Joint Center for Robotics

presents

5^th Robotics Workshop

AGENDA

Modeling and Feedback Control

Integrating the Synthetic Toolsets

Ernest L. Lewis, VP of Operations & Research, Better Enterprise Capabilities LLC, Cpt USN (ret)  

Modeling, Simulation & Robotics are synthetic disciplines . Are these independent? Many professionals are likely to argue they are -- yet most would admit a clear nexus between the three. Enterprise today depends on complex systems mixing applications of all three synthetic disciplines. WHAT, WHY and HOW can synthetic toolsets be better integrated to yield better enterprise system performance? A comparison of several perspectives and recommended action. 

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Simulation's Role in Current and Future Unmanned Systems

Matthew Toschlog, Quantam Signal, LLC 

Simulation is playing a key role in the development of current and future unmanned ground vehicle systems for the Army and others. The ability to simulate components, functionalities, and even behaviors at differing scales and fidelities will enable groundbreaking advances in technologies and capabilities. A gap exists, however, between yesterday' single-focus tools or oversized simulators and tomorrow's fully interactive, desktop capabilities. To cross this bridge, one must look beyond traditional engineering software approaches and draw upon an area that has seen massive growth and taken extraordinary technical leaps in the past twenty years. That area is commercial entertainment software (video games!) and is widely being recognized in simulation circles as a major component of simulation's future.

In this talk, Mr. Matthew Toschlog will describe his extensive background and experience in the commercial video-game industry, including the history of the groundbreaking "Descent" series of games in the 90s. Descent I was the first 6 DOF game, incorporated a large number of AI-driven robotic opponents, and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. He will discuss how the technologies in the gaming industry apply to engineering simulation, and current efforts at Reactor Zero (the simulation and gaming division of Quantum Signal) to develop simulation tools applicable to today's engineering development challenges.  

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Robotic Interactive Visualization and Experimentation Took Kit (RIVET)

Mr. Greg Kreafle, General Dynamics Robotics Systems

A discussion of RIVET - a revolutionary game-based platform to and how analaysis of its impact on research, development, and testing robotic technologies.

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Modeling and Feedback Control of Robotic Bipedal Locomotion

Dr. Jessy Grizzle,aUniversity of Michigan-Ann Arbor  

This lecture will focus on nonlinear control methods that have been found useful for the design of asymptotically stable gaits in bipedal robots. The emphasis will be on locomotion in the sagittal plane, but full 3D (spatial) results will be briefly discussed as well. The lecture will cover: Introduction and State of the Art; Modeling of Planar Bipeds; Hybrid Zero Dynamics of Walking; Feedback Control Design with Discussion of Experiments. Some of the material will be taken from the book: Eric R. Westervelt, Jessy W. Grizzle, Christine Chevallereau, Jun-Ho Choi, and Benjamin Morris, Feedback Control of Dynamic Bipedal Robot Locomotion, Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, June 2007

More recent results are available at Web: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~grizzle/papers/robotics.html

Jessy W. Grizzle is the Jerry and Carol Levin Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His primary research interests lie in theoretical nonlinear control, with a firm commitment to demonstrating the power of theoretical results in practical applications. He jointly holds seventeen patents dealing with emissions reduction in passenger vehicles through improved control system design. Professor Grizzle is a Fellow of the IEEE. He received the Paper of the Year Award from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society in 1993, the George S. Axelby Award in 2002 and the Technology Award in 2003, both from the IEEE Control Systems Society. His work on bipedal robots has been featured in The Economist, Wired Magazine, Discover Magazine, Scientific American and several television programs.

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