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ELEC3201 2021 For Students
ELEC3201 2021 For Students
ROBOTIC SYSTEMS
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This paper contains 4 questions
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An outline marking scheme is shown in brackets to the right of each ques-
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tion.
This version of the exam paper has been prepared with student revi-
sion for the kinematics topicin mind. Answers are given to the kine-
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Question 1.
(a) The Denavit Hartenberg (DH) Method is a commonly used approach for
obtaining the forward kinematic equations of robot manipulators. Which
statement(s) is/are correct?
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(ii) The DH Method uses left-hand coordinate frames
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(iv) In the DH Method, only two axes need to be chosen for every joint.
[2 marks]
(b) Give two reasons why it is beneficial to derive a robot’s forward kinematic
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equations using the DH Method.
[2 marks]
(c) In the DH Method, the coordinate frame F0 is attached to the first joint.
What does the frame F1 represent? What do frames F2 , F3 , and so on,
represent (if present)?
[2 marks]
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(d) Figure 1 depicts two joints of a robot manipulator. The coordinate frame
attached to the first joint is shown, along with three different possible
coordinate frames for the second joint. In the DH Method, which of
these coordinate frames are valid? Which is preferable?
[2 marks]
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er Joint 1 Joint 2
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F IGURE 1: Robot joints with possible reference frames
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Joint 2
Joint 1
Joint 3
F IGURE 2: Robotic manipulator with three joints, with joint variables θ1 , d2 and θ3 .
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[2 marks]
(iv) With this robot is it possible to independently control the (x, y) posi-
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tions? Explain your answer.
[2 marks]
[5 marks]
(a) The only statement which is correct is d) - only two axes (the z and the x axis need choosing, the y is
then determined since the coordinate frame is right-handed).
• The DH method gives a systematic approach, which is useful for complex robotic systems
• It enables roboticists to communicate and exchange ideas in a common framework
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(other answers also acceptable)
(c) The frame F1 represents the movement of link 1 with respect to the base frame. More generally, the
frame Fi represents the movement of link i with respect to link i − 1.
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(d) In the Figure, the reference frame represented by the axes F1a = (x1a , y1a , z1a ) and
F1a = (x1b , y1b , z1b ) would both be equally valid choices of reference frame when applying the DH
method. Reference frame F1c = (x1c , y1c , z1c ) does not represent a valid frame since, although x1c
and z1c are oriented correctly, y1c does not enable a right-handed-reference frame to be formed
(re-orienting this axis would correct this). In practice, one would probably choose reference frame
F1b since the x-axes are coincident and hence there would not be an extra term (d) representing the
offset between the two axes in the DH equations.
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(e)
(i) The first part of the solution is to choose the z-axes and then one assigns reference frames to
each of these axes. Since F0 and FE have already been given, only two frames need to be
determined. Possible (but not unique) choices are shown below. Once the reference frames
have been chosen, the DH parameters can be deduced by inspection and tabulated
i θi di ai αi
1 θ1∗ −l1 l2 0
2 0 −d∗2 0 0
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3 θ3∗ −l3 0 π
These DH parameters can then be used to find the homogenous transformation matrices as
cos θ1 − sin θ1 0 l2 cos θ1
0
sin θ1 cos θ1 0 l2 sin θ1
1T = (1)
0 0 1 −l1
0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0
1
0 1 0 0
2T = 0 0 (2)
1 −d2
0 0 0 1
cos θ3 − sin θ3 0 0
2 sin θ3 cos θ3 0 0
ET = (3)
0 0 −1 −l3
0 0 0 1
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Joint 2
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Joint 1
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Joint 3
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F IGURE 3: Robotic manipulator with three joints, with joint variables θ1 , d2 and θ3 .
