Robotic Irradiated Sample Handling Concept Design in Reactor TRIGA PUSPATI using Simulation Software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Khairulezwan Abdul Manan; Mohd Sabri Minhat; Ridzuan Abdul Mutalib; Zareen Khan Abdul Jalil Khan; Nurfarhana Ayuni Joha

2015-01-01

This paper introduces the concept design of an Robotic Irradiated Sample Handling Machine using graphical software application, designed as a general, flexible and open platform to work on robotics. Webots has proven to be a useful tool in many fields of robotics, such as manipulator programming, mobile robots control (wheeled, sub-aquatic and walking robots), distance computation, sensor simulation, collision detection, motion planning and so on. Webots is used as the common interface for all the applications. Some practical cases and application for this concept design are illustrated on the paper to present the possibilities of this simulation software. (author)

78 FR 49296 - Centennial Challenges 2014 Sample Return Robot Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-13

... NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION [Notice 13-093] Centennial Challenges 2014 Sample... Centennial Challenges 2014 Sample Return Robot Challenge. SUMMARY: This notice is issued in accordance with... compete may register. Centennial Challenges is a program of prize competitions to stimulate innovation in...

Automatic Motion Generation for Robotic Milling Optimizing Stiffness with Sample-Based Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian Ricardo Diaz Posada

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Optimal and intuitive robotic machining is still a challenge. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of robot stiffness, which is also dependent on the robot positioning in the Cartesian space. To make up for this deficiency and with the aim of increasing robot machining accuracy, this contribution describes a solution approach for optimizing the stiffness over a desired milling path using the free degree of freedom of the machining process. The optimal motion is computed based on the semantic and mathematical interpretation of the manufacturing process modeled on its components: product, process and resource; and by configuring automatically a sample-based motion problem and the transition-based rapid-random tree algorithm for computing an optimal motion. The approach is simulated on a CAM software for a machining path revealing its functionality and outlining future potentials for the optimal motion generation for robotic machining processes.

Trend of development of robots for nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maki, Hideo; Sasaki, Masayoshi

1984-01-01

Robot technology becomes more and more important in the field of atomic energy industries. Hitachi Ltd. has energetically engaged in the development of the robot technology for nuclear facilities, recognizing these situations. The course of the development of robot technology and the robots for nuclear facilities is described. As the practical examples of the robots for nuclear facilities, there have been automatic fuel exchangers, the remotely operated automatic exchangers for control rod driving mechanism, automatic and semi-automatic ultrasonic flaw detectors and so on. As the robots for nuclear facilities under development, control rod driving mechanism disassembling and cleaning system, the volume reduction device for spent fuel channel boxes and control rods and others are reported. (Kako, I.)

77 FR 70835 - Centennial Challenges 2013 Sample Return Robot Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-27

... NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Centennial Challenges 2013 Sample Return Robot... Challenge is scheduled and teams that wish to compete may register. Centennial Challenges is a program of... Challenge, please visit: http://challenge.wpi.edu . For general information on the NASA Centennial...

Decontamination and concrete core sampling by teleoperated robot at Fukushima Daiichi reactor buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Masaru; Onitsuka, Hironori; Shimonabe, Noriaki; Fujita, Jun; Matsumura, Takumi; Okumura, Atsushi

2015-01-01

For decommissioning of Fukushima daiichi nuclear power station, reduction of the dose equivalent rates inside the reactor buildings is an important issue. Concrete core sampling from the buildings to investigate the contamination is necessary for study about effective decontamination. However, dose rate inside the reactor buildings is very high. For example, dose rate of 1st floor on the Unit 1 is 1.2 - 1820 [mSv / h], the Unit 2 is 2.5 - 220 [mSv / h] and Unit 3 is 2.2 - 4780 [mSv / h]. So it is difficult for workers to work long hours. Therefore, a teleoperated robot, named 'MHI-MEISTeR (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Maintenance Equipment Integrated System of Telecontrol Robot)', has been developed to conduct operations like concrete core samples from the reactor buildings. Actually, some concrete core samples from Fukushima daiichi were taken by MHI-MEISTeR. In addition, MHI-MEISTeR is designed as a versatile robot, and so it can conduct suction / blast decontamination works as well as concrete core sampling. The above operations were performed by MHI-MEISTeR in Fukushima daiichi nuclear power station. (author)

Sample exchange/evaluation (SEE) report - Phase III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winters, W.I.

1996-01-01

This report describes the results from Phase III of the Sample Exchange Evaluation (SEE) program. The SEE program is used to compare analytical laboratory performance on samples from the Hanford Site's high level waste tanks

Development of the Research Platform of Small Autonomous Blimp Robot

Science.gov (United States)

Takaya, Toshihiko; Kawamura, Hidenori; Yamamoto, Masahito; Ohuchi, Azuma

A blimp robot is attractive as an small flight robot and can float in the air by buoyancy and realize safe to the crash small flight with low energy and can movement for a long time compared with other flight robots with low energy and can movement for a long time compared with other flight robots. However, control of an airplane robot is difficult for the nonlinear characteristic exposed to inertia by the air flow in response to influence. Therefore, the applied research which carried out the maximum use of such in recent years a blimp robot's feature is prosperous. In this paper, we realized development of blimp robot for research which can be used general-purpose by carrying out clue division of the blimp robot body at a unit, and constituting and building for research of blimp robot, and application development. On the other hand, by developing a general-purpose blimp robot research platform, improvement in the research efficiency of many researchers can be attained, and further, research start of blimp robot becomes easy and contributes to development of research. We performed the experiments for the above-mentioned proof. 1. Checked basic keeping position performance and that various orbital operation was possible. And the unit exchange ease of software unit was checked by the experiment which exchanges the control layer of software for learning control from PID control, and carries out comparison of operation. 2. In order to check the exchange ease of hardware unit, the sensor was exchanged for the microphon from the camera, and control of operation was checked. 3. For the unit addition ease, the microphon which carries out sound detection with the picture detection with a camera was added, and control of operation was verified. 4. The unit exchange was carried out for the check of a function addition and the topological map generation experiment by addition of an ultrasonic sensor was conducted. Developed blimp robot for research mounted the exchange ease

Sociable Robots Through Self-Maintained Energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trung Dung Ngo

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Research of autonomous mobile robots has mostly emphasized interaction and coordination that are natually inspired from biological behavior of birds, insects, and fish: flocking, foraging, collecting, and sharing. However, most research has been only focused on autonomous behaviors in order to perform robots like animals, whereas it is lacked of determinant to those behaviours: energy. Approaching to clusted amimal and the higher, collective and sharing food among individuals are major activity to keep society being. This paper issues an approach to sociable robots using self-maintained energy in cooperative mobile robots, which is dominantly inspired from swarm behavior of collecting and sharing food of honey-bee and ant. Autonomous mobile robots are usually equipped with a finite energy, thus they can operate in a finite time. To overcome the finitude, we describe practical deployment of mobile robots that are capable of carrying and exchanging fuel to other robots. Mechanism implementation including modular hardware and control architecture to demonstrate the capabicities of the approach is presented. Subsequently, the battery exchange algorithm basically based on probabilistic modeling of total energy on each robot located in its local vicinity is described. The paper is concluded with challenging works of chain of mobile robots, rescue, repair, and relation of heterogeneous robots.

Sociable Robots through Self-maintained Energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrik Schioler

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Research of autonomous mobile robots has mostly emphasized interaction and coordination that are natually inspired from biological behavior of birds, insects, and fish: flocking, foraging, collecting, and sharing. However, most research has been only focused on autonomous behaviors in order to perform robots like animals, whereas it is lacked of determinant to those behaviours: energy. Approaching to clusted amimal and the higher, collective and sharing food among individuals are major activity to keep society being. This paper issues an approach to sociable robots using self-maintained energy in cooperative mobile robots, which is dominantly inspired from swarm behavior of collecting and sharing food of honey-bee and ant. Autonomous mobile robots are usually equipped with a finite energy, thus they can operate in a finite time. To overcome the finitude, we describe practical deployment of mobile robots that are capable of carrying and exchanging fuel to other robots. Mechanism implementation including modular hardware and control architecture to demonstrate the capabicities of the approach is presented. Subsequently, the battery exchange algorithm basically based on probabilistic modeling of total energy on each robot located in its local vicinity is described. The paper is concluded with challenging works of chain of mobile robots, rescue, repair, and relation of heterogeneous robots.

Hydro-Quebec inspection robot RIT-LRG

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Champagne, D.; Rinfret, F.; Bourgault, Y.G.

2008-01-01

Hydro Quebec's Research Centre (IREQ), has developed a variety of inspection tools over the years. The Metar bracelet for the feeder tubes, the REC robot for the heat exchanger and the RIT robot for the Delayed Neutron system just to name a few. This paper discusses with the successful deployment of the Camera Probe Positioning robot for Visual Inspection of the sample lines of the delayed neutron system of CANDU power plants. This RIT robot has three possible configurations (Face, Cabinet and LRG configurations) and has remained a prototype version although it has been used over the years in many outage inspection campaigns since 1997. The main advantages of using this robot are: the significant reduction in radiation exposure, the high quality of the data collected and the archiving of inspection data for further analysis and reports. In 2007, Gentilly-2 (G-2), decided to industrialize the LRG configuration of the RIT robot and to designate it the standard tool for the inspection of the Delayed Neutron System. An improved RIT-LRG robot, along with its control box and command station was developed. The software had to be rewritten requiring an ergonomics analysis of user tasks, work station and interface display. These issues included both physical and cognitive requirements aspects. The two principal topics of this paper will be on the Inspection Robot Technology developed and highlights of the 2008 outage inspection campaign. (author)

Hydro-Quebec inspection robot RIT-LRG

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Champagne, D., E-mail: champagne.dominique@ireq.ca [Inst. de recherche d' Hydro-Quebec, Quebec (Canada); Rinfret, F.; Bourgault, Y.G., E-mail: rinfret.francois@hydro.qc.ca, E-mail: bourgault.yves.g@hydro.qc.ca [Hydro-Quebec, Becancour, Quebec (Canada)

2008-07-01

Hydro Quebec's Research Centre (IREQ), has developed a variety of inspection tools over the years. The Metar bracelet for the feeder tubes, the REC robot for the heat exchanger and the RIT robot for the Delayed Neutron system just to name a few. This paper discusses with the successful deployment of the Camera Probe Positioning robot for Visual Inspection of the sample lines of the delayed neutron system of CANDU power plants. This RIT robot has three possible configurations (Face, Cabinet and LRG configurations) and has remained a prototype version although it has been used over the years in many outage inspection campaigns since 1997. The main advantages of using this robot are: the significant reduction in radiation exposure, the high quality of the data collected and the archiving of inspection data for further analysis and reports. In 2007, Gentilly-2 (G-2), decided to industrialize the LRG configuration of the RIT robot and to designate it the standard tool for the inspection of the Delayed Neutron System. An improved RIT-LRG robot, along with its control box and command station was developed. The software had to be rewritten requiring an ergonomics analysis of user tasks, work station and interface display. These issues included both physical and cognitive requirements aspects. The two principal topics of this paper will be on the Inspection Robot Technology developed and highlights of the 2008 outage inspection campaign. (author)

Application of a Dual-Arm Robot in Complex Sample Preparation and Measurement Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischer, Heidi; Drews, Robert Ralf; Janson, Jessica; Chinna Patlolla, Bharath Reddy; Chu, Xianghua; Klos, Michael; Thurow, Kerstin

2016-10-01

Automation systems with applied robotics have already been established in industrial applications for many years. In the field of life sciences, a comparable high level of automation can be found in the areas of bioscreening and high-throughput screening. Strong deficits still exist in the development of flexible and universal fully automated systems in the field of analytical measurement. Reasons are the heterogeneous processes with complex structures, which include sample preparation and transport, analytical measurements using complex sensor systems, and suitable data analysis and evaluation. Furthermore, the use of nonstandard sample vessels with various shapes and volumes results in an increased complexity. The direct use of existing automation solutions from bioscreening applications is not possible. A flexible automation system for sample preparation, analysis, and data evaluation is presented in this article. It is applied for the determination of cholesterol in biliary endoprosthesis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A dual-arm robot performs both transport and active manipulation tasks to ensure human-like operation. This general robotic concept also enables the use of manual laboratory devices and equipment and is thus suitable in areas with a high standardization grade. © 2016 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Energy-based and biomimetic robotics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Folkertsma, Gerrit Adriaan

2017-01-01

All physical systems interact by exchanging power, or energy. This energy can be explicitly taken into account when designing robotic systems, in dynamic models of systems and controllers, leading to more insight in energy-related effects. In this thesis, a biomimetic cheetah robot is developed, by

Robotics in near-earth space

Science.gov (United States)

Card, Michael E.

1991-01-01

The areas of space exploration in which robotic devices will play a part are identified, and progress to date in the space agency plans to acquire this capability is briefly reviewed. Roles and functions on orbit for robotic devices include well known activities, such as inspection and maintenance, assembly, docking, berthing, deployment, retrieval, materials handling, orbital replacement unit exchange, and repairs. Missions that could benefit from a robotic capability are discussed.

Automated processing of forensic casework samples using robotic workstations equipped with nondisposable tips: contamination prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Frégeau, Chantal J; Lett, C Marc; Elliott, Jim; Yensen, Craig; Fourney, Ron M

2008-05-01

An automated process has been developed for the analysis of forensic casework samples using TECAN Genesis RSP 150/8 or Freedom EVO liquid handling workstations equipped exclusively with nondisposable tips. Robot tip cleaning routines have been incorporated strategically within the DNA extraction process as well as at the end of each session. Alternative options were examined for cleaning the tips and different strategies were employed to verify cross-contamination. A 2% sodium hypochlorite wash (1/5th dilution of the 10.8% commercial bleach stock) proved to be the best overall approach for preventing cross-contamination of samples processed using our automated protocol. The bleach wash steps do not adversely impact the short tandem repeat (STR) profiles developed from DNA extracted robotically and allow for major cost savings through the implementation of fixed tips. We have demonstrated that robotic workstations equipped with fixed pipette tips can be used with confidence with properly designed tip washing routines to process casework samples using an adapted magnetic bead extraction protocol.

RoboEarth: connecting robots worldwide

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zweigle, O.; Molengraft, van de M.J.G.; D'Andrea, R.; Häussermann, K.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we present the core concept and the benefits of an approach called RoboEarth which will be highly beneficial for future robotic applications in science and industry. RoboEarth is a world-wide platform which robots can use to exchange position and map information as well as

Semiautomatic exchanger of samples for carry out neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aguilar H, F.; Quintana C, G.; Torres R, C. E.; Mejia J, J. O.

2015-09-01

In this paper the design methodology and implementation of a semiautomatic exchanger of samples for the Analysis Laboratory by Neutron Activation of the Reactor department is presented. Taking into account the antecedents, the necessities of improvement are described, as well as the equipment that previously contained the Laboratory. The project of the semiautomatic exchanger of samples was developed at Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, with its own technology to increase independence from commercial equipment. Each element of the semiautomatic exchanger of samples is described both in the design phase as construction. The achieved results are positive and encouraging for the fulfillment of the proposed objective that is to increase the capacity of the Laboratory. (Author)

Design development of robotic system for on line sampling in fuel reprocessing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balasubramanian, G.R.; Venugopal, P.R.; Padmashali, G.K.

1990-01-01

This presentation describes the design and developmental work that is being carried out for the design of an automated sampling system for fast reactor fuel reprocessing plants. The plant proposes to use integrated sampling system. The sample is taken across regular process streams from any intermediate hold up pot. A robot system is planned to take the sample from the sample pot, transfer it to the sample bottle, cap the bottle and transfer the bottle to a pneumatic conveying station. The system covers a large number of sample pots. Alternate automated systems are also examined (1). (author). 4 refs., 2 figs

EPICS controlled sample mounting robots at the GM/CA CAT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Makarov, O.A. [GM/CA-CAT, Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Bldg. 436D, Argonne, IL 60439-4861 (United States)], E-mail: makarov@anl.gov; Benn, R.; Corcoran, S.; Devarapalli, S.; Fischetti, R.; Hilgart, M.; Smith, W.W.; Stepanov, S.; Xu, S. [GM/CA-CAT, Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Bldg. 436D, Argonne, IL 60439-4861 (United States)

2007-11-11

GM/CA CAT at Sector 23 of the advanced photon source (APS) is an NIH funded facility for crystallographic structure determination of biological macromolecules by X-ray diffraction [R.F. Fischetti, et al., GM/CA canted undulator beamlines for protein crystallography, Acta Crystallogr. A 61 (2005) C139]. The facility consists of three beamlines; two based on canted undulators and one on a bending magnet. The scientific and technical goals of the CAT emphasize streamlined, efficient throughput for a variety of sample types, sizes and qualities, representing the cutting edge of structural biology research. For this purpose all three beamlines are equipped with the ALS-style robots [C.W.Cork, et al. Status of the BCSB automated sample mounting and alignment system for macromolecular crystallography at the Advanced Light Source, SRI-2003, San-Francisco, CA, USA, August 25-29, 2003] for an automated mounting of cryo-protected macromolecular crystals. This report summarizes software and technical solutions implemented with the first of the three operational robots at beamline 23-ID-B. The automounter's Dewar can hold up to 72 or 96 samples residing in six Rigaku ACTOR magazines or ALS-style pucks, respectively. Mounting of a crystal takes approximately 2 s, during which time the temperature of the crystal is maintained near that of liquid nitrogen.

Sample Exchange Evaluation (SEE) Report - Phase II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winters, W.I.

1994-09-28

This report describes the results from Phase II of the Sample Exchange Evaluation (SEE) Program, a joint effort to compare analytical laboratory performance on samples from the Hanford Site`s high-level waste tanks. In Phase II, the program has been expanded to include inorganic constituents in addition to radionuclides. Results from Phase II that exceeded 20% relative percent difference criteria are identified.

Sample Exchange Evaluation (SEE) Report - Phase II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winters, W.I.

1994-01-01

This report describes the results from Phase II of the Sample Exchange Evaluation (SEE) Program, a joint effort to compare analytical laboratory performance on samples from the Hanford Site's high-level waste tanks. In Phase II, the program has been expanded to include inorganic constituents in addition to radionuclides. Results from Phase II that exceeded 20% relative percent difference criteria are identified

Sharing open hardware through ROP, the robotic open platform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lunenburg, J.; Soetens, R.P.T.; Schoenmakers, F.; Metsemakers, P.M.G.; van de Molengraft, M.J.G.; Steinbuch, M.; Behnke, S.; Veloso, M.; Visser, A.; Xiong, R.

2014-01-01

The robot open source software community, in particular ROS, drastically boosted robotics research. However, a centralized place to exchange open hardware designs does not exist. Therefore we launched the Robotic Open Platform (ROP). A place to share and discuss open hardware designs. Among others

Sharing open hardware through ROP, the Robotic Open Platform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lunenburg, J.J.M.; Soetens, R.P.T.; Schoenmakers, Ferry; Metsemakers, P.M.G.; Molengraft, van de M.J.G.; Steinbuch, M.

2013-01-01

The robot open source software community, in particular ROS, drastically boosted robotics research. However, a centralized place to exchange open hardware designs does not exist. Therefore we launched the Robotic Open Platform (ROP). A place to share and discuss open hardware designs. Among others

The Development of a Radiation Hardened Robot for Nuclear Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Seung Ho; Kim, Chang Hoi; Seo, Yong Chil (and others)

2007-04-15

We has been developed two remotely controlled robotic systems. One is a underwater vehicle for inspection of the internal structures of PWRs and retrieving foreign stubs in the reactor pressure vessels and reactor coolant pipes. The other robotic system consists of a articulated-type mobile robot capable of recovering the failure of the fuel exchange machine and a mini modular mobile robot for inspection of feeder pipes with ultrasonic array sensors in PHWRs. The underwater robot has been designed by considering radiation effect, underwater condition, and accessibility to the working area. The size of underwater robot is designed to enter the cold legs. A extendable manipulator is mounted on the mobile robot, which can restore nuclear fuel exchange machine. The mini modular mobile robot is composed of dual inch worm mechanisms, which are constructed by two gripper bodies that can fix the robot body on to the pipe and move along the longitudinal and to rotate in a circumferential direction to access all of the outer surfaces of the pipe.

A column exchange chromatographic procedure for the automated purification of analytical samples in nuclear spent fuel reprocessing and plutonium fuel fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zahradnik, P.; Swietly, H.; Doubek, N.; Bagliano, G.

1992-11-01

A Column Exchange Chromatographic procedure using Tri-n-Octyl-Phosphine-Oxide (TOPO) as stationary phase, is in routine use at SAL since 1984 on nuclear spent fuel reprocessing and on Pu product samples, prior to alpha and mass spectrometric analysis. This standard procedure was further on modified in view of its automation in a glove box; the resulting new procedure is described in this paper. Laboratory Robot Compatible (LRC) disposable columns were selected because their dimensions are particularly favorable and reproducible. A less corrosive HNO 3 -HI mixture substituted the former HC1-HI plutonium eluant. The inorganic support of the stationary phase used to test the above mentioned changes was unexpectedly withdrawn from the market so that another support had to be selected and the procedure reoptimized accordingly. The resulting procedure was tested with the robot and validated against the manual procedure taken as reference: the comparison showed that the modified procedure meets the analytical requirements and has the same performance than the original procedure. (author). Refs, figs and tabs

Radio Controlled Fish Robot RR-9

OpenAIRE

Cifanskis, S; Vība, J; Jakuševičs, V

2015-01-01

A remote-controlled underwater robot fish is described. For motion control three actuator drives are used: one actuator is for tail frequency exchange, the second actuator is for the left or right turnings and the third actuator provides neutral swimming or up and down diving. From the robot's center of mass motion theorem (according to the given total mass of robot) the proportional distribution of massesof structural elements is found. Experimental indoor and out...

A user-friendly robotic sample preparation program for fully automated biological sample pipetting and dilution to benefit the regulated bioanalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Hao; Ouyang, Zheng; Zeng, Jianing; Yuan, Long; Zheng, Naiyu; Jemal, Mohammed; Arnold, Mark E

2012-06-01

Biological sample dilution is a rate-limiting step in bioanalytical sample preparation when the concentrations of samples are beyond standard curve ranges, especially when multiple dilution factors are needed in an analytical run. We have developed and validated a Microsoft Excel-based robotic sample preparation program (RSPP) that automatically transforms Watson worklist sample information (identification, sequence and dilution factor) to comma-separated value (CSV) files. The Freedom EVO liquid handler software imports and transforms the CSV files to executable worklists (.gwl files), allowing the robot to perform sample dilutions at variable dilution factors. The dynamic dilution range is 1- to 1000-fold and divided into three dilution steps: 1- to 10-, 11- to 100-, and 101- to 1000-fold. The whole process, including pipetting samples, diluting samples, and adding internal standard(s), is accomplished within 1 h for two racks of samples (96 samples/rack). This platform also supports online sample extraction (liquid-liquid extraction, solid-phase extraction, protein precipitation, etc.) using 96 multichannel arms. This fully automated and validated sample dilution and preparation process has been applied to several drug development programs. The results demonstrate that application of the RSPP for fully automated sample processing is efficient and rugged. The RSPP not only saved more than 50% of the time in sample pipetting and dilution but also reduced human errors. The generated bioanalytical data are accurate and precise; therefore, this application can be used in regulated bioanalysis.

Improvements to robotics-inspired conformational sampling in rosetta.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amelie Stein

Full Text Available To accurately predict protein conformations in atomic detail, a computational method must be capable of sampling models sufficiently close to the native structure. All-atom sampling is difficult because of the vast number of possible conformations and extremely rugged energy landscapes. Here, we test three sampling strategies to address these difficulties: conformational diversification, intensification of torsion and omega-angle sampling and parameter annealing. We evaluate these strategies in the context of the robotics-based kinematic closure (KIC method for local conformational sampling in Rosetta on an established benchmark set of 45 12-residue protein segments without regular secondary structure. We quantify performance as the fraction of sub-Angstrom models generated. While improvements with individual strategies are only modest, the combination of intensification and annealing strategies into a new "next-generation KIC" method yields a four-fold increase over standard KIC in the median percentage of sub-Angstrom models across the dataset. Such improvements enable progress on more difficult problems, as demonstrated on longer segments, several of which could not be accurately remodeled with previous methods. Given its improved sampling capability, next-generation KIC should allow advances in other applications such as local conformational remodeling of multiple segments simultaneously, flexible backbone sequence design, and development of more accurate energy functions.

Advancing the Strategic Messages Affecting Robot Trust Effect: The Dynamic of User- and Robot-Generated Content on Human-Robot Trust and Interaction Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Yuhua Jake; Lee, Seungcheol Austin

2016-09-01

Human-robot interaction (HRI) will soon transform and shift the communication landscape such that people exchange messages with robots. However, successful HRI requires people to trust robots, and, in turn, the trust affects the interaction. Although prior research has examined the determinants of human-robot trust (HRT) during HRI, no research has examined the messages that people received before interacting with robots and their effect on HRT. We conceptualize these messages as SMART (Strategic Messages Affecting Robot Trust). Moreover, we posit that SMART can ultimately affect actual HRI outcomes (i.e., robot evaluations, robot credibility, participant mood) by affording the persuasive influences from user-generated content (UGC) on participatory Web sites. In Study 1, participants were assigned to one of two conditions (UGC/control) in an original experiment of HRT. Compared with the control (descriptive information only), results showed that UGC moderated the correlation between HRT and interaction outcomes in a positive direction (average Δr = +0.39) for robots as media and robots as tools. In Study 2, we explored the effect of robot-generated content but did not find similar moderation effects. These findings point to an important empirical potential to employ SMART in future robot deployment.

SWARMs Ontology: A Common Information Model for the Cooperation of Underwater Robots

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xin; Bilbao, Sonia; Martín-Wanton, Tamara; Bastos, Joaquim; Rodriguez, Jonathan

2017-01-01

In order to facilitate cooperation between underwater robots, it is a must for robots to exchange information with unambiguous meaning. However, heterogeneity, existing in information pertaining to different robots, is a major obstruction. Therefore, this paper presents a networked ontology, named the Smart and Networking Underwater Robots in Cooperation Meshes (SWARMs) ontology, to address information heterogeneity and enable robots to have the same understanding of exchanged information. The SWARMs ontology uses a core ontology to interrelate a set of domain-specific ontologies, including the mission and planning, the robotic vehicle, the communication and networking, and the environment recognition and sensing ontology. In addition, the SWARMs ontology utilizes ontology constructs defined in the PR-OWL ontology to annotate context uncertainty based on the Multi-Entity Bayesian Network (MEBN) theory. Thus, the SWARMs ontology can provide both a formal specification for information that is necessarily exchanged between robots and a command and control entity, and also support for uncertainty reasoning. A scenario on chemical pollution monitoring is described and used to showcase how the SWARMs ontology can be instantiated, be extended, represent context uncertainty, and support uncertainty reasoning. PMID:28287468

From Autonomous Robots to Artificial Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Mastrogiovanni, Fulvio; Sgorbissa, Antonio; Zaccaria, Renato

During the past few years, starting from the two mainstream fields of Ambient Intelligence [2] and Robotics [17], several authors recognized the benefits of the socalled Ubiquitous Robotics paradigm. According to this perspective, mobile robots are no longer autonomous, physically situated and embodied entities adapting themselves to a world taliored for humans: on the contrary, they are able to interact with devices distributed throughout the environment and get across heterogeneous information by means of communication technologies. Information exchange, coupled with simple actuation capabilities, is meant to replace physical interaction between robots and their environment. Two benefits are evident: (i) smart environments overcome inherent limitations of mobile platforms, whereas (ii) mobile robots offer a mobility dimension unknown to smart environments.

A flexible, computer-integrated robotic transfer system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, W.I. III; Taylor, R.M.

1987-01-01

This paper reviews a robotic system used to transport materials across a radiation control zone and into a row of shielded cells. The robot used is a five-axis GCA 600 industrial robot mounted on a 50-ft ESAB welding track. Custom software incorporates the track as the sixth axis of motion. An IBM-PC integrates robot control, force sensing, and the operator interface. Multiple end-effectors and a quick exchange mechanism are used to handle a variety of materials and tasks. Automatic error detection and recovery is a key aspect of this system

Sociable mobile robots through self-maintained energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ngo, Trung Dung; Schiøler, Henrik

2006-01-01

society, collecting and sharing are experimentally recognized as the highest property. This paper issues an approach to sociable robots using self-maintained energy in robot society, which is naturally inspired from swarm behavior of honey-bee and ant. Typically, autonomous mobile robots are usually......Research of sociable robots has emphasized interaction and coordination of mobile robots with inspiration from natural behavior of birds, insects, and fish: flocking, foraging, collecting, sharing and so forth. However, the animal behaviors are looking for food towards survival. In an animal...... equipped with a finite energy, thus they can operate in a finite time. To overcome the limitation, we describe practical deployment of a group of mobile robot with the possibility of carrying and exchanging fuel, e.g. battery to other robots. Early implementation that includes modular hardware and control...

