The standardized data may easily move within a network and connect to other systems without any time or geographical limitations. This concept is fundamental to the idea of the ubiquitous robot. But the definitions of the ubiquitous robot or networked robot appear in different forms all over the world. This paper discusses those definitions briefly including the approach of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd (SEC). Here we present a ubiquitous robotic S/W platform, AnyRobot Studio which covers all the aspects of this ubiquitous robot system. Based on the concepts of RUPI, URC, and Web 2.0, AnyRobot Studio aims to standardize the platforms and protocols, and to strongly encourage the participation of users and contents providers (CPs). AnyKids Service is made to test the feasibility of the AnyRobot based on the AnyRobot Studio platform.

The standardized data may easily move within a network and connect to other systems without any time or geographical limitations. This concept is fundamental to the idea of the ubiquitous robot. Here we present a ubiquitous robot S/W platform, AnyRobot Studio which covers all the aspects of this ubiquitous robot system. Based on the concepts of RUPI, URC, and Web 2.0, AnyRobot Studio aims to standardize the platforms and protocols, and to strongly encourage the participation of users and contents providers (CPs). AnyKids Service is made to test the feasibility of the AnyRobot based on the AnyRobot Studio platform.

Reports the discovery of a new type of singularity that is as significant as other singularities like kinematic singularity, algorithmic singularity, and semi-singularity. This singularity, named semi algorithmic singularity (SAS), occurs when a redundant manipulator, faced with inequality constraints arising from kinematic limits such as joint angle limits and obstacles, proceeds to conduct optimization of a performance measure. Through mathematical analysis, we have proved its existence and proposed an analytic matrix function to identify its presence. In conjunction, we have exposed its relationship with the other singularities above. More specifically, SAS is similar to the algorithmic singularity in that it is an artificial singularity coming from an endeavor for performance optimization. They are different in that the former occurs in one direction in the C-space, whereas the latter occurs bidirectionally. Besides, we have also found an analogy in the real singularities that while the semi-singularity is unidirectional in the workspace, the kinematic singularity is bi-directional. Through a simulation for a three DOF planar manipulator we have visualized the existence of SAS and its relationship with the other singularities.

An extension to operational space (EXOS) is presented for the explicit representation of the null-space (NS) dynamics and its interaction with the operational-space dynamics. First, the EXOS Jacobian is formed by augmenting the Jacobian matrix with a minimum number of its NS vectors. Based on the EXOS Jacobian, free of algorithmic singularity, the kinematics, statics, and dynamics of a redundant manipulator are derived in a compact form. In particular, the resulting EXOS dynamics is able to identify the inner dynamic structure. Its efficacy and efficiency have been demonstrated through comparative analysis and simulation.

Presents our finding of a critical point that has not been reported thus far in the inverse kinematics of redundant manipulators under inequality constraints. The critical point, named algorithmic barrier was first encountered in the form of peculiar phenomena in our experiment with an 8-DOF robot, which we believe to have significance in the order of so-called algorithmic singularity. In addition, the paper deals with the characteristics of optimal solutions (COS) in resolving manipulator redundancy under inequality constraints. In order to analyze the COS, analytic functions of sufficient conditions and critical point conditions are derived. As a result, we find that COS is drastically affected by the introduction of inequality constraints. That is, COS under no inequality constraints is known to change only at algorithmic singularity while COS under inequality constraints turns out to change at semi-singularity and algorithmic barrier as well as algorithmic singularity. We prove the existence the critical points and present their analytical properties by using a planar 3-DOF manipulator.

For resolving the manipulator redundancy under inequality constraints, the compact QP method (including the improved Compact QP method) is very effective and efficient. From a viewpoint of practical applications, however, it turns out, we found, to have some performance limitations such as unrealistically high torque due to joint angle limit constraints and tracking errors due to joint torque limit constraints under parameter variation and disturbance. Remedying the limitations, the enhanced compact QP method is developed by using the practical inequality constraints with p-step-ahead predictor and time delay estimation. Through dynamic simulation results, it is verified that the enhanced compact QP method significantly improves the compact QP method in terms of efficiency and effectiveness for the real-time control of redundant manipulators under physical limits.