Stable and clear video imaging system is crucial in various industry applications for monitoring and remote control purposes. Severe vibrations across full spectrum frequencies are inevitable in many industrial operations resulting in shaky and unclear images. It may reduce the response time for operator and also affect the throughput during the production or monitoring process. On the other hand, commercially available cameras with built-in image stabilization functions may not be sufficient to overcome this problem since they only deal with camera shaking at small magnitude. To stabilize images captured under sever and full spectrum vibration condition, a vibration suppression system was developed. The system consists of a passive vibration mechanism and a digital image stabilization technique. The eddy current damper inside the passive vibration mechanism reduces high frequency vibration, while the digital image stabilization shifts the image for low frequency vibration elimination. Trial results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the system's capability to cover full vibration spectrum. However, it is also found that it needs to increase the degree-of-freedom (DOF) for this mechanism in the future instead of only single DOF.

An embedded, real-time, loosely-coupled INS/GPS integration system has been developed and used for an unmanned land vehicle's control and navigation. For this integrated system, a Kalman filter software is used for INS error damping and corrections via the weighted aiding of a GPS output. The detailed development work will be presented in this paper including algorithm simplification, sensor selection and critical problems solving. Vehicular trial is also conducted. Simulated outage in GPS availability is made to assess the bridging accuracy of this system.

This paper presents the development of a digital signal processor (DSP) based motion controller for a linear servo motor system. The linear motor system employs a moving magnet non-commutated DC linear servo motor as the actuator, and a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) as the position feedback transducer. It is ideal for short stroke, high accuracy and high speed closed loop servo applications. The controller hardware is based on a TI TMS320LF2407A DSP. The system architecture and motion control strategies are presented. An index motion is implemented using this system. The experimental results with discussions are also given.

An automated real-time robotic polishing system (RT-RPS) has been designed specifically for the turbine blade polishing process. The system is equipped with various functional modules such as in-situ measurement, intelligent profile prediction, robust robot path generation and so on. A novel self self-compensating mechanism was also introduced to provide a servo-based position/force control to ensure that the blending force is dynamically maintained and hence, consistent polishing is achieved. And the result is, a robot polishing system that is able to deliver the precision and accuracy that is beyond the rated specification of the robot itself.

Repairing and servicing of aerospace components usually involve tedious work processes and are highly labor-intensive, one typical example is the overhauling of turbine blade. The overhauling process involves reconstruction of the blade tip through cutting off the worn tip and rebuilding it through the welding and finally polishing the welded material to its original shape. Traditionally the polishing process is carried out manually; this is largely due to the difficulty in re-establishing the "used" blade profile which suffered minor distortion through usage. This project introduced and developed a profile reconstruction algorithm namely the robust profile re-construction (RPR) algorithm. The algorithm adopted the neutral line concept and the interpretation vector method by finding the relationship between the original profile of the unused blade and the used blade under each section layers in two-dimensional plan. Experimental result shows that the system and algorithm can provide the required accuracy for the aerospace overhaul industry. Consequently, the algorithm and process could provide the turnkey solution for the blade overhauling industry and forward to fully automation opportunity.

A robust vehicle following system with obstacle avoidance capabilities for operation in natural environments is described in this paper. By combining a novel vehicle-tracking and detection algorithm with our path-planner for autonomous navigation, it was possible for a tracked logistics armoured ambulance carrier to follow a multi purpose vehicle in an equatorial jungle where few non-paved roads and markers exist. With this new approach, vehicle following performance is enhanced and vehicle safety ensured. Field trials performed in tropical jungle conditions have demonstrated the validity of the approach; results from the field works are included and discussed in this paper.

A large autonomous logistics tracked carrier, which can be deployed in a tropical forest for day and night, has been developed. This paper presents details of the architecture and major system components. Emphasis is made on the conversion of a highly non-linear and mechanically-operated vehicle into a computer-controlled system, the perception mechanism used to identify drivable areas, and algorithms developed for vehicle path planning. A suite of active and passive sensors is employed for visual guidance. The data from different sensors are fused and fed to a path planner that takes into account the vehicle dynamics and generates the heading and speed commands for the vehicle control system. The paper includes results from a series of field trials completed in a tropical forest and conditions that are unique to the region.

The paper presents new ideas of integrating Computer Numerical Control (CNC) systems with tool path feedback control for intelligent material processing. A new PC-based CNC control system, which has been developed for CNC laser marking and is able to perform laser marking on freeform surfaces without prior geometrical information, is described in detail.

We present a template-based optimal profile fitting method to generate optimal profiles for robotic surface finishing of repairing parts. By using the design profile as a template, only a few measurement points are required for the fitting. A series of steps of the template-based optimal profile fitting are performed to generate the final fitted profile. A fast converging direct search minimization algorithm has been developed for the optimal fitting. The fitted profile is used to compute robotic paths for surface finishing. The template-based optimal profile fitting method has been successfully implemented as a core technique in a robotic surface finishing system for turbine vane airfoil repairing. It enables the system, which has been operating in a production line, to effectively adapt to the part variations.