Fast filtering algorithm based on vibration systems and neural information exchange and its application to micro motion robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Wa; Zha Fu-Sheng; Li Man-Tian; Song Bao-Yu

2014-01-01

This paper develops a fast filtering algorithm based on vibration systems theory and neural information exchange approach. The characters, including the derivation process and parameter analysis, are discussed and the feasibility and the effectiveness are testified by the filtering performance compared with various filtering methods, such as the fast wavelet transform algorithm, the particle filtering method and our previously developed single degree of freedom vibration system filtering algorithm, according to simulation and practical approaches. Meanwhile, the comparisons indicate that a significant advantage of the proposed fast filtering algorithm is its extremely fast filtering speed with good filtering performance. Further, the developed fast filtering algorithm is applied to the navigation and positioning system of the micro motion robot, which is a high real-time requirement for the signals preprocessing. Then, the preprocessing data is used to estimate the heading angle error and the attitude angle error of the micro motion robot. The estimation experiments illustrate the high practicality of the proposed fast filtering algorithm. (general)

Cross-sample entropy of foreign exchange time series

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Li-Zhi; Qian, Xi-Yuan; Lu, Heng-Yao

2010-11-01

The correlation of foreign exchange rates in currency markets is investigated based on the empirical data of DKK/USD, NOK/USD, CAD/USD, JPY/USD, KRW/USD, SGD/USD, THB/USD and TWD/USD for a period from 1995 to 2002. Cross-SampEn (cross-sample entropy) method is used to compare the returns of every two exchange rate time series to assess their degree of asynchrony. The calculation method of confidence interval of SampEn is extended and applied to cross-SampEn. The cross-SampEn and its confidence interval for every two of the exchange rate time series in periods 1995-1998 (before the Asian currency crisis) and 1999-2002 (after the Asian currency crisis) are calculated. The results show that the cross-SampEn of every two of these exchange rates becomes higher after the Asian currency crisis, indicating a higher asynchrony between the exchange rates. Especially for Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan, the cross-SampEn values after the Asian currency crisis are significantly higher than those before the Asian currency crisis. Comparison with the correlation coefficient shows that cross-SampEn is superior to describe the correlation between time series.

Practical design for robot operating in radiation condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oomichi, Takeo; Isozaki, Yoshifumi

2002-01-01

It is proposed systematic design for radiation resistance robot based on irradiation test and estimating damage lifetime by reliable technology. Reducing design time and cost, key device IC is classified to non-exchange, no use and use after radiation test by analyzing robot function and IC function. Since the damage lifetime verified normal distribution under radiation test of IC, the proposed design method is effective for practical radiation resistance robot. (author)

Robotic versus open pediatric ureteral reimplantation: Costs and complications from a nationwide sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurtz, Michael P; Leow, Jeffrey J; Varda, Briony K; Logvinenko, Tanya; Yu, Richard N; Nelson, Caleb P; Chung, Benjamin I; Chang, Steven L

2016-12-01

We sought to compare complications and direct costs for open ureteral reimplantation (OUR) versus robot-assisted laparoscopic ureteral reimplantation (RALUR) in a sample of hospitals performing both procedures. Anecdotal reports suggest that use of RALUR is increasing, but little is known of the outcomes and costs nationwide. The aim was to determine the costs and 90-day complications (of any Clavien grade) in a nationwide cohort of pediatric patients undergoing OUR or RALUR. Using the Premier Hospital Database we identified pediatric patients (age robotic experience, and that outcomes for these procedures should be carefully and systematically tracked. Copyright © 2016 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energy in Robotics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Folkertsma, Gerrit A.; Stramigioli, Stefano

2017-01-01

Energy and energy exchange govern interactions in the physical world. By explicitly considering the energy and power in a robotic system, many control and design problems become easier or more insightful than in a purely signal-based view. We show the application of these energy considerations to

Utility/Manufacturers Robots Users Group: a partnership promoting the applications of robots in all utility industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meieran, H.B.; Roman, H.T.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the roles and the goals of the recently established Utility/Manufacturers Robots Users Group (U/M RUG), an organization which is dedicated to promoting the employment of robots in all utility facilities. This group is composed of volunteer representatives from the utilities, robot manufacturers, service organizations/consulting groups, academia, national and non-government funding agencies, and national laboratories. Although the Group primarily serves as a forum and a guide for technology transfer, exchanging ideas, and promoting philosophies of applications among its members, it also provides this type of assistance to external groups and agencies. (author)

A high-throughput robotic sample preparation system and HPLC-MS/MS for measuring urinary anatabine, anabasine, nicotine and major nicotine metabolites.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Binnian; Feng, June; Rehmani, Imran J; Miller, Sharyn; McGuffey, James E; Blount, Benjamin C; Wang, Lanqing

2014-09-25

Most sample preparation methods characteristically involve intensive and repetitive labor, which is inefficient when preparing large numbers of samples from population-scale studies. This study presents a robotic system designed to meet the sampling requirements for large population-scale studies. Using this robotic system, we developed and validated a method to simultaneously measure urinary anatabine, anabasine, nicotine and seven major nicotine metabolites: 4-Hydroxy-4-(3-pyridyl)butanoic acid, cotinine-N-oxide, nicotine-N-oxide, trans-3'-hydroxycotinine, norcotinine, cotinine and nornicotine. We analyzed robotically prepared samples using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry in positive electrospray ionization mode using scheduled multiple reaction monitoring (sMRM) with a total runtime of 8.5 min. The optimized procedure was able to deliver linear analyte responses over a broad range of concentrations. Responses of urine-based calibrators delivered coefficients of determination (R(2)) of >0.995. Sample preparation recovery was generally higher than 80%. The robotic system was able to prepare four 96-well plate (384 urine samples) per day, and the overall method afforded an accuracy range of 92-115%, and an imprecision of labor-saving for sample preparation, making it efficient and practical for routine measurements in large population-scale studies such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated PCR setup for forensic casework samples using the Normalization Wizard and PCR Setup robotic methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenspoon, S A; Sykes, K L V; Ban, J D; Pollard, A; Baisden, M; Farr, M; Graham, N; Collins, B L; Green, M M; Christenson, C C

2006-12-20

Human genome, pharmaceutical and research laboratories have long enjoyed the application of robotics to performing repetitive laboratory tasks. However, the utilization of robotics in forensic laboratories for processing casework samples is relatively new and poses particular challenges. Since the quantity and quality (a mixture versus a single source sample, the level of degradation, the presence of PCR inhibitors) of the DNA contained within a casework sample is unknown, particular attention must be paid to procedural susceptibility to contamination, as well as DNA yield, especially as it pertains to samples with little biological material. The Virginia Department of Forensic Science (VDFS) has successfully automated forensic casework DNA extraction utilizing the DNA IQ(trade mark) System in conjunction with the Biomek 2000 Automation Workstation. Human DNA quantitation is also performed in a near complete automated fashion utilizing the AluQuant Human DNA Quantitation System and the Biomek 2000 Automation Workstation. Recently, the PCR setup for casework samples has been automated, employing the Biomek 2000 Automation Workstation and Normalization Wizard, Genetic Identity version, which utilizes the quantitation data, imported into the software, to create a customized automated method for DNA dilution, unique to that plate of DNA samples. The PCR Setup software method, used in conjunction with the Normalization Wizard method and written for the Biomek 2000, functions to mix the diluted DNA samples, transfer the PCR master mix, and transfer the diluted DNA samples to PCR amplification tubes. Once the process is complete, the DNA extracts, still on the deck of the robot in PCR amplification strip tubes, are transferred to pre-labeled 1.5 mL tubes for long-term storage using an automated method. The automation of these steps in the process of forensic DNA casework analysis has been accomplished by performing extensive optimization, validation and testing of the

A Model for Trading the Foreign Exchange Market

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROF. OLIVER OSUAGWA

inflation rates, etc. have significant impacts on the exchange rate fluctuation. Existing foreign exchange ... Keywords: FOREX, marcov chain, model, neural network, trading robot. Introduction .... Support Vector Machine (SVM). Regression ...

A Plug and Produce Framework for Industrial Collaborative Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schou, Casper; Madsen, Ole

2017-01-01

Collaborative robots are today ever more interesting in response to the increasing need for agile manufacturing equipment. Contrary to traditional industrial robots, collaborative robots are intended for working in dynamic environments alongside the production staff. To cope with the dynamic...... environment and workflow, new configuration and control methods are needed compared to those of traditional industrial robots. The new methods should enable shop floor operators to reconfigure the robot. This article presents a plug and produce framework for industrial collaborative robots. The article...... focuses on the control framework enabling quick and easy exchange of hardware modules as an approach to achieving plug and produce. To solve this, an agent-based system is proposed building on top of the robot operating system. The framework enables robot operating system packages to be adapted...

Robot off-line programming and simulation as a true CIME-subsystem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, L.F; Trostmann, S; Trostmann, Erik

1992-01-01

A robot off-line programming and real-time simulation system, ROPSIM, which is based on the neutral interface concept and features simulation of the dynamics of both the controller and robot arm, has been developed. To avoid dependency on dedicated robot models, ROPSIM is based on generic models...... describing the robot controller, robot arm geometry, and the robot and arm kinetics. The software was developed using the C++ programming language. The key modules are discussed. The system is a true computer-integrated manufacturing and engineering subsystem which facilitates the exchange and reuse of robot...... model definition data and robot program definition data with systems of other origin or different functionality...

Validation of a fully automated robotic setup for preparation of whole blood samples for LC-MS toxicology analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, David Wederkinck; Rasmussen, Brian; Linnet, Kristian

2012-01-01

A fully automated setup was developed for preparing whole blood samples using a Tecan Evo workstation. By integrating several add-ons to the robotic platform, the flexible setup was able to prepare samples from sample tubes to a 96-well sample plate ready for injection on liquid chromatography...

Usage of industrial robots in nuclear power industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuo, Yoshio; Hamada, Kenjiro

1982-01-01

Japan is now at the top level in the world in robot technology.Its application to nuclear power field is one of the most expected. However, their usage spreads over various types of nuclear power plants, their manufacture and operation, and other areas such as fuel reprocessing plants and reactor plant decommissioning. The robots as used for the operation of BWR nuclear power plants, already developed and under development, are described: features in the nuclear-power usage of robots, the robots used currently for automatic fuel exchange, the replacement of control rod drives and in-service inspection; the robots under development for travelling inspection device and the inspection of main steam-relief safety valves, future development of robots. By robot usage, necessary personnel, work period and radiation exposure can be greatly reduced, and safety and reliability are also raised. (Mori, K.)

1st AAU Workshop on Human-Centered Robotics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The 2012 AAU Workshop on Human-Centered Robotics took place on 15 Nov. 2012, at Aalborg University, Aalborg. The workshop provides a platform for robotics researchers, including professors, PhD and Master students to exchange their ideas and latest results. The objective is to foster closer...... interaction among researchers from multiple relevant disciplines in the human-centered robotics, and consequently, to promote collaborations across departments of all faculties towards making our center a center of excellence in robotics. The workshop becomes a great success, with 13 presentations, attracting...... more than 45 participants from AAU, SDU, DTI and industrial companies as well. The proceedings contain 7 full papers selected out from the full papers submitted afterwards on the basis of workshop abstracts. The papers represent major research development of robotics at AAU, including medical robots...

ESPRIT Project 6457: Interoperability of Standards for Robotics in CIME

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haenisch, Jorchen; Kroszynski, Uri; Ludwig, Arnold

The groving need for accurate information about manufacturing data (models of robots and other mechanisms)in diverse industrial applications has initiated ESPRIT Project 6457 InterRob.This InterRob "Specification of a STEP Based Reference Model for Exchange of Robotics Models" act as a basis...

Kinetics of exchange of a tracer in soil and clay samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zanotti, J C; Facetti, J F [Asuncion Nacional Univ. (Paraguay). Inst. de Ciencias

1971-01-01

The kinetics of exchange of a Na tracer in soil and clay samples, provides with a reliable and convenient method for the determination of the different soil fraction ahd their CEC values, In addition, the analysis of the exchanges curves can be used for the identification of the clay present in the soil.

Kinetics of exchange of a tracer in soil and clay samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zanotti, J.C.; Facetti, J.F.

1971-01-01

The kinetics of exchange of a Na tracer in soil and clay samples, provides with a reliable and convenient method for the determination of the different soil fraction ahd their CEC values, In addition, the analysis of the exchanges curves can be used for the identification of the clay present in the soil

Improved sample manipulation at the STRESS-SPEC neutron diffractometer using an industrial 6-axis robot for texture and strain analyses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Randau, C. [Institute for Materials Science and Engineering, Clausthal University of Technology, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany); Brokmeier, H.G., E-mail: heinz-guenter.brokmeier@tu-clausthal.de [Institute for Materials Science and Engineering, Clausthal University of Technology, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany); Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht, D-21502 Geesthacht (Germany); Gan, W.M. [Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht, D-21502 Geesthacht (Germany); Hofmann, M.; Voeller, M. [Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II), TU München, D-85747 Garching (Germany); Tekouo, W. [Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management, TU München, D-85747 Garching (Germany); Al-hamdany, N. [Institute for Materials Science and Engineering, Clausthal University of Technology, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany); Seidl, G. [Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II), TU München, D-85747 Garching (Germany); Schreyer, A. [Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht, D-21502 Geesthacht (Germany)

2015-09-11

The materials science neutron diffractometer STRESS-SPEC located at FRM II is a dedicated instrument for strain and pole figure measurements. Both methods make complementary demands on sample handling. On one hand pole figure measurements need a high degree of freedom to orient small samples and on the other hand in strain investigations it is often necessary to handle large and heavy components. Therefore a robot based sample positioning system was developed, which has the capability to provide both possibilities. Based on this new robot system further developments like a full automated sample changer system for texture measurements were accomplished. Moreover this system opens the door for combined strain and texture analysis at STRESS-SPEC.

Improved sample manipulation at the STRESS-SPEC neutron diffractometer using an industrial 6-axis robot for texture and strain analyses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Randau, C.; Brokmeier, H.G.; Gan, W.M.; Hofmann, M.; Voeller, M.; Tekouo, W.; Al-hamdany, N.; Seidl, G.; Schreyer, A.

2015-01-01

The materials science neutron diffractometer STRESS-SPEC located at FRM II is a dedicated instrument for strain and pole figure measurements. Both methods make complementary demands on sample handling. On one hand pole figure measurements need a high degree of freedom to orient small samples and on the other hand in strain investigations it is often necessary to handle large and heavy components. Therefore a robot based sample positioning system was developed, which has the capability to provide both possibilities. Based on this new robot system further developments like a full automated sample changer system for texture measurements were accomplished. Moreover this system opens the door for combined strain and texture analysis at STRESS-SPEC

Fabrication of gas diffusion layer based on x-y robotic spraying technique for proton exchange membrane fuel cell application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sitanggang, Ramli; Mohamad, Abu Bakar; Daud, Wan Ramli Wan; Kadhum, Abdul Amir H.; Iyuke, S.E.

2009-01-01

The x-y robotic spraying technique developed in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is capable of fabricating various sizes of thickness and porosity of gas diffusion layer (GDL) used in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). These parameters are obtained by varying the characteristic spray numbers of the robotic spraying machine. This investigation results were adequately represented with mathematical equations for hydrogen gas distribution in GDL. Volumetric modulus (M) parameter is used to determine the value of current density produced on the electrode of a single cell PEMFC. Thus the M parameter can be employed as indicator for a successful GDL fabrication. GDL type 4 has three variables of layer design that can be optimized to function as gas distributor, gas storage, flooding preventer on GDL surface, to evacuate water from the electrode and to control the electrical conductivity. The gas distribution in GDL was mathematically represented with average error of 15.5%. The M value of GDL type 4 according to the model was 0.22 cm 3 /s and yielded a current density of 750 A/m 2 .

Automatic Battery Swap System for Home Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Wu

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and implementation of an automatic battery swap system for the prolonged activities of home robots. A battery swap station is proposed to implement battery off-line recharging and on-line exchanging functions. It consists of a loading and unloading mechanism, a shifting mechanism, a locking device and a shell. The home robot is a palm-sized wheeled robot with an onboard camera and a removable battery case in the front. It communicates with the battery swap station wirelessly through ZigBee. The influences of battery case deflection and robot docking deflection on the battery swap operations have been investigated. The experimental results show that it takes an average time of 84.2s to complete the battery swap operations. The home robot does not have to wait several hours for the batteries to be fully charged. The proposed battery swap system is proved to be efficient in home robot applications that need the robots to work continuously over a long period.

Teaching Joint-Level Robot Programming with a New Robotics Software Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Gonzalez

2017-12-01

Full Text Available With the rising popularity of robotics in our modern world there is an increase in the number of engineering programs that offer the basic Introduction to Robotics course. This common introductory robotics course generally covers the fundamental theory of robotics including robot kinematics, dynamics, differential movements, trajectory planning and basic computer vision algorithms commonly used in the field of robotics. Joint programming, the task of writing a program that directly controls the robot’s joint motors, is an activity that involves robot kinematics, dynamics, and trajectory planning. In this paper, we introduce a new educational robotics tool developed for teaching joint programming. The tool allows the student to write a program in a modified C language that controls the movement of the arm by controlling the velocity of each joint motor. This is a very important activity in the robotics course and leads the student to gain knowledge of how to build a robotic arm controller. Sample assignments are presented for different levels of difficulty.

A trend of robotics in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayama, Ryoichi

1993-01-01

In order to operate stably nuclear power stations, the periodic inspection determined by the law has been carried out once every year in Japan. For reducing the radiation exposure of workers and improving work efficiency and work quality, the automation and the use of robots have been promoted. Also in fuel reprocessing plants and the facilities for storing radioactive wastes, the remotely operated devices for handling uranium and plutonium are indispensable. The course of the development of the robots for nuclear power plants classified by ages is shown. The research and development have been advanced from special automatic machines of first generation since 1965, through versatile robots of second generation since 1980 to intellectual robots of third generation since 1985. Automatic fuel exchanger, control rod moving mechanism and the ultrasonic flaw detector for pipings are those of first generation. As those of second generation, various movable inspection robots and the manipulators for them were developed. The ultimate working robot completed in 1990 is that of third generation. As the trend of the practical use, monorail type inspection robots and underwater inspection robots and various manipulators are reported. (K.I.)

The Role of Modular Robotics in Mediating Nonverbal Social Exchanges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marti, P; Giusti, L; Lund, Henrik Hautop

2009-01-01

This paper outlines the use of modular robotics to encourage and facilitate nonverbal communication during therapeutic intervention in dementia care. A set of new socially interactive modular robotic devices called rolling pins (RPs) has been designed and developed to assist the therapist...... is that they are able to communicate with each other or with other devices equipped with the same radio communication technology. The RPs are usually used in pairs, as the local feedback of an RP can be set depending not only on its own speed and orientation but also on the speed and the orientation of the peer RP...

Interoperability of Standards for Robotics in CIME

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kroszynski, Uri; Sørensen, Torben; Ludwig, Arnold

1997-01-01

Esprit Project 6457 "Interoperability of Standards for Robotics in CIME (InterRob)" belongs to the Subprogramme "Integration in Manufacturing" of Esprit, the European Specific Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology supported by the European Commision.The first main goal...... of InterRob was to close the information chain between product design, simulation, programming, and robot control by developing standardized interfaces and their software implementation for standards STEP (International Standard for the Exchange of Product model data, ISO 10303) and IRL (Industrial Robot...... Language, DIN 66312). This is a continuation of the previous Esprit projects CAD*I and NIRO, which developed substantial basics of STEP.The InterRob approach is based on standardized models for product geometry, kinematics, robotics, dynamics and control, hence on a coherent neutral information model...

On the Efficiency of Local and Global Communication in Modular Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garcia, Ricardo Franco Mendoza; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Støy, Kasper

2009-01-01

use parameters to describe the topology of modular robots, develop a probabilistic model of local communication using these parameters and, using a model of global communication from literature, compare the transmission times of local and global communication in different robots. Based on our results......As exchange of information is essential to modular robots, deciding between local or global communication is a common design choice. This choice, however, still lacks theoretical support. In this paper we analyse the efficiency of local and global communication in modular robots. To this end, we...

10th FSR (Field and Service Robotics)

CERN Document Server

Barfoot, Timothy

2016-01-01

This book contains the proceedings of the 10th FSR, (Field and Service Robotics) which is the leading single-track conference on applications of robotics in challenging environments. The 10th FSR was held in Toronto, Canada from 23-26 June 2015. The book contains 42 full-length, peer-reviewed papers organized into a variety of topics: Aquatic, Vision, Planetary, Aerial, Underground, and Systems. The goal of the book and the conference is to report and encourage the development and experimental evaluation of field and service robots, and to generate a vibrant exchange and discussion in the community. Field robots are non-factory robots, typically mobile, that operate in complex and dynamic environments: on the ground (Earth or other planets), under the ground, underwater, in the air or in space. Service robots are those that work closely with humans to help them with their lives. The first FSR was held in Canberra, Australia, in 1997. Since that first meeting, FSR has been held roughly every two years, cycling...

4th International Conference on Advanced Robotics

CERN Document Server

1989-01-01

The Fourth International Conference on Advanced Robotics was held in Columbus, Ohio, U. S. A. on June 13th to 15th, 1989. The first two conferences in this series were held in Tokyo. The third was held in Versailles, France in October 1987. The International Conference on Advanced Robotics is affiliated with the International Federation of Robotics. This conference was sponsored by The Ohio State University. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers was a cooperating co-sponsor. The objective of the International Conference on Advanced Robotics is to provide an international exchange of information on the topic of advanced robotics. This was adopted as one of the themes for international research cooperation at a meeting of representatives of seven industrialized countries held in Williamsburg, U. S. A. in May 1983. The present conference is truly international in character with contributions from authors of twelve countries. (Bulgaria, Canada, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Peoples Republic o...

Robotics Literacy Captivates Elementary Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, Madeleine

1986-01-01

Describes a robotics literacy course offered for elementary age children at Broward Community College (Florida) and discusses the motivation for offering such a course, the course philosophy and objectives, and participant reactions. A sampling of robots and robotics devices and some of their teaching applications are included. (MBR)

Replica exchange with solute tempering: A method for sampling biological systems in explicit water

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Pu; Kim, Byungchan; Friesner, Richard A.; Berne, B. J.

2005-09-01

An innovative replica exchange (parallel tempering) method called replica exchange with solute tempering (REST) for the efficient sampling of aqueous protein solutions is presented here. The method bypasses the poor scaling with system size of standard replica exchange and thus reduces the number of replicas (parallel processes) that must be used. This reduction is accomplished by deforming the Hamiltonian function for each replica in such a way that the acceptance probability for the exchange of replica configurations does not depend on the number of explicit water molecules in the system. For proof of concept, REST is compared with standard replica exchange for an alanine dipeptide molecule in water. The comparisons confirm that REST greatly reduces the number of CPUs required by regular replica exchange and increases the sampling efficiency. This method reduces the CPU time required for calculating thermodynamic averages and for the ab initio folding of proteins in explicit water. Author contributions: B.J.B. designed research; P.L. and B.K. performed research; P.L. and B.K. analyzed data; and P.L., B.K., R.A.F., and B.J.B. wrote the paper.Abbreviations: REST, replica exchange with solute tempering; REM, replica exchange method; MD, molecular dynamics.*P.L. and B.K. contributed equally to this work.

11th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

CERN Document Server

Chirikjian, Gregory

2014-01-01

Distributed robotics is a rapidly growing and maturing interdisciplinary research area lying at the intersection of computer science, network science, control theory, and electrical and mechanical engineering. The goal of the Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) is to exchange and stimulate research ideas to realize advanced distributed robotic systems. This volume of proceedings includes 31 original contributions presented at the 2012 International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2012) held in November 2012 at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD USA. The selected papers in this volume are authored by leading researchers from Asia, Europa, and the Americas, thereby providing a broad coverage and perspective of the state-of-the-art technologies, algorithms, system architectures, and applications in distributed robotic systems. The book is organized into five parts, representative of critical long-term and emerging research thrusts in the multi-robot com...

9th International Conference on Field and Service Robotics

CERN Document Server

Corke, Peter; Roberts, Jonathan

2015-01-01

FSR, the International Conference on Field and Service Robotics, is a robotics Symposium which has established over the past ten years the latest research and practical results towards the use of field and service robotics in the community with particular focus on proven technology. The first meeting was held in Canberra, Australia, in 1997. Since then the meeting has been held every two years in the pattern Asia, America, Europe.   Field robots are non-factory robots, typically mobile, that operate in complex, and dynamic environments; on the ground (of earth or planets), under the ground, underwater, in the air or in space. Service robots are those that work closely with humans to help them with their lives. This book present the results of the ninth edition of Field and Service Robotics, FSR13, held in Brisbane, Australia on 9th-11th December 2013. The conference provided a forum for researchers, professionals, and robot manufactures to exchange up-to-date technical knowledge and experience. This book off...

Design and Development of a Robot-Based Automation System for Cryogenic Crystal Sample Mounting at the Advanced Photon Source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shu, D.; Preissner, C.; Nocher, D.; Han, Y.; Barraza, J.; Lee, P.; Lee, W.-K.; Cai, Z.; Ginell, S.; Alkire, R.; Lazarski, K.; Schuessler, R.; Joachimiak, A.

2004-01-01

X-ray crystallography is the primary method to determine the 3D structures of complex macromolecules at high resolution. In the years to come, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and similar 3rd-generation synchrotron sources elsewhere will become the most powerful tools for studying atomic structures of biological molecules. One of the major bottlenecks in the x-ray data collection process is the constant need to change and realign the crystal sample. This is a very time- and manpower-consuming task. An automated sample mounting system will help to solve this bottleneck problem. We have developed a novel robot-based automation system for cryogenic crystal sample mounting at the APS. Design of the robot-based automation system, as well as its on-line test results at the Argonne Structural Biology Center (SBC) 19-BM experimental station, are presented in this paper

Robotic thin layer chromatography instrument for synthetic chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corkan, L.A.; Lindsey, J.S.

1990-01-01

One of our long-term goals is to develop robotic workstations for automated synthetic chemistry. Toward that goal we have constructed a 2nd generation instrument for performing TLC analysis. TLC has important advantages (over HPLC and GC) in analysis of crude reaction samples and parallel sample development. The TLC instrument consist of four dedicated stations for (1) plate dispensing, (2) sample application, (3) plate development, and (4) plate densitometry. A robot is used to move plates among stations. The combination of fixed automation and robotics gives high sample throughout (up to 10 samples per hour). A second robot performs reaction chemistry and feeds samples to the TLC instrument, thus enabling TLC analysis at the same time as synthetic reactions proceed on the workstation

Mechanical design and simulation of an automatized sample exchanger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, Yon; Gora, Jimmy; Bedregal, Patricia; Hernandez, Yuri; Baltuano, Oscar; Gago, Javier

2013-01-01

The design of a turntable type sample exchanger for irradiation and with a capacity for up to 20 capsules was performed. Its function is the automatic sending of samples contained in polyethylene capsules, for irradiation in the grid position of the reactor core, using a pneumatic system and further analysis by neutron activation. This study shows the structural design analysis and calculations in selecting motors and actuators. This development will improve efficiency in the analysis, reducing the contribution of the workers and also the radiation exposure time. (authors).

Robotics and remote systems applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rabold, D.E.

1996-01-01

This article is a review of numerous remote inspection techniques in use at the Savannah River (and other) facilities. These include: (1) reactor tank inspection robot, (2) californium waste removal robot, (3) fuel rod lubrication robot, (4) cesium source manipulation robot, (5) tank 13 survey and decontamination robots, (6) hot gang valve corridor decontamination and junction box removal robots, (7) lead removal from deionizer vessels robot, (8) HB line cleanup robot, (9) remote operation of a front end loader at WIPP, (10) remote overhead video extendible robot, (11) semi-intelligent mobile observing navigator, (12) remote camera systems in the SRS canyons, (13) cameras and borescope for the DWPF, (14) Hanford waste tank camera system, (15) in-tank precipitation camera system, (16) F-area retention basin pipe crawler, (17) waste tank wall crawler and annulus camera, (18) duct inspection, and (19) deionizer resin sampling

Robot-Assisted Antegrade In-Situ Fenestrated Stent Grafting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riga, Celia V.; Bicknell, Colin D.; Wallace, Daniel; Hamady, Mohamad; Cheshire, Nicholas

2009-01-01

To determine the technical feasibility of a novel approach of in-situ fenestration of aortic stent grafts by using a remotely controlled robotic steerable catheter system in the porcine model. A 65-kg pig underwent robot-assisted bilateral antegrade in-situ renal fenestration of an abdominal aortic stent graft with subsequent successful deployment of a bare metal stent into the right renal artery. A 16-mm iliac extension covered stent served as the porcine aortic endograft. Under fluoroscopic guidance, the graft was punctured with a 20-G customized diathermy needle that was introduced and kept in place by the robotic arm. The needle was exchanged for a 4 x 20 mm cutting balloon before successful deployment of the renal stent. Robot-assisted antegrade in-situ fenestration is technically feasible in a large mammalian model. The robotic system enables precise manipulation, stable positioning, and minimum instrumentation of the aorta and its branches while minimizing radiation exposure.

The influence of approach speed and functional noise on users' perception of a robot

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lohse, M.; van Berkel, Niels; van Dijk, Elisabeth M.A.G.; Joosse, M.P.; Karreman, Daphne Eleonora; Evers, Vanessa

2013-01-01

How a robot approaches a person greatly determines the interaction that follows. This is particularly relevant when the person has never interacted with the robot before. In human communication, we exchange a multitude of multimodal signals to communicate our intent while we approach others.

Human Robotic Systems (HRS): Robotic ISRU Acquisition Element

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — During 2014, the Robotic ISRU Resource Acquisition project element will develop two technologies:Exploration Ground Data Systems (xGDS)Sample Acquisition on...

Compensating for telecommunication delays during robotic telerehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Consoni, Leonardo J; Siqueira, Adriano A G; Krebs, Hermano I

2017-07-01

Rehabilitation robotic systems may afford better care and telerehabilitation may extend the use and benefits of robotic therapy to the home. Data transmissions over distance are bound by intrinsic communication delays which can be significant enough to deem the activity unfeasible. Here we describe an approach that combines unilateral robotic telerehabilitation and serious games. This approach has a modular and distributed design that permits different types of robots to interact without substantial code changes. We demonstrate the approach through an online multiplayer game. Two users can remotely interact with each other with no force exchanges, while a smoothing and prediction algorithm compensates motions for the delay in the Internet connection. We demonstrate that this approach can successfully compensate for data transmission delays, even when testing between the United States and Brazil. This paper presents the initial experimental results, which highlight the performance degradation with increasing delays as well as improvements provided by the proposed algorithm, and discusses planned future developments.

