Completed Projects in Robotics

Researcher:

IAL, IDS

Duration:

2011 - 2014

Funded by:

DFG, proposal submitted

Brief description:

The electromagnetic planar drive shall be moved on a silicon wafer by means of a micro-fabricated matrix coil system. Due to its material parameters, silicon is perfectly suitable for ultrasonic excitation, allowing traveller levitation for frictionless motion.

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Researcher:

imes

Duration:

since 2011

Funded by:

KUKA Laboratories GmbH

Brief description:

Laser osteotomy is of great interest for many clinical indications. Tissue removal following well defined geometries raises questions primarily in the fields of path planning, high-precision beam control, human-machine interface and determination of cutting depth. Therefore, a system consisting of a KUKA lightweight robot (LWR), a stereo camera, an optical coherence tomograph (OCT), and an Er:YAG laser is assembled at the Institute of Mechatronic Systems in close cooperation with the KUKA Laboratories GmbH to demonstrate a possible application for robot-assisted laser osteotomy.

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Researcher:

imes

Duration:

since 2010

Funded by:

Richard Wolf GmbH

Brief description:

For minimally invasive surgery (MIS), instruments are inserted into the abdominal cavity of the patient through small incisions. In order to make these procedures easier and safer - even for complicated manipulations such as knot tying - novel surgical instruments are needed. They offer more degrees of freedom inside the patient and are controlled by an intuitive console. The aim of the project is to develop these adequate instruments with at least two degrees of freedom.

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Researcher:

IMPT

Duration:

sincs 2009

Funded by:

DFG

Brief description:

Within the framework of the project „Electromagnetic Actuation of Micro-optics: Adaptive Systems on the basis of Ferro fluidic Actuators“ of the SPP 1337 „Active Micro-optics“, the Institute of Micro Production Technology (IMPT) deals with the design and production of a micro actuator. By excitation of the micro coil array as part of the micro actuator, an electromagnetic field is induced, displacing a ferrofluid in a micro channel. By moving the electromagnetic liquid body, an optically active liquid is displaced within the fine micro channel structures made of PMMA. To model the micro coil array, FEM analyses were successfully carried out for simulation of the magnetically excited field and the temperature. From the simulation results, the design for the lithographic photo masks was derived. Then a process chain was developed for the micro actuator production, and the corresponding thin-film processes were optimised. In the meantime, the first actuators have already been produced, and the experiences gained have been used for design optimisation. The first optimised micro actuators are now completed and under test. In the subsequent system integration phase, two micro actuators form a sandwich structure with the micro channel structure in the middle.

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Researcher:

IDS, IW

Duration:

2008 - 2010

Funded by:

BMBF

Brief description:

Within the scope of the BMBF-funded project "ULH Bonder", the IDS works in cooperation with the Institute of Materials Science (IW) and the Co. Hesse and Knipps on an ultra-lightweight high-speed bonder for wedge-to-wedge bonding.

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Researcher:

imes

Duration:

2006 - 2008

Funded by:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Brief description:

The Institute of Mechatronic Systems developed a robot-assisted, minimal-invasive approach to the cochlea, drilling a small channel from the lateral skull base to the cochlea. In this context, the problem arises to insert the electrode into the cochlea via the keyhole access, which is not manually applicable by the surgeon any more. Main target of the project is the development of an automated insertion tool to insert the electrode via the keyhole access. The project is carried out in cooperation with the Department of Otolaryngology of the Hannover Medical School (MHH).

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Researcher:

IRT

Duration:

since 1999

Brief description:

Wheel-based locomotion is very efficient for autonomous robots. Various applications in human surroundings are however not suitable for wheels, as for example stairs or similar obstacles. Here, leg-based robots are more convenient. To investigate dynamic walking, the two-legged robot BARt-UH (Bipedal Autonomous Robot Universität Hannover) was created. An updated version of the test platform BARt does still exist and is applied in further research projects.

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Researcher:

IRT

Duration:

2003 - 2008

Funded by:

DFG

Brief description:

Bipedal locomotion provides service robots with the greatest possible flexibility to move in a human environment, but bears on the other hand high susceptibility to fall down. Conventional stability criteria are not sufficient for recognising and classifying fall scenarios. Within this project, methods to detect and classify possible falls were developed, and an optimum reaction to such scenarios was learned. Moreover, methods how to get up after a fall were investigated.

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Researcher:

IRT

Duration:

2002 - 2009

Brief description:

LISA is an experimental robot for the development and testing of novel approaches for bipedal walking machines. A specialty of the shown walking machine is the construction of the hip joint, which is built like a ball-and-socket joint but with all hip motors attached to the upper body. The two legs of the robot are movable in a way, so that each foot can be moved spatially and rotated around all of its three axes.

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Researcher:

imes

Duration:

2002 - 2003

Brief description:

In continuation of research projects dealing with underactuated manipulators in which the motion of passive joints takes place due to dynamic coupling (i.e. inertial force, Coriolis force, etc.), this coupling shall be exploited in order to implement energy-minimal trajectories for fully actuated systems.

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Researcher:

IRT

Duration:

2000 - 2005

Funded by:

Start-up grant of the Hannover Centre for Mechatronics

Brief description:

The control of a two-legged robot requires a sensor that, like the sense of balance, measures the attitude and the position in three-dimensional space. Sensor clusters commonly used for inertial navigation are inapplicable for this task because of their weight, costs and high power consumption. Due to the rapid development of automotive micromechanical sensors a lot of low-cost alternatives have appeared. Though low-cost sensors have much higher measurement errors, these errors can be reduced to an adequate, application-specific degree. Within this project, the measurements of the sensor system therefore have to be designed redundant, and the sensor data has to be fused by an intelligent data fusion algorithm.

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Researcher:

imes

Funded by:

Start-up grant of the Hannover Centre for Mechatronics

Brief description:

Goal of this research project is the vision-based control of the MARGe mounted serial manipulator. The system shall be able to recognize objects autonomously and, thereafter, grasp it due to a vision-based control.

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Researcher:

imes

Funded by:

Start-up grant of the Hannover Centre for Mechatronics

Brief description:

The mobile robot MARGe (Mobile Autonomous Robot Genie) serves as experimental platform for the development and evaluation of algorithms for localisation, trajectory control and dynamic obstacle avoidance. MARGe is equipped with a variety of internal and external sensors, including encoders and laser scanners.

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