A CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ADVANCED ROBOTICS

TODAY'S ROBOTS CANNOT PERFORM COMPLEX MANIPULATION TASKS BECAUSE THEIR CONTROL SYSTEMS ARE UNABLE TO MEET THE REAL-TIME DEMANDS OF THE ADVANCED CONTROL ALGORITHMS. THE NSF-SUPPORTED RIPS PROJECT, AT THE CENTER FOR ROBOTIC SYSTEMS IN MICROELECTRONICS (CRSM), UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA, HAS DEVELOPED A PROTOTYPE ROBOT CONTROL SYSTEM WHICH EXCEEDS THE PERFORMANCE OF OTHER ROBOT CONTROL SYSTEMS BY MORE THAN AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SYSTEM HAS BEEN BUILT AT THE CRSM AND IS CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL. THE RIPS ARCHITECTURE IS SPECIFICALLY GEARED FOR ROBOT CONTROL, YET IS GENERAL AND FULLY PROGRAMMABLE. NO MANIPULATOR CHARACTERISTICS OR CONTROL METHODOLOGIES ARE HARDWIRED INTO THE ARCHITECTURE. THE RESEARCHERS PROPOSE TO IMPROVE THE RIPS ARCHITECTURE FROM AN ACADEMIC STUDY TO AN INDUSTRIAL QUALITY SYSTEM. PHASE I AND PHASE II FUNDING WOULD SUPPORT THE CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING PROTOTYPE SYSTEM, AND THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMERCIAL QUALITY PROTOTYPE. THIS SYSTEM COULD IMPLEMENT SOPHISTICATED ROBOT CONTROL TECHNIQUES NEVER BEFORE POSSIBLE. PHASE I PROPOSES TO ANALYZE AND IMPROVE THE RIPS ARCHITECTURE BY PERFORMING TWO EXPERIMENTS. THEY WILL TARGET SYSTEM SOFTWARE (E.G. A REAL-TIME OPERATING SYSTEM) AS WELL AS ROBOT CONTROL ALGORITHMS TO THE EXISTING RIPS ARCHITECTURE AND ANALYZE ITSDEFICIENCIES.