This book contains the written record of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Traditional and Non-Traditional Robotic Sensors held in the Hotel Villa del Mare, Maratea, Italy, August 28 - September 1, 1989. This workshop was organized under the auspicies of the NATO Special Program on Sensory Systems for Robotic Control. Professor Frans Groen from the University of Amsterdam and Dr. Gert Hirzinger from the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) served as members of the organizing committee for this workshop. Research in the area of robotic sensors is necessary in order to support a wide range of applications, including: industrial automation, space robotics, image analysis, microelectronics, and intelligent sensors. This workshop focused on the role of traditional and non-traditional sensors in robotics. In particular, the following three topics were explored: - Sensor development and technology, - Multisensor integration techniques, - Application area requirements which motivate sensor development directions. This workshop'brought together experts from NATO countries to discuss recent developments in these three areas. Many new directions (or new directions on old problems) were proposed. Existing sensors should be pushed into new application domains such as medical robotics and space robotics.

Inhalt

I: Sensor Development.- Fast Sensory Control of Robot Manipulators.- Force/Torque and Tactile Sensors for Sensor-Based Manipulator Control.- 3D Range Imaging Sensors.- An Alternative Robotic Proboscis.- Dynamic Robot Vision.- 2D and 3D Image Sensors.- Tactile Sensing Using an Optical Transduction Method.- Absolute Position Measurement Using Pseudo-Random Encoding.- Silicon Tactile Image Sensors.- Multiresolutional Laser Radar.- Olfaction Metal Oxide Semiconductor Gas Sensors and Neural Networks.- Development Environment for Tactile Systems.- Video-Speed Triangulation Range Imaging.- Image Sensors for Real-Time 3D Acquisition: Part 1.- Image Sensors for Real-Time 3D Acquisition: Part 2.- Active Sensing with a Dextrous Robotic Hand.- II: Multisensor Integration.- Sensor Integration Using State Estimators.- Multisensory Telerobotic Techniques.- Autochthonous Behaviors - Mapping Perception to Action.- Interpreting 3D Lines.- Sensor Data Integration for the Control of an Autonomous Robot.- Cooperation of the Inertial and Visual Systems.- A Sensor Processing Model Incorporating Error Detection and Recovery.- III: Applications.- Recognition Strategies for 3-D Objects in Occluded Environments.- Sensor-Based Robot Control Requirements for Space.- Fast Mobile Robot Guidance.- Neural Signal Understanding for Instrumentation.- An Approach to Real-Time on Line Visual Inspection.