Can a rhino be taught to draw? : a look at path control algorithms

• Main Author: Zvokel, Kenneth M.
• Other Authors: Fuelling, Clinton P.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Robotics.; Algorithms.; Machine theory.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/183786; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/543993

In today's high-tech industrialized world, we are always looking for faster, and more reliable ways to produce goods. Robotics offers us a possible replacement for the human worker, but can a robot reliably perform the same tasks as a human arm, for example?The complex problem of teaching a robot to move it's hand in some well defined path can be broken down into a variety of algorithms. These path control algorithms generally compute some path description equation, which is used to generate path points either in terms of the Cartesian coordinates of the robot's work cell or the robot's joint variables. Common functions used in the path generation process include cubic spline functions and linear functions.This research project tests a variety of algorithms on a relatively simple robot in order to perform the task of drawing shapes (lines, squares, circles) on planes (horizontal and vertical) in the workcell. By studying the paths drawn we can determine the effect of each algorithm on the path control process, as well as the effect of plane positioning, robot structure, and the robot's controller. === Department of Computer Science