Hanford high level waste: Sample Exchange/Evaluation (SEE) Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, A.G.

1994-08-01

The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL)/Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) and the Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC)/Process Analytical Laboratory (PAL) provide analytical support services to various environmental restoration and waste management projects/programs at Hanford. In response to a US Department of Energy -- Richland Field Office (DOE-RL) audit, which questioned the comparability of analytical methods employed at each laboratory, the Sample Exchange/Exchange (SEE) program was initiated. The SEE Program is a selfassessment program designed to compare analytical methods of the PAL and ACL laboratories using sitespecific waste material. The SEE program is managed by a collaborative, the Quality Assurance Triad (Triad). Triad membership is made up of representatives from the WHC/PAL, PNL/ACL, and WHC Hanford Analytical Services Management (HASM) organizations. The Triad works together to design/evaluate/implement each phase of the SEE Program

Robotic synthesis of [carbon-11]methionine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korsakov, M.V.; Kisselev, M.Y.; Solovyov, D.; Horti, A.G.; Vasilev, A.; Nilsson, L.E.; Ulin, J.

1992-01-01

[ 11 C]Methionine was prepared in a fully automated robotic synthesis, using the SCANDITRONIX robotic system starting from [ 11 C]I and homocysteine thiolactone. The product was purified using solid phase extraction on anionic exchange cartridges. The decay corrected yield was 60% based on CH 3 I and 16 min synthesis time. The radiochemical purity was 98-99% and the chemical impurities were: homocysteine 0.05-0.07 mg/ml, homocystine 0.005 mg/ml, 'cold' methionine 0.03-0.05 mg/ml, and homocysteine thiolactone 0.0008-0.002 mg/ml. The total procedure takes 30 min from EOB. (author) 6 figs., 3 tabs

A versatile and low-cost open source pipetting robot for automation of toxicological and ecotoxicological bioassays.

Science.gov (United States)

Steffens, Sebastian; Nüßer, Leonie; Seiler, Thomas-Benjamin; Ruchter, Nadine; Schumann, Mark; Döring, Ricarda; Cofalla, Catrina; Ostfeld, Avi; Salomons, Elad; Schüttrumpf, Holger; Hollert, Henner; Brinkmann, Markus

2017-01-01

In the past decades, bioassays and whole-organism bioassay have become important tools not only in compliance testing of industrial chemicals and plant protection products, but also in the monitoring of environmental quality. With few exceptions, such test systems are discontinuous. They require exposure of the biological test material in small units, such as multiwell plates, during prolonged incubation periods, and do not allow online read-outs. It is mostly due to these shortcomings that applications in continuous monitoring of, e.g., drinking or surface water quality are largely missing. We propose the use of pipetting robots that can be used to automatically exchange samples in multiwell plates with fresh samples in a semi-static manner, as a potential solution to overcome these limitations. In this study, we developed a simple and low-cost, versatile pipetting robot constructed partly using open-source hardware that has a small footprint and can be used for online monitoring of water quality by means of an automated whole-organism bioassay. We tested its precision in automated 2-fold dilution series and used it for exposure of zebrafish embryos (Danio rerio)-a common model species in ecotoxicology-to cadmium chloride and permethrin. We found that, compared to conventional static or semi-static exposure scenarios, effects of the two chemicals in zebrafish embryos generally occurred at lower concentrations, and analytically verified that the increased frequency of media exchange resulted in a greater availability of the chemical. In combination with advanced detection systems this custom-made pipetting robot has the potential to become a valuable tool in future monitoring strategies for drinking and surface water.

A versatile and low-cost open source pipetting robot for automation of toxicological and ecotoxicological bioassays.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastian Steffens

Full Text Available In the past decades, bioassays and whole-organism bioassay have become important tools not only in compliance testing of industrial chemicals and plant protection products, but also in the monitoring of environmental quality. With few exceptions, such test systems are discontinuous. They require exposure of the biological test material in small units, such as multiwell plates, during prolonged incubation periods, and do not allow online read-outs. It is mostly due to these shortcomings that applications in continuous monitoring of, e.g., drinking or surface water quality are largely missing. We propose the use of pipetting robots that can be used to automatically exchange samples in multiwell plates with fresh samples in a semi-static manner, as a potential solution to overcome these limitations. In this study, we developed a simple and low-cost, versatile pipetting robot constructed partly using open-source hardware that has a small footprint and can be used for online monitoring of water quality by means of an automated whole-organism bioassay. We tested its precision in automated 2-fold dilution series and used it for exposure of zebrafish embryos (Danio rerio-a common model species in ecotoxicology-to cadmium chloride and permethrin. We found that, compared to conventional static or semi-static exposure scenarios, effects of the two chemicals in zebrafish embryos generally occurred at lower concentrations, and analytically verified that the increased frequency of media exchange resulted in a greater availability of the chemical. In combination with advanced detection systems this custom-made pipetting robot has the potential to become a valuable tool in future monitoring strategies for drinking and surface water.

Towards Real-Time Distributed Planning in Multi-Robot Systems

KAUST Repository

Abdelkader, Mohamed

2018-01-01

of extensive information exchange (communication). The extensive communication between robots can result in decision delays because of which distributed architecture is often impractical for systems with strict real-time constraints, e.g. when decisions have

Automation of column-based radiochemical separations. A comparison of fluidic, robotic, and hybrid architectures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grate, J.W.; O' Hara, M.J.; Farawila, A.F.; Ozanich, R.M.; Owsley, S.L. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States)

2011-07-01

Two automated systems have been developed to perform column-based radiochemical separation procedures. These new systems are compared with past fluidic column separation architectures, with emphasis on using disposable components so that no sample contacts any surface that any other sample has contacted, and setting up samples and columns in parallel for subsequent automated processing. In the first new approach, a general purpose liquid handling robot has been modified and programmed to perform anion exchange separations using 2 mL bed columns in 6 mL plastic disposable column bodies. In the second new approach, a fluidic system has been developed to deliver clean reagents through disposable manual valves to six disposable columns, with a mechanized fraction collector that positions one of four rows of six vials below the columns. The samples are delivered to each column via a manual 3-port disposable valve from disposable syringes. This second approach, a hybrid of fluidic and mechanized components, is a simpler more efficient approach for performing anion exchange procedures for the recovery and purification of plutonium from samples. The automation architectures described can also be adapted to column-based extraction chromatography separations. (orig.)

Evaluation of unimodal and multimodal communication cues for attracting attention in human–robot interaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Torta, E.; van Heumen, J.; Piunti, F.; Romeo, L.; Cuijpers, R.H.

2015-01-01

One of the most common tasks of a robot companion in the home is communication. In order to initiate an information exchange with its human partner, the robot needs to attract the attention of the human. This paper presents results of two user studies ( N=12 ) to evaluate the effectiveness of

Simulated Tempering Distributed Replica Sampling, Virtual Replica Exchange, and Other Generalized-Ensemble Methods for Conformational Sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Rauscher, Sarah; Neale, Chris; Pomès, Régis

2009-10-13

Generalized-ensemble algorithms in temperature space have become popular tools to enhance conformational sampling in biomolecular simulations. A random walk in temperature leads to a corresponding random walk in potential energy, which can be used to cross over energetic barriers and overcome the problem of quasi-nonergodicity. In this paper, we introduce two novel methods: simulated tempering distributed replica sampling (STDR) and virtual replica exchange (VREX). These methods are designed to address the practical issues inherent in the replica exchange (RE), simulated tempering (ST), and serial replica exchange (SREM) algorithms. RE requires a large, dedicated, and homogeneous cluster of CPUs to function efficiently when applied to complex systems. ST and SREM both have the drawback of requiring extensive initial simulations, possibly adaptive, for the calculation of weight factors or potential energy distribution functions. STDR and VREX alleviate the need for lengthy initial simulations, and for synchronization and extensive communication between replicas. Both methods are therefore suitable for distributed or heterogeneous computing platforms. We perform an objective comparison of all five algorithms in terms of both implementation issues and sampling efficiency. We use disordered peptides in explicit water as test systems, for a total simulation time of over 42 μs. Efficiency is defined in terms of both structural convergence and temperature diffusion, and we show that these definitions of efficiency are in fact correlated. Importantly, we find that ST-based methods exhibit faster temperature diffusion and correspondingly faster convergence of structural properties compared to RE-based methods. Within the RE-based methods, VREX is superior to both SREM and RE. On the basis of our observations, we conclude that ST is ideal for simple systems, while STDR is well-suited for complex systems.

Robotics at Savannah River

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byrd, J.S.

1983-01-01

A Robotics Technology Group was organized at the Savannah River Laboratory in August 1982. Many potential applications have been identified that will improve personnel safety, reduce operating costs, and increase productivity using modern robotics and automation. Several active projects are under way to procure robots, to develop unique techniques and systems for the site's processes, and to install the systems in the actual work environments. The projects and development programs are involved in the following general application areas: (1) glove boxes and shielded cell facilities, (2) laboratory chemical processes, (3) fabrication processes for reactor fuel assemblies, (4) sampling processes for separation areas, (5) emergency response in reactor areas, (6) fuel handling in reactor areas, and (7) remote radiation monitoring systems. A Robotics Development Laboratory has been set up for experimental and development work and for demonstration of robotic systems

Automated dried blood spots standard and QC sample preparation using a robotic liquid handler.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Long; Zhang, Duxi; Aubry, Anne-Francoise; Arnold, Mark E

2012-12-01

A dried blood spot (DBS) bioanalysis assay involves many steps, such as the preparation of standard (STD) and QC samples in blood, the spotting onto DBS cards, and the cutting-out of the spots. These steps are labor intensive and time consuming if done manually, which, therefore, makes automation very desirable in DBS bioanalysis. A robotic liquid handler was successfully applied to the preparation of STD and QC samples in blood and to spot the blood samples onto DBS cards using buspirone as the model compound. This automated preparation was demonstrated to be accurate and consistent. However the accuracy and precision of automated preparation were similar to those from manual preparation. The effect of spotting volume on accuracy was evaluated and a trend of increasing concentrations of buspirone with increasing spotting volumes was observed. The automated STD and QC sample preparation process significantly improved the efficiency, robustness and safety of DBS bioanalysis.

Sampling Based Trajectory Planning for Robots in Dynamic Human Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenstrup, Mikael

2010-01-01

Open-ended human environments, such as pedestrian streets, hospital corridors, train stations etc., are places where robots start to emerge. Hence, being able to plan safe and natural trajectories in these dynamic environments is an important skill for future generations of robots. In this work...... the problem is formulated as planning a minimal cost trajectory through a potential field, defined from the perceived position and motion of persons in the environment. A modified Rapidlyexploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm is proposed as a solution to the planning problem. The algorithm implements a new...... for the uncertainty in the dynamic environment. The planning algorithm is demonstrated in a simulated pedestrian street environment....

Designing Modular Robotic Playware

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik Hautop; Marti, Patrizia

2009-01-01

In this paper, we explore the design of modular robotic objects that may enhance playful experiences. The approach builds upon the development of modular robotics to create a kind of playware, which is flexible in both set-up and activity building for the end-user to allow easy creation of games....... Key features of this design approach are modularity, flexibility, and construction, immediate feedback to stimulate engagement, activity design by end-users, and creative exploration of play activities. These features permit the use of such modular playware by a vast array of users, including disabled...... children who often could be prevented from using and taking benefits from modern technologies. The objective is to get any children moving, exchanging, experimenting and having fun, regardless of their cognitive or physical ability levels. The paper describes two prototype systems developed as modular...

Laws on Robots, Laws by Robots, Laws in Robots : Regulating Robot Behaviour by Design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leenes, R.E.; Lucivero, F.

2015-01-01

Speculation about robot morality is almost as old as the concept of a robot itself. Asimov’s three laws of robotics provide an early and well-discussed example of moral rules robots should observe. Despite the widespread influence of the three laws of robotics and their role in shaping visions of

Piezoelectrically Actuated Robotic System for MRI-Guided Prostate Percutaneous Therapy

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Hao; Shang, Weijian; Cole, Gregory; Li, Gang; Harrington, Kevin; Camilo, Alexander; Tokuda, Junichi; Tempany, Clare M.; Hata, Nobuhiko; Fischer, Gregory S.

2014-01-01

This paper presents a fully-actuated robotic system for percutaneous prostate therapy under continuously acquired live magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance. The system is composed of modular hardware and software to support the surgical workflow of intra-operative MRI-guided surgical procedures. We present the development of a 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) needle placement robot for transperineal prostate interventions. The robot consists of a 3-DOF needle driver module and a 3-DOF Cartesian motion module. The needle driver provides needle cannula translation and rotation (2-DOF) and stylet translation (1-DOF). A custom robot controller consisting of multiple piezoelectric motor drivers provides precision closed-loop control of piezoelectric motors and enables simultaneous robot motion and MR imaging. The developed modular robot control interface software performs image-based registration, kinematics calculation, and exchanges robot commands and coordinates between the navigation software and the robot controller with a new implementation of the open network communication protocol OpenIGTLink. Comprehensive compatibility of the robot is evaluated inside a 3-Tesla MRI scanner using standard imaging sequences and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss is limited to 15%. The image deterioration due to the present and motion of robot demonstrates unobservable image interference. Twenty-five targeted needle placements inside gelatin phantoms utilizing an 18-gauge ceramic needle demonstrated 0.87 mm root mean square (RMS) error in 3D Euclidean distance based on MRI volume segmentation of the image-guided robotic needle placement procedure. PMID:26412962

75 FR 36456 - Channel America Television Network, Inc., EquiMed, Inc., Kore Holdings, Inc., Robotic Vision...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-25

... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [File No. 500-1] Channel America Television Network, Inc., EquiMed, Inc., Kore Holdings, Inc., Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (n/k/a Acuity Cimatrix, Inc.), Security... accurate information concerning the securities of Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (n/k/a Acuity Cimatrix, Inc...

Automated gravimetric sample pretreatment using an industrial robot for the high-precision determination of plutonium by isotope dilution mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Surugaya, Naoki; Hiyama, Toshiaki; Watahiki, Masaru

2008-01-01

A robotized sample-preparation method for the determination of Pu, which is recovered by extraction reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) is described. The automated system uses a six-axis industrial robot, whose motility is very fast, accurate, and flexible, installed in a glove box. The automation of the weighing and dilution steps enables operator-unattended sample pretreatment for the high-precision analysis of Pu in aqueous solutions. Using the developed system, the Pu concentration in a HNO 3 medium was successfully determined using a set of subsequent mass spectrometric measurements. The relative uncertainty in determining the Pu concentration by IDMS using this system was estimated to be less than 0.1% (k=2), which is equal to that expected of a talented analysis. The operation time required was the same as that for a skilled operator. (author)

ARIES NDA Robot operators' manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheer, N.L.; Nelson, D.C.

1998-05-01

The ARIES NDA Robot is an automation device for servicing the material movements for a suite of Non-destructive assay (NDA) instruments. This suite of instruments includes a calorimeter, a gamma isotopic system, a segmented gamma scanner (SGS), and a neutron coincidence counter (NCC). Objects moved by the robot include sample cans, standard cans, and instrument plugs. The robot computer has an RS-232 connection with the NDA Host computer, which coordinates robot movements and instrument measurements. The instruments are expected to perform measurements under the direction of the Host without operator intervention. This user's manual describes system startup, using the main menu, manual operation, and error recovery

Site overview of robotics and automation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byrd, J.S.

1985-01-01

This paper summarizes the robotics and automation activities at the Savannah River Laboratory and the Savannah River Plant. The purpose is to provide an overview to facilitate the exchange of technology between various sites involved in development and production work for the Department of Energy. Throughout the paper references are made to assigned project engineers so that they may be contacted directly

Emergence of polymorphic mating strategies in robot colonies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Elfwing

Full Text Available Polymorphism has fascinated evolutionary biologists since the time of Darwin. Biologists have observed discrete alternative mating strategies in many different species. In this study, we demonstrate that polymorphic mating strategies can emerge in a colony of hermaphrodite robots. We used a survival and reproduction task where the robots maintained their energy levels by capturing energy sources and physically exchanged genotypes for the reproduction of offspring. The reproductive success was dependent on the individuals' energy levels, which created a natural trade-off between the time invested in maintaining a high energy level and the time invested in attracting mating partners. We performed experiments in environments with different density of energy sources and observed a variety in the mating behavior when a robot could see both an energy source and a potential mating partner. The individuals could be classified into two phenotypes: 1 forager, who always chooses to capture energy sources, and 2 tracker, who keeps track of potential mating partners if its energy level is above a threshold. In four out of the seven highest fitness populations in different environments, we found subpopulations with distinct differences in genotype and in behavioral phenotype. We analyzed the fitnesses of the foragers and the trackers by sampling them from each subpopulation and mixing with different ratios in a population. The fitness curves for the two subpopulations crossed at about 25% of foragers in the population, showing the evolutionary stability of the polymorphism. In one of those polymorphic populations, the trackers were further split into two subpopulations: (strong trackers and (weak trackers. Our analyses show that the population consisting of three phenotypes also constituted several stable polymorphic evolutionarily stable states. To our knowledge, our study is the first to demonstrate the emergence of polymorphic evolutionarily stable

Cultural Robotics: The Culture of Robotics and Robotics in Culture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hooman Samani

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we have investigated the concept of “Cultural Robotics” with regard to the evolution of social into cultural robots in the 21st Century. By defining the concept of culture, the potential development of a culture between humans and robots is explored. Based on the cultural values of the robotics developers, and the learning ability of current robots, cultural attributes in this regard are in the process of being formed, which would define the new concept of cultural robotics. According to the importance of the embodiment of robots in the sense of presence, the influence of robots in communication culture is anticipated. The sustainability of robotics culture based on diversity for cultural communities for various acceptance modalities is explored in order to anticipate the creation of different attributes of culture between robots and humans in the future.

On the Efficiency of Local and Global Communication in Modular Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garcia, Ricardo Franco Mendoza; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Støy, Kasper

2009-01-01

, we conclude that global communication is convenient for centralized control approaches and local communication is convenient for distributed control approaches. In addition, we conclude that global is in general convenient for low-connectivity configurations, such as chains, trees or limbs......As exchange of information is essential to modular robots, deciding between local or global communication is a common design choice. This choice, however, still lacks theoretical support. In this paper we analyse the efficiency of local and global communication in modular robots. To this end, we...... use parameters to describe the topology of modular robots, develop a probabilistic model of local communication using these parameters and, using a model of global communication from literature, compare the transmission times of local and global communication in different robots. Based on our results...

Robotic platform for traveling on vertical piping network

Science.gov (United States)

Nance, Thomas A; Vrettos, Nick J; Krementz, Daniel; Marzolf, Athneal D

2015-02-03

This invention relates generally to robotic systems and is specifically designed for a robotic system that can navigate vertical pipes within a waste tank or similar environment. The robotic system allows a process for sampling, cleaning, inspecting and removing waste around vertical pipes by supplying a robotic platform that uses the vertical pipes to support and navigate the platform above waste material contained in the tank.

Friendly network robotics; Friendly network robotics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-03-01

This paper summarizes the research results on the friendly network robotics in fiscal 1996. This research assumes an android robot as an ultimate robot and the future robot system utilizing computer network technology. The robot aiming at human daily work activities in factories or under extreme environments is required to work under usual human work environments. The human robot with similar size, shape and functions to human being is desirable. Such robot having a head with two eyes, two ears and mouth can hold a conversation with human being, can walk with two legs by autonomous adaptive control, and has a behavior intelligence. Remote operation of such robot is also possible through high-speed computer network. As a key technology to use this robot under coexistence with human being, establishment of human coexistent robotics was studied. As network based robotics, use of robots connected with computer networks was also studied. In addition, the R-cube (R{sup 3}) plan (realtime remote control robot technology) was proposed. 82 refs., 86 figs., 12 tabs.

Robot vision for nuclear advanced robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayama, Ryoichi; Okano, Hideharu; Kuno, Yoshinori; Miyazawa, Tatsuo; Shimada, Hideo; Okada, Satoshi; Kawamura, Astuo

1991-01-01

This paper describes Robot Vision and Operation System for Nuclear Advanced Robot. This Robot Vision consists of robot position detection, obstacle detection and object recognition. With these vision techniques, a mobile robot can make a path and move autonomously along the planned path. The authors implemented the above robot vision system on the 'Advanced Robot for Nuclear Power Plant' and tested in an environment mocked up as nuclear power plant facilities. Since the operation system for this robot consists of operator's console and a large stereo monitor, this system can be easily operated by one person. Experimental tests were made using the Advanced Robot (nuclear robot). Results indicate that the proposed operation system is very useful, and can be operate by only person. (author)

BioSAXS Sample Changer: a robotic sample changer for rapid and reliable high-throughput X-ray solution scattering experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Round, Adam, E-mail: around@embl.fr; Felisaz, Franck [European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Université Grenoble Alpes–EMBL–CNRS, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Fodinger, Lukas; Gobbo, Alexandre [European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Huet, Julien [European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Université Grenoble Alpes–EMBL–CNRS, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Villard, Cyril [European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Blanchet, Clement E., E-mail: around@embl.fr [EMBL c/o DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22603 Hamburg (Germany); Pernot, Petra; McSweeney, Sean [ESRF, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38000 Grenoble (France); Roessle, Manfred; Svergun, Dmitri I. [EMBL c/o DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22603 Hamburg (Germany); Cipriani, Florent, E-mail: around@embl.fr [European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France); Université Grenoble Alpes–EMBL–CNRS, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 90181, 38042 Grenoble (France)

2015-01-01

A robotic sample changer for solution X-ray scattering experiments optimized for speed and to use the minimum amount of material has been developed. This system is now in routine use at three high-brilliance European synchrotron sites, each capable of several hundred measurements per day. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) of macromolecules in solution is in increasing demand by an ever more diverse research community, both academic and industrial. To better serve user needs, and to allow automated and high-throughput operation, a sample changer (BioSAXS Sample Changer) that is able to perform unattended measurements of up to several hundred samples per day has been developed. The Sample Changer is able to handle and expose sample volumes of down to 5 µl with a measurement/cleaning cycle of under 1 min. The samples are stored in standard 96-well plates and the data are collected in a vacuum-mounted capillary with automated positioning of the solution in the X-ray beam. Fast and efficient capillary cleaning avoids cross-contamination and ensures reproducibility of the measurements. Independent temperature control for the well storage and for the measurement capillary allows the samples to be kept cool while still collecting data at physiological temperatures. The Sample Changer has been installed at three major third-generation synchrotrons: on the BM29 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the P12 beamline at the PETRA-III synchrotron (EMBL@PETRA-III) and the I22/B21 beamlines at Diamond Light Source, with the latter being the first commercial unit supplied by Bruker ASC.

Development of a system using the library of the Genie spectroscopy software and exchange of samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lapolli, Andre L.; Munita, Casimiro S.

2011-01-01

One the great difficulties in using the NAA method is in regards to the time that the operator spends exchanging the samples after each measurement. It becomes a big problem in routine analyses when various chemical elements are determined and then each sample must be measured at different decay times. The application of the automatic sample exchanger reduces the time analysis by several hours and reduces the tedious manual operation. Then, the effective use of NAA depends on the availability of a suitable automatic sample changer. There are some systems that are sold commercially, however many laboratories can not acquire them because they are costly. This paper presents altered programs the G2KNAA.REX, which created a screen making possible automatic or manual acquisitions by calling the old program NAAACQ.rex for the procurement manual and the new program NAAACQ2.rex for automatic requisitions. In conclusion, as can be seen in the program lines, the synchronization to automation, which unites the three systems (the computer, the Canberra Set, the sample exchanger) is done in a timely manner. The system was tested and is functioning in a satisfactory manner. (author)

Integration of a Robotic Arm with the Surgical Assistant Workstation Software Framework

OpenAIRE

Young, J.; Elhawary, H.; Popovic, A.

2012-01-01

We have integrated the Philips Research robot arm with the Johns Hopkins University cisst library, an open-source platform for computerassisted surgical intervention. The development of a Matlab to C++ wrapper to abstract away servo-level details facilitates the rapid development of a component-based framework with “plug and play” features. This allows the user to easily exchange the robot with an alternative manipulator while maintaining the same overall functionality.

Robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Popov, E. P.; Iurevich, E. I.

The history and the current status of robotics are reviewed, as are the design, operation, and principal applications of industrial robots. Attention is given to programmable robots, robots with adaptive control and elements of artificial intelligence, and remotely controlled robots. The applications of robots discussed include mechanical engineering, cargo handling during transportation and storage, mining, and metallurgy. The future prospects of robotics are briefly outlined.

Advances in Autonomous Mini Robots : Proceedings of the 6-th AMiRE Symposium

CERN Document Server

Joaquin, Sitte; Felix, Werner

2012-01-01

Autonomous robots must carry out useful tasks all by themselves relying entirely on their own perceptions of their environment. The cognitive abilities required for autonomous action are largely independent of robot size, which makes mini robots attractive as artefacts for research, education and entertainment. Autonomous mini robots must be small enough for experimentation on a desktop or a small laboratory.  They must be easy to carry and safe for interaction with humans. They must not be expensive. Mini robot designers have to work at the leading edge of technology so that their creations can carry out purposeful autonomic action under these constraints. Since 2001 researchers have met every two years for an international symposium to report on the advances achieved in Autonomous Mini  Robots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE). The AMiRE Symposium is a single track conference that offers ample opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas. This volume contains the contributed papers of the 2011 AM...

Robot 2015 : Second Iberian Robotics Conference : Advances in Robotics

CERN Document Server

Moreira, António; Lima, Pedro; Montano, Luis; Muñoz-Martinez, Victor

2016-01-01

This book contains a selection of papers accepted for presentation and discussion at ROBOT 2015: Second Iberian Robotics Conference, held in Lisbon, Portugal, November 19th-21th, 2015. ROBOT 2015 is part of a series of conferences that are a joint organization of SPR – “Sociedade Portuguesa de Robótica/ Portuguese Society for Robotics”, SEIDROB – Sociedad Española para la Investigación y Desarrollo de la Robótica/ Spanish Society for Research and Development in Robotics and CEA-GTRob – Grupo Temático de Robótica/ Robotics Thematic Group. The conference organization had also the collaboration of several universities and research institutes, including: University of Minho, University of Porto, University of Lisbon, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, University of Aveiro, University of Zaragoza, University of Malaga, LIACC, INESC-TEC and LARSyS. Robot 2015 was focussed on the Robotics scientific and technological activities in the Iberian Peninsula, although open to research and delegates from other...

Untethered Recyclable Tubular Actuators with Versatile Locomotion for Soft Continuum Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Xiaojie; Chen, Qiaomei; Yang, Yang; Xu, Yanshuang; Li, Zhen; Wang, Zhenhua; Wu, Yahe; Wei, Yen; Ji, Yan

2018-05-27

Stimuli-responsive materials offer a distinguished platform to build tether-free compact soft robots, which can combine sensing and actuation without a linked power supply. In the past, tubular soft robots have to be made by multiple components with various internal channels or complex cavities assembled together. Moreover, robust processing, complex locomotion, simple structure, and easy recyclability represent major challenges in this area. Here, it is shown that those challenges can be tackled by liquid crystalline elastomers with allyl sulfide functional groups. The light-controlled exchange reaction between allyl sulfide groups allows flexible processing of tubular soft robots/actuators, which does not need any assisting materials. Complex locomotion demonstrated here includes reversible simultaneous bending and elongation; reversible diameter expansion; and omnidirectional bending via remote infrared light control. Different modes of actuation can be programmed into the same tube without the routine assembly of multiple tubes as used in the past. In addition, the exchange reaction also makes it possible to use the same single tube repeatedly to perform different functions by erasing and reprogramming. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Affordances for robots: a brief survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas E. Horton

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we consider the influence of Gibson's affordance theory on the design of robotic agents. Affordance theory (and the ecological approach to agent design in general has in many cases contributed to the development of successful robotic systems; we provide a brief survey of AI research in this area. However, there remain significant issues that complicate discussions on this topic, particularly in the exchange of ideas between researchers in artificial intelligence and ecological psychology. We identify some of these issues, specifically the lack of a generally accepted definition of "affordance" and fundamental differences in the current approaches taken in AI and ecological psychology. While we consider reconciliation between these fields to be possible and mutually beneficial, it will require some flexibility on the issue of direct perception.

Cultural Robotics: The Culture of Robotics and Robotics in Culture

OpenAIRE

Hooman Samani; Elham Saadatian; Natalie Pang; Doros Polydorou; Owen Noel Newton Fernando; Ryohei Nakatsu; Jeffrey Tzu Kwan Valino Koh

2013-01-01

In this paper, we have investigated the concept of “Cultural Robotics” with regard to the evolution of social into cultural robots in the 21st Century. By defining the concept of culture, the potential development of a culture between humans and robots is explored. Based on the cultural values of the robotics developers, and the learning ability of current robots, cultural attributes in this regard are in the process of being formed, which would define the new concept of cultural robotics. Ac...

I Show You How I Like You: Emotional Human-Robot Interaction through Facial Expression and Tactile Stimulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Canamero, Dolores; Fredslund, Jacob

2001-01-01

We report work on a LEGO robot that displays different emotional expressions in response to physical stimulation, for the purpose of social interaction with humans. This is a first step toward our longer-term goal of exploring believable emotional exchanges to achieve plausible interaction...... with a simple robot. Drawing inspiration from theories of human basic emotions, we implemented several prototypical expressions in the robot's caricatured face and conducted experiments to assess the recognizability of these expressions...

