In order for a quadruped robot to be able to move on wheels while keeping its platform in horizontal position, and to walk, the kinematic system of its limbs should be so designed that each of the wheels has at least four degrees of freedom. Consequently, the designed system will have many DOFs and many controlled drives. This paper presents a novel solution in which, thanks to a suitable limb kinematic system geometry, the number of drives for the robot travel function, i.e. travelling on an uneven surface with the robot platform kept horizontal, has been reduced by four which are used only for walking. The robot structure, the required geometry of the limb links and the driving torque characteristics are presented. Moreover, an idea of the control system is sketched. Finally, selected results of the tests carried out on the robot prototype are reported.

The aim of this paper is to present an in-pipe modular robotic system that can navigate inaccessible industrial pipes in order to check their condition, locate leakages, and clean the ventilation systems. The aspects concerning the development of a lightweight and energy efficient modular robotic system are presented. The paper starts with a short introduction about modular inspection systems in the first chapter, followed by design aspects and finalizing with the test of the developed robotic system.

In this paper we propose a sensor-based navigation method for navigation of wheeled mobile robot, based on the Kohonen self-organising map (SOM). We discuss a sensor-based approach to path design and control of wheeled mobile robot in an unknown 2-D environment with static obstacles. A strategy of reactive navigation is developed including two main behaviours: a reaching the middle of a collision-free space behaviour, and a goal-seeking behaviour. Each low-level behaviour has been designed at design stage and then fused to determine a proper actions acting on the environment at running stage. The combiner can fuse low-level behaviours so that the mobile robot can go for the goal position without colliding with obstacles one for the convex obstacles and one for the concave ones. The combiner is a softswitch, based on the idea of artificial potential fields, that chooses more then one action to be active with diRerent degrees at each time step. The output of the navigation level is fed into a neural tracking controller that takes into account the dynamics of the mobile robot. The purpose of the neural controller is to generate the commands for the servo-systems of the robot so it may choose its way to its goal autonomously, while reacting in real-time to unexpected events. Computer simulation has been conducted to illustrate the performance of the proposed solution by a series of experiments on the emulator of wheeled mobile robot Pioneer-2DX.

In this work, a novel approach to designing an on-line tracking controller for a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot (WMR) is presented. The controller consists of nonlinear neural feedback compensator, PD control law and supervisory element, which assure stability of the system. Neural network for feedback compensation is learned through approximate dynamic programming (ADP). To obtain stability in the learning phase and robustness in face of disturbances, an additional control signal derived from Lyapunov stability theorem based on the variable structure systems theory is provided. Verification of the proposed control algorithm was realized on a wheeled mobile robot Pioneer–2DX, and confirmed the assumed behavior of the control system.

This paper presents a design of a tracked in-pipe inspection mobile robot with an adaptive drive positioning system. The robot is intended to operate in circular and rectangular pipes and ducts, oriented horizontally and vertically. The paper covers a design process of a virtual prototype, focusing on track adaptation to work environment. A mathematical description of a kinematic model of the robot is presented. Operation of the prototype in pipes with a cross-section greater than 210 mm is described. Laboratory tests that validate the design and enable determination of energy consumption of the robot are presented.

This paper presents a control concept for a single-axle mobile robot moving on the horizontal plane. A mathematical model of the nonholonomic mechanical system is derived using Hamel’s equations of motion. Subsequently, a concept for a tracking controller is described in detail. This controller keeps the mobile robot on a given reference trajectory while maintaining it in an upright position. The control objective is reached by a cascade control structure. By an appropriate input transformation, we are able to utilize an input-output linearization of a subsystem. For the remaining dynamics a linear set-point control law is presented. Finally, the performance of the implemented control law is illustrated by simulation results.

In recent years, a significant development of technologies related to the control and communication of mobile robots, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, has been noticeable. Developing these technologies requires having the necessary hardware and software to enable prototyping and simulation of control algorithms in laboratory conditions. The article presents the Laboratory of Intelligent Mobile Robots equipped with the latest solutions. The laboratory equipment consists of four quadcopter drones (QDrone) and two wheeled robots (QBot), equipped with rich sensor sets, a ground control station with Matlab-Simulink software, OptiTRACK object tracking system, and the necessary infrastructure for communication and security. The paper presents the results of measurements from sensors of robots monitoring various quantities during work. The measurements concerned, among others, the quantities of robots registered by IMU sensors of the tested robots (i.e., accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes and others).

This article presents a system of precise navigation for a visually impaired person which uses GPS navigation and an infrared sensor in the form of an infrared matrix. The presented system allows determining the orientation and distance of a blind person relative to a selected object, e.g. a wall or road edge. The application of the above solution facilitates a significant increase in the accuracy of determining the position of a blind person compared to the accuracy offered by commonly used ground satellite devices. The system uses thermal energy accumulated in the environment without the need to generate additional signals. The main parts of the system are a simple infrared matrix, data processing system and vibrating wristband. Messages and navigation warnings are sent to a blind person in the form of a vibration code. The article describes the method of determining the path of a specified width and distance from the wall of a building, curb, etc., along which a blind person should move. The article additionally describes the method of determining the orientation of a blind person depending on the selected object. Such a method facilitates verifying whether the visually impaired person is moving according to the indicated direction. The method can also be used to navigate mobile robots. Due to the use of natural energy for data registration and processing, the mobile navigation system can be operated for a long time without the need to recharge the battery.