This paper presents a system that surveils an indoor environment through the collaborative use of overhead cameras and a mobile robot. The robot is localized both in the image plane of the external camera and a ground plane map of its environment. This simultaneous localization is used to build up a homography between the image plane of each external camera and the ground plane. The robot begin...

In this paper we propose a solution for the minimum-time control of a two-wheeled differentially driven mobile robot in the presence of slip between the wheels and the ground. Starting from the Lagrangian equations of the system a Newton-Eulerian model of the robot is obtained by adding longitudinal and lateral forces between the tyres and the ground, expressed by means of the Pacejka equation....

This paper introduces an originally designed tracked robot. This robot belongs to the variable geometry single-tracked vehicle (VGSTV) category. Two active joints are used to control the shape of the vehicle and the tension of the tracks. Thus, it becomes possible to adapt the shape of the robot and the ground/robot contact points to the obstacle by controlling the joints. This paper presents s...

RAWSEEDS (Robotics Advancement through Webpublishing of Sensorial and Elaborated Extensive Data Sets) is a project funded by the EEC to produce high-quality datasets, to be used in mobile robotics benchmarking. A key issue in producing high-quality datasets is the procurement of Ground Truth, so to allow a fair comparison between different approaches. RAWSEEDS focuses on benchmarking of Simulta...

Natural substrates like sand, soil, leaf litter and snow vary widely in penetration resistance. To search for principles of appendage design in robots and animals that permit high performance on such flowable ground, we developed a ground control technique by which the penetration resistance of a dry granular substrate could be widely and rapidly varied. The approach was embodied in a device co...

In this work we develop a novel method, or mechanism, of energy transfer in a quadruped running robot. The robot possesses only one actuator per leg, for lower weight and greater power autonomy. The developed mechanism ensures correct dispersion of energy to the actuated and the unactuated degrees of freedom of the robot for stable running. In the mechanism design, we address the added problem ...