We present a perception system, called Artisan, that semi-automatically builds 3-D models of a robot’s workspace. Range images are acquired with a scanning laser rangefinder and then processed, based on a systematic sensor characterization, to remove noise and artifacts. Complex 3-D objects represented as surface meshes are subsequently recognized in the range images and inserted into a virtual...

this paper presents the kinematic analysis and the development of a 4-degree-of-freedom serial-parallel mechanism for large commercial vehicle driving simulators. the degrees of freedom are selected according to the target maneuvers and the structure of human motion perception organs. several kinematic properties of parallel part of the mechanism under study are investigated, including the inve...

We propose a novel low-cost method for quantitative assessment of upper extremity workspace envelope using Microsoft Kinect camera. In clinical environment there are currently no practical and cost-effective methods available to provide arm-function evaluation in three-dimensional space. In this paper we examine the accuracy of the proposed technique for workspace estimation using Kinect in com...

One of the weak aspects of the parallel robots is ratio between the workspace and the dimension of the mechanical structure, if compared with the serial one. Hence the shape of the workspace of a parallel manipulator is one of the most important aspects to reflect its working capacity. This paper introduces two innovative methods to analyze the workspace of some family of parallel robots, with ...

The workspace of a Stewart platform is a complex sixdimensional volume embedded in the Cartesian space defined by six pose parameters. Because of its large dimension and complex shape, such workspace is difficult to compute and represent, so that comprehension on its structure is being gained by studying its three-dimensional slices. While successful methods have been given to determine the con...

This paper presents a novel and exible architecture to support the collaboration paradigm for asynchronous sharing of computer-supported workspaces, or simply replayable workspaces. Such workspace, however, may be composed of multiple, interacting, tools. Through the capture, re-execution, and manipulation of a session with an interactive computer-supported workspace, it is possible to reuse th...

A neural network solution is proposed for solving path planning problems faced by mobile robots. The proposed network is a two-dimensional sheet of neurons forming a distributed representation of the robot's workspace. Lateral interconnections between neurons are "cooperative", so that the network exhibits oscillatory behaviour. These oscillations are used to generate solutions of Bellman's dyn...