Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers have become commonplace in various industries, finding applications in diverse fields such as industrial automation, robotics, and process control. Despite their widespread use, the challenge of parameter tuning remains a significant bottlenec k in realizing optimal controller performance. While methods like the Ziegler-Nichols method have been traditionally employed for PID parameter tuning, they often require significant expertise and may not always yield satisfactory results. Consequently, trial and error remains a prevalent albeit laborious approach to tuning PID controllers. This paper investigates the utilization of a novel Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm as an alternative method for tuning PID controllers. PSO is a metaheuristic optimization technique inspired by the social behavior of birds flocking and fish schooling. It operates by iteratively updating a population of candidate solutions (particles) based on their individual and collective performance, with the aim of finding the optimal solution to a given optimization problem. By integrating PSO with PID controller tuning, this study seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional tuning methods and improve controller performance. The proposed approach involves formulating the PID controller parameters as optimization variables and defining an objective function that quantifies the controller's performance in terms of desired control objectives such as stability, overshoot, and se ttling time. Through a series of simulations, the effectiveness of PSO-based PID tuning is evaluated across different objective functions. The results demonstrate the capability of our algorithm to efficiently search the parameter space and converge to optimal or near-optimal PID settings, thereby enhancing control system performance while reducing the need for extensive manual tuning. Millonas' adaptability principle [2] of swarm intelligence states that the population must be able to change its behavior mode when it is worth the computational price. There has been no particle swarm optimization algorithm that decreases the number of particles as the distance to the global optimum is decreased and that is what makes our approach unique. The number of particles should be proportional to the search space, and this has not been the case historically. In PSO, the computational cost is directly proportional to the number of particles and as particles get closer to the global optimum, less of them are needed to converge on the target.
With a mockup prototype of a robotic hand, various algorithms were implemented. This exposed a broad range of applications of the prototype. In this body of work, algorithms of a dexterous mechanical robotic hand will be presented which span areas including recreation, healthcare and education. Imagine a child learning to count. If this hypothetical child had a robotic assistant who could infinitely demonstrate the way to count without getting tired, consequently the child would learn how to count at a much-accelerated rate. Perhaps in an arcade there is a robotic hand that plays games like rock paper scissors or thumb wars, subsequently the youth will be further inspired to pursue an understanding of robotic systems. At the Tech Crunch Robotic conference on July 21st, Dean Kamen the inventor of the segway said something very profound, it was along the lines of how when it comes to interest in Robotics, we are competing with activities like after school sports or video games because these are the things that consume the time of children. However, robotics is mostly seen as an academic activity when it must not be so. With the changing job market, equipping arcade games with intelligent robots is not a farfetched idea. Another algorithm implemented was a sign language algorithm where the robotic hand executes a sequence of hand-signs in a desired order. The programming was done with Adafruit's PCA9685 controller which can control 16 servo motors through an I2C interface. When all I2C buses are used then the controller can control up to 992 servo motors.