In this paper, a new method was proposed for the navigation of a mobile robot in an unknown dynamic environment. The robot could detect only a limited radius of its surrounding with its sensors and it went on the shortest null space (SNS) toward the goal. In the case of no obstacle, SNS was a direct path from the robot to goal; however, in the presence of obstacles, SNS was a space around the r...

We give an overview of the EPFL indoor flying project, whose goal is to evolve autonomous, adaptive, indoor micro-flyers. Indoor flight is still a challenge because it requires miniaturization, energy efficiency, and smart control. This ongoing project consists in developing an autonomous flying vision-based micro-robot, a bio-inspired controller composed of adaptive spiking neurons directly ma...

In order to meet the sorting and packing needs of the drug and food industries, a novel parallel robot mechanism named 3-R2H2S is proposed in this study, the kinematics equation of the robot was deduced and the inverse kinematics was calculated. The workspace model of the robot is analyzed by the boundary search method through the MATLAB and ADAMS kinematics software. The analysis results show ...

This paper presents a stereoscopic vision system for the mini-robot Khepera. The vision system performs objects detection by using the stereo disparity and stereo correspondence. The stereoscopic vision system enhances robot’s visual perception ability by grabbing stereo images and analysis 3D objects, while the robot doesn’t need to move. The simple principle of our stereo vision is the less d...

A surgical micro-robot that swims inside the human ureter is proposed to provide a novel and minimally invasive method of kidney stone destruction. Inspired by the swimming mechanisms of bacteria such as E. coli, the robot utilizes biomimetic synthetic flagella composed of multiwalled carbon nanotubes that are driven into a rotating helical shape by a micro motor. Design aspects are discussed w...

In this paper, the authors proposed a novel reactive strategy to solve a unknown object local manipulation problem with an multifingered robot hand. In this method, the micro manipulation assumption is proposed and the object can be manipulated within the robot hand workspace without the active and explicit controlling about the rolling and sliding of the fingertips on the object. A 6 D.O.F rea...

Robotics was successfully applied to the medical field which led to a new scope with vast areas of research; specially, robotics with dental application is relatively an untraveled area to explore. Access opening, bio mechanical preparation and obturation are the three vital steps in endodontic treatment. This procedure is time consuming and completely relies on the clinician’s mastering skills...