Interval analysis is a relatively new mathematical tool that allows one to deal with problems that may have to be solved numerically with a computer. Examples of such problems are system solving and global optimization, but numerous other problems may be addressed as well. This approach has the following general advantages: (a) it allows to find solutions of a problem only within some finite domain which make sense as soon as the unknowns in the problem are physical parameters; (b) numerical computer...

A new approach to control an omnidirectional mobile manipulator is developed. The robot is considered to be an individual agent aimed at performing robotic tasks described in terms of a displacement and a force interaction with the environment. A reactive architecture and impedance control are used to ensure reliable task execution in response to environment stimuli. The mechanical structure of our holonomic mobile manipulator is built of two joint manipulators mounted on a holonomic vehicle. The...

Let G be an undirected graph with n vertices. Assume that a robot is placed on a vertex and n − 2 obstacles are placed on the other vertices. A vertex on which neither a robot nor an obstacle is placed is said to have a hole. Consider a single player game in which a robot or obstacle can be moved to adjacent vertex if it has a hole. The objective is to take the robot to a fixed destination vertex using minimum number of moves. In general, it is not necessary that the robot will take a shortest path...

We study a nonlinear Neumann boundary value problem associated to a nonhomogeneous differential operator. Taking into account the competition between the nonlinearity and the bifurcation parameter, we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of nontrivial solutions in a related Orlicz–Sobolev space.

We study the boundary value problem $-{\mathrm{d}iv\left(\right(\left|\nabla u\right|}^{p_1\left(x\right)-2}+{\left|\nabla u\right|}^{p_2\left(x\right)-2}\left)\nabla u\right)=f(x,u)$ in $\Omega$, $u=0$ on $\partial \Omega$, where $\Omega$ is a smooth bounded domain in ${ℝ}^N$. Our attention is focused on two cases when $f(x,u)=\pm (-\lambda |u{|}^{m\left(x\right)-2}u+\left|u{|}^{q\left(x\right)-2}u\right)$, where $m\left(x\right)=max\{p_1\left(x\right),p_2\left(x\right)\}$ for any $x\in \overline{\Omega }$ or $m\left(x\right)<q\left(x\right)<\frac{N·m\left(x\right)}{(N-m(x\left)\right)}$ for any $x\in \overline{\Omega }$. In the former case we show the existence of infinitely many weak solutions for any $\lambda >0$. In the latter we prove that if $\lambda$ is large enough then there exists a nontrivial weak solution. Our approach relies on the variable exponent theory of generalized Lebesgue-Sobolev spaces, combined with a ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$-symmetric version for even functionals...

This paper describes the problem of designing control laws for path following robots, including two types of nonholonomic mobile manipulators. Due to a cascade structure of the motion equation, a backstepping procedure is used to achieve motion along a desired path. The control algorithm consists of two simultaneously working controllers: the kinematic controller, solving motion constraints, and the dynamic controller, preserving an appropriate coordination between both subsystems of a mobile manipulator,...

A language grounding problem is considered for nonuniform sets of modal conjunctions consisting of conjunctions extended with more than one modal operator of knowledge, belief or possibility. The grounding is considered in the context of semiotic triangles built from language symbols, communicative cognitive agents and external objects. The communicative cognitive agents are assumed to be able to observe external worlds and store the results of observations in internal knowledge bases. It is assumed...

This paper is devoted to path planning when the safety of the system considered has to be guaranteed in the presence of bounded uncertainty affecting its model. A new path planner addresses this problem by combining Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT) and a set representation of uncertain states. An idealized algorithm is presented first, before a description of one of its possible implementations, where compact sets are wrapped into boxes. The resulting path planner is then used for nonholonomic...

This article provides an introduction to Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM), with the focus on probabilistic SLAM utilizing a feature-based description of the environment. A probabilistic formulation of the SLAM problem is introduced, and a solution based on the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF-SLAM) is shown. Important issues of convergence, consistency, observability, data association and scaling in EKF-SLAM are discussed from both theoretical and practical points of view. Major extensions...

This paper presents a method for building a foothold selection module as well as methods for the stability check for a multi-legged walking robot. The foothold selection decision maker is shaped automatically, without expert knowledge. The robot learns how to select appropriate footholds by walking on rough terrain or by testing ground primitives. The gathered knowledge is then used to find a relation between slippages and the obtained local shape of the terrain, which is further employed to assess...

This paper addresses a sweep coverage problem of multi-robot networks with general topologies. To deal with environmental uncertainties, we present discrete time sweep coverage algorithms to guarantee the complete coverage of the given region by sweeping in parallel with workload partition. Moreover, the error between actual coverage time and the optimal time is estimated with the aid of continuous time results. Finally, numerical simulation is conducted to verify the theoretical results.

We employ Massey products to find sharper lower bounds for the Schwarz genus of a fibration than those previously known. In particular we give examples of non-formal spaces X for which the topological complexity TC(X) (defined to be the genus of the free path fibration on X) is greater than the zero-divisors cup-length plus one.

The article is devoted to a motion control problem for a differentially driven mobile robot in the task of trajectory tracking in the presence of skid-slip effects. The kinematic control concept presented in the paper is the Vector Field Orientation (VFO) feedback approach with a nonlinear feed-forward skid-slip influence compensation scheme. The VFO control law guarantees asymptotic convergence of the position tracking error to zero in spite of the disturbing influence of skid-slip phenomena. The...