Robot Actors, Robot Dramaturgies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jochum, Elizabeth

This paper considers the use of tele-operated robots in live performance. Robots and performance have long been linked, from the working androids and automata staged in popular exhibitions during the nineteenth century and the robots featured at Cybernetic Serendipity (1968) and the World Expo...

Laboratory robotics systems at the Savannah River Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dyches, G.M.; Burkett, S.D.

1983-01-01

Many analytical chemistry methods normally used at the Savannah River site require repetitive procedures and handling of radioactive and other hazardous solutions. Robotics is being investigated as a method of reducing personnel fatigue and radiation exposure and also increasing product quality. Several applications of various commercially available robot systems are discussed involving cold (nonradioactive) and hot (radioactive) sample preparations and glovebox waste removal. Problems encountered in robot programming, parts fixturing, design of special robot hands and other support equipment, glovebox operation, and operator-system interaction are discussed. A typical robot system cost analysis for one application is given

Mobile robot prototype detector of gamma radiation; Prototipo de robot movil detector de radiacion gamma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vazquez C, R.M. [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Duran V, M. D.; Jardon M, C. I., E-mail: raulmario.vazquez@inin.gob.mx [Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Villa Guerrero, Carretera Federal Toluca-Ixtapan de la Sal Km. 64.5, La Finca Villa Guerrero, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)

2014-10-15

In this paper the technological development of a mobile robot prototype detector of gamma radiation is shown. This prototype has been developed for the purpose of algorithms implementation for the applications of terrestrial radiation monitoring of exposed sources, search for missing radioactive sources, identification and delineation of radioactive contamination areas and distribution maps generating of radioactive exposure. Mobile robot detector of radiation is an experimental technology development platform to operate in laboratory environment or flat floor facilities. The prototype integrates a driving section of differential configuration robot on wheels, a support mechanism and rotation of shielded detector, actuator controller cards, acquisition and processing of sensor data, detection algorithms programming and control actuators, data recording (Data Logger) and data transmission in wireless way. The robot in this first phase is remotely operated in wireless way with a range of approximately 150 m line of sight and can extend that range to 300 m or more with the use of signal repeaters. The gamma radiation detection is performed using a Geiger detector shielded. Scan detection is performed at various time sampling periods and diverse positions of discrete or continuous angular orientation on the horizon. The captured data are geographical coordinates of robot GPS (latitude and longitude), orientation angle of shield, counting by sampling time, date, hours, minutes and seconds. The data is saved in a file in the Micro Sd memory on the robot. They are also sent in wireless way by an X Bee card to a remote station that receives for their online monitoring on a laptop through an acquisition program by serial port on Mat Lab. Additionally a voice synthesizing card with a horn, both in the robot, periodically pronounced in Spanish, data length, latitude, orientation angle of shield and detected accounts. (Author)

Mobile robot motion estimation using Hough transform

Science.gov (United States)

Aldoshkin, D. N.; Yamskikh, T. N.; Tsarev, R. Yu

2018-05-01

This paper proposes an algorithm for estimation of mobile robot motion. The geometry of surrounding space is described with range scans (samples of distance measurements) taken by the mobile robot’s range sensors. A similar sample of space geometry in any arbitrary preceding moment of time or the environment map can be used as a reference. The suggested algorithm is invariant to isotropic scaling of samples or map that allows using samples measured in different units and maps made at different scales. The algorithm is based on Hough transform: it maps from measurement space to a straight-line parameters space. In the straight-line parameters, space the problems of estimating rotation, scaling and translation are solved separately breaking down a problem of estimating mobile robot localization into three smaller independent problems. The specific feature of the algorithm presented is its robustness to noise and outliers inherited from Hough transform. The prototype of the system of mobile robot orientation is described.

Robotic thin layer chromatography instrument for synthetic chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corkan, L.A.; Haynes, E.; Kline, S.; Lindsey, J.S.

1991-01-01

We have constructed a second generation instrument for performing automated thin layer chromatography (TLC), The TLC instrument Consists of four dedicated stations for (1) plate dispensing, (2) sample application, (3) plate development, and (4) densitometry. A robot is used to move TLC plates among stations. The TLC instrument functions either as a stand-alone unit or as one analytical module in a robotic workstation for synthetic chemistry. An integrated hardware and software architecture enables automatic TLC analysis of samples produced concurrently from synthetic reactions in progress on the workstation. The combination of fixed automation and robotics gives a throughput of 12 TLC samples per hour. From these results a blueprint has emerged for an advanced automated TLC instrument with far greater throughput and analytical capabilities

Investigating Astromaterials Curation Applications for Dexterous Robotic Arms

Science.gov (United States)

Snead, C. J.; Jang, J. H.; Cowden, T. R.; McCubbin, F. M.

2018-01-01

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation office at NASA Johnson Space Center is currently investigating tools and methods that will enable the curation of future astromaterials collections. Size and temperature constraints for astromaterials to be collected by current and future proposed missions will require the development of new robotic sample and tool handling capabilities. NASA Curation has investigated the application of robot arms in the past, and robotic 3-axis micromanipulators are currently in use for small particle curation in the Stardust and Cosmic Dust laboratories. While 3-axis micromanipulators have been extremely successful for activities involving the transfer of isolated particles in the 5-20 micron range (e.g. from microscope slide to epoxy bullet tip, beryllium SEM disk), their limited ranges of motion and lack of yaw, pitch, and roll degrees of freedom restrict their utility in other applications. For instance, curators removing particles from cosmic dust collectors by hand often employ scooping and rotating motions to successfully free trapped particles from the silicone oil coatings. Similar scooping and rotating motions are also employed when isolating a specific particle of interest from an aliquot of crushed meteorite. While cosmic dust curators have been remarkably successful with these kinds of particle manipulations using handheld tools, operator fatigue limits the number of particles that can be removed during a given extraction session. The challenges for curation of small particles will be exacerbated by mission requirements that samples be processed in N2 sample cabinets (i.e. gloveboxes). We have been investigating the use of compact robot arms to facilitate sample handling within gloveboxes. Six-axis robot arms potentially have applications beyond small particle manipulation. For instance, future sample return missions may involve biologically sensitive astromaterials that can be easily compromised by physical interaction with

Determination of 129I in environmental samples by AMS and NAA using an anion exchange resin disk

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Takashi; Banba, Shigeru; Kitamura, Toshikatsu; Kabuto, Shoji; Isogai, Keisuke; Amano, Hikaru

2007-06-01

We have developed a new extraction method for the measurement of 129I by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) utilizing an anion exchange resin disk. In comparison to traditional methods such as solvent extraction and ion exchange, this method provides for simple and quick sample handling. This extraction method was tested on soil, seaweed and milk samples, but because of disk clogging, the milk samples and some of the seaweed could not be applied successfully. Using this new extraction method to prepare samples for AMS analysis produced isotope ratios of iodine in good agreement with neutron activation analysis (NAA). The disk extraction method which take half an hour is faster than previous techniques, such as solvent extraction or ion exchange which take a few hours. The combination of the disk method and the AMS measurement is a powerful tool for the determination of 129I. Furthermore, these data will be available for the environmental monitoring before and during the operation of a new nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan.

Determination of 129I in environmental samples by AMS and NAA using an anion exchange resin disk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Takashi; Banba, Shigeru; Kitamura, Toshikatsu; Kabuto, Shoji; Isogai, Keisuke; Amano, Hikaru

2007-01-01

We have developed a new extraction method for the measurement of 129 I by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) utilizing an anion exchange resin disk. In comparison to traditional methods such as solvent extraction and ion exchange, this method provides for simple and quick sample handling. This extraction method was tested on soil, seaweed and milk samples, but because of disk clogging, the milk samples and some of the seaweed could not be applied successfully. Using this new extraction method to prepare samples for AMS analysis produced isotope ratios of iodine in good agreement with neutron activation analysis (NAA). The disk extraction method which take half an hour is faster than previous techniques, such as solvent extraction or ion exchange which take a few hours. The combination of the disk method and the AMS measurement is a powerful tool for the determination of 129 I. Furthermore, these data will be available for the environmental monitoring before and during the operation of a new nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan

Distributed Fault Detection and Isolation for Flocking in a Multi-robot System with Imperfect Communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shao Shiliang

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we focus on distributed fault detection and isolation (FDI for a multi-robot system where multiple robots execute a flocking task. Firstly, we propose a fault detection method based on the local-information-exchange and sensor-measurement technologies to cover cases of both perfect communication and imperfect communication. The two detection technologies can be adaptively selected according to the packet loss rate (PLR. Secondly, we design a fault isolation method, considering a situation in which faulty robots still influence the behaviours of other robots. Finally, a complete FDI scheme, based on the proposed detection and isolation methods, is simulated in various scenarios. The results demonstrate that our FDI scheme is effective.

Characterization of primary coolant purification system samples for assay of spent ion exchanger radionuclide inventor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sajin Prasad, S.; Pant, Amar; Sharma, Ranjit; Pal, Sanjit

2018-01-01

The primary coolant system water of a research reactor contains various fission and activation products and the water is circulated continuously through ion exchange resin cartridges, to reduce the radioactive ionic impurity present in it. The coolant purification system comprises of an ion exchange cooler, two micro filters, and a battery of six ion exchanger beds, associated valves, piping and instrumentation (Heavy water System Operating manual, 2014). The spent cartridge is finally disposed off as active solid waste which contains predominantly long lived fission and activation products. The heavy water coolant is also used to cool the structural assemblies after passing through primary heat exchanger and a metallic strainer, which accumulates the fission and activation products. When there is a reduction of coolant flow through these strainers, they are removed for cleaning and decontamination. This paper describes the characterization of ion exchange resin samples and liquid effluent generated during ultra sonic decontamination of strainer. The results obtained can be used as a methodology for the assay of the spent ion exchanger cartridges radionuclide inventory, during its disposal

Is Ethics of Robotics about Robots? Philosophy of Robotics Beyond Realism and Individualilsm.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coeckelbergh, Mark

2011-01-01

If we are doing ethics of robotics, what exactly is the object of our inquiry? This paper challenges 'individualist' robot ontology and 'individualist' social philosophy of robots. It is argued that ethics of robotics should not study and evaluate robotics exclusively in terms of individual

On the role of exchange of power and information signals in control and stability of the human-robot interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Kazerooni, H.

1991-01-01

A human's ability to perform physical tasks is limited, not only by his intelligence, but by his physical strength. If, in an appropriate environment, a machine's mechanical power is closely integrated with a human arm's mechanical power under the control of the human intellect, the resulting system will be superior to a loosely integrated combination of a human and a fully automated robot. Therefore, we must develop a fundamental solution to the problem of 'extending' human mechanical power. The work presented here defines 'extenders' as a class of robot manipulators worn by humans to increase human mechanical strength, while the wearer's intellect remains the central control system for manipulating the extender. The human, in physical contact with the extender, exchanges power and information signals with the extender. The aim is to determine the fundamental building blocks of an intelligent controller, a controller which allows interaction between humans and a broad class of computer-controlled machines via simultaneous exchange of both power and information signals. The prevalent trend in automation has been to physically separate the human from the machine so the human must always send information signals via an intermediary device (e.g., joystick, pushbutton, light switch). Extenders, however are perfect examples of self-powered machines that are built and controlled for the optimal exchange of power and information signals with humans. The human wearing the extender is in physical contact with the machine, so power transfer is unavoidable and information signals from the human help to control the machine. Commands are transferred to the extender via the contact forces and the EMG signals between the wearer and the extender. The extender augments human motor ability without accepting any explicit commands: it accepts the EMG signals and the contact force between the person's arm and the extender, and the extender 'translates' them into a desired position. In

Enhanced Sampling in Molecular Dynamics Using Metadynamics, Replica-Exchange, and Temperature-Acceleration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cameron Abrams

2013-12-01

Full Text Available We review a selection of methods for performing enhanced sampling in molecular dynamics simulations. We consider methods based on collective variable biasing and on tempering, and offer both historical and contemporary perspectives. In collective-variable biasing, we first discuss methods stemming from thermodynamic integration that use mean force biasing, including the adaptive biasing force algorithm and temperature acceleration. We then turn to methods that use bias potentials, including umbrella sampling and metadynamics. We next consider parallel tempering and replica-exchange methods. We conclude with a brief presentation of some combination methods.

Exploratorium: Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Judith, Ed.

2002-01-01

This issue of Exploratorium Magazine focuses on the topic robotics. It explains how to make a vibrating robotic bug and features articles on robots. Contents include: (1) "Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns" (Ray Bradbury); (2) "Robots at Work" (Jake Widman); (3) "Make a Vibrating Robotic Bug" (Modesto Tamez); (4) "The Robot…

Robotic Materials Handling in Space: Mechanical Design of the Robot Operated Materials Processing System HitchHiker Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Voellmer, George

1997-01-01

The Goddard Space Flight Center has developed the Robot Operated Materials Processing System (ROMPS) that flew aboard STS-64 in September, 1994. The ROMPS robot transported pallets containing wafers of different materials from their storage racks to a furnace for thermal processing. A system of tapered guides and compliant springs was designed to deal with the potential misalignments. The robot and all the sample pallets were locked down for launch and landing. The design of the passive lockdown system, and the interplay between it and the alignment system are presented.

Programming Robots with Associative Memories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Touzet, C

1999-07-10

Today, there are several drawbacks that impede the necessary and much needed use of robot learning techniques in real applications. First, the time needed to achieve the synthesis of any behavior is prohibitive. Second, the robot behavior during the learning phase is "by definition" bad, it may even be dangerous. Third, except within the lazy learning approach, a new behavior implies a new learning phase. We propose in this paper to use self-organizing maps to encode the non explicit model of the robot-world interaction sampled by the lazy memory, and then generate a robot behavior by means of situations to be achieved, i.e., points on the self-organizing maps. Any behavior can instantaneously be synthesized by the definition of a goal situation. Its performance will be minimal (not evidently bad) and will improve by the mere repetition of the behavior.

Programming Robots with Associative Memories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Touzet, C.

1999-01-01

Today, there are several drawbacks that impede the necessary and much needed use of robot learning techniques in real applications. First, the time needed to achieve the synthesis of any behavior is prohibitive. Second, the robot behavior during the learning phase is by definition bad, it may even be dangerous. Third, except within the lazy learning approach, a new behavior implies a new learning phase. We propose in this paper to use self-organizing maps to encode the non explicit model of the robot-world interaction sampled by the lazy memory, and then generate a robot behavior by means of situations to be achieved, i.e., points on the self-organizing maps. Any behavior can instantaneously be synthesized by the definition of a goal situation. Its performance will be minimal (not evidently bad) and will improve by the mere repetition of the behavior

Developing maintenance technologies for FBR's heat exchanger units by advanced laser processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishimura, Akihiko; Shimada, Yukihiro

2011-01-01

Laser processing technologies were developed for the purpose of maintenance of FBR's heat exchanger units. Ultrashort laser processing fabricated fiber Bragg grating sensor for seismic monitoring. Fiber laser welding with a newly developed robot system repair cracks on inner wall of heat exchanger tubes. Safety operation of the heat exchanger units will be improved by the advanced laser processing technologies. These technologies are expected to be applied to the maintenance for the next generation FBRs. (author)

Trajectory Planning for Robots in Dynamic Human Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenstrup, Mikael; Bak, Thomas; Andersen, Hans Jørgen

2010-01-01

This paper present a trajectory planning algorithm for a robot operating in dynamic human environments. Environments such as pedestrian streets, hospital corridors and train stations. We formulate the problem as planning a minimal cost trajectory through a potential field, defined from...... is enhanced to direct the search and account for the kinodynamic robot constraints. Compared to standard RRT, the algorithm proposed here find the robot control input that will drive the robot towards a new sampled point in the configuration space. The effect of the input is simulated, to add a reachable...

Robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheide, A.W.

1983-01-01

This article reviews some of the technical areas and history associated with robotics, provides information relative to the formation of a Robotics Industry Committee within the Industry Applications Society (IAS), and describes how all activities relating to robotics will be coordinated within the IEEE. Industrial robots are being used for material handling, processes such as coating and arc welding, and some mechanical and electronics assembly. An industrial robot is defined as a programmable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for a variety of tasks. The initial focus of the Robotics Industry Committee will be on the application of robotics systems to the various industries that are represented within the IAS

Replica Exchange Gaussian Accelerated Molecular Dynamics: Improved Enhanced Sampling and Free Energy Calculation.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yu-Ming M; McCammon, J Andrew; Miao, Yinglong

2018-04-10

Through adding a harmonic boost potential to smooth the system potential energy surface, Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) provides enhanced sampling and free energy calculation of biomolecules without the need of predefined reaction coordinates. This work continues to improve the acceleration power and energy reweighting of the GaMD by combining the GaMD with replica exchange algorithms. Two versions of replica exchange GaMD (rex-GaMD) are presented: force constant rex-GaMD and threshold energy rex-GaMD. During simulations of force constant rex-GaMD, the boost potential can be exchanged between replicas of different harmonic force constants with fixed threshold energy. However, the algorithm of threshold energy rex-GaMD tends to switch the threshold energy between lower and upper bounds for generating different levels of boost potential. Testing simulations on three model systems, including the alanine dipeptide, chignolin, and HIV protease, demonstrate that through continuous exchanges of the boost potential, the rex-GaMD simulations not only enhance the conformational transitions of the systems but also narrow down the distribution width of the applied boost potential for accurate energetic reweighting to recover biomolecular free energy profiles.

Wireless Power System Design for Mobile Robots used in Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, S. Y.; Yoo, S. J.; Lee, Kun J.; Rim, C. T.

2012-01-01

The robots used in nuclear power plants (NPP) have received much attention in recent years due to the Fukushima nuclear accident, which is considered as one of the worst nuclear disasters. In general, the NPP robots can play important roles in fuel exchange, repair work, radiation monitoring, rescue, and scouting out NPP. Under these conditions, human access to NPP during normal and emergency operations is strictly restricted due to the risks of high level radiation and contamination. However, in practice, robots have not been widely used in NPP because of the following limitations. First, the NPP robots cannot be of multi-purpose use because of their mission complexity and uniqueness. Second, the demand of the NPP robots is low due to the limited number of NPP over the world. Third, the NPP robots developed so far have no enough confidence in spite of the improvement of robot technology. Lastly, the NPP robots cannot carry on their mission continuously due to the limited energy capacity of the battery: mobile robots should stop working every two hours to recharge their batteries and spend least twenty minutes. As the solutions for this 'energy hungry' problem, high capacity batteries, quick battery chargers, power cables, and internal combustion engines were proposed; however, they still have the problems such as limited mission time and range, frequent recharging, or exhausting emission and noise. In this paper, the wireless power transfer systems (WPTS) for NPP robots are proposed. This technology can let NPP robots free from mission time and range limits, and exhausting emission. The requirements for the NPP robots are newly proposed, and two types of WPTS, roaming and railway, are suggested in this paper

Note: Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope with detachable scanner and reliable transfer mechanism for tip and sample exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Weifeng; Wang, Jihao; Wang, Junting; Zhang, Jing; Hou, Yubin; Lu, Qingyou

2017-12-01

A homebuilt low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) featuring a detachable scanner based on a double slider design, along with a reliable transfer mechanism for tip and sample exchange, is present. The coarse motor is decoupled from the scanner, which prevents the motor instabilities including vibrations and drifts from entering the tip-sample loop and thus improves the performance of the STM. In addition, in situ exchange of tips and samples can be implemented easily and reliably using a winch-type transfer mechanism. Atomically resolved images on graphite are demonstrated to show the performance of the proposed STM.

Performance Evaluation Methods for Assistive Robotic Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Tsui, Katherine M.; Feil-Seifer, David J.; Matarić, Maja J.; Yanco, Holly A.

Robots have been developed for several assistive technology domains, including intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders, eldercare, and post-stroke rehabilitation. Assistive robots have also been used to promote independent living through the use of devices such as intelligent wheelchairs, assistive robotic arms, and external limb prostheses. Work in the broad field of assistive robotic technology can be divided into two major research phases: technology development, in which new devices, software, and interfaces are created; and clinical, in which assistive technology is applied to a given end-user population. Moving from technology development towards clinical applications is a significant challenge. Developing performance metrics for assistive robots poses a related set of challenges. In this paper, we survey several areas of assistive robotic technology in order to derive and demonstrate domain-specific means for evaluating the performance of such systems. We also present two case studies of applied performance measures and a discussion regarding the ubiquity of functional performance measures across the sampled domains. Finally, we present guidelines for incorporating human performance metrics into end-user evaluations of assistive robotic technologies.

Towards Versatile Robots Through Open Heterogeneous Modular Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lyder, Andreas

arises, a new robot can be assembled rapidly from the existing modules, in contrast to conventional robots, which require a time consuming and expensive development process. In this thesis we define a modular robot to be a robot consisting of dynamically reconfigurable modules. The goal of this thesis......Robots are important tools in our everyday life. Both in industry and at the consumer level they serve the purpose of increasing our scope and extending our capabilities. Modular robots take the next step, allowing us to easily create and build various robots from a set of modules. If a problem...... is to increase the versatility and practical usability of modular robots by introducing new conceptual designs. Until now modular robots have been based on a pre-specified set of modules, and thus, their functionality is limited. We propose an open heterogeneous design concept, which allows a modular robot...

Laboratory experiments in mobile robot navigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kar, Asim; Pal, Prabir K.

1997-01-01

Mobile robots have potential applications in remote surveillance and operation in hazardous areas. To be effective, they must have the ability to navigate on their own to desired locations. Several experimental navigational runs of a mobile robot developed have been conducted. The robot has three wheels of which the front wheel is steered and the hind wheels are driven. The robot is equipped with an ultrasonic range sensor, which is turned around to get range data in all directions. The range data is fed to the input of a neural net, whose output steers the robot towards the goal. The robot is powered by batteries (12V 10Ah). It has an onboard stepper motor controller for driving the wheels and the ultrasonic setup. It also has an onboard computer which runs the navigation program NAV. This program sends the range data and configuration parameters to the operator''s console program OCP, running on a stationary PC, through radio communication on a serial line. Through OCP, an operator can monitor the progress of the robot from a distant control room and intervene if necessary. In this paper the control modules of the mobile robot, its ways of operation and also results of some of the experimental runs recorded are reported. It is seen that the trained net guides the mobile robot through gaps of 1m and above to its destination with about 84% success measured over a small sample of 38 runs

5th International Robotic Sailing Conference

CERN Document Server

Finnis, James

2013-01-01

Robotic sailing offers the potential of wind propelled vehicles which are sufficiently autonomous to remain at sea for months at a time. These could replace or augment existing oceanographic sampling systems, be used in border surveillance and security or offer a means of carbon neutral transportation. To achieve this represents a complex, multi-disciplinary challenge to boat designers and naval architects, systems/electrical engineers and computer scientists.  Since 2004 a series of competitions in the form of the Sailbot, World Robotic Sailing Championship and Microtransat competitions have sparked an explosion in the number of groups working on autonomous sailing robots. Despite this interest the longest distance sailed autonomously remains only a few hundred miles. Many of the challenges in building truly autonomous sailing robots still remain unsolved. These proceedings present the cutting edge of work in a variety of fields related to robotic sailing. They will be presented during the 5th International...

Semiautomatic exchanger of samples for carry out neutron activation analysis; Intercambiador semiautomatico de muestras para realizar analisis por activacion neutronica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aguilar H, F.; Quintana C, G. [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Torres R, C. E.; Mejia J, J. O., E-mail: fortunato.aguilar@inin.gob.mx [Instituto Tecnologico de Toluca, Av. Tecnologico s/n, Ex-Rancho La Virgen, Metepec, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)

2015-09-15

In this paper the design methodology and implementation of a semiautomatic exchanger of samples for the Analysis Laboratory by Neutron Activation of the Reactor department is presented. Taking into account the antecedents, the necessities of improvement are described, as well as the equipment that previously contained the Laboratory. The project of the semiautomatic exchanger of samples was developed at Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, with its own technology to increase independence from commercial equipment. Each element of the semiautomatic exchanger of samples is described both in the design phase as construction. The achieved results are positive and encouraging for the fulfillment of the proposed objective that is to increase the capacity of the Laboratory. (Author)

Order parameter free enhanced sampling of the vapor-liquid transition using the generalized replica exchange method.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Qing; Kim, Jaegil; Straub, John E

2013-03-14

The generalized Replica Exchange Method (gREM) is extended into the isobaric-isothermal ensemble, and applied to simulate a vapor-liquid phase transition in Lennard-Jones fluids. Merging an optimally designed generalized ensemble sampling with replica exchange, gREM is particularly well suited for the effective simulation of first-order phase transitions characterized by "backbending" in the statistical temperature. While the metastable and unstable states in the vicinity of the first-order phase transition are masked by the enthalpy gap in temperature replica exchange method simulations, they are transformed into stable states through the parameterized effective sampling weights in gREM simulations, and join vapor and liquid phases with a succession of unimodal enthalpy distributions. The enhanced sampling across metastable and unstable states is achieved without the need to identify a "good" order parameter for biased sampling. We performed gREM simulations at various pressures below and near the critical pressure to examine the change in behavior of the vapor-liquid phase transition at different pressures. We observed a crossover from the first-order phase transition at low pressure, characterized by the backbending in the statistical temperature and the "kink" in the Gibbs free energy, to a continuous second-order phase transition near the critical pressure. The controlling mechanisms of nucleation and continuous phase transition are evident and the coexistence properties and phase diagram are found in agreement with literature results.

Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human-robot interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Dautenhahn, Kerstin

2007-04-29

Social intelligence in robots has a quite recent history in artificial intelligence and robotics. However, it has become increasingly apparent that social and interactive skills are necessary requirements in many application areas and contexts where robots need to interact and collaborate with other robots or humans. Research on human-robot interaction (HRI) poses many challenges regarding the nature of interactivity and 'social behaviour' in robot and humans. The first part of this paper addresses dimensions of HRI, discussing requirements on social skills for robots and introducing the conceptual space of HRI studies. In order to illustrate these concepts, two examples of HRI research are presented. First, research is surveyed which investigates the development of a cognitive robot companion. The aim of this work is to develop social rules for robot behaviour (a 'robotiquette') that is comfortable and acceptable to humans. Second, robots are discussed as possible educational or therapeutic toys for children with autism. The concept of interactive emergence in human-child interactions is highlighted. Different types of play among children are discussed in the light of their potential investigation in human-robot experiments. The paper concludes by examining different paradigms regarding 'social relationships' of robots and people interacting with them.

Control of compliant anthropomimetic robot joint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svetozarević Bratislav

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we propose a control strategy for a robot joint which fully mimics the typical human joint structure. The joint drive is based on two actuators (dc motors, agonist and antagonist, acting through compliant tendons and forming a nonlinear multi-input multi-output (MIMO system. At any time, we consider one actuator, the puller, as being responsible for motion control, while the role of the other is to keep its tendon force at some appropriate low level. This human-like and energetically efficient approach requires the control of 'switching', or exchanging roles between actuators. Moreover, an algorithm based on adaptive force reference is used to solve a problem of slacken tendons during the switching and to increase the energy efficiency. This approach was developed and evaluated on increasingly complex robot joint configurations, starting with simple and noncompliant system, and finishing with nonlinear and compliant system.

Towards Real-Time Distributed Planning in Multi-Robot Systems

KAUST Repository

Abdelkader, Mohamed

2018-04-01

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in robotics related to multi-robot applications. Such systems can be involved in several tasks such as collaborative search and rescue, aerial transportation, surveillance, and monitoring, to name a few. There are two possible architectures for the autonomous control of multi-robot systems. In the centralized architecture, a master controller communicates with all the robots to collect information. It uses this information to make decisions for the entire system and then sends commands to each robot. In contrast, in the distributed architecture, each robot makes its own decision independent from a central authority. While distributed architecture is a more portable solution, it comes at the expense of extensive information exchange (communication). The extensive communication between robots can result in decision delays because of which distributed architecture is often impractical for systems with strict real-time constraints, e.g. when decisions have to be taken in the order of milliseconds. In this thesis, we propose a distributed framework that strikes a balance between limited communicated information and reasonable system-wide performance while running in real-time. We implement the proposed approach in a game setting of two competing teams of drones, defenders and attackers. Defending drones execute a proposed linear program algorithm (using only onboard computing modules) to obstruct attackers from infiltrating a defense zone while having minimal local message passing. Another main contribution is that we developed a realistic simulation environment as well as lab and outdoor hardware setups of customized drones for testing the system in realistic scenarios. Our software is completely open-source and fully integrated with the well-known Robot Operating System (ROS) in hopes to make our work easily reproducible and for rapid future improvements.

Robot engineering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Seul

2006-02-15

This book deals with robot engineering, giving descriptions of robot's history, current tendency of robot field, work and characteristic of industrial robot, essential merit and vector, application of matrix, analysis of basic vector, expression of Denavit-Hartenberg, robot kinematics such as forward kinematics, inverse kinematics, cases of MATLAB program, and motion kinematics, robot kinetics like moment of inertia, centrifugal force and coriolis power, and Euler-Lagrangian equation course plan, SIMULINK position control of robots.

Robot engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Seul

2006-02-01

This book deals with robot engineering, giving descriptions of robot's history, current tendency of robot field, work and characteristic of industrial robot, essential merit and vector, application of matrix, analysis of basic vector, expression of Denavit-Hartenberg, robot kinematics such as forward kinematics, inverse kinematics, cases of MATLAB program, and motion kinematics, robot kinetics like moment of inertia, centrifugal force and coriolis power, and Euler-Lagrangian equation course plan, SIMULINK position control of robots.

