No Arabic abstract
Due to their flexibility, dexterity, and compact size, Continuum Manipulators (CMs) can enhance minimally invasive interventions. In these procedures, the CM may be operated in proximity of sensitive organs; therefore, requiring accurate and appropriate feedback when colliding with their surroundings. Conventional CM collision detection algorithms rely on a combination of exact CM constrained kinematics model, geometrical assumptions such as constant curvature behavior, a priori knowledge of the environmental constraint geometry, and/or additional sensors to scan the environment or sense contacts. In this paper, we propose a data-driven machine learning approach using only the available sensory information, without requiring any prior geometrical assumptions, model of the CM or the surrounding environment. The proposed algorithm is implemented and evaluated on a non-constant curvature CM, equipped with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) optical sensors for shape sensing purposes. Results demonstrate successful detection of collisions in constrained environments with soft and hard obstacles with unknown stiffness and location.
We present a simple model-free control algorithm that is able to robustly learn and stabilize an unknown discrete-time linear system with full control and state feedback subject to arbitrary bounded disturbance and noise sequences. The controller does not require any prior knowledge of the system dynamics, disturbances, or noise, yet it can guarantee robust stability and provides asymptotic and worst-case bounds on the state and input trajectories. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first model-free algorithm that comes with such robust stability guarantees without the need to make any prior assumptions about the system. We would like to highlight the new convex geometry-based approach taken towards robust stability analysis which served as a key enabler in our results. We will conclude with simulation results that show that despite the generality and simplicity, the controller demonstrates good closed-loop performance.
Mobile manipulators consist of a mobile platform equipped with one or more robot arms and are of interest for a wide array of challenging tasks because of their extended workspace and dexterity. Typically, mobile manipulators are deployed in slow-motion collaborative robot scenarios. In this paper, we consider scenarios where accurate high-speed motions are required. We introduce a framework for this regime of tasks including two main components: (i) a bi-level motion optimization algorithm for real-time trajectory generation, which relies on Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) and Quadratic Programming (QP), respectively; and (ii) a learning-based controller optimized for precise tracking of high-speed motions via a learned inverse dynamics model. We evaluate our framework with a mobile manipulator platform through numerous high-speed ball catching experiments, where we show a success rate of 85.33%. To the best of our knowledge, this success rate exceeds the reported performance of existing related systems and sets a new state of the art.
In this paper we consider Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) detection using deep neural networks. We introduce two different deep architectures: a standard fully connected multi-layer network, and a Detection Network (DetNet) which is specifically designed for the task. The structure of DetNet is obtained by unfolding the iterations of a projected gradient descent algorithm into a network. We compare the accuracy and runtime complexity of the purposed approaches and achieve state-of-the-art performance while maintaining low computational requirements. Furthermore, we manage to train a single network to detect over an entire distribution of channels. Finally, we consider detection with soft outputs and show that the networks can easily be modified to produce soft decisions.
Conventional shape sensing techniques using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) involve finding the curvature at discrete FBG active areas and integrating curvature over the length of the continuum dexterous manipulator (CDM) for tip position estimation (TPE). However, due to limited number of sensing locations and many geometrical assumptions, these methods are prone to large error propagation especially when the CDM undergoes large deflections. In this paper, we study the complications of using the conventional TPE methods that are dependent on sensor model and propose a new data-driven method that overcomes these challenges. The proposed method consists of a regression model that takes FBG wavelength raw data as input and directly estimates the CDMs tip position. This model is pre-operatively (off-line) trained on position information from optical trackers/cameras (as the ground truth) and it intra-operatively (on-line) estimates CDM tip position using only the FBG wavelength data. The methods performance is evaluated on a CDM developed for orthopedic applications, and the results are compared to conventional model-dependent methods during large deflection bendings. Mean absolute TPE error (and standard deviation) of 1.52 (0.67) mm and 0.11 (0.1) mm with maximum absolute errors of 3.63 mm and 0.62 mm for the conventional and the proposed data-driven techniques were obtained, respectively. These results demonstrate a significant out-performance of the proposed data-driven approach versus the conventional estimation technique.
This paper addresses the problem of controlling a continuum manipulator (CM) in free or obstructed environments with no prior knowledge about the deformation behavior of the CM and the stiffness and geometry of the interacting obstructed environment. We propose a versatile data-driven priori-model-independent (PMI) control framework, in which various control paradigms (e.g. CMs position or shape control) can be defined based on the provided feedback. This optimal iterative algorithm learns the deformation behavior of the CM in interaction with an unknown environment, in real time, and then accomplishes the defined control objective. To evaluate the scalability of the proposed framework, we integrated two different CMs, designed for medical applications, with the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK). The performance and learning capability of the framework was investigated in 11 sets of experiments including PMI position and shape control in free and unknown obstructed environments as well as during manipulation of an unknown deformable object. We also evaluated the performance of our algorithm in an ex-vivo experiment with a lamb heart.The theoretical and experimental results demonstrate the adaptivity, versatility, and accuracy of the proposed framework and, therefore, its suitability for a variety of applications involving continuum manipulators.