The TRACK-Technion robot and controller kit

A modular hierarchical model for controlling robots is presented. This model is targeted mainly for research and development, enabling researchers to concentrate on a certain specific task of robotics, while using existing building blocks for the rest of the controller application. The problems with which robotics researchers and engineers are faced when trying to use existing commercial robots are detailed. Based on this discussion, the authors propose TERM, a general model for robot control. The viability of the model is demonstrated by implementing a general-purpose robot controller. For this purpose several building blocks were developed. Using these building blocks three robot systems were assembled: a large system for an industrial PUMA robot and two smaller ones for educational robots. The system is currently used for research in nonlinear and adaptive control, path planning and multirobot applications