Wireless Power System Design for Mobile Robots used in Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, S. Y.; Yoo, S. J.; Lee, Kun J.; Rim, C. T. [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-05-15

The robots used in nuclear power plants (NPP) have received much attention in recent years due to the Fukushima nuclear accident, which is considered as one of the worst nuclear disasters. In general, the NPP robots can play important roles in fuel exchange, repair work, radiation monitoring, rescue, and scouting out NPP. Under these conditions, human access to NPP during normal and emergency operations is strictly restricted due to the risks of high level radiation and contamination. However, in practice, robots have not been widely used in NPP because of the following limitations. First, the NPP robots cannot be of multi-purpose use because of their mission complexity and uniqueness. Second, the demand of the NPP robots is low due to the limited number of NPP over the world. Third, the NPP robots developed so far have no enough confidence in spite of the improvement of robot technology. Lastly, the NPP robots cannot carry on their mission continuously due to the limited energy capacity of the battery: mobile robots should stop working every two hours to recharge their batteries and spend least twenty minutes. As the solutions for this 'energy hungry' problem, high capacity batteries, quick battery chargers, power cables, and internal combustion engines were proposed; however, they still have the problems such as limited mission time and range, frequent recharging, or exhausting emission and noise. In this paper, the wireless power transfer systems (WPTS) for NPP robots are proposed. This technology can let NPP robots free from mission time and range limits, and exhausting emission. The requirements for the NPP robots are newly proposed, and two types of WPTS, roaming and railway, are suggested in this paper

Calibration of Robot Reference Frames for Enhanced Robot Positioning Accuracy

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Frank Shaopeng

2008-01-01

This chapter discussed the importance and methods of conducting robot workcell calibration for enhancing the accuracy of the robot TCP positions in industrial robot applications. It shows that the robot frame transformations define the robot geometric parameters such as joint position variables, link dimensions, and joint offsets in an industrial robot system. The D-H representation allows the robot designer to model the robot motion geometry with the four standard D-H parameters. The robot k...

Third International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation for Space 1994

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

The Third International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation for Space (i-SAIRAS 94), held October 18-20, 1994, in Pasadena, California, was jointly sponsored by NASA, ESA, and Japan's National Space Development Agency, and was hosted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology. i-SAIRAS 94 featured presentations covering a variety of technical and programmatic topics, ranging from underlying basic technology to specific applications of artificial intelligence and robotics to space missions. i-SAIRAS 94 featured a special workshop on planning and scheduling and provided scientists, engineers, and managers with the opportunity to exchange theoretical ideas, practical results, and program plans in such areas as space mission control, space vehicle processing, data analysis, autonomous spacecraft, space robots and rovers, satellite servicing, and intelligent instruments.

Generic robot architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Bruemmer, David J [Idaho Falls, ID; Few, Douglas A [Idaho Falls, ID

2010-09-21

The present invention provides methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for a generic robot architecture providing a framework that is easily portable to a variety of robot platforms and is configured to provide hardware abstractions, abstractions for generic robot attributes, environment abstractions, and robot behaviors. The generic robot architecture includes a hardware abstraction level and a robot abstraction level. The hardware abstraction level is configured for developing hardware abstractions that define, monitor, and control hardware modules available on a robot platform. The robot abstraction level is configured for defining robot attributes and provides a software framework for building robot behaviors from the robot attributes. Each of the robot attributes includes hardware information from at least one hardware abstraction. In addition, each robot attribute is configured to substantially isolate the robot behaviors from the at least one hardware abstraction.

Molecular Robots Obeying Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaminka, Gal A; Spokoini-Stern, Rachel; Amir, Yaniv; Agmon, Noa; Bachelet, Ido

2017-01-01

Asimov's three laws of robotics, which were shaped in the literary work of Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) and others, define a crucial code of behavior that fictional autonomous robots must obey as a condition for their integration into human society. While, general implementation of these laws in robots is widely considered impractical, limited-scope versions have been demonstrated and have proven useful in spurring scientific debate on aspects of safety and autonomy in robots and intelligent systems. In this work, we use Asimov's laws to examine these notions in molecular robots fabricated from DNA origami. We successfully programmed these robots to obey, by means of interactions between individual robots in a large population, an appropriately scoped variant of Asimov's laws, and even emulate the key scenario from Asimov's story "Runaround," in which a fictional robot gets into trouble despite adhering to the laws. Our findings show that abstract, complex notions can be encoded and implemented at the molecular scale, when we understand robots on this scale on the basis of their interactions.

Robotic Surgery

Science.gov (United States)

Childress, Vincent W.

2007-01-01

The medical field has many uses for automated and remote-controlled technology. For example, if a tissue sample is only handled in the laboratory by a robotic handling system, then it will never come into contact with a human. Such a system not only helps to automate the medical testing process, but it also helps to reduce the chances of…

The Academic Differences between Students Involved in School-Based Robotics Programs and Students Not Involved in School-Based Robotics Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Koumoullos, Michael

2013-01-01

This research study aimed to identify any correlation between participation in afterschool robotics at the high school level and academic performance. Through a sample of N = 121 students, the researcher examined the grades and attendance of students who participated in a robotics program in the 2011-2012 school year. The academic record of these…

Colias: An Autonomous Micro Robot for Swarm Robotic Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farshad Arvin

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Robotic swarms that take inspiration from nature are becoming a fascinating topic for multi-robot researchers. The aim is to control a large number of simple robots in order to solve common complex tasks. Due to the hardware complexities and cost of robot platforms, current research in swarm robotics is mostly performed by simulation software. The simulation of large numbers of these robots in robotic swarm applications is extremely complex and often inaccurate due to the poor modelling of external conditions. In this paper, we present the design of a low-cost, open-platform, autonomous micro-robot (Colias for robotic swarm applications. Colias employs a circular platform with a diameter of 4 cm. It has a maximum speed of 35 cm/s which enables it to be used in swarm scenarios very quickly over large arenas. Long-range infrared modules with an adjustable output power allow the robot to communicate with its direct neighbours at a range of 0.5 cm to 2 m. Colias has been designed as a complete platform with supporting software development tools for robotics education and research. It has been tested in both individual and swarm scenarios, and the observed results demonstrate its feasibility for use as a micro-sized mobile robot and as a low-cost platform for robot swarm applications.

Mission Reliability Estimation for Repairable Robot Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Trebi-Ollennu, Ashitey; Dolan, John; Stancliff, Stephen

2010-01-01

A mission reliability estimation method has been designed to translate mission requirements into choices of robot modules in order to configure a multi-robot team to have high reliability at minimal cost. In order to build cost-effective robot teams for long-term missions, one must be able to compare alternative design paradigms in a principled way by comparing the reliability of different robot models and robot team configurations. Core modules have been created including: a probabilistic module with reliability-cost characteristics, a method for combining the characteristics of multiple modules to determine an overall reliability-cost characteristic, and a method for the generation of legitimate module combinations based on mission specifications and the selection of the best of the resulting combinations from a cost-reliability standpoint. The developed methodology can be used to predict the probability of a mission being completed, given information about the components used to build the robots, as well as information about the mission tasks. In the research for this innovation, sample robot missions were examined and compared to the performance of robot teams with different numbers of robots and different numbers of spare components. Data that a mission designer would need was factored in, such as whether it would be better to have a spare robot versus an equivalent number of spare parts, or if mission cost can be reduced while maintaining reliability using spares. This analytical model was applied to an example robot mission, examining the cost-reliability tradeoffs among different team configurations. Particularly scrutinized were teams using either redundancy (spare robots) or repairability (spare components). Using conservative estimates of the cost-reliability relationship, results show that it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of a robotic mission by using cheaper, lower-reliability components and providing spares. This suggests that the

Mobile robot prototype detector of gamma radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vazquez C, R.M.; Duran V, M. D.; Jardon M, C. I.

2014-10-01

In this paper the technological development of a mobile robot prototype detector of gamma radiation is shown. This prototype has been developed for the purpose of algorithms implementation for the applications of terrestrial radiation monitoring of exposed sources, search for missing radioactive sources, identification and delineation of radioactive contamination areas and distribution maps generating of radioactive exposure. Mobile robot detector of radiation is an experimental technology development platform to operate in laboratory environment or flat floor facilities. The prototype integrates a driving section of differential configuration robot on wheels, a support mechanism and rotation of shielded detector, actuator controller cards, acquisition and processing of sensor data, detection algorithms programming and control actuators, data recording (Data Logger) and data transmission in wireless way. The robot in this first phase is remotely operated in wireless way with a range of approximately 150 m line of sight and can extend that range to 300 m or more with the use of signal repeaters. The gamma radiation detection is performed using a Geiger detector shielded. Scan detection is performed at various time sampling periods and diverse positions of discrete or continuous angular orientation on the horizon. The captured data are geographical coordinates of robot GPS (latitude and longitude), orientation angle of shield, counting by sampling time, date, hours, minutes and seconds. The data is saved in a file in the Micro Sd memory on the robot. They are also sent in wireless way by an X Bee card to a remote station that receives for their online monitoring on a laptop through an acquisition program by serial port on Mat Lab. Additionally a voice synthesizing card with a horn, both in the robot, periodically pronounced in Spanish, data length, latitude, orientation angle of shield and detected accounts. (Author)

Reactive Path Planning Approach for Docking Robots in Unknown Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Cui

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Autonomous robots need to be recharged and exchange information with the host through docking in the long-distance tasks. Therefore, feasible path is required in the docking process to guide the robot and adjust its pose. However, when there are unknown obstacles in the work area, it becomes difficult to determine the feasible path for docking. This paper presents a reactive path planning approach named Dubins-APF (DAPF to solve the path planning problem for docking in unknown environment with obstacles. In this proposed approach the Dubins curves are combined with the designed obstacle avoidance potential field to plan the feasible path. Firstly, an initial path is planned and followed according to the configurations of the robot and the docking station. Then when the followed path is evaluated to be infeasible, the intermediate configuration is calculated as well as the replanned path based on the obstacle avoidance potential field. The robot will be navigated to the docking station with proper pose eventually via the DAPF approach. The proposed DAPF approach is efficient and does not require the prior knowledge about the environment. Simulation results are given to validate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.

Comparison of particulate matter exposure estimates in young children from personal sampling equipment and a robotic sampler.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagona, Jessica A; Shalat, Stuart L; Wang, Zuocheng; Ramagopal, Maya; Black, Kathleen; Hernandez, Marta; Mainelis, Gediminas

2017-05-01

Accurate characterization of particulate matter (PM) exposure in young children is difficult, because personal samplers are often too heavy, bulky or impractical to be used. The Pretoddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robotic (PIPER) sampler was developed to help address this problem. In this study, we measured inhalable PM exposures in 2-year-olds via a lightweight personal sampler worn in a small backpack and evaluated the use of a robotic sampler with an identical sampling train for estimating PM exposure in this age group. PM mass concentrations measured by the personal sampler ranged from 100 to almost 1,200 μg/m 3 , with a median value of 331 μg/m 3 . PM concentrations measured by PIPER were considerably lower, ranging from 14 to 513 μg/m 3 with a median value of 56 μg/m 3 . Floor cleaning habits and activity patterns of the 2-year-olds varied widely by home; vigorous play and recent floor cleaning were most associated with higher personal exposure. Our findings highlight the need for additional characterization of children's activity patterns and their effect on personal exposures.

Multidirectional Image Sensing for Microscopy Based on a Rotatable Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yajing Shen

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Image sensing at a small scale is essentially important in many fields, including microsample observation, defect inspection, material characterization and so on. However, nowadays, multi-directional micro object imaging is still very challenging due to the limited field of view (FOV of microscopes. This paper reports a novel approach for multi-directional image sensing in microscopes by developing a rotatable robot. First, a robot with endless rotation ability is designed and integrated with the microscope. Then, the micro object is aligned to the rotation axis of the robot automatically based on the proposed forward-backward alignment strategy. After that, multi-directional images of the sample can be obtained by rotating the robot within one revolution under the microscope. To demonstrate the versatility of this approach, we view various types of micro samples from multiple directions in both optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and panoramic images of the samples are processed as well. The proposed method paves a new way for the microscopy image sensing, and we believe it could have significant impact in many fields, especially for sample detection, manipulation and characterization at a small scale.

The contaminant analysis automation robot implementation for the automated laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Younkin, J.R.; Igou, R.E.; Urenda, T.D.

1995-01-01

The Contaminant Analysis Automation (CAA) project defines the automated laboratory as a series of standard laboratory modules (SLM) serviced by a robotic standard support module (SSM). These SLMs are designed to allow plug-and-play integration into automated systems that perform standard analysis methods (SAM). While the SLMs are autonomous in the execution of their particular chemical processing task, the SAM concept relies on a high-level task sequence controller (TSC) to coordinate the robotic delivery of materials requisite for SLM operations, initiate an SLM operation with the chemical method dependent operating parameters, and coordinate the robotic removal of materials from the SLM when its commands and events has been established to allow ready them for transport operations as well as performing the Supervisor and Subsystems (GENISAS) software governs events from the SLMs and robot. The Intelligent System Operating Environment (ISOE) enables the inter-process communications used by GENISAS. CAA selected the Hewlett-Packard Optimized Robot for Chemical Analysis (ORCA) and its associated Windows based Methods Development Software (MDS) as the robot SSM. The MDS software is used to teach the robot each SLM position and required material port motions. To allow the TSC to command these SLM motions, a hardware and software implementation was required that allowed message passing between different operating systems. This implementation involved the use of a Virtual Memory Extended (VME) rack with a Force CPU-30 computer running VxWorks; a real-time multitasking operating system, and a Radiuses PC compatible VME computer running MDS. A GENISAS server on The Force computer accepts a transport command from the TSC, a GENISAS supervisor, over Ethernet and notifies software on the RadiSys PC of the pending command through VMEbus shared memory. The command is then delivered to the MDS robot control software using a Windows Dynamic Data Exchange conversation

Micro intelligence robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, Yon Ho

1991-07-01

This book gives descriptions of micro robot about conception of robots and micro robot, match rules of conference of micro robots, search methods of mazes, and future and prospect of robots. It also explains making and design of 8 beat robot like making technique, software, sensor board circuit, and stepping motor catalog, speedy 3, Mr. Black and Mr. White, making and design of 16 beat robot, such as micro robot artist, Jerry 2 and magic art of shortening distances algorithm of robot simulation.

Modelling of industrial robot in LabView Robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Banas, W.; Cwikła, G.; Foit, K.; Gwiazda, A.; Monica, Z.; Sekala, A.

2017-08-01

Currently can find many models of industrial systems including robots. These models differ from each other not only by the accuracy representation parameters, but the representation range. For example, CAD models describe the geometry of the robot and some even designate a mass parameters as mass, center of gravity, moment of inertia, etc. These models are used in the design of robotic lines and sockets. Also systems for off-line programming use these models and many of them can be exported to CAD. It is important to note that models for off-line programming describe not only the geometry but contain the information necessary to create a program for the robot. Exports from CAD to off-line programming system requires additional information. These models are used for static determination of reachability points, and testing collision. It’s enough to generate a program for the robot, and even check the interaction of elements of the production line, or robotic cell. Mathematical models allow robots to study the properties of kinematic and dynamic of robot movement. In these models the geometry is not so important, so are used only selected parameters such as the length of the robot arm, the center of gravity, moment of inertia. These parameters are introduced into the equations of motion of the robot and motion parameters are determined.

Towards Sociable Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ngo, Trung Dung

This thesis studies aspects of self-sufficient energy (energy autonomy) for truly autonomous robots and towards sociable robots. Over sixty years of history of robotics through three developmental ages containing single robot, multi-robot systems, and social (sociable) robots, the main objective...... of roboticists mostly focuses on how to make a robotic system function autonomously and further, socially. However, such approaches mostly emphasize behavioural autonomy, rather than energy autonomy which is the key factor for not only any living machine, but for life on the earth. Consequently, self......-sufficient energy is one of the challenges for not only single robot or multi-robot systems, but also social and sociable robots. This thesis is to deal with energy autonomy for multi-robot systems through energy sharing (trophallaxis) in which each robot is equipped with two capabilities: self-refueling energy...

Research on Robot Pose Control Technology Based on Kinematics Analysis Model

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dalong; Xu, Lijuan

2018-01-01

In order to improve the attitude stability of the robot, proposes an attitude control method of robot based on kinematics analysis model, solve the robot walking posture transformation, grasping and controlling the motion planning problem of robot kinematics. In Cartesian space analytical model, using three axis accelerometer, magnetometer and the three axis gyroscope for the combination of attitude measurement, the gyroscope data from Calman filter, using the four element method for robot attitude angle, according to the centroid of the moving parts of the robot corresponding to obtain stability inertia parameters, using random sampling RRT motion planning method, accurate operation to any position control of space robot, to ensure the end effector along a prescribed trajectory the implementation of attitude control. The accurate positioning of the experiment is taken using MT-R robot as the research object, the test robot. The simulation results show that the proposed method has better robustness, and higher positioning accuracy, and it improves the reliability and safety of robot operation.

Biomass feeds vegetarian robot; Biomassa voedt vegetarische robot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van den Brandt, M. [Office for Science and Technology, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Washington (United States)

2009-09-15

This brief article addresses the EATR robot (Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot) that was developed by Cyclone Power and uses biomass as primary source of energy for propulsion. [Dutch] Een kort artikel over de door Cyclone Power ontwikkelde EATR-robot (Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot) die voor de voortdrijving biomassa gebruikt als primaire energiebron.

Robot Futures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christoffersen, Anja; Grindsted Nielsen, Sally; Jochum, Elizabeth Ann

Robots are increasingly used in health care settings, e.g., as homecare assistants and personal companions. One challenge for personal robots in the home is acceptance. We describe an innovative approach to influencing the acceptance of care robots using theatrical performance. Live performance...... is a useful testbed for developing and evaluating what makes robots expressive; it is also a useful platform for designing robot behaviors and dialogue that result in believable characters. Therefore theatre is a valuable testbed for studying human-robot interaction (HRI). We investigate how audiences...... perceive social robots interacting with humans in a future care scenario through a scripted performance. We discuss our methods and initial findings, and outline future work....

Soft Robotics Week

CERN Document Server

Rossiter, Jonathan; Iida, Fumiya; Cianchetti, Matteo; Margheri, Laura

2017-01-01

This book offers a comprehensive, timely snapshot of current research, technologies and applications of soft robotics. The different chapters, written by international experts across multiple fields of soft robotics, cover innovative systems and technologies for soft robot legged locomotion, soft robot manipulation, underwater soft robotics, biomimetic soft robotic platforms, plant-inspired soft robots, flying soft robots, soft robotics in surgery, as well as methods for their modeling and control. Based on the results of the second edition of the Soft Robotics Week, held on April 25 – 30, 2016, in Livorno, Italy, the book reports on the major research lines and novel technologies presented and discussed during the event.

Towards Versatile Robots Through Open Heterogeneous Modular Robots

OpenAIRE

Lyder, Andreas

2010-01-01

Robots are important tools in our everyday life. Both in industry and at the consumer level they serve the purpose of increasing our scope and extending our capabilities. Modular robots take the next step, allowing us to easily create and build various robots from a set of modules. If a problem arises, a new robot can be assembled rapidly from the existing modules, in contrast to conventional robots, which require a time consuming and expensive development process. In this thesis we define a ...

Robotic architectures

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mtshali, M

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In the development of mobile robotic systems, a robotic architecture plays a crucial role in interconnecting all the sub-systems and controlling the system. The design of robotic architectures for mobile autonomous robots is a challenging...

Foundations and latest advances in replica exchange transition interface sampling

Science.gov (United States)

Cabriolu, Raffaela; Skjelbred Refsnes, Kristin M.; Bolhuis, Peter G.; van Erp, Titus S.

2017-10-01

Nearly 20 years ago, transition path sampling (TPS) emerged as an alternative method to free energy based approaches for the study of rare events such as nucleation, protein folding, chemical reactions, and phase transitions. TPS effectively performs Monte Carlo simulations with relatively short molecular dynamics trajectories, with the advantage of not having to alter the actual potential energy surface nor the underlying physical dynamics. Although the TPS approach also introduced a methodology to compute reaction rates, this approach was for a long time considered theoretically attractive, providing the exact same results as extensively long molecular dynamics simulations, but still expensive for most relevant applications. With the increase of computer power and improvements in the algorithmic methodology, quantitative path sampling is finding applications in more and more areas of research. In particular, the transition interface sampling (TIS) and the replica exchange TIS (RETIS) algorithms have, in turn, improved the efficiency of quantitative path sampling significantly, while maintaining the exact nature of the approach. Also, open-source software packages are making these methods, for which implementation is not straightforward, now available for a wider group of users. In addition, a blooming development takes place regarding both applications and algorithmic refinements. Therefore, it is timely to explore the wide panorama of the new developments in this field. This is the aim of this article, which focuses on the most efficient exact path sampling approach, RETIS, as well as its recent applications, extensions, and variations.

Ping-Pong Robotics with High-Speed Vision System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Hailing; Wu, Haiyan; Lou, Lei

2012-01-01

The performance of vision-based control is usually limited by the low sampling rate of the visual feedback. We address Ping-Pong robotics as a widely studied example which requires high-speed vision for highly dynamic motion control. In order to detect a flying ball accurately and robustly...... of the manipulator are updated iteratively with decreasing error. Experiments are conducted on a 7 degrees of freedom humanoid robot arm. A successful Ping-Pong playing between the robot arm and human is achieved with a high successful rate of 88%....

Reference trajectory tracking for a multi-DOF robot arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krasňanský Róbert

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the problem of tracking the generated reference trajectory by the simulation model of a multi-DOF robot arm. The kinematic transformation between task space and joint configuration coordinates is nonlinear and configuration dependent. To obtain the solution of the forward kinematics problem, the homogeneous transformation matrix is used. A solution to the inverse kinematics is a vector of joint configuration coordinates calculated using of pseudoinverse Jacobian technique. These coordinates correspond to a set of task space coordinates. The algorithm is presented which uses iterative solution and is simplified by considering stepper motors in robot arm joints. The reference trajectory in Cartesian coordinate system is generated on-line by the signal generator previously developed in MS Excel. Dynamic Data Exchange communication protocol allows sharing data with Matlab-Simulink. These data represent the reference tracking trajectory of the end effector. Matlab-Simulink software is used to calculate the representative joint rotations. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated experimentally on the model of 7-DOF robot arm system.

Soft Robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitesides, George M

2018-04-09

This description of "soft robotics" is not intended to be a conventional review, in the sense of a comprehensive technical summary of a developing field. Rather, its objective is to describe soft robotics as a new field-one that offers opportunities to chemists and materials scientists who like to make "things" and to work with macroscopic objects that move and exert force. It will give one (personal) view of what soft actuators and robots are, and how this class of soft devices fits into the more highly developed field of conventional "hard" robotics. It will also suggest how and why soft robotics is more than simply a minor technical "tweak" on hard robotics and propose a unique role for chemistry, and materials science, in this field. Soft robotics is, at its core, intellectually and technologically different from hard robotics, both because it has different objectives and uses and because it relies on the properties of materials to assume many of the roles played by sensors, actuators, and controllers in hard robotics. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Efficient Round-Trip Time Optimization for Replica-Exchange Enveloping Distribution Sampling (RE-EDS).

Science.gov (United States)

Sidler, Dominik; Cristòfol-Clough, Michael; Riniker, Sereina

2017-06-13

Replica-exchange enveloping distribution sampling (RE-EDS) allows the efficient estimation of free-energy differences between multiple end-states from a single molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. In EDS, a reference state is sampled, which can be tuned by two types of parameters, i.e., smoothness parameters(s) and energy offsets, such that all end-states are sufficiently sampled. However, the choice of these parameters is not trivial. Replica exchange (RE) or parallel tempering is a widely applied technique to enhance sampling. By combining EDS with the RE technique, the parameter choice problem could be simplified and the challenge shifted toward an optimal distribution of the replicas in the smoothness-parameter space. The choice of a certain replica distribution can alter the sampling efficiency significantly. In this work, global round-trip time optimization (GRTO) algorithms are tested for the use in RE-EDS simulations. In addition, a local round-trip time optimization (LRTO) algorithm is proposed for systems with slowly adapting environments, where a reliable estimate for the round-trip time is challenging to obtain. The optimization algorithms were applied to RE-EDS simulations of a system of nine small-molecule inhibitors of phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT). The energy offsets were determined using our recently proposed parallel energy-offset (PEOE) estimation scheme. While the multistate GRTO algorithm yielded the best replica distribution for the ligands in water, the multistate LRTO algorithm was found to be the method of choice for the ligands in complex with PNMT. With this, the 36 alchemical free-energy differences between the nine ligands were calculated successfully from a single RE-EDS simulation 10 ns in length. Thus, RE-EDS presents an efficient method for the estimation of relative binding free energies.

Measurements in Concentrated Sun using a Remote Controlled Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Floroian

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Nowdays, using the concentrated sunlight is a big issue because the amount of energy is very high and the light is concentrated in a very small area. The main problem in this situation is the heating, and in order to make safe measurements a remote controlled robot is needed. After that, a remote controlled robot will assume the duty of protect the measured sample and to expose it for a precise time to the concentrated sun in order to reduce heating of the sample. For easy operating, and for automatize the process, all the duties, starting with initial conditions, continuing with triggering the measurements, and conditioning the signals and finalizing with data saving must be assured by the robot.

Monte Carlo Registration and Its Application with Autonomous Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Rink

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This work focuses on Monte Carlo registration methods and their application with autonomous robots. A streaming and an offline variant are developed, both based on a particle filter. The streaming registration is performed in real-time during data acquisition with a laser striper allowing for on-the-fly pose estimation. Thus, the acquired data can be instantly utilized, for example, for object modeling or robot manipulation, and the laser scan can be aborted after convergence. Curvature features are calculated online and the estimated poses are optimized in the particle weighting step. For sampling the pose particles, uniform, normal, and Bingham distributions are compared. The methods are evaluated with a high-precision laser striper attached to an industrial robot and with a noisy Time-of-Flight camera attached to service robots. The shown applications range from robot assisted teleoperation, over autonomous object modeling, to mobile robot localization.

Exploiting Child-Robot Aesthetic Interaction for a Social Robot

OpenAIRE

Lee, Jae-Joon; Kim, Dae-Won; Kang, Bo-Yeong

2012-01-01

A social robot interacts and communicates with humans by using the embodied knowledge gained from interactions with its social environment. In recent years, emotion has emerged as a popular concept for designing social robots. Several studies on social robots reported an increase in robot sociability through emotional imitative interactions between the robot and humans. In this paper conventional emotional interactions are extended by exploiting the aesthetic theories that the sociability of ...

Evolutionary robotics

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In evolutionary robotics, a suitable robot control system is developed automatically through evolution due to the interactions between the robot and its environment. It is a complicated task, as the robot and the environment constitute a highly dynamical system. Several methods have been tried by various investigators to ...

Lounging with robots--social spaces of residents in care: A comparison trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Peri, Kathryn; Kerse, Ngaire; Broadbent, Elizabeth; Jayawardena, Chandimal; Kuo, Tony; Datta, Chandan; Stafford, Rebecca; MacDonald, Bruce

2016-03-01

To investigate whether robots could reduce resident sleeping and stimulate activity in the lounges of an older persons' care facility. Non-randomised controlled trial over a 12-week period. The intervention involved situating robots in low-level and high-dependency ward lounges and a comparison with similar lounges without robots. A time sampling observation method was utilised to observe resident behaviour, including sleep and activities over periods of time, to compare interactions in robot and no robot lounges. The use of robots was modest; overall 13% of residents in robot lounges used the robot. Utilisation was higher in the low-level care lounges; on average, 23% used the robot, whereas in high-level care lounges, the television being on was the strongest predictor of sleep. This study found that having robots in lounges was mostly a positive experience. The amount of time residents slept during the day was significantly less in low-level care lounges that had a robot. © 2015 AJA Inc.

Interactive Exploration Robots: Human-Robotic Collaboration and Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Terry

2017-01-01

For decades, NASA has employed different operational approaches for human and robotic missions. Human spaceflight missions to the Moon and in low Earth orbit have relied upon near-continuous communication with minimal time delays. During these missions, astronauts and mission control communicate interactively to perform tasks and resolve problems in real-time. In contrast, deep-space robotic missions are designed for operations in the presence of significant communication delay - from tens of minutes to hours. Consequently, robotic missions typically employ meticulously scripted and validated command sequences that are intermittently uplinked to the robot for independent execution over long periods. Over the next few years, however, we will see increasing use of robots that blend these two operational approaches. These interactive exploration robots will be remotely operated by humans on Earth or from a spacecraft. These robots will be used to support astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), to conduct new missions to the Moon, and potentially to enable remote exploration of planetary surfaces in real-time. In this talk, I will discuss the technical challenges associated with building and operating robots in this manner, along with lessons learned from research conducted with the ISS and in the field.

I Show You How I Like You: Emotional Human-Robot Interaction through Facial Expression and Tactile Stimulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fredslund, Jakob; Cañamero, Lola D.

2001-01-01

We report work on a LEGO robot capable of displaying several emo- tional expressions in response to physical contact. Our motivation has been to explore believable emotional exchanges to achieve plausible interaction with a simple robot. We have worked toward this goal in two ways. First......, acknowledging the importance of physical manipulation in children's inter- actions, interaction with the robot is through tactile stimulation; the various kinds of stimulation that can elicit the robot's emotions are grounded in a model of emotion activation based on different stimulation patterns. Sec- ond......, emotional states need to be clearly conveyed. We have drawn inspira- tion from theories of human basic emotions with associated universal facial expressions, which we have implemented in a caricaturized face. We have conducted experiments on both children and adults to assess the recogniz- ability...