(ii) The homogenous transformation matrix representing the end-effector position w.r.t base is
then given by
0
ET =01 T 1 2
2T E T
cos θ1 − sin θ1 0 l2 cos θ1 1 0 0 0 cos θ3 − sin θ3 0 0
sin θ1 cos θ1 0 l2 sin θ1 0 1 0 0 sin θ3 cos θ3 0 0
=
0 0 1 −l1 0 0 1−d2 0 0 −1 −l3
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
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cos(θ1 + θ3 ) − sin(θ1 + θ3 ) 0 l2 cos θ1
sin(θ1 + θ3 ) cos(θ1 + θ3 ) 0 l2 sin θ1
=
0 0 −1 −(l1 + l3 + d2 )
0 0 0 1
(iv) Independent control over the (x, y) positions is not possible with this robot since
px = l2 cos θ1 py = l2 sin θ1
(f)
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Therefore
q1 = arctan(py /px )
This is the first of the IK equations. Note that the above two equations can also be squared and
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added to get
p2x + p2y = (l1 + l2 cos q2 )2
which implies
q
p2x + p2y − l1
q2 = arccos
l2
q3 = x3 + l2 sin q2
v q
u
u
t p2x + p2y + l12 − 2l1 p2x + p2y
= x3 + l2 1 −
l22
r q
= x3 + l22 − l12 − p2x − p2y + 2l1 p2x + p2y
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[25 marks]
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Question 2.
(a) Why would an engineer use the joint-space for trajectory planning? Ex-
plain your answer.
[2 marks]
(b) A robot has six joints and is required to move from a certain initial po-
sition to a final position, while passing through 5 intermediate points.
Assuming cubic splines are to be used to generate the trajectory, calcu-
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late how many parameters will need to be calculated to enable this.
[1 mark]
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(c) A robot is given a repetitive task to perform and a trajectory for a single
joint needs to be generated. The starting position of the joint is θ(0) =
45◦ and the starting velocity is θ̇(0) = 0. The end-point and velocity is
identical to that at the start. The robot must pass through a way point of
θ(tw ) = 90◦ with continuous velocity and acceleration of the joint. The
time to execute the task is 6 seconds with the way point to be reached
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at 3 seconds.
(i) Set up a matrix equation which needs to be solved for the parame-
ters of the cubic functions. Marks will be awarded for accuracy and
clarity. You do not need to solve the equation.
[5 marks]
(ii) Could a “smaller” matrix equation be solved instead? Explain your
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answer.
[1 marks]
(iii) Assume now that the robot joint should stop at the way-point and not
travel to the end-point. An engineer wants to check the maximum
joint velocity over this portion of the trajectory. Derive the time of
interest which s/he should check.
[4 marks]
where the joint positions are d1 , θ2 and θ3 . Calculate the analytic Jaco-
bian of this manipulator and identify any limitations in mobility
[4 marks]
(e) A roboticist is developing a new mobile robot and needs to choose ac-
tuators and sensors for the system.
(i) Compare and contrast hydraulic and electric actuators. Give rea-
sons why each may be suitable for the system under consideration.
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[4 marks]
(ii) The mobile robot features a manipulator with a gripper at the end.
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The gripper needs to carry delicate objects. Explain the sensing
capabilities such a gripper would ideally be equipped with.
[4 marks]
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(a) Planning of trajectories in the task space involves choosing the end effector path directly in task
space and then determining the joint positions via inverse kinematics at each time-step. Planning of
trajectories in joint space involves choosing the start, end and possibly intermediate points in task
space. The joint positions corresponding to these points are then determined, but the trajectory of
the joints, from one point to another, is chosen in joint space. The advantages of task-space
trajectory planning is that more control over end-effector position is attained, but the drawback is
that the inverse kinematic equations have to be solved at each time instant to generate the
trajectories in joint space. Joint space removes these computational problems, but less control over
the end effector position is the drawback.
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(Other answers possible)
(b) In total there are seven points, so 6 cubic functions are needed. Each cubic function has four
parameters to determine, so 24 parameters per joint and hence 6 × 24 = 144 parameters in total.
