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Crane Control |
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Development of computerized control systems to relieve the operator and
improve the performance of hydraulic cranes. New human machine
interfaces are under investigation, such as allowing the operator to control the tip of the crane instead of a number of hydraulic actuators
or remote control of the crane over internet. Experiments are
performed on crane installation in the
Smart Crane Lab and on a
Valmet 830 Forwarder from Komatsu Forest.
Financing:
Komatsu Forest, Kempe, Sveaskog,
Swedish Foundation of Strategic Research,
Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland,
Umeå University
Contact person:
Anton Shiriaev, Inst för Tillämpad Fysik & Elektronik, Umeå University
Information in more
detail:
Smart Crane Lab
Control Systems Group
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Smart Crane Lab at
Umeå University
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Experiments on Valmet 830 |
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Autonomous Navigation |
Development of technologies for unmanned forest vehicles that transport timber from the felling place to the transportation road on their own.
Financing:
VINNOVA, Kempe foundations, Komatsu
Forest, Sparbankstiftelsen
Norrland,
Land Systems Hägglunds,
Umeå University, Carl Tryggers stiftelse
Contact person:
Thomas Hellström, Computer Science Department, Umeå University
Information in more detail:
IFOR resultatsamanställning 2009-10-12
Project description
Intelligent Robotics
Techniques and Algorithms for Autonomous Vehicles in Forest
Environment
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| Interactive simulation of mechanical systems |
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Visual interactive simulation
for developing, testing and demonstrating new techniques in
robotics, new vehicle concepts and man-machine interaction
interfaces is considered. A simulator for studying semin-autonomous and shared control of hydraulic crane is developed. New machines for harvesting in young dense forests are evaluated.
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
Financing:
Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland and ProcessIT Innovations
Information in more detail:
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| Controlling Movements of Complex Mechanical Systems |
Development of new rule-based algorithms to control complex mechanical systems. The research is focused on the ability to produce stable movements for walking robots.
Financing:
Swedish Research Counsil, Umeå University
Contact person:
Anton Shiriaev, Umeå University
Information in more detail:
Control Systems Group
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| The Cluster Project |
IFOR is involved in a joint project for building up a national research network between universities and industries related to intelligent vehicles. One goal is to enhance collaboration between universities and companies, and to create contacts among the companies. Among other things, key persons within the manufacturing industry will be offered in-service training. Help with international technology transfer and other commercialization is also on the agenda. Real joint projects have been discussed and started up with numerous companies, among them Komatsu Forest , Land Systems Hägglunds and LKAB. Other actors in the project are Umeå university,
the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
in Umeå, Holmen Skog, and Skogforsk. Another goal is to tie other universities and research institutes to the project. Among other things IFOR will investigate the need for research and education within companies. To achieve
these goals, seminars and workshops are being organized,
feasability studies and experimentation, smaller and bigger
student projects within the field.
An important part of this project is
collaboration between industry and academia through student
projects on particular experiment setups. During autumn 2007 we
run the project: Design-Build-Test -- project course for
engineering students. A group of 8 students are given the task
to develop a demonstrator system capable of automatic loading of
logs. See
article and
poster.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
2004
VINNOVA, ISA, NUTEK
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
Information in more detail:
Press
notice
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Experiments and various smaller
projects |
Here we list smaller well-defined projects. These
may include experiments, feasibility studies, student projects,
commersialization projects. The size of these projects varies
between a few weeks to up to 6 months.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
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Object recognition of logs in digital images |
The project adresses how
using image analysis techniques may
be apllied to detect logs in an arbitrary environment and how to
find the orientation of a log in the gripper of a forest vehicle
during rotation. A region merging technique is developed and
analyzed to find regions in an image that belongs to a log.
Report - phase 1 of the project (F. Nordfelth)
In a second phase of the project -
the plan is to detect the orientation of a log in the gripper in
real-time.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
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Virtual Environment for Teleoperation of
Forwarder Crane |
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This thesis examines how virtual environment
technology can be used to address some of the challenges in
IFOR, e.g. improving the working environment for the operator
and increase the productivity. Furthermore, it describes the
development of an application prototype that adds virtual
environment support to a crane teleoperation system. The
software includes a scene graph based visualization of a crane
model that reflects the configuration of the physical crane by
responding to sensor data. The application allows for
supervisory control of the crane over the Internet, by letting
the user specify a target position or path for the crane tip. It
also supports a dynamic environment, where an environment
sensing system can be used to add objects. Given a reliable
environment sensor system, an introduction of such a system
would give the virtual environment solution several advantages
compared to streaming video feedback.
