%A Miroslaw Jan Skibniewski
%T Engineering and Economic Analysis of Robotics Application Potential
in Selected Construction Operations
%R Ph.D. Dissertation
%I Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute
%I Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute
%D March 1986
%P 105
%X This dissertation evaluates the impact of robotics implementation in the
construction industry, with the emphasis on the robotization of surface
treatment operations.
The primary contribution is the development of a comprehensive, multi-
dimensional analysis of costs and benefits associated with a specific
robotic application.  An example analysis of technical and economic
feasibility is performed on two case studies, i.e., robotic sandblasting
and robotic form cleaning.
Economic feasibility is determined by the analysis of costs and benefits
associated with their development and field implementation.  Information
with regard to the robot hardware, software and control costs was obtained
directly from robot system manufacturers and users.  Costs were estimated
from the experience with the development of the existing comparable
construction robot prototypes in U.S., Japan, and Germany.
Specific constraints characteristic of robot construciton applications (harsh
work site environment, difficult climatic conditions, exposure to dust, etc.)
are exposed and incorporated in the case study analyses.
A new approach to the design of the future construction robotics is suggested,
involving the development of robot modules, each performing a specific
function within the multi-task robotic system.  This approach enables the
spreading of system development costs over several conceptually similar
applications, thus increasing potential economic return on each application.

%A Dai Feng
%T Dynamic Steering Control
%R Masters Thesis
%I Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute
%I Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute
%D April 1986
%P 94
%X A feedback algorithm is proposed for the steering control of robotic
manipulators and autonomous vehicles.  The algorithm incorporates two
new concepts:  the "critical region" and the "safe acceleration set.
The critical regions are constructed to represent the local state constraints
posed by the obstacles.  This representation results in a simplification of
the state constraints.  Further, at each sampling interval, future local
state constraints are transferred to current control constraints by
constructing the safe acceleration set.  It is shown that the proposed
algorithm generates a guaranteed collision free trajectory.  Simulation
results are presented to demonstrate the properties of the feedback algorithm.

%A Timothy Joseph Graettinger
%T Maneuverability Constraints for Design and Control of Robotic Systems:
A Semi-infinite Programming Approach
%R Masters Thesis
%I Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute
%I Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute
%D March 1986
%P 108
%X This project report presents methods for determining "maneuverability
constraints" for robotic systems.  These maneuverability constraints are
limits on the acceleration and velocity of the system specified on a "global
coordinate frame (e.g., a Cartesian reference frame where trajectory
planning is typically done_ based on torque/force and operating limits in a
different reference frame (e.g., the manipulator joint angles where the
system dynamics are more easily specified).  We approach this problem of
determining maneuverability constraints from an optimization perspective.
The formulation as a mathematical program results in a "generalized
semi-infinite programming" problem.  An algorithm to solve the generalized
semi-infinite programming problem is presented for the case when the
objective function is a function of a single scalar variable.  This
algorithm is subsequently applied to two robotic manipulator applications.
These examples illustrate the use of the maneuverability results for
design and control of robotic systems.