(c)
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(i) First assign the two cubic polynomials, the first for the portion of the trajectory between
t ∈ [0, tw ] and the second for t ∈ [tw , tf ]:-
and acceleration by
Using the information about the start position and velocity - t = 0 - we have
45 = a10 (4)
0 = a11 (5)
Similarly using information about the finish position and velocity - t = tf - we have
Finally, because velocity and acceleration are continuous at the way point we have
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(ii) Yes, a small matrix equation could be solved. From the working above, it is clear that we have
expressions for a10 , a11 and a20 directly. Therefore we could set up an expression in the
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unknowns a12 , a13 , a21 , a22 and a23 - this would lead to a matrix-vector equation involving a 5 × 5
matrix.
(iii) We effectively ignore the second portion of the trajectory and just consider the part between
θ(0) = 45 and θ(tw ) = 90. At both points the velocities are zero. From the expressions above we
have
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θ̇(t) = a11 + 2a12 t + 3a13 t2
which is actually
θ̇(t) = 2a12 t + 3a13 t2
since a11 = 0. Now the maximum/minimum of this function occurs when
2a12 + 6a13 t = 0
So since tw 6= 0, we have
3
a12 = − a13 tw
2
Using this in our expression for max/min velocity we have
a12
t=−
3a13
1
= tw
2
So we need to check the velocity at the half-way time i.e 1.5 seconds.
To determine constraints on the velocity we need to calculate |J(q)| and determine it is zero.
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= d21 cos3 θ2 + cos2 θ3 + d21 sin2 θ2 cos2 θ2 cos θ2 + d21 (cos3 θ2 sin2 θ3 + cos θ2 sin2 θ2 sin2 θ3 )
= d21 cos3 θ3 (sin2 θ3 + cos2 θ3 ) + d21 cos θ2 sin2 (θ2 (sin2 θ3 + cos2 θ3 )
= d21 cos θ2 (sin2 θ2 + cos2 θ2 )
(e)
= d21 cos θ2
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So singularity when d1 = 0 and θ2 = π, 3π/2
(i) Students would be expected to provide advantages of electric actuators (convenience, precise
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control, ease of maintenance etc), disadvantages of electric actuators (poor force/torque levels,
size/power issues etc) and then also discuss the advantages of hydraulic actuators (high levels
of force production, maintenance of force under “zero” power, good size/force ratio) and their
disadvantages (difficulty in control, maintenance issues, cleanliness issues etc).
Somewhat open-ended question with different answers acceptable.
(ii) Students would be expected to suggest that the manipulator behaviour would be improved with
sensors which can detect object proximity, the force exerted on an object, and whether or not
an object is slipping or deforming. This information can then be used to adjust gripper force or
orientation. The concept of soft robotics could also be discussed.
Somewhat open-ended question with different answers acceptable.
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[25 marks]
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Question 3.
A camera is taking images of a working area in a robotic system as shown
in Figure 4.
(a) Due to technical difficulties, the images taken by the camera have low
contrast with low visibility. Propose and describe techniques to in-
crease the visibility of images.
[4 marks]
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(b) Also, due to low light and radiation, images are contaminated with some
noise. Propose and describe filters to remove or to reduce the noise.
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(c) In the manufacturing process, there are three kinds of objects with three
different shapes appearing in front of the camera in the working area.
The colour and intensity of the objects are distinctively different from the
background.
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(i) Advance an algorithm which can recognise these three objects.
[11 marks]
(ii) Explain if it would be possible to use deep learning methods to
classify these three objects.
[5 marks]
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[25 marks]
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Question 4.
(a) Consider a swarm of ground robots operating in the New Forest, per-
forming a monitoring task - the robots have to approach a number of
pre-specified GPS marked trees and take pictures of the tree barks for
further analysis. For the task, the robots of the swarm have to traverse
large distances in an energy efficient manner. Describe the three main
approaches that you would employ for your ground robots to traverse
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the forest, along with their individual merits and demerits.
[10 marks]
(b) In tuning the parameters for your robot controllers for the above task, you
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decide to use an evolutionary algorithm. Describe the genetic operators
employed in your algorithm and provide an example of how they work.
[5 marks]
(c) Besides the above mentioned forest monitoring application, briefly ex-
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plain two other application scenarios for robot swarms.
[2 marks]
(d) Explain with justification, which of the following is/are NOT a self-organizing
system.
[8 marks]
[25 marks]
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