New trends in medical and service robots theory and integrated applications

CERN Document Server

Bleuler, Hannes; Rodic, Aleksandar; Vaida, Calin; Pisla, Adrian; First International Workshop on Medical and Service Robots

2014-01-01

This book contains mainly the selected papers of the First International Workshop on Medical and Service Robots, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2012. The high quality of the scientific contributions is the result of a rigorous selection and improvement based on the participants’ exchange of opinions and extensive peer-review. This process has led to the publishing of the present collection of 16 independent valuable contributions and points of view and not as standard symposium or conference proceedings.  The addressed issues are: Computational Kinematics, Mechanism Design, Linkages and Manipulators, Mechanisms for Biomechanics, Mechanics of Robots, Control Issues for Mechanical Systems, Novel Designs, Teaching Methods, all of these being concentrated around robotic systems for medical and service applications.  The results are of interest to researchers and professional practitioners as well as to Ph.D. students in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering.  This volume marks the start of a s...

Software Strategy for Robotic Transperineal Prostate Therapy in Closed-Bore MRI

Science.gov (United States)

Tokuda, Junichi; Fischer, Gregory S.; Csoma, Csaba; DiMaio, Simon P.; Gobbi, David G.; Fichtinger, Gabor; Tempany, Clare M.; Hata, Nobuhiko

2009-01-01

A software strategy to provide intuitive navigation for MRI-guided robotic transperineal prostate therapy is presented. In the system, the robot control unit, the MRI scanner, and open-source navigation software are connected to one another via Ethernet to exchange commands, coordinates, and images. Six states of the system called “workphases” are defined based on the clinical scenario to synchronize behaviors of all components. The wizard-style user interface allows easy following of the clinical workflow. On top of this framework, the software provides features for intuitive needle guidance: interactive target planning; 3D image visualization with current needle position; treatment monitoring through real-time MRI. These features are supported by calibration of robot and image coordinates by the fiducial-based registration. The performance test shows that the registration error of the system was 2.6 mm in the prostate area, and it displayed real-time 2D image 1.7 s after the completion of image acquisition. PMID:18982666

Investigating the Effects of Robot-Assisted Therapy among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder using Bio-markers

Science.gov (United States)

Bharatharaj, Jaishankar; Huang, Loulin; Al-Jumaily, Ahmed; Elara, Mohan Rajesh; Krägeloh, Chris

2017-09-01

Therapeutic pet robots designed to help humans with various medical conditions could play a vital role in physiological, psychological and social-interaction interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this paper, we report our findings from a robot-assisted therapeutic study conducted over seven weeks to investigate the changes in stress levels of children with ASD. For this study, we used the parrot-inspired therapeutic robot, KiliRo, we developed and investigated urinary and salivary samples of participating children to report changes in stress levels before and after interacting with the robot. This is a pioneering human-robot interaction study to investigate the effects of robot-assisted therapy using salivary samples. The results show that the bio-inspired robot-assisted therapy can significantly help reduce the stress levels of children with ASD.

ROBOT LITERACY AN APPROACH FOR SHARING SOCIETY WITH INTELLIGENT ROBOTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hidetsugu Suto

2013-12-01

Full Text Available A novel concept of media education called “robot literacy” is proposed. Here, robot literacy refers to the means of forming an appropriate relationship with intelligent robots. It can be considered a kind of media literacy. People who were born after the Internet age can be considered “digital natives” who have new morals and values and behave differently than previous generations in Internet societies. This can cause various problems among different generations. Thus, the necessity of media literacy education is increasing. Internet technologies, as well as robotics technologies are growing rapidly, and people who are born after the “home robot age,” whom the author calls “robot natives,” will be expected to have a certain degree of “robot literacy.” In this paper, the concept of robot literacy is defined and an approach to robot literacy education is discussed.

Robotic buildings(s)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bier, H.H.

2014-01-01

Technological and conceptual advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and material science have enabled robotic building to be in the last decade prototypically implemented. In this context, robotic building implies both physically built robotic environments and robotically

Recent results of the investigation of a micro-fluidic sampling chip and sampling system for hot cell aqueous processing streams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tripp, J.; Smith, T.; Law, J.

2013-01-01

A Fuel Cycle Research and Development project has investigated an innovative sampling method that could evolve into the next generation sampling and analysis system for metallic elements present in aqueous processing streams. Initially sampling technologies were evaluated and micro-fluidic sampling chip technology was selected and tested. A conceptual design for a fully automated microcapillary-based system was completed and a robotic automated sampling system was fabricated. The mechanical and sampling operation of the completed sampling system was investigated. Different sampling volumes have been tested. It appears that the 10 μl volume has produced data that had much smaller relative standard deviations than the 2 μl volume. In addition, the production of a less expensive, mass produced sampling chip was investigated to avoid chip reuse thus increasing sampling reproducibility/accuracy. The micro-fluidic-based robotic sampling system's mechanical elements were tested to ensure analytical reproducibility and the optimum robotic handling of micro-fluidic sampling chips. (authors)

Determination of γ-hydroxybutyrate in human urine samples by ion exclusion and ion exchange two-dimensional chromatography system.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Junwei; Deng, Zhifen; Zhu, Zuoyi; Wang, Yong; Wang, Guoqing; Sun, Yu-An; Zhu, Yan

2017-12-15

A two-dimensional ion chromatography system was developed for the determination of γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in human urine samples. Ion exclusion chromatography was used in the first dimensional separation for elimination of urine matrices and detection of GHB above 10mgL -1 , ion exchange chromatography was used in the second dimensional separation via column-switching technique for detection of GHB above 0.08mgL -1 . Under the optimized chromatographic conditions, the ion exclusion and ion exchange chromatography separation system exhibited satisfactory repeatability (RSDchromatography system was convenient and practical for the determination of GHB in human urine samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cloud Robotics Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Busra Koken

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Cloud robotics is a rapidly evolving field that allows robots to offload computation-intensive and storage-intensive jobs into the cloud. Robots are limited in terms of computational capacity, memory and storage. Cloud provides unlimited computation power, memory, storage and especially collaboration opportunity. Cloud-enabled robots are divided into two categories as standalone and networked robots. This article surveys cloud robotic platforms, standalone and networked robotic works such as grasping, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM and monitoring.

Distributed Robotics Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik Hautop; Pagliarini, Luigi

2011-01-01

Distributed robotics takes many forms, for instance, multirobots, modular robots, and self-reconfigurable robots. The understanding and development of such advanced robotic systems demand extensive knowledge in engineering and computer science. In this paper, we describe the concept of a distribu......Distributed robotics takes many forms, for instance, multirobots, modular robots, and self-reconfigurable robots. The understanding and development of such advanced robotic systems demand extensive knowledge in engineering and computer science. In this paper, we describe the concept...... to be changed, related to multirobot control and human-robot interaction control from virtual to physical representation. The proposed system is valuable for bringing a vast number of issues into education – such as parallel programming, distribution, communication protocols, master dependency, connectivity...

Robots could assist scientists working in Greenland

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2011-07-01

GREENLAND—Tom Lane and Suk Joon Lee, recent graduates of Dartmouth University's Thayer School of Engineering, in Hanover, N. H., are standing outside in the frigid cold testing an autonomous robot that could help with scientific research and logistics in harsh polar environments. This summer, Lane, Lee, and others are at Summit Station, a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored scientific research station in Greenland, fine-tuning a battery-powered Yeti robot as part of a team working on the NSF-funded Cool Robot project. The station, also known as Summit Camp, is located on the highest point of the Greenland Ice Sheet (72°N, 38°W, 3200 meters above sea level) near the middle of the island. It is a proving ground this season for putting the approximately 68-kilogram, 1-cubic-meter robot through its paces, including improving Yeti's mobility capabilities and field-testing the robot. (See the electronic supplement to this Eos issue for a video of Yeti in action (http://www.agu.org/eos_elec/).) During field-testing, plans call for the robot to collect data on elevation and snow surface characteristics, including accumulation. In addition, the robot will collect black carbon and elemental carbon particulate matter air samples around Summit Camp's power generator to help study carbon dispersion over snow.

TRUST MODEL FOR INFORMATION SECURITY OF MULTI-AGENT ROBOTIC SYSTEMS WITH A DECENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. A. Zikratov

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the issues on protection of multi-agent robotic systems against attacks by robots-saboteurs. The operation analysis of such systems with decentralized control is carried out. Concept of harmful information impact (attack from a robot-saboteur to the multi-agent robotic system is given. The class of attacks is considered using interception of messages, formation and transfer of misinformation to group of robots, and also carrying out other actions with vulnerabilities of multiagent algorithms without obviously identified signs of invasion of robots-saboteurs. The model of information security is developed, in which robots-agents work out trust levels to each other analyzing the events occurring in the system. The idea of trust model consists in the analysis of transferred information by each robot and the executed actions of other members in a group, comparison of chosen decision on iteration step k with objective function of the group. Distinctive feature of the trust model in comparison with the closest analogue - Buddy Security Model in which the exchange between the agents security tokens is done — is involvement of the time factor during which agents have to "prove" by their actions the usefulness in achievement of a common goal to members of the group. Variants of this model realization and ways of an assessment of trust levels for agents in view of the security policy accepted in the group are proposed.

Robot Mechanisms

CERN Document Server

Lenarcic, Jadran; Stanišić, Michael M

2013-01-01

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the area of robot mechanisms, primarily considering industrial manipulators and humanoid arms. The book is intended for both teaching and self-study. Emphasis is given to the fundamentals of kinematic analysis and the design of robot mechanisms. The coverage of topics is untypical. The focus is on robot kinematics. The book creates a balance between theoretical and practical aspects in the development and application of robot mechanisms, and includes the latest achievements and trends in robot science and technology.

Robots de servicio

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Aracil

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Resumen: El término Robots de Servicio apareció a finales de los años 80 como una necesidad de desarrollar máquinas y sistemas capaces de trabajar en entornos diferentes a los fabriles. Los Robots de Servicio tenían que poder trabajar en entornos noestructurados, en condiciones ambientales cambiantes y con una estrecha interacción con los humanos. En 1995 fue creado por la IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, el Technical Committee on Service Robots, y este comité definió en el año 2000 las áreas de aplicación de los Robots de Servicios, que se pueden dividir en dos grandes grupos: 1 sectores productivos no manufactureros tales como edificación, agricultura, naval, minería, medicina, etc. y 2 sectores de servicios propiamente dichos: asistencia personal, limpieza, vigilancia, educación, entretenimiento, etc. En este trabajo se hace una breve revisión de los principales conceptos y aplicaciones de los robots de servicio. Palabras clave: Robots de servicio, robots autónomos, robots de exteriores, robots de educación y entretenimiento, robots caminantes y escaladores, robots humanoides

Filigree Robotics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tamke, Martin; Evers, Henrik Leander; Clausen Nørgaard, Esben

2016-01-01

Filigree Robotics experiments with the combination of traditional ceramic craft with robotic fabrication in order to generate a new narrative of fine three-dimensional ceramic ornament for architecture.......Filigree Robotics experiments with the combination of traditional ceramic craft with robotic fabrication in order to generate a new narrative of fine three-dimensional ceramic ornament for architecture....

Hydraulic bilateral construction robot; Yuatsushiki bilateral kensetsu robot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maehata, K.; Mori, N. [Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

1999-05-15

Concerning a hydraulic bilateral construction robot, its system constitution, structures and functions of important components, and the results of some tests are explained, and the researches conducted at Gifu University are described. The construction robot in this report is a servo controlled system of a version developed from the mini-shovel now available in the market. It is equipped, in addition to an electrohydraulic servo control system, with various sensors for detecting the robot attitude, vibration, and load state, and with a camera for visualizing the surrounding landscape. It is also provided with a bilateral joy stick which is a remote control actuator capable of working sensation feedback and with a rocking unit that creates robot movements of rolling, pitching, and heaving. The construction robot discussed here, with output increased and response faster thanks to the employment of a hydraulic driving system for the aim of building a robot system superior in performance to the conventional model designed primarily for heavy duty, proves after tests to be a highly sophisticated remotely controlled robot control system. (NEDO)

Robotic multi-well planar patch-clamp for native and primary mammalian cells

Science.gov (United States)

Milligan, Carol J; Li, Jing; Sukumar, Piruthivi; Majeed, Yasser; Dallas, Mark L; English, Anne; Emery, Paul; Porter, Karen E; Smith, Andrew M; McFadzean, Ian; Beccano-Kelly, Dayne; Bahnasi, Yahya; Cheong, Alex; Naylor, Jacqueline; Zeng, Fanning; Liu, Xing; Gamper, Nikita; Jiang, Lin-Hua; Pearson, Hugh A; Peers, Chris; Robertson, Brian; Beech, David J

2009-01-01

Multi-well robotic planar patch-clamp has become common in drug development and safety programmes because it enables efficient and systematic testing of compounds against ion channels during voltage-clamp. It has not, however, been adopted significantly in other important areas of ion channel research, where conventional patch-clamp remains the favoured method. Here we show the wider potential of the multi-well approach with the capability for efficient intracellular solution exchange, describing protocols and success rates for recording from a range of native and primary mammalian cells derived from blood vessels, arthritic joints, and the immune and central nervous systems. The protocol involves preparing a suspension of single cells to be dispensed robotically into 4-8 microfluidic chambers each containing a glass chip with a small aperture. Under automated control, giga-seals and whole-cell access are achieved followed by pre-programmed routines of voltage paradigms and fast extracellular or intracellular solution exchange. Recording from 48 chambers usually takes 1-6 hr depending on the experimental design and yields 16-33 cell recordings. PMID:19197268

Robotics education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benton, O.

1984-01-01

Robotics education courses are rapidly spreading throughout the nation's colleges and universities. Engineering schools are offering robotics courses as part of their mechanical or manufacturing engineering degree program. Two year colleges are developing an Associate Degree in robotics. In addition to regular courses, colleges are offering seminars in robotics and related fields. These seminars draw excellent participation at costs running up to $200 per day for each participant. The last one drew 275 people from Texas to Virginia. Seminars are also offered by trade associations, private consulting firms, and robot vendors. IBM, for example, has the Robotic Assembly Institute in Boca Raton and charges about $1,000 per week for course. This is basically for owners of IBM robots. Education (and training) can be as short as one day or as long as two years. Here is the educational pattern that is developing now

METALLOGRAPHIC SAMPLE PREPARATION STATION-CONSTRUCTIVE CONCEPT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AVRAM Florin Timotei

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper we propose to present the issues involved in the case of the constructive conception of a station for metallographic sample preparation. This station is destined for laboratory work. The metallographic station is composed of a robot ABB IRB1600, a metallographic microscope, a gripping device, a manipulator, a laboratory grinding and polishing machine. The robot will be used for manipulation of the sample preparation and the manipulator take the sample preparation for processing.

Robot Aesthetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jochum, Elizabeth Ann; Putnam, Lance Jonathan

This paper considers art-based research practice in robotics through a discussion of our course and relevant research projects in autonomous art. The undergraduate course integrates basic concepts of computer science, robotic art, live performance and aesthetic theory. Through practice...... in robotics research (such as aesthetics, culture and perception), we believe robot aesthetics is an important area for research in contemporary aesthetics....

Robotic soil sampler for hazardous waste clean up

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaselskis, E.J.

1993-01-01

An innovative field sampling system using LA-ICP-AES (laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry) technology is currently being developed through an integrated team approach at Ames Laboratory to provide in-situ, real time analysis of inorganic hazardous waste. This sampling approach is conducted through a mobile testing facility which consists of an instrumentation vehicle called the Mobile Demonstration Laboratory for Environmental Screening Technologies (MDLEST), and an attached trailer called the Robotic Sampling Accessory (RSA). The RSA provides automated sampling capabilities through an attached three-degree-of-freedom robot that will be equipped with surface and subsurface sampling probes. The probes are currently being designed by a multidisciplinary team consisting of engineers and scientists at Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, and Lockheed. This system is expected to improve sample quality assurance, reduce sampling time and cost, and improve worker safety. Limitations and future areas of research for the MDLEST-RSA are also discussed

Robots: l'embarras de richesses [:survey of robots available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meieran, H.; Brittain, K.; Sturkey, R.

1989-01-01

A survey of robots available for use in the nuclear industry is presented. Two new categories of mobile robots have been introduced since the last survey (April 1987): pipe crawlers and underwater robots. The number of robots available has risen to double what it was two years ago and four times what it was in 1986. (U.K.)

Robots Social Embodiment in Autonomous Mobile Robotics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian Duffy

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This work aims at demonstrating the inherent advantages of embracing a strong notion of social embodiment in designing a real-world robot control architecture with explicit ?intelligent? social behaviour between a collective of robots. It develops the current thinking on embodiment beyond the physical by demonstrating the importance of social embodiment. A social framework develops the fundamental social attributes found when more than one robot co-inhabit a physical space. The social metaphors of identity, character, stereotypes and roles are presented and implemented within a real-world social robot paradigm in order to facilitate the realisation of explicit social goals.

Decommissioning? Why not use a robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bares, L.C.

1995-01-01

Tasks which may be accomplished by robots alone or in conjunction with human workers in decommissioning nuclear facilities include: routine surveillance in contaminated areas; radiation surveys and sampling; preparation of work area; decontamination of walls and floors; disassembly of contaminated equipment and piping; internal decontamination of piping and waste storage/processing tanks; sorting materials; removal of large activated/contaminated structures; asbestos removal and packaging; transport of waste from disassembly areas; tending waste processing equipment; waste packaging for storage. The status of the technology is briefly reviewed and examples of the use of robots in decommissioning work in the USA are described. Although the use of robots in this field is not extensive so far, that use is increasing and information on its costs and benefits are becoming available. (UK)

Robotic intelligence kernel

Science.gov (United States)

Bruemmer, David J [Idaho Falls, ID

2009-11-17

A robot platform includes perceptors, locomotors, and a system controller. The system controller executes a robot intelligence kernel (RIK) that includes a multi-level architecture and a dynamic autonomy structure. The multi-level architecture includes a robot behavior level for defining robot behaviors, that incorporate robot attributes and a cognitive level for defining conduct modules that blend an adaptive interaction between predefined decision functions and the robot behaviors. The dynamic autonomy structure is configured for modifying a transaction capacity between an operator intervention and a robot initiative and may include multiple levels with at least a teleoperation mode configured to maximize the operator intervention and minimize the robot initiative and an autonomous mode configured to minimize the operator intervention and maximize the robot initiative. Within the RIK at least the cognitive level includes the dynamic autonomy structure.

An Intelligent Robot Programing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Seong Yong

2012-01-15

This book introduces an intelligent robot programing with background of the begging, introduction of VPL, and SPL, building of environment for robot platform, starting of robot programing, design of simulation environment, robot autonomy drive control programing, simulation graphic. Such as SPL graphic programing graphical image and graphical shapes, and graphical method application, application of procedure for robot control, robot multiprogramming, robot bumper sensor programing, robot LRF sencor programing and robot color sensor programing.

An Intelligent Robot Programing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Seong Yong

2012-01-01

This book introduces an intelligent robot programing with background of the begging, introduction of VPL, and SPL, building of environment for robot platform, starting of robot programing, design of simulation environment, robot autonomy drive control programing, simulation graphic. Such as SPL graphic programing graphical image and graphical shapes, and graphical method application, application of procedure for robot control, robot multiprogramming, robot bumper sensor programing, robot LRF sencor programing and robot color sensor programing.

Neuro-robotics from brain machine interfaces to rehabilitation robotics

CERN Document Server

Artemiadis

2014-01-01

Neuro-robotics is one of the most multidisciplinary fields of the last decades, fusing information and knowledge from neuroscience, engineering and computer science. This book focuses on the results from the strategic alliance between Neuroscience and Robotics that help the scientific community to better understand the brain as well as design robotic devices and algorithms for interfacing humans and robots. The first part of the book introduces the idea of neuro-robotics, by presenting state-of-the-art bio-inspired devices. The second part of the book focuses on human-machine interfaces for pe

Cloud Robotics Model

OpenAIRE

Mester, Gyula

2015-01-01

Cloud Robotics was born from the merger of service robotics and cloud technologies. It allows robots to benefit from the powerful computational, storage, and communications resources of modern data centres. Cloud robotics allows robots to take advantage of the rapid increase in data transfer rates to offload tasks without hard real time requirements. Cloud Robotics has rapidly gained momentum with initiatives by companies such as Google, Willow Garage and Gostai as well as more than a dozen a...

Reachable Distance Space: Efficient Sampling-Based Planning for Spatially Constrained Systems

KAUST Repository

Xinyu Tang,

2010-01-25

Motion planning for spatially constrained robots is difficult due to additional constraints placed on the robot, such as closure constraints for closed chains or requirements on end-effector placement for articulated linkages. It is usually computationally too expensive to apply sampling-based planners to these problems since it is difficult to generate valid configurations. We overcome this challenge by redefining the robot\\'s degrees of freedom and constraints into a new set of parameters, called reachable distance space (RD-space), in which all configurations lie in the set of constraint-satisfying subspaces. This enables us to directly sample the constrained subspaces with complexity linear in the number of the robot\\'s degrees of freedom. In addition to supporting efficient sampling of configurations, we show that the RD-space formulation naturally supports planning and, in particular, we design a local planner suitable for use by sampling-based planners. We demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach for several systems including closed chain planning with multiple loops, restricted end-effector sampling, and on-line planning for drawing/sculpting. We can sample single-loop closed chain systems with 1,000 links in time comparable to open chain sampling, and we can generate samples for 1,000-link multi-loop systems of varying topologies in less than a second. © 2010 The Author(s).

Space Robotics Challenge

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Space Robotics Challenge seeks to infuse robot autonomy from the best and brightest research groups in the robotics community into NASA robots for future...

Are Sex Robots as Bad as Killing Robots

OpenAIRE

Richardson, Kathleen

2016-01-01

In 2015 the Campaign Against Sex Robots was launched to draw attention to the technological production of new kinds of objects: sex robots of women and children. The campaign was launched shortly after the Future of Life Institute published an online petition: “Autonomous Weapons: An Open Letter From AI and Robotics Researchers” which was signed by leading luminaries in the field of AI and Robotics. In response to the Campaign, an academic at Oxford University opened an ethics thread “Are sex...

Multi-robot control interface

Science.gov (United States)

Bruemmer, David J [Idaho Falls, ID; Walton, Miles C [Idaho Falls, ID

2011-12-06

Methods and systems for controlling a plurality of robots through a single user interface include at least one robot display window for each of the plurality of robots with the at least one robot display window illustrating one or more conditions of a respective one of the plurality of robots. The user interface further includes at least one robot control window for each of the plurality of robots with the at least one robot control window configured to receive one or more commands for sending to the respective one of the plurality of robots. The user interface further includes a multi-robot common window comprised of information received from each of the plurality of robots.

Forming Human-Robot Teams Across Time and Space

Science.gov (United States)

Hambuchen, Kimberly; Burridge, Robert R.; Ambrose, Robert O.; Bluethmann, William J.; Diftler, Myron A.; Radford, Nicolaus A.

2012-01-01

NASA pushes telerobotics to distances that span the Solar System. At this scale, time of flight for communication is limited by the speed of light, inducing long time delays, narrow bandwidth and the real risk of data disruption. NASA also supports missions where humans are in direct contact with robots during extravehicular activity (EVA), giving a range of zero to hundreds of millions of miles for NASA s definition of "tele". . Another temporal variable is mission phasing. NASA missions are now being considered that combine early robotic phases with later human arrival, then transition back to robot only operations. Robots can preposition, scout, sample or construct in advance of human teammates, transition to assistant roles when the crew are present, and then become care-takers when the crew returns to Earth. This paper will describe advances in robot safety and command interaction approaches developed to form effective human-robot teams, overcoming challenges of time delay and adapting as the team transitions from robot only to robots and crew. The work is predicated on the idea that when robots are alone in space, they are still part of a human-robot team acting as surrogates for people back on Earth or in other distant locations. Software, interaction modes and control methods will be described that can operate robots in all these conditions. A novel control mode for operating robots across time delay was developed using a graphical simulation on the human side of the communication, allowing a remote supervisor to drive and command a robot in simulation with no time delay, then monitor progress of the actual robot as data returns from the round trip to and from the robot. Since the robot must be responsible for safety out to at least the round trip time period, the authors developed a multi layer safety system able to detect and protect the robot and people in its workspace. This safety system is also running when humans are in direct contact with the robot

Robotics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lorino, P; Altwegg, J M

1985-05-01

This article, which is aimed at the general reader, examines latest developments in, and the role of, modern robotics. The 7 main sections are sub-divided into 27 papers presented by 30 authors. The sections are as follows: 1) The role of robotics, 2) Robotics in the business world and what it can offer, 3) Study and development, 4) Utilisation, 5) Wages, 6) Conditions for success, and 7) Technological dynamics.

FPGA for Robotic Applications: from Android/Humanoid Robots to Artificial Men

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tole Sutikno

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Researches on home robots have been increasing enormously. There has always existed a continuous research effort on problems of anthropomorphic robots which is now called humanoid robots. Currently, robotics has evolved to the point that different branches have reached a remarkable level of maturity, that neural network and fuzzy logic are the main artificial intelligence as intelligent control on the robotics. Despite all this progress, while aiming at accomplishing work-tasks originally charged only to humans, robotic science has perhaps quite naturally turned into the attempt to create artificial men. It is true that artificial men or android humanoid robots open certainly very broad prospects. This “robot” may be viewed as a personal helper, and it will be called a home-robot, or personal robot. This is main reason why the two special sections are issued in the TELKOMNIKA sequentially.

Timing of Multimodal Robot Behaviors during Human-Robot Collaboration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Lars Christian; Fischer, Kerstin; Suvei, Stefan-Daniel

2017-01-01

In this paper, we address issues of timing between robot behaviors in multimodal human-robot interaction. In particular, we study what effects sequential order and simultaneity of robot arm and body movement and verbal behavior have on the fluency of interactions. In a study with the Care-O-bot, ...... output plays a special role because participants carry their expectations from human verbal interaction into the interactions with robots....

Robotics Potential Fields

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordi Lucero

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This problem was to calculate the path a robot would take to navigate an obstacle field and get to its goal. Three obstacles were given as negative potential fields which the robot avoided, and a goal was given a positive potential field that attracted the robot. The robot decided each step based on its distance, angle, and influence from every object. After each step, the robot recalculated and determined its next step until it reached its goal. The robot's calculations and steps were simulated with Microsoft Excel.

Using the multi-objective optimization replica exchange Monte Carlo enhanced sampling method for protein-small molecule docking.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hongrui; Liu, Hongwei; Cai, Leixin; Wang, Caixia; Lv, Qiang

2017-07-10

In this study, we extended the replica exchange Monte Carlo (REMC) sampling method to protein-small molecule docking conformational prediction using RosettaLigand. In contrast to the traditional Monte Carlo (MC) and REMC sampling methods, these methods use multi-objective optimization Pareto front information to facilitate the selection of replicas for exchange. The Pareto front information generated to select lower energy conformations as representative conformation structure replicas can facilitate the convergence of the available conformational space, including available near-native structures. Furthermore, our approach directly provides min-min scenario Pareto optimal solutions, as well as a hybrid of the min-min and max-min scenario Pareto optimal solutions with lower energy conformations for use as structure templates in the REMC sampling method. These methods were validated based on a thorough analysis of a benchmark data set containing 16 benchmark test cases. An in-depth comparison between MC, REMC, multi-objective optimization-REMC (MO-REMC), and hybrid MO-REMC (HMO-REMC) sampling methods was performed to illustrate the differences between the four conformational search strategies. Our findings demonstrate that the MO-REMC and HMO-REMC conformational sampling methods are powerful approaches for obtaining protein-small molecule docking conformational predictions based on the binding energy of complexes in RosettaLigand.

Development of constrained motion control for robot handling of hazardous waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Starr, G.P.

1993-01-01

Handling and archiving of hazardous waste is an area where automation and robotics can be of significant benefit, by removing the human operator from the workplace and its associated hazards. For reasons of safety, throughput, and reduced setup time, force-controlled robots are well-suited for hazardous materials handling. The focus of this investigation is the development of advanced force control techniques for commercial industrial robots in the surface sampling of hazardous waste containers. Two particular control strategies are considered, (1) preview control, and (2) adaptive control. Preview control uses a sensor which can ''look ahead'' and thereby reduce the effect of surface irregularity on contact force control. Adaptive control allows the robot controller to compensate for changes in the robot characteristics as it changes position, and likewise improves performance. The resulting control algorithms will be applied to a two-dimensional contour-following task using a PUMA robot at the Robotics Research Laboratory at The University of New Mexico. (author) 9 figs., 13 refs

Healthcare Robotics

OpenAIRE

Riek, Laurel D.

2017-01-01

Robots have the potential to be a game changer in healthcare: improving health and well-being, filling care gaps, supporting care givers, and aiding health care workers. However, before robots are able to be widely deployed, it is crucial that both the research and industrial communities work together to establish a strong evidence-base for healthcare robotics, and surmount likely adoption barriers. This article presents a broad contextualization of robots in healthcare by identifying key sta...

Minimizing Back Exchange in the Hydrogen Exchange-Mass Spectrometry Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Walters, Benjamin T.; Ricciuti, Alec; Mayne, Leland; Englander, S. Walter

2012-12-01

The addition of mass spectrometry (MS) analysis to the hydrogen exchange (HX) proteolytic fragmentation experiment extends powerful HX methodology to the study of large biologically important proteins. A persistent problem is the degradation of HX information due to back exchange of deuterium label during the fragmentation-separation process needed to prepare samples for MS measurement. This paper reports a systematic analysis of the factors that influence back exchange (solution pH, ionic strength, desolvation temperature, LC column interaction, flow rates, system volume). The many peptides exhibit a range of back exchange due to intrinsic amino acid HX rate differences. Accordingly, large back exchange leads to large variability in D-recovery from one residue to another as well as one peptide to another that cannot be corrected for by reference to any single peptide-level measurement. The usual effort to limit back exchange by limiting LC time provides little gain. Shortening the LC elution gradient by 3-fold only reduced back exchange by ~2 %, while sacrificing S/N and peptide count. An unexpected dependence of back exchange on ionic strength as well as pH suggests a strategy in which solution conditions are changed during sample preparation. Higher salt should be used in the first stage of sample preparation (proteolysis and trapping) and lower salt (<20 mM) and pH in the second stage before electrospray injection. Adjustment of these and other factors together with recent advances in peptide fragment detection yields hundreds of peptide fragments with D-label recovery of 90 % ± 5 %.