Virtual Environment for
Teleoperation of Forwarder
Crane - MSc Thesis (2007) ,
S. Westerberg
Contact person:>
Anton Shiriaev, Inst för Tillämpad Fysik & Elektronik, Umeå University
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Lab demonstrator for automatic loading |
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8 students from various engineering programs
implemented a demonstrator system for automatic loading of logs.
The system starts from an operator having gripped a log. The
system plans a trajectory in 3D space, avoiding static obstacles,
and performs the motion to transport the log to "target
position" including control of the orientation of the gripper.
The oprator places the log. The system can then be directed to
automatically return to previous log position. The project was
part of the course "Design-Build-Test - project course for
engineering students" and was run in collaboration between
education and IFOR companies and researchers.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
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Sensor vision and remote operation of
off-road vehicles |
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8 students from various engineering programs
are constructing a demonstrator system for sensor vision and
remote operation of an off-road vehicle running on forest roads
at a velocity of 20 km/h. Using digital cameras, GPS, gyros a 3D
map is constructed showing corridors that are safe for driving
the vehicle. In second phase the system shall support remote
operation through localization in the 3D reconstructed map and
simple video image and laser scanner. The project was
part of the course "Design-Build-Test - project course for
engineering students" and was run in collaboration between
education and IFOR companies and researchers.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
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Slip detection |
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In a study of possible techniques for
detecting slip of a forest machine. The
study includes a literature study of relevant work previously
done in the area of wheel slip, results from field tests carried
out on a Valmet 830 forwarder and suggestions for future
research and development.
Report.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person
Thomas
Hellström, Computer Science
Department, Umeå University
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Simulator-based route planning |
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A real-time path planner for off-road vehicles
using a simulator is developed. The general idea with the
presented system is to extend a standard path-tracking algorithm
with a simulator that, in real-time, tries to predict collisions
in a window forward in time. This simulation is based on current
sensor data giving information about the environment around the
vehicle. If a collision is predicted, the vehicle is stopped and
a path-search phase is initiated. Variants of the original path
are generated and simulated until a feasible path is found. The
real vehicle then continues, now tracking the replanned path.
Report.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person
Thomas
Hellström, Computer Science
Department, Umeå University
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3D maps for remote operation and autonomous
navigation |
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A study of what data and software resources for
3D/2.5D maps that are suitable for remote operation and
autonomous navigation. The study briefly describes software
functionality and quality of data, e.g. data from Lantmäteriet,
various GIS software and laser scanned data from TopEye over the
campus are.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
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New human-machine-interaction interface for
semi-autonomous forest machine |
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Introducing boom-tip control and semi-autonomous
functions to forest harvesters requires new
human-machine-interaction interfaces. The project aims at
collecting relevant background information and give proposals to
new HMI interfaces.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person:
Martin Servin, Umeå University
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Measurement Solutions for
Crane Experimentation |
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Solutions have been developed for measuring the
slew angel and rotator angle for the crane in the Crane lab and
for the Valmet 830 Forwarder used for experimentation.
Report on Measurement Solutions (preliminary
version) - (T. Conradsson, F. Jonsson and U. Mettin)
Installation Manual for Prototyping Tests on
Forwarder Crane - (T. Conradsson, F. Jonsson and U. Mettin)
Contact person:
Anton Shiriaev, Inst för Tillämpad Fysik & Elektronik, Umeå University
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Motion planing for crane control |
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Various approaches for generating crane
trajectories (including avoiding obstacles) are investigated
with focus on robust solutions suitable for implementation on
real machines.
Financing:
2007-2009 Sparbankstiftelsen Norrland
Contact person:
Kalle Prorok, Inst för Tillämpad Fysik & Elektronik, Umeå University
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Project proposals and thesis projects |
List of project ideas, that
can be suitable for research projects, MSc thesis projects and
smaller student projects.
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