Robo Talk a general robot control framework Can

Robo. Talk: a general robot control framework Can we access R 2 D 2 & C 3 PO with the same control commands? Allen Yang University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign H. Gonzales-Banos, V. Ng-Thow-Hing, J. E. Davis Honda Research Institute, Mountain View, CA

Motivation Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd. Mobile Robot with Pan -Tilt Camera Honda Asimo Humanoid Robot 2

Why do we need a motion specification? n Difficulties for researchers in robotics: n Industrial copyright n Programs are not re-usable in different robot families, even different versions of same robot families Motion Commands n Have to choose OS based on the drivers provided n Not easy to share a robot remotely Windows? Linux? Mac OS? with other collaborators in different Embedded OS? locations 3

Project goals n Whatever: (cross-model) n n n Whoever: (cross-platform) n n Provide a network-enabled interface for Asimo which is independent of the controller libraries Access to other robots & simulators: Pioneer, Puma User interface must be cross-platform: support Unix, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Wherever: (cross-network) n Good quality of service across the Internet. 4

Demo Videos 5

Contributions n n n A robot specification standard One command interface Four command modes between client and server: n n n Direct Delay Playback Broadcast Easy-to-change robot driver implementation on the server-end 6

Previous Work n n Player [R. Gerkey and A. Howard, 2003] Open Architecture Humanoid Robotics Platform (HRP) [F. Kanehiro, et al. , 2004] n Open Pino Project [F. Yamasaki, et al. , 2000] OROCOS [http: //www. orocos. org/] n Dedicated systems n n ARIA [robots. activmedia. com/ARIA/] Robonaut [H. Aldridge, et al. , 2000] Athena [J. Biesiadecki, et al. , 2001] 7

Why not others? n n Do not support humanoid robots Hard to change driver implementation Do not have network quality support Do not have protection mechanism for exotic robots 8

System Architecture n n n System Overview Client/Server Structure Four Communication Modes 9

Architecture - Specification Standard Abstraction Configuration Spec Command Spec Communication Spec 10

Architecture - System Overview Asimo Library Configuration Spec Command Spec Client Communication Spec . . . Client Pioneer Library Server Client/Server Simulator 11

Architecture - Robotalk Server Daemon Read and Write TCP/IP sockets CClient. Connection . . . Provide: Buffering, Scheduling, Panic, etc. CClient. Connection Class Interface Issue Robot Driver Calls Robot Daemon CRobot. Driver 12

Architecture - CClient. Connection Server Daemon Input commands CClient. Connection Command Queue Read Playback Queue Robot Daemon Feedback Write Return Queue Priority Queues 13

Architecture - CClient Function calls CClient Class Commands to the server. (Blocking/Nonblocking) Class Interface Broadcast cache Return cache Feedback Read Daemon (Nonblocking) 14

Architecture - Communication Modes n Direct mode: blocking & instantaneous, for debug purposes n Delay mode: nonblocking, instantaneous or delay n Playback mode: nonblocking, adaptive caching based on channel quality n Broadcast mode: periodic query feedback 15

Direct Mode Client Server Sync system clock Clock Function call Command Cache Client return Cache Robot Daemon Return Cache 16

Delay Mode Client Server Sync system clock Clock + Delay Function call Command Cache return Client Robot Daemon error signal Cache Return Cache 17

Playback Mode ecneuqes eht fo htgne. L ehca. C dnammo. C Function call yale. D revre. S tneil. C kcol. C ehca. C kcabyal. P Client return langis rorre Cache Return Cache

Broadcast Mode Delay Broadcast call return Command Cache Client Cache data Robot Daemon Return Cache 19

Conclusions n n Motivations System Structure Four Network Command Modes Future Extensions n n Exclusive control Data channels Controlling multiple humanoid robots Virtual humanoid robots 20

Virtual Humanoid Server Pioneer Library Site A Camera Library Site B Puma Library Virtual Humanoid 21

Thank you! Allen Yang: yang@uiuc. edu Hector Gonzales-Banos: hhg@honda-ri. com Victor Ng-Thow-Hing: vng@honda-ri. com All videos available online: perception. csl. uiuc. edu/Robo. Talk/ 22