Minimizing back exchange in the hydrogen exchange-mass spectrometry experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Walters, Benjamin T; Ricciuti, Alec; Mayne, Leland; Englander, S Walter

2012-12-01

The addition of mass spectrometry (MS) analysis to the hydrogen exchange (HX) proteolytic fragmentation experiment extends powerful HX methodology to the study of large biologically important proteins. A persistent problem is the degradation of HX information due to back exchange of deuterium label during the fragmentation-separation process needed to prepare samples for MS measurement. This paper reports a systematic analysis of the factors that influence back exchange (solution pH, ionic strength, desolvation temperature, LC column interaction, flow rates, system volume). The many peptides exhibit a range of back exchange due to intrinsic amino acid HX rate differences. Accordingly, large back exchange leads to large variability in D-recovery from one residue to another as well as one peptide to another that cannot be corrected for by reference to any single peptide-level measurement. The usual effort to limit back exchange by limiting LC time provides little gain. Shortening the LC elution gradient by 3-fold only reduced back exchange by ~2%, while sacrificing S/N and peptide count. An unexpected dependence of back exchange on ionic strength as well as pH suggests a strategy in which solution conditions are changed during sample preparation. Higher salt should be used in the first stage of sample preparation (proteolysis and trapping) and lower salt (<20 mM) and pH in the second stage before electrospray injection. Adjustment of these and other factors together with recent advances in peptide fragment detection yields hundreds of peptide fragments with D-label recovery of 90% ± 5%.

Robots Learn Writing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huan Tan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a general method for robots to learn motions and corresponding semantic knowledge simultaneously. A modified ISOMAP algorithm is used to convert the sampled 6D vectors of joint angles into 2D trajectories, and the required movements for writing numbers are learned from this modified ISOMAP-based model. Using this algorithm, the knowledge models are established. Learned motion and knowledge models are stored in a 2D latent space. Gaussian Process (GP method is used to model and represent these models. Practical experiments are carried out on a humanoid robot, named ISAC, to learn the semantic representations of numbers and the movements of writing numbers through imitation and to verify the effectiveness of this framework. This framework is applied into training a humanoid robot, named ISAC. At the learning stage, ISAC not only learns the dynamics of the movement required to write the numbers, but also learns the semantic meaning of the numbers which are related to the writing movements from the same data set. Given speech commands, ISAC recognizes the words and generated corresponding motion trajectories to write the numbers. This imitation learning method is implemented on a cognitive architecture to provide robust cognitive information processing.

RIPE [robot independent programming environment]: A robot independent programming environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, D.J.; Lennox, R.C.

1990-01-01

Remote manual operations in radiation environments are typically performed very slowly. Sensor-based computer-controlled robots hold great promise for increasing the speed and safety of remote operations; however, the programming of robotic systems has proven to be expensive and difficult. Generalized approaches to robot programming that reuse available software modules and employ programming languages which are independent of the specific robotic and sensory devices being used are needed to speed software development and increase overall system reliability. This paper discusses the robot independent programming environment (RIPE) developed at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The RIPE is an object-oriented approach to robot system architectures; it is a software environment that facilitates rapid design and implementation of complex robot systems for diverse applications. An architecture based on hierarchies of distributed multiprocessors provides the computing platform for a layered programming structure that models applications using software objects. These objects are designed to support model-based automated programming of robotic and machining devices, real-time sensor-based control, error handling, and robust communication

Evolutionary Developmental Robotics: Improving Morphology and Control of Physical Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Vujovic, Vuk; Rosendo, Andre; Brodbeck, Luzius; Iida, Fumiya

2017-01-01

Evolutionary algorithms have previously been applied to the design of morphology and control of robots. The design space for such tasks can be very complex, which can prevent evolution from efficiently discovering fit solutions. In this article we introduce an evolutionary-developmental (evo-devo) experiment with real-world robots. It allows robots to grow their leg size to simulate ontogenetic morphological changes, and this is the first time that such an experiment has been performed in the physical world. To test diverse robot morphologies, robot legs of variable shapes were generated during the evolutionary process and autonomously built using additive fabrication. We present two cases with evo-devo experiments and one with evolution, and we hypothesize that the addition of a developmental stage can be used within robotics to improve performance. Moreover, our results show that a nonlinear system-environment interaction exists, which explains the nontrivial locomotion patterns observed. In the future, robots will be present in our daily lives, and this work introduces for the first time physical robots that evolve and grow while interacting with the environment.

Recent advances in robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beni, G.; Hackwood, S.

1984-01-01

Featuring 10 contributions, this volume offers a state-of-the-art report on robotic science and technology. It covers robots in modern industry, robotic control to help the disabled, kinematics and dynamics, six-legged walking robots, a vector analysis of robot manipulators, tactile sensing in robots, and more

Module-based structure design of wheeled mobile robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Luo

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an innovative and systematic approach for synthesizing mechanical structures of wheeled mobile robots. The principle and terminologies used for the proposed synthesis method are presented by adopting the concept of modular design, isomorphic and non-isomorphic, and set theory with its associated combinatorial mathematics. The modular-based innovative synthesis and design of wheeled robots were conducted at two levels. Firstly at the module level, by creative design and analysing the structures of classic wheeled robots, a wheel module set containing four types of wheel mechanisms, a suspension module set consisting of five types of suspension frames and a chassis module set composed of five types of rigid or articulated chassis were designed and generalized. Secondly at the synthesis level, two kinds of structure synthesis modes, namely the isomorphic-combination mode and the non-isomorphic combination mode were proposed to synthesize mechanical structures of wheeled robots; which led to 241 structures for wheeled mobile robots including 236 novel ones. Further, mathematical models and a software platform were developed to provide appropriate and intuitive tools for simulating and evaluating performance of the wheeled robots that were proposed in this paper. Eventually, physical prototypes of sample wheeled robots/rovers were developed and tested so as to prove and validate the principle and methodology presented in this paper.

Put Your Robot In, Put Your Robot Out: Sequencing through Programming Robots in Early Childhood

Science.gov (United States)

Kazakoff, Elizabeth R.; Bers, Marina Umaschi

2014-01-01

This article examines the impact of programming robots on sequencing ability in early childhood. Thirty-four children (ages 4.5-6.5 years) participated in computer programming activities with a developmentally appropriate tool, CHERP, specifically designed to program a robot's behaviors. The children learned to build and program robots over three…

Development of robotic plasma radiochemical assays for positron emission tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alexoff, D.L.; Shea, C.; Fowler, J.S.; Gatley, S.J.; Schlyer, D.J.

1995-01-01

A commercial laboratory robot system (Zymate PyTechnology II Laboratory Automation System; Zymark Corporation, Hopkinton, MA) was interfaced to standard and custom laboratory equipment and programmed to perform rapid radiochemical analyses for quantitative PET studies. A Zymark XP robot arm was used to carry out the determination of unchanged (parent) radiotracer in plasma using only solid phase extraction methods. Robotic throughput for the assay of parent radiotracer in plasma is 4--6 samples/hour depending on the radiotracer. Robotic assays of parent compound in plasma were validated for the radiotracers [ 11 C]Benztropine, [ 11 C]cocaine, [ 11 C]clorgyline, [ 11 C]deprenyl, [ 11 C]methadone, [ 11 C]methylphenidate, [ 11 C]raclorpride, and [ 11 C]SR46349B. A simple robot-assisted methods development strategy has been implemented to facilitate the automation of plasma assays of new radiotracers

Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Phase 2 and Smart Autonomous Sand-Swimming Excavator

Science.gov (United States)

Sandy, Michael

2015-01-01

The Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Phase 2 is an excavation robot for mining regolith on a planet like Mars. The robot is programmed using the Robotic Operating System (ROS) and it also uses a physical simulation program called Gazebo. This internship focused on various functions of the program in order to make it a more professional and efficient robot. During the internship another project called the Smart Autonomous Sand-Swimming Excavator was worked on. This is a robot that is designed to dig through sand and extract sample material. The intern worked on programming the Sand-Swimming robot, and designing the electrical system to power and control the robot.

Arm reduced robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy with transvaginal cuff closure.

Science.gov (United States)

Bodur, Serkan; Dede, Murat; Fidan, Ulas; Firatligil, Burcin F; Ulubay, Mustafa; Ozturk, Mustafa; Yenen, Mufit C

2017-09-01

The use of robotics for benign etiology in gynecology has not proven to be more beneficial when compared to traditional laparoscopy. The major concern regarding robotic hysterectomy stems from its high cost. To evaluate the clinical utility and effectiveness of one-arm reduced robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy as a cost-effective surgical option for total robotic hysterectomy. A sample population of 54 women who underwent robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery for benign gynecologic indications was evaluated, and two groups were identified: (1) the two-armed robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery group (n = 38 patients), and (2) the three-armed robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery group (n = 16 patients). An increased cost was observed when three-armed robotic surgery was employed for benign gynecologic surgery (p < 0.001). The cost reduction observed in the study group was primarily derived from one robotic arm reduction and vaginal closure of the cuff. This cost reduction was achieved without an increase in complication rates or undesirable postoperative outcomes. An estimated profit between $399.5 and $421.5 was made for each patient depending on the suture material chosen for cuff closure. Two-armed surgery resulted in an 18.6% reduction in procedure-specific costs for robotic hysterectomy. Two-armed robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy appears to be a cost-effective solution for robotic gynecologic surgery. This surgical solution can be performed as effectively as classical three-armed robotic hysterectomies for benign indications without the risk of increased surgical-related morbidities. This approach has the potential to be a widely preferred surgical approach in medical communities where cost reduction is one of the primary determinants of surgery type.

Tactile Sensing for Dexterous Robotic Hands

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Toby B.

2000-01-01

Robotic systems will be used as precursors to human exploration to explore the solar system and expand our knowledge of planetary surfaces. Robotic systems will also be used to build habitats and infrastructure required for human presence in space and on other planetary surfaces . Such robots will require a high level of intelligence and automation. The ability to flexibly manipulate their physical environment is one characteristic that makes humans so effective at these building and exploring tasks . The development of a generic autonomous grasp ing capability will greatly enhance the efficiency and ability of robotics to build, maintain and explore. To tele-operate a robot over vast distances of space, with long communication delays, has proven to be troublesome. Having an autonomous grasping capability that can react in real-time to disturbances or adapt to generic objects, without operator intervention, will reduce the probability of mishandled tools and samples and reduce the number of re-grasp attempts due to dropping. One aspect that separates humans from machines is a rich sensor set. We have the ability to feel objects and respond to forces and textures. The development of touch or tactile sensors for use on a robot that emulates human skin and nerves is the basis for this discussion. We will discuss the use of new piezo-electric and resistive materials that have emerged on the market with the intention of developing a touch sensitive sensor. With viable tacti le sensors we will be one step closer to developing an autonomous grasping capability.

Human Robot Interaction for Hybrid Collision Avoidance System for Indoor Mobile Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mazen Ghandour

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a novel approach for collision avoidance for indoor mobile robots based on human-robot interaction is realized. The main contribution of this work is a new technique for collision avoidance by engaging the human and the robot in generating new collision-free paths. In mobile robotics, collision avoidance is critical for the success of the robots in implementing their tasks, especially when the robots navigate in crowded and dynamic environments, which include humans. Traditional collision avoidance methods deal with the human as a dynamic obstacle, without taking into consideration that the human will also try to avoid the robot, and this causes the people and the robot to get confused, especially in crowded social places such as restaurants, hospitals, and laboratories. To avoid such scenarios, a reactive-supervised collision avoidance system for mobile robots based on human-robot interaction is implemented. In this method, both the robot and the human will collaborate in generating the collision avoidance via interaction. The person will notify the robot about the avoidance direction via interaction, and the robot will search for the optimal collision-free path on the selected direction. In case that no people interacted with the robot, it will select the navigation path autonomously and select the path that is closest to the goal location. The humans will interact with the robot using gesture recognition and Kinect sensor. To build the gesture recognition system, two models were used to classify these gestures, the first model is Back-Propagation Neural Network (BPNN, and the second model is Support Vector Machine (SVM. Furthermore, a novel collision avoidance system for avoiding the obstacles is implemented and integrated with the HRI system. The system is tested on H20 robot from DrRobot Company (Canada and a set of experiments were implemented to report the performance of the system in interacting with the human and avoiding

Robots and lattice automata

CERN Document Server

Adamatzky, Andrew

2015-01-01

The book gives a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art research and engineering in theory and application of Lattice Automata in design and control of autonomous Robots. Automata and robots share the same notional meaning. Automata (originated from the latinization of the Greek word “αυτόματον”) as self-operating autonomous machines invented from ancient years can be easily considered the first steps of robotic-like efforts. Automata are mathematical models of Robots and also they are integral parts of robotic control systems. A Lattice Automaton is a regular array or a collective of finite state machines, or automata. The Automata update their states by the same rules depending on states of their immediate neighbours. In the context of this book, Lattice Automata are used in developing modular reconfigurable robotic systems, path planning and map exploration for robots, as robot controllers, synchronisation of robot collectives, robot vision, parallel robotic actuators. All chapters are...

Robot vision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, E.L.

1984-01-01

Almost all industrial robots use internal sensors such as shaft encoders which measure rotary position, or tachometers which measure velocity, to control their motions. Most controllers also provide interface capabilities so that signals from conveyors, machine tools, and the robot itself may be used to accomplish a task. However, advanced external sensors, such as visual sensors, can provide a much greater degree of adaptability for robot control as well as add automatic inspection capabilities to the industrial robot. Visual and other sensors are now being used in fundamental operations such as material processing with immediate inspection, material handling with adaption, arc welding, and complex assembly tasks. A new industry of robot vision has emerged. The application of these systems is an area of great potential

Multi-Locomotion Robotic Systems New Concepts of Bio-inspired Robotics

CERN Document Server

Fukuda, Toshio; Sekiyama, Kosuke; Aoyama, Tadayoshi

2012-01-01

Nowadays, multiple attention have been paid on a robot working in the human living environment, such as in the field of medical, welfare, entertainment and so on. Various types of researches are being conducted actively in a variety of fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive engineering, sensor- technology, interfaces and motion control. In the future, it is expected to realize super high functional human-like robot by integrating technologies in various fields including these types of researches. The book represents new developments and advances in the field of bio-inspired robotics research introducing the state of the art, the idea of multi-locomotion robotic system to implement the diversity of animal motion. It covers theoretical and computational aspects of Passive Dynamic Autonomous Control (PDAC), robot motion control, multi legged walking and climbing as well as brachiation focusing concrete robot systems, components and applications. In addition, gorilla type robot systems are described as...

Robot Wars: US Empire and geopolitics in the robotic age

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Ian GR

2017-01-01

How will the robot age transform warfare? What geopolitical futures are being imagined by the US military? This article constructs a robotic futurology to examine these crucial questions. Its central concern is how robots – driven by leaps in artificial intelligence and swarming – are rewiring the spaces and logics of US empire, warfare, and geopolitics. The article begins by building a more-than-human geopolitics to de-center the role of humans in conflict and foreground a worldly understanding of robots. The article then analyzes the idea of US empire, before speculating upon how and why robots are materializing new forms of proxy war. A three-part examination of the shifting spaces of US empire then follows: (1) Swarm Wars explores the implications of miniaturized drone swarming; (2) Roboworld investigates how robots are changing US military basing strategy and producing new topological spaces of violence; and (3) The Autogenic Battle-Site reveals how autonomous robots will produce emergent, technologically event-ful sites of security and violence – revolutionizing the battlespace. The conclusion reflects on the rise of a robotic US empire and its consequences for democracy. PMID:29081605

Efficacy of independence sampling in replica exchange simulations of ordered and disordered proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kuo Hao; Chen, Jianhan

2017-11-15

Recasting temperature replica exchange (T-RE) as a special case of Gibbs sampling has led to a simple and efficient scheme for enhanced mixing (Chodera and Shirts, J. Chem. Phys., 2011, 135, 194110). To critically examine if T-RE with independence sampling (T-REis) improves conformational sampling, we performed T-RE and T-REis simulations of ordered and disordered proteins using coarse-grained and atomistic models. The results demonstrate that T-REis effectively increase the replica mobility in temperatures space with minimal computational overhead, especially for folded proteins. However, enhanced mixing does not translate well into improved conformational sampling. The convergences of thermodynamic properties interested are similar, with slight improvements for T-REis of ordered systems. The study re-affirms the efficiency of T-RE does not appear to be limited by temperature diffusion, but by the inherent rates of spontaneous large-scale conformational re-arrangements. Due to its simplicity and efficacy of enhanced mixing, T-REis is expected to be more effective when incorporated with various Hamiltonian-RE protocols. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Robotic vision system for random bin picking with dual-arm robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kang Sangseung

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Random bin picking is one of the most challenging industrial robotics applications available. It constitutes a complicated interaction between the vision system, robot, and control system. For a packaging operation requiring a pick-and-place task, the robot system utilized should be able to perform certain functions for recognizing the applicable target object from randomized objects in a bin. In this paper, we introduce a robotic vision system for bin picking using industrial dual-arm robots. The proposed system recognizes the best object from randomized target candidates based on stereo vision, and estimates the position and orientation of the object. It then sends the result to the robot control system. The system was developed for use in the packaging process of cell phone accessories using dual-arm robots.

Modular Robotic Wearable

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik Hautop; Pagliarini, Luigi

2009-01-01

In this concept paper we trace the contours and define a new approach to robotic systems, composed of interactive robotic modules which are somehow worn on the body. We label such a field as Modular Robotic Wearable (MRW). We describe how, by using modular robotics for creating wearable....... Finally, by focusing on the intersection of the combination modular robotic systems, wearability, and bodymind we attempt to explore the theoretical characteristics of such approach and exploit the possible playware application fields....

Marine Robot Autonomy

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

Autonomy for Marine Robots provides a timely and insightful overview of intelligent autonomy in marine robots. A brief history of this emerging field is provided, along with a discussion of the challenges unique to the underwater environment and their impact on the level of intelligent autonomy required.  Topics covered at length examine advanced frameworks, path-planning, fault tolerance, machine learning, and cooperation as relevant to marine robots that need intelligent autonomy.  This book also: Discusses and offers solutions for the unique challenges presented by more complex missions and the dynamic underwater environment when operating autonomous marine robots Includes case studies that demonstrate intelligent autonomy in marine robots to perform underwater simultaneous localization and mapping  Autonomy for Marine Robots is an ideal book for researchers and engineers interested in the field of marine robots.      

In-Situ Operations and Planning for the Mars Science Laboratory Robotic Arm: The First 200 Sols

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, M.; Collins, C.; Leger, P.; Carsten, J.; Tompkins, V.; Hartman, F.; Yen, J.

2013-01-01

The Robotic Arm (RA) has operated for more than 200 Martian solar days (or sols) since the Mars Science Laboratory rover touched down in Gale Crater on August 5, 2012. During the first seven months on Mars the robotic arm has performed multiple contact science sols including the positioning of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and/or Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) with respect to rocks or loose regolith targets. The RA has supported sample acquisition using both the scoop and drill, sample processing with CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In- Situ Martian Rock Analysis), and delivery of sample portions to the observation tray, and the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and CHEMIN (Chemistry and Mineralogy) science instruments. This paper describes the planning and execution of robotic arm activities during surface operations, and reviews robotic arm performance results from Mars to date.

Industrial Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Dean; Harden, Thomas K.

Robots are mechanical devices that can be programmed to perform some task of manipulation or locomotion under automatic control. This paper discusses: (1) early developments of the robotics industry in the United States; (2) the present structure of the industry; (3) noneconomic factors related to the use of robots; (4) labor considerations…

Social Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Social robotics is a cutting edge research area gathering researchers and stakeholders from various disciplines and organizations. The transformational potential that these machines, in the form of, for example, caregiving, entertainment or partner robots, pose to our societies and to us as indiv......Social robotics is a cutting edge research area gathering researchers and stakeholders from various disciplines and organizations. The transformational potential that these machines, in the form of, for example, caregiving, entertainment or partner robots, pose to our societies and to us...... as individuals seems to be limited by our technical limitations and phantasy alone. This collection contributes to the field of social robotics by exploring its boundaries from a philosophically informed standpoint. It constructively outlines central potentials and challenges and thereby also provides a stable...

Non-manufacturing applications of robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dauchez, P.

2000-12-01

This book presents the different non-manufacturing sectors of activity where robotics can have useful or necessary applications: underwater robotics, agriculture robotics, road work robotics, nuclear robotics, medical-surgery robotics, aids to disabled people, entertainment robotics. Service robotics has been voluntarily excluded because this developing sector is not mature yet. (J.S.)

Embedded Visual System and its Applications on Robots

CERN Document Server

Xu, De

2010-01-01

Embedded vision systems such as smart cameras have been rapidly developed recently. Vision systems have become smaller and lighter, but their performance has improved. The algorithms in embedded vision systems have their specifications limited by frequency of CPU, memory size, and architecture. The goal of this e-book is to provide a an advanced reference work for engineers, researchers and scholars in the field of robotics, machine vision, and automation and to facilitate the exchange of their ideas, experiences and views on embedded vision system models. The effectiveness for all methods is

Laboratory robotics projects in the Analytical Development Division at the Savannah River Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lien, O.G.; Steele, A.W.

1986-01-01

To encourage the application of robotics technology for routine radiobench applications, a laboratory dedicated to the research and development of contained robotic systems is being constructed. The facility will have several robots located in laminar flow hoods, and the hoods are being designed to allow the possibility for multiple robots to work together. This paper presents both the design features of the hoods and the general layout of the laboratory, and also discusses an application of a robotic system for the routine nuclear counting of gamma tube samples. The gamma tube system is presently operating in one of the routine analysis laboratories. 5 figs

Advanced robot locomotion.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neely, Jason C.; Sturgis, Beverly Rainwater; Byrne, Raymond Harry; Feddema, John Todd; Spletzer, Barry Louis; Rose, Scott E.; Novick, David Keith; Wilson, David Gerald; Buerger, Stephen P.

2007-01-01

This report contains the results of a research effort on advanced robot locomotion. The majority of this work focuses on walking robots. Walking robot applications include delivery of special payloads to unique locations that require human locomotion to exo-skeleton human assistance applications. A walking robot could step over obstacles and move through narrow openings that a wheeled or tracked vehicle could not overcome. It could pick up and manipulate objects in ways that a standard robot gripper could not. Most importantly, a walking robot would be able to rapidly perform these tasks through an intuitive user interface that mimics natural human motion. The largest obstacle arises in emulating stability and balance control naturally present in humans but needed for bipedal locomotion in a robot. A tracked robot is bulky and limited, but a wide wheel base assures passive stability. Human bipedal motion is so common that it is taken for granted, but bipedal motion requires active balance and stability control for which the analysis is non-trivial. This report contains an extensive literature study on the state-of-the-art of legged robotics, and it additionally provides the analysis, simulation, and hardware verification of two variants of a proto-type leg design.

Remote hardware-reconfigurable robotic camera

Science.gov (United States)

Arias-Estrada, Miguel; Torres-Huitzil, Cesar; Maya-Rueda, Selene E.

2001-10-01

In this work, a camera with integrated image processing capabilities is discussed. The camera is based on an imager coupled to an FPGA device (Field Programmable Gate Array) which contains an architecture for real-time computer vision low-level processing. The architecture can be reprogrammed remotely for application specific purposes. The system is intended for rapid modification and adaptation for inspection and recognition applications, with the flexibility of hardware and software reprogrammability. FPGA reconfiguration allows the same ease of upgrade in hardware as a software upgrade process. The camera is composed of a digital imager coupled to an FPGA device, two memory banks, and a microcontroller. The microcontroller is used for communication tasks and FPGA programming. The system implements a software architecture to handle multiple FPGA architectures in the device, and the possibility to download a software/hardware object from the host computer into its internal context memory. System advantages are: small size, low power consumption, and a library of hardware/software functionalities that can be exchanged during run time. The system has been validated with an edge detection and a motion processing architecture, which will be presented in the paper. Applications targeted are in robotics, mobile robotics, and vision based quality control.

Robotic liquid handling and automation in epigenetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaisford, Wendy

2012-10-01

Automated liquid-handling robots and high-throughput screening (HTS) are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for the screening of large compound libraries, small molecules for activity against disease-relevant target pathways, or proteins. HTS robots capable of low-volume dispensing reduce assay setup times and provide highly accurate and reproducible dispensing, minimizing variation between sample replicates and eliminating the potential for manual error. Low-volume automated nanoliter dispensers ensure accuracy of pipetting within volume ranges that are difficult to achieve manually. In addition, they have the ability to potentially expand the range of screening conditions from often limited amounts of valuable sample, as well as reduce the usage of expensive reagents. The ability to accurately dispense lower volumes provides the potential to achieve a greater amount of information than could be otherwise achieved using manual dispensing technology. With the emergence of the field of epigenetics, an increasing number of drug discovery companies are beginning to screen compound libraries against a range of epigenetic targets. This review discusses the potential for the use of low-volume liquid handling robots, for molecular biological applications such as quantitative PCR and epigenetics.

Scaling Robotic Displays: Displays and Techniques for Dismounted Movement with Robots

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

you are performing the low crawl 4.25 5.00 Drive the robot while you are negotiating the hill 6.00 5.00 Drive the robot while you are climbing the... stairs 4.67 5.00 Drive the robot while you are walking 5.70 5.27 HMD It was fairly doable. 1 When you’re looking through the lens, it’s not...Scaling Robotic Displays: Displays and Techniques for Dismounted Movement with Robots by Elizabeth S. Redden, Rodger A. Pettitt

Robots cut maintenance costs at PSE and G

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roman, H.T.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that teleoperated robots are routinely used for cleaning, sampling, and remote inspections at PSE and G's nuclear and fossil power plants. Robots are rapidly becoming a strategic technology in the electric utility industry. Since 1983, more than 200 applications of these devices have been documented, often resulting in significant time and manpower savings. In nuclear plants, these devices have reduced radiation exposure to human workers. Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE and G) has been evaluating, testing, and applying robotic technology since 1984. The work has been characterized by a two-step approach - interdepartmental task forces identify and assess potential applications, then five-year plans are developed to introduce the technology, apply it, and measure cost effectiveness. Throughout this effort, PSE and G has maintained a strong partnership with robot vendors/developers, making them an integral part of the program. Work on robotics at PSE and G's Salem and Hope Creek plants has been a pioneering effort. From 1987 through 1991, in the company's first five-year plan, it spent $1.6 million on robotic applications. Savings to date exceed $5 million, Figure 1. It is projected that by 1993 the savings will increase to $6-7 million. Applications for the next five-year plan, 1992-1996, are being finalized. These will concentrate on the development of robots for operation and maintenance applications. The first five-year plan concentrated on inspection, surveillance, and monitoring tasks

Human-Robot Interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Sandor, Aniko; Cross, E. Vincent, II; Chang, Mai Lee

2015-01-01

Human-robot interaction (HRI) is a discipline investigating the factors affecting the interactions between humans and robots. It is important to evaluate how the design of interfaces affect the human's ability to perform tasks effectively and efficiently when working with a robot. By understanding the effects of interface design on human performance, workload, and situation awareness, interfaces can be developed to appropriately support the human in performing tasks with minimal errors and with appropriate interaction time and effort. Thus, the results of research on human-robot interfaces have direct implications for the design of robotic systems. For efficient and effective remote navigation of a rover, a human operator needs to be aware of the robot's environment. However, during teleoperation, operators may get information about the environment only through a robot's front-mounted camera causing a keyhole effect. The keyhole effect reduces situation awareness which may manifest in navigation issues such as higher number of collisions, missing critical aspects of the environment, or reduced speed. One way to compensate for the keyhole effect and the ambiguities operators experience when they teleoperate a robot is adding multiple cameras and including the robot chassis in the camera view. Augmented reality, such as overlays, can also enhance the way a person sees objects in the environment or in camera views by making them more visible. Scenes can be augmented with integrated telemetry, procedures, or map information. Furthermore, the addition of an exocentric (i.e., third-person) field of view from a camera placed in the robot's environment may provide operators with the additional information needed to gain spatial awareness of the robot. Two research studies investigated possible mitigation approaches to address the keyhole effect: 1) combining the inclusion of the robot chassis in the camera view with augmented reality overlays, and 2) modifying the camera

Mapping planetary caves with an autonomous, heterogeneous robot team

Science.gov (United States)

Husain, Ammar; Jones, Heather; Kannan, Balajee; Wong, Uland; Pimentel, Tiago; Tang, Sarah; Daftry, Shreyansh; Huber, Steven; Whittaker, William L.

Caves on other planetary bodies offer sheltered habitat for future human explorers and numerous clues to a planet's past for scientists. While recent orbital imagery provides exciting new details about cave entrances on the Moon and Mars, the interiors of these caves are still unknown and not observable from orbit. Multi-robot teams offer unique solutions for exploration and modeling subsurface voids during precursor missions. Robot teams that are diverse in terms of size, mobility, sensing, and capability can provide great advantages, but this diversity, coupled with inherently distinct low-level behavior architectures, makes coordination a challenge. This paper presents a framework that consists of an autonomous frontier and capability-based task generator, a distributed market-based strategy for coordinating and allocating tasks to the different team members, and a communication paradigm for seamless interaction between the different robots in the system. Robots have different sensors, (in the representative robot team used for testing: 2D mapping sensors, 3D modeling sensors, or no exteroceptive sensors), and varying levels of mobility. Tasks are generated to explore, model, and take science samples. Based on an individual robot's capability and associated cost for executing a generated task, a robot is autonomously selected for task execution. The robots create coarse online maps and store collected data for high resolution offline modeling. The coordination approach has been field tested at a mock cave site with highly-unstructured natural terrain, as well as an outdoor patio area. Initial results are promising for applicability of the proposed multi-robot framework to exploration and modeling of planetary caves.

