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GRASP Lab Seminar 2003-2004
March 5, 1:00 PM, Levine Hall 612, hosted by Vijay Kumar.
Low Kin Huat
Nanyang Technological University
Mechatronics Design and Development Projects of Mobile Machines
Abstract: The objective of this talk is to present the design development works, in different phases, conducted on the mobile robots in the Robotic Research Center (RRC) of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Through the discussion session in the talk, it also aims to establish mutual interests and possible collaborations between the University of Pennsylvania and the NTU.
Several projects on mobile machines being studied at the NTU-RRC, by the group of the adaptive locomotion, will be briefly covered in the talk. The first project focuses on the development of locomotion and wheel mechanisms for a rover that can navigate and omni-directionally in unstructured environment. The new 6-wheel Omni-Directional Rover (ODR) is equipped with omni-directional wheel. It allows independent control of ODR's motion in translation, and rotation without the singular and undesired characteristics of conventional wheels. The constructed ODR is expected to move smoothly from one point to another location, with the self-capability of negotiating unknown obstacles over the journey. As for the second project, the main focus is to develop and design legged machines for the study of effective walking gaits. Works have been conducted and done on gait study, leg configurations, design and hardware of a quadruped robot. The main function of the control architecture is to coordinate the motion sequences of all four legs, so that the walking machine is able to walk effectively over a path with obstacles. A lower exoskeleton system is also being developed, in another project, to improve the carrying endurance strength of a person wearing it. An inner exoskeleton mechanism with the footpad measurement is linked to an outer exoskeleton component for feedback and tuning capability to achieve specified objectives.Biography: K. H. Low obtained his MASc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1983 and 1986, respectively. After spending two years as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo, he joined the School of Mechanical and Production Engineering of the Nanyang Technological University. His teaching and research interests include robotics, vibrations, impacts, machines, mechanisms and mechatronics design. He is the author of three books, and more than 80 journal papers in the areas of robotics, impacts, power transmission systems, structural dynamics and vibrations. He is a member of ASME, IEEE, and IFToMM. He is currently on a three-month attachment to the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
