulting gaits emerge through the introduction of controllers that impose appropriately-placed repellors within the space of gaits, the torus of relative leg phases, thereby mitigating against dangerous patterns of leg timing. Moreover, these repellors are organized with respect to a natural cellular decomposition of gait space and result in limit cycles with associated basins that are well characterized by these cells, thus conferring a symbolic character upon the overall behavioral repertoire. These ideas are particularly applicable to four- and six-legged robots, for which a large variety of interesting and useful (and, in many cases, familiar) gaits exist, and whose tradeoffs between speed and reliability motivate the desire for transitioning between them during active locomotion. We provide an empirical instance of this gait regulation scheme by application to a climbing hexapod, whose “physical layer” sensor-feedback control requires adequate grasp of a climbing surface but whose closed loop control perturbs the robot from its desired gait. We document how the regulation scheme secures the desired gait and permits operator selection of different gaits as required during active climbing on challenging surfaces.Publication The Role of Reflexes Versus Central Pattern Generators(2002-01-01) Klavins, Eric; Komsuoglu, Haldun; Full, Robert J; Koditschek, Daniel EAnimals execute locomotor behaviors and more with ease. They have evolved these breath-taking abilities over millions of years. Cheetahs can run, dolphins can swim and flies can fly like no artificial technology can. It is often argued that if human technology could mimic nature, then biological-like performance would follow. Unfortunately, the blind copying or mimicking of a part of nature [Ritzmann et al., 2000] does not often lead to the best design for a variety of reasons [Vogel, 1998]. Evolution works on the "just good enough" principle. Optimal designs are not the necessary end product of evolution. Multiple satisfactory solutions can result in similar performances. Animals do bring to our attention amazing designs, but these designs carry with them the baggage of their history. Moreover, natural design is constrained by factors that may have no relationship to human engineered designs. Animals must be able to grow over time, but still function along the way. Finally, animals are complex and their parts serve multiple functions, not simply the one we happen to examine. In short, in their daunting complexity and integrated function, understanding animal behaviors remains as intractable as their capabilities are tantalizing.Publication EDAR - mobile robot for parts moving based on a game-theoretic approach(2002-01-31) Karagöz, Cem Serkan; Bozma, H. Isil; Koditschek, Daniel EEDAR (event-driven assembler robot) — a mobile robot capable of moving a collection of disk-shaped parts located on a two-dimensional workspace from an arbitrary initial configuration to a desired configuration while avoiding collisions in a purely reactive manner, is presented. Since EDAR uses a higher-level scheduler to switch among the subtasks of moving individual parts, it is viewed as mediating a noncooperative game played among the parts.