Next generation light robotic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villangca, Mark Jayson; Palima, Darwin; Banas, Andrew Rafael

2017-01-01

-assisted surgery imbibes surgeons with superhuman abilities and gives the expression “surgical precision” a whole new meaning. Still in its infancy, much remains to be done to improve human-robot collaboration both in realizing robots that can operate safely with humans and in training personnel that can work......Conventional robotics provides machines and robots that can replace and surpass human performance in repetitive, difficult, and even dangerous tasks at industrial assembly lines, hazardous environments, or even at remote planets. A new class of robotic systems no longer aims to replace humans...... with so-called automatons but, rather, to create robots that can work alongside human operators. These new robots are intended to collaborate with humans—extending their abilities—from assisting workers on the factory floor to rehabilitating patients in their homes. In medical robotics, robot...

Human-Robot Interaction: Does Robotic Guidance Force Affect Gait-Related Brain Dynamics during Robot-Assisted Treadmill Walking?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristel Knaepen

Full Text Available In order to determine optimal training parameters for robot-assisted treadmill walking, it is essential to understand how a robotic device interacts with its wearer, and thus, how parameter settings of the device affect locomotor control. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of different levels of guidance force during robot-assisted treadmill walking on cortical activity. Eighteen healthy subjects walked at 2 km.h-1 on a treadmill with and without assistance of the Lokomat robotic gait orthosis. Event-related spectral perturbations and changes in power spectral density were investigated during unassisted treadmill walking as well as during robot-assisted treadmill walking at 30%, 60% and 100% guidance force (with 0% body weight support. Clustering of independent components revealed three clusters of activity in the sensorimotor cortex during treadmill walking and robot-assisted treadmill walking in healthy subjects. These clusters demonstrated gait-related spectral modulations in the mu, beta and low gamma bands over the sensorimotor cortex related to specific phases of the gait cycle. Moreover, mu and beta rhythms were suppressed in the right primary sensory cortex during treadmill walking compared to robot-assisted treadmill walking with 100% guidance force, indicating significantly larger involvement of the sensorimotor area during treadmill walking compared to robot-assisted treadmill walking. Only marginal differences in the spectral power of the mu, beta and low gamma bands could be identified between robot-assisted treadmill walking with different levels of guidance force. From these results it can be concluded that a high level of guidance force (i.e., 100% guidance force and thus a less active participation during locomotion should be avoided during robot-assisted treadmill walking. This will optimize the involvement of the sensorimotor cortex which is known to be crucial for motor learning.

Human-Robot Interaction: Does Robotic Guidance Force Affect Gait-Related Brain Dynamics during Robot-Assisted Treadmill Walking?

Science.gov (United States)

Knaepen, Kristel; Mierau, Andreas; Swinnen, Eva; Fernandez Tellez, Helio; Michielsen, Marc; Kerckhofs, Eric; Lefeber, Dirk; Meeusen, Romain

2015-01-01

In order to determine optimal training parameters for robot-assisted treadmill walking, it is essential to understand how a robotic device interacts with its wearer, and thus, how parameter settings of the device affect locomotor control. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of different levels of guidance force during robot-assisted treadmill walking on cortical activity. Eighteen healthy subjects walked at 2 km.h-1 on a treadmill with and without assistance of the Lokomat robotic gait orthosis. Event-related spectral perturbations and changes in power spectral density were investigated during unassisted treadmill walking as well as during robot-assisted treadmill walking at 30%, 60% and 100% guidance force (with 0% body weight support). Clustering of independent components revealed three clusters of activity in the sensorimotor cortex during treadmill walking and robot-assisted treadmill walking in healthy subjects. These clusters demonstrated gait-related spectral modulations in the mu, beta and low gamma bands over the sensorimotor cortex related to specific phases of the gait cycle. Moreover, mu and beta rhythms were suppressed in the right primary sensory cortex during treadmill walking compared to robot-assisted treadmill walking with 100% guidance force, indicating significantly larger involvement of the sensorimotor area during treadmill walking compared to robot-assisted treadmill walking. Only marginal differences in the spectral power of the mu, beta and low gamma bands could be identified between robot-assisted treadmill walking with different levels of guidance force. From these results it can be concluded that a high level of guidance force (i.e., 100% guidance force) and thus a less active participation during locomotion should be avoided during robot-assisted treadmill walking. This will optimize the involvement of the sensorimotor cortex which is known to be crucial for motor learning.

Locomotor Sub-functions for Control of Assistive Wearable Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maziar A. Sharbafi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available A primary goal of comparative biomechanics is to understand the fundamental physics of locomotion within an evolutionary context. Such an understanding of legged locomotion results in a transition from copying nature to borrowing strategies for interacting with the physical world regarding design and control of bio-inspired legged robots or robotic assistive devices. Inspired from nature, legged locomotion can be composed of three locomotor sub-functions, which are intrinsically interrelated: Stance: redirecting the center of mass by exerting forces on the ground. Swing: cycling the legs between ground contacts. Balance: maintaining body posture. With these three sub-functions, one can understand, design and control legged locomotory systems with formulating them in simpler separated tasks. Coordination between locomotor sub-functions in a harmonized manner appears then as an additional problem when considering legged locomotion. However, biological locomotion shows that appropriate design and control of each sub-function simplifies coordination. It means that only limited exchange of sensory information between the different locomotor sub-function controllers is required enabling the envisioned modular architecture of the locomotion control system. In this paper, we present different studies on implementing different locomotor sub-function controllers on models, robots, and an exoskeleton in addition to demonstrating their abilities in explaining humans' control strategies.

Locomotor Sub-functions for Control of Assistive Wearable Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharbafi, Maziar A; Seyfarth, Andre; Zhao, Guoping

2017-01-01

A primary goal of comparative biomechanics is to understand the fundamental physics of locomotion within an evolutionary context. Such an understanding of legged locomotion results in a transition from copying nature to borrowing strategies for interacting with the physical world regarding design and control of bio-inspired legged robots or robotic assistive devices. Inspired from nature, legged locomotion can be composed of three locomotor sub-functions, which are intrinsically interrelated: Stance : redirecting the center of mass by exerting forces on the ground. Swing : cycling the legs between ground contacts. Balance : maintaining body posture. With these three sub-functions, one can understand, design and control legged locomotory systems with formulating them in simpler separated tasks. Coordination between locomotor sub-functions in a harmonized manner appears then as an additional problem when considering legged locomotion. However, biological locomotion shows that appropriate design and control of each sub-function simplifies coordination. It means that only limited exchange of sensory information between the different locomotor sub-function controllers is required enabling the envisioned modular architecture of the locomotion control system. In this paper, we present different studies on implementing different locomotor sub-function controllers on models, robots, and an exoskeleton in addition to demonstrating their abilities in explaining humans' control strategies.

Roles and Self-Reconfigurable Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dvinge, Nicolai; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Christensen, David Johan

2007-01-01

A self-reconfigurable robot is a robotic device that can change its own shape. Self-reconfigurable robots are commonly built from multiple identical modules that can manipulate each other to change the shape of the robot. The robot can also perform tasks such as locomotion without changing shape......., significantly simplifying the task of programming self-reconfigurable robots. Our language fully supports programming the ATRON self-reconfigurable robot, and has been used to implement several controllers running both on the physical modules and in simulation.......A self-reconfigurable robot is a robotic device that can change its own shape. Self-reconfigurable robots are commonly built from multiple identical modules that can manipulate each other to change the shape of the robot. The robot can also perform tasks such as locomotion without changing shape....... Programming a modular, self-reconfigurable robot is however a complicated task: the robot is essentially a real-time, distributed embedded system, where control and communication paths often are tightly coupled to the current physical configuration of the robot. To facilitate the task of programming modular...

Robot Teachers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgård, Rikke Toft; Ess, Charles Melvin; Bhroin, Niamh Ni

The world's first robot teacher, Saya, was introduced to a classroom in Japan in 2009. Saya, had the appearance of a young female teacher. She could express six basic emotions, take the register and shout orders like 'be quiet' (The Guardian, 2009). Since 2009, humanoid robot technologies have...... developed. It is now suggested that robot teachers may become regular features in educational settings, and may even 'take over' from human teachers in ten to fifteen years (cf. Amundsen, 2017 online; Gohd, 2017 online). Designed to look and act like a particular kind of human; robot teachers mediate human...... existence and roles, while also aiming to support education through sophisticated, automated, human-like interaction. Our paper explores the design and existential implications of ARTIE, a robot teacher at Oxford Brookes University (2017, online). Drawing on an initial empirical exploration we propose...

Accelerating Robot Development through Integral Analysis of Human-Robot Interaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooijmans, T.; Kanda, T.; Bartneck, C.; Ishiguro, H.; Hagita, N.

2007-01-01

The development of interactive robots is a complicated process, involving a plethora of psychological, technical, and contextual influences. To design a robot capable of operating "intelligently" in everyday situations, one needs a profound understanding of human-robot interaction (HRI). We propose

Nuclear analysis via internet based on robocom, a robotic computing environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J.H.; Liu, J.; Foung, R.

1997-01-01

Nuclear engineers can resume the pioneering role the authors once played in network computing. The authors can transform Internet World Wide Web from offering information to offering analysis capabilities in the form of software robots that are capable of processing information of their own. Pooling such transmittable robots by the nuclear analysis community would represent a collaborative effort to automate nuclear engineering analysis. Samples of HTML files for a web site, a robot and its corresponding schematics are included to demonstrate the ease of implementation

Robotic UV-Vis apparatus for long-term characterization of drug release from nanochannels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geninatti, T; Grattoni, A; Small, E

2014-01-01

Reliable monitoring of the kinetics of molecular release from drug delivery devices is crucial for their therapeutic success. Commercially available UV-Vis spectrophotometers provide reliable quantification of analyte concentrations directly correlated to the absorbance of fluids. However, they are not suitable for long-term measurements requiring high frequency of sampling from a large number of replicates and continuous fluid mixing, all of which are necessary for evaluation of drug delivery devices. To address this need, we developed a novel robotic apparatus serially connected to a commercial UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The robotic apparatus enables us to automatically and reliably acquire long-term data for up to 48 samples with high frequency of measurements and independent magnetic stirring. We equipped the robotic apparatus with independent connectors that allowed us to apply an electric potential to each sample for electrokinetic studies. The apparatus repeatability and accuracy was demonstrated in comparison to a commercial UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The system was successfully employed to characterize the diffusion kinetics of acetone and doxorubicin through nanochannel membranes (nDS) designed for long-term drug delivery. Dendritic fullerene 1 was used to show that the robotic apparatus routes the electric potential to nanochannel membranes enabling us to investigate the actively controlled release of molecules. Our results demonstrate that the robotic apparatus could widely broaden the range of applications of UV-Vis spectrophotometry, especially in the case of large sample processing and for long-term diffusive and electrokinetic studies in drug delivery. (technical design note)

Micro Robotics Lab

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — Our research is focused on the challenges of engineering robotic systems down to sub-millimeter size scales. We work both on small mobile robots (robotic insects for...

Robot fish bio-inspired fishlike underwater robots

CERN Document Server

Li, Zheng; Youcef-Toumi, Kamal; Alvarado, Pablo

2015-01-01

This book provides a comprehensive coverage on robot fish including design, modeling and optimization, control, autonomous control and applications. It gathers contributions by the leading researchers in the area. Readers will find the book very useful for designing and building robot fish, not only in theory but also in practice. Moreover, the book discusses various important issues for future research and development, including design methodology, control methodology, and autonomous control strategy. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students in the fields of robotics, ocean engineering and related areas.

Robotics in endoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Klibansky, David; Rothstein, Richard I

2012-09-01

The increasing complexity of intralumenal and emerging translumenal endoscopic procedures has created an opportunity to apply robotics in endoscopy. Computer-assisted or direct-drive robotic technology allows the triangulation of flexible tools through telemanipulation. The creation of new flexible operative platforms, along with other emerging technology such as nanobots and steerable capsules, can be transformational for endoscopic procedures. In this review, we cover some background information on the use of robotics in surgery and endoscopy, and review the emerging literature on platforms, capsules, and mini-robotic units. The development of techniques in advanced intralumenal endoscopy (endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection) and translumenal endoscopic procedures (NOTES) has generated a number of novel platforms, flexible tools, and devices that can apply robotic principles to endoscopy. The development of a fully flexible endoscopic surgical toolkit will enable increasingly advanced procedures to be performed through natural orifices. The application of platforms and new flexible tools to the areas of advanced endoscopy and NOTES heralds the opportunity to employ useful robotic technology. Following the examples of the utility of robotics from the field of laparoscopic surgery, we can anticipate the emerging role of robotic technology in endoscopy.

Implementation and Reconfiguration of Robot Operating System on Human Follower Transporter Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Addythia Saphala

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Robotic Operation System (ROS is an im- portant platform to develop robot applications. One area of applications is for development of a Human Follower Transporter Robot (HFTR, which  can  be  considered  as a custom mobile robot utilizing differential driver steering method and equipped with Kinect sensor. This study discusses the development of the robot navigation system by implementing Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM.

Achievement report for fiscal 2000 on research and development of human cooperating and coexisting robot system. Research and development of rationalization in oil refining system; 2000 nendo ningen kyocho kyozongata robot system kenkyu kaihatsu seika hokokusho. Sekiyu seisei system gorika kenkyu kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-06-01

It is intended to develop a human cooperating and coexisting robot system that can move around freely during operation and shutdown of a oil refining plant to perform different works. This paper describes the achievements in fiscal 2000. With regard to the navigation and maintenance work functions, design was made on the robot induction system and its conception to perform the works after the robot has reached a place of the work. The specifications required for the robot supporting agent were made clear, and the constituting modules were designed to exchange information with the robot. Specifications were compiled for a portable remote operation device intended of operating different vehicles. Investigations were carried out on such protection technologies as interference check and shock absorbing materials to protect the robot platform. A method was developed to acquire posture and motion patterns of a human demonstrator, using only the upper half of the body, from the images captured by a head-mounted camera. Discussions were given on the specifications, systems and image processing algorithms required for vision-navigated autonomous walking, whose practicability was verified. Autonomous walking by means of map-based guidance, and hand operating technologies were also discussed. (NEDO)

AMORE-HX: a multidimensional optimization of radial enhanced NMR-sampled hydrogen exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gledhill, John M.; Walters, Benjamin T.; Wand, A. Joshua

2009-01-01

The Cartesian sampled three-dimensional HNCO experiment is inherently limited in time resolution and sensitivity for the real time measurement of protein hydrogen exchange. This is largely overcome by use of the radial HNCO experiment that employs the use of optimized sampling angles. The significant practical limitation presented by use of three-dimensional data is the large data storage and processing requirements necessary and is largely overcome by taking advantage of the inherent capabilities of the 2D-FT to process selective frequency space without artifact or limitation. Decomposition of angle spectra into positive and negative ridge components provides increased resolution and allows statistical averaging of intensity and therefore increased precision. Strategies for averaging ridge cross sections within and between angle spectra are developed to allow further statistical approaches for increasing the precision of measured hydrogen occupancy. Intensity artifacts potentially introduced by over-pulsing are effectively eliminated by use of the BEST approach

Integrated navigation and control software system for MRI-guided robotic prostate interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Tokuda, Junichi; Fischer, Gregory S; DiMaio, Simon P; Gobbi, David G; Csoma, Csaba; Mewes, Philip W; Fichtinger, Gabor; Tempany, Clare M; Hata, Nobuhiko

2010-01-01

A software system to provide intuitive navigation for MRI-guided robotic transperineal prostate therapy is presented. In the system, the robot control unit, the MRI scanner, and the open-source navigation software are connected together via Ethernet to exchange commands, coordinates, and images using an open network communication protocol, OpenIGTLink. The system has six states called "workphases" that provide the necessary synchronization of all components during each stage of the clinical workflow, and the user interface guides the operator linearly through these workphases. On top of this framework, the software provides the following features for needle guidance: interactive target planning; 3D image visualization with current needle position; treatment monitoring through real-time MR images of needle trajectories in the prostate. These features are supported by calibration of robot and image coordinates by fiducial-based registration. Performance tests show that the registration error of the system was 2.6mm within the prostate volume. Registered real-time 2D images were displayed 1.97 s after the image location is specified. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated navigation and control software system for MRI-guided robotic prostate interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Tokuda, Junichi; Fischer, Gregory S.; DiMaio, Simon P.; Gobbi, David G.; Csoma, Csaba; Mewes, Philip W.; Fichtinger, Gabor; Tempany, Clare M.; Hata, Nobuhiko

2010-01-01

A software system to provide intuitive navigation for MRI-guided robotic transperineal prostate therapy is presented. In the system, the robot control unit, the MRI scanner, and the open-source navigation software are connected together via Ethernet to exchange commands, coordinates, and images using an open network communication protocol, OpenIGTLink. The system has six states called “workphases” that provide the necessary synchronization of all components during each stage of the clinical workflow, and the user interface guides the operator linearly through these workphases. On top of this framework, the software provides the following features for needle guidance: interactive target planning; 3D image visualization with current needle position; treatment monitoring through real-time MR images of needle trajectories in the prostate. These features are supported by calibration of robot and image coordinates by fiducial-based registration. Performance tests show that the registration error of the system was 2.6 mm within the prostate volume. Registered real-time 2D images were displayed 1.97 s after the image location is specified. PMID:19699057

Presentation robot Advee

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Krejsa, Jiří; Věchet, Stanislav; Hrbáček, J.; Ripel, T.; Ondroušek, V.; Hrbáček, R.; Schreiber, P.

2012-01-01

Roč. 18, 5/6 (2012), s. 307-322 ISSN 1802-1484 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20760514 Keywords : mobile robot * human - robot interface * localization Subject RIV: JD - Computer Applications, Robot ics

Robotic surgery update.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobsen, G; Elli, F; Horgan, S

2004-08-01

Minimally invasive surgical techniques have revolutionized the field of surgery. Telesurgical manipulators (robots) and new information technologies strive to improve upon currently available minimally invasive techniques and create new possibilities. A retrospective review of all robotic cases at a single academic medical center from August 2000 until November 2002 was conducted. A comprehensive literature evaluation on robotic surgical technology was also performed. Robotic technology is safely and effectively being applied at our institution. Robotic and information technologies have improved upon minimally invasive surgical techniques and created new opportunities not attainable in open surgery. Robotic technology offers many benefits over traditional minimal access techniques and has been proven safe and effective. Further research is needed to better define the optimal application of this technology. Credentialing and educational requirements also need to be delineated.

Robot-laser system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akeel, H.A.

1987-01-01

A robot-laser system is described for providing a laser beam at a desired location, the system comprising: a laser beam source; a robot including a plurality of movable parts including a hollow robot arm having a central axis along which the laser source directs the laser beam; at least one mirror for reflecting the laser beam from the source to the desired location, the mirror being mounted within the robot arm to move therewith and relative thereto to about a transverse axis that extends angularly to the central axis of the robot arm; and an automatic programmable control system for automatically moving the mirror about the transverse axis relative to and in synchronization with movement of the robot arm to thereby direct the laser beam to the desired location as the arm is moved

Effects of Robot Facial Characteristics and Gender in Persuasive Human-Robot Interaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aimi S. Ghazali

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The growing interest in social robotics makes it relevant to examine the potential of robots as persuasive agents and, more specifically, to examine how robot characteristics influence the way people experience such interactions and comply with the persuasive attempts by robots. The purpose of this research is to identify how the (ostensible gender and the facial characteristics of a robot influence the extent to which people trust it and the psychological reactance they experience from its persuasive attempts. This paper reports a laboratory study where SociBot™, a robot capable of displaying different faces and dynamic social cues, delivered persuasive messages to participants while playing a game. In-game choice behavior was logged, and trust and reactance toward the advisor were measured using questionnaires. Results show that a robotic advisor with upturned eyebrows and lips (features that people tend to trust more in humans is more persuasive, evokes more trust, and less psychological reactance compared to one displaying eyebrows pointing down and lips curled downwards at the edges (facial characteristics typically not trusted in humans. Gender of the robot did not affect trust, but participants experienced higher psychological reactance when interacting with a robot of the opposite gender. Remarkably, mediation analysis showed that liking of the robot fully mediates the influence of facial characteristics on trusting beliefs and psychological reactance. Also, psychological reactance was a strong and reliable predictor of trusting beliefs but not of trusting behavior. These results suggest robots that are intended to influence human behavior should be designed to have facial characteristics we trust in humans and could be personalized to have the same gender as the user. Furthermore, personalization and adaptation techniques designed to make people like the robot more may help ensure they will also trust the robot.

Robotic seeding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Søren Marcus; Fountas, Spyros; Sørensen, Claus Aage Grøn

2017-01-01

Agricultural robotics has received attention for approximately 20 years, but today there are only a few examples of the application of robots in agricultural practice. The lack of uptake may be (at least partly) because in many cases there is either no compelling economic benefit......, or there is a benefit but it is not recognized. The aim of this chapter is to quantify the economic benefits from the application of agricultural robots under a specific condition where such a benefit is assumed to exist, namely the case of early seeding and re-seeding in sugar beet. With some predefined assumptions...... with regard to speed, capacity and seed mapping, we found that among these two technical systems both early seeding with a small robot and re-seeding using a robot for a smaller part of the field appear to be financially viable solutions in sugar beet production....

A lightweight, inexpensive robotic system for insect vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabo, Chelsea; Chisholm, Robert; Petterson, Adam; Cope, Alex

2017-09-01

Designing hardware for miniaturized robotics which mimics the capabilities of flying insects is of interest, because they share similar constraints (i.e. small size, low weight, and low energy consumption). Research in this area aims to enable robots with similarly efficient flight and cognitive abilities. Visual processing is important to flying insects' impressive flight capabilities, but currently, embodiment of insect-like visual systems is limited by the hardware systems available. Suitable hardware is either prohibitively expensive, difficult to reproduce, cannot accurately simulate insect vision characteristics, and/or is too heavy for small robotic platforms. These limitations hamper the development of platforms for embodiment which in turn hampers the progress on understanding of how biological systems fundamentally work. To address this gap, this paper proposes an inexpensive, lightweight robotic system for modelling insect vision. The system is mounted and tested on a robotic platform for mobile applications, and then the camera and insect vision models are evaluated. We analyse the potential of the system for use in embodiment of higher-level visual processes (i.e. motion detection) and also for development of navigation based on vision for robotics in general. Optic flow from sample camera data is calculated and compared to a perfect, simulated bee world showing an excellent resemblance. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

An Adaptive Robot Game

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Søren Tranberg; Svenstrup, Mikael; Dalgaard, Lars

2010-01-01

The goal of this paper is to describe an adaptive robot game, which motivates elderly people to do a regular amount of physical exercise while playing. One of the advantages of robot based games is that the initiative to play can be taken autonomously by the robot. In this case, the goal is to im......The goal of this paper is to describe an adaptive robot game, which motivates elderly people to do a regular amount of physical exercise while playing. One of the advantages of robot based games is that the initiative to play can be taken autonomously by the robot. In this case, the goal...... is to improve the mental and physical state of the user by playing a physical game with the robot. Ideally, a robot game should be simple to learn but difficult to master, providing an appropriate degree of challenge for players with different skills. In order to achieve that, the robot should be able to adapt...

Facilitating Programming of Vision-Equipped Robots through Robotic Skills and Projection Mapping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Rasmus Skovgaard

The field of collaborative industrial robots is currently developing fast both in the industry and in the scientific community. Companies such as Rethink Robotics and Universal Robots are redefining the concept of an industrial robot and entire new markets and use cases are becoming relevant for ...

Evolution of robotic arms.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Michael E

2007-01-01

The foundation of surgical robotics is in the development of the robotic arm. This is a thorough review of the literature on the nature and development of this device with emphasis on surgical applications. We have reviewed the published literature and classified robotic arms by their application: show, industrial application, medical application, etc. There is a definite trend in the manufacture of robotic arms toward more dextrous devices, more degrees-of-freedom, and capabilities beyond the human arm. da Vinci designed the first sophisticated robotic arm in 1495 with four degrees-of-freedom and an analog on-board controller supplying power and programmability. von Kemplen's chess-playing automaton left arm was quite sophisticated. Unimate introduced the first industrial robotic arm in 1961, it has subsequently evolved into the PUMA arm. In 1963 the Rancho arm was designed; Minsky's Tentacle arm appeared in 1968, Scheinman's Stanford arm in 1969, and MIT's Silver arm in 1974. Aird became the first cyborg human with a robotic arm in 1993. In 2000 Miguel Nicolalis redefined possible man-machine capacity in his work on cerebral implantation in owl-monkeys directly interfacing with robotic arms both locally and at a distance. The robotic arm is the end-effector of robotic systems and currently is the hallmark feature of the da Vinci Surgical System making its entrance into surgical application. But, despite the potential advantages of this computer-controlled master-slave system, robotic arms have definite limitations. Ongoing work in robotics has many potential solutions to the drawbacks of current robotic surgical systems.

Autonomous navigation system for mobile robots of inspection; Sistema de navegacion autonoma para robots moviles de inspeccion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Angulo S, P. [ITT, Metepec, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Segovia de los Rios, A. [ININ, 52045 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)]. e-mail: pedrynteam@hotmail.com

2005-07-01

One of the goals in robotics is the human personnel's protection that work in dangerous areas or of difficult access, such it is the case of the nuclear industry where exist areas that, for their own nature, they are inaccessible for the human personnel, such as areas with high radiation level or high temperatures; it is in these cases where it is indispensable the use of an inspection system that is able to carry out a sampling of the area in order to determine if this areas can be accessible for the human personnel. In this situation it is possible to use an inspection system based on a mobile robot, of preference of autonomous navigation, for the realization of such inspection avoiding by this way the human personnel's exposure. The present work proposes a model of autonomous navigation for a mobile robot Pioneer 2-D Xe based on the algorithm of wall following using the paradigm of fuzzy logic. (Author)

Advanced mechanics in robotic systems

CERN Document Server

Nava Rodríguez, Nestor Eduardo

2011-01-01

Illustrates original and ambitious mechanical designs and techniques for the development of new robot prototypes Includes numerous figures, tables and flow charts Discusses relevant applications in robotics fields such as humanoid robots, robotic hands, mobile robots, parallel manipulators and human-centred robots

Design and Implementation of Fire Extinguisher Robot with Robotic Arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Memon Abdul Waris

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Robot is a device, which performs human task or behave like a human-being. It needs expertise skills and complex programming to design. For designing a fire fighter robot, many sensors and motors were used. User firstly send robot to an affected area, to get live image of the field with the help of mobile camera via Wi-Fi using IP camera application to laptop. If any signs of fire shown in image, user direct robot in that particular direction for confirmation. Fire sensor and temperature sensor detects and measures the reading, after confirmation robot sprinkle water on affected field. During extinguish process if any obstacle comes in between the prototype and the affected area the ultrasonic sensor detects the obstacle, in response the robotic arm moves to pick and place that obstacle to another location for clearing the path. Meanwhile if any poisonous gas is present, the gas sensor detects and indicates by making alarm.

The Tactile Ethics of Soft Robotics: Designing Wisely for Human-Robot Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Thomas; Scheutz, Matthias

2017-06-01

Soft robots promise an exciting design trajectory in the field of robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI), promising more adaptive, resilient movement within environments as well as a safer, more sensitive interface for the objects or agents the robot encounters. In particular, tactile HRI is a critical dimension for designers to consider, especially given the onrush of assistive and companion robots into our society. In this article, we propose to surface an important set of ethical challenges for the field of soft robotics to meet. Tactile HRI strongly suggests that soft-bodied robots balance tactile engagement against emotional manipulation, model intimacy on the bonding with a tool not with a person, and deflect users from personally and socially destructive behavior the soft bodies and surfaces could normally entice.

Plasma input function determination for PET using a commercial laboratory robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alexoff, David L.; Shea, Colleen; Fowler, Joanna S.; King, Payton; Gatley, S. John; Schlyer, David J.; Wolf, Alfred P.

1995-01-01

A commercial laboratory robot system (Zymate PyTechnology II Laboratory Automation System) was interfaced to standard and custom laboratory equipment and programmed to perform rapid radiochemical assays necessary for plasma input function determination in quantitative PET studies in humans and baboons. A Zymark XP robot arm was used to carry out two assays: (1) the determination of total plasma radioactivity concentrations in a series of small-volume whole blood samples and (2) the determination of unchanged (parent) radiotracer in plasma using only solid phase extraction methods. Steady state robotic throughput for determination of total plasma radioactivity in whole blood samples (0.350 mL) is 14.3 samples/h, which includes automated centrifugation, pipetting, weighing and radioactivity counting. Robotic throughput for the assay of parent radiotracer in plasma is 4-6 samples/h depending on the radiotracer. Percents of total radioactivities present as parent radiotracers at 60 min. postinjection of 25 ± 5.0 (N 25), 26 ± 6.8 (N = 68), 13 ± 4.4 (N = 30), 32 ± 7.2 (N = 18), 16 ± 4.9 (N = 20), were obtained for carbon-11 labeled benztropine, raclopride, methylphenidate, SR 46349B (trans, 4-[(3Z)3-(2-dimethylamino-ethyl) oxyimino-3 (2-fluorophenyl)propen-1-yl]phenol), and cocaine respectively in baboon plasma and 84 ± 6.4 (N = 9), 18 ± 11 (N = 10), 74 ± 5.7 (N = 118) and 16 ± 3.7 (N = 18) for carbon-11 labeled benztropine, deprenyl, raclopride, and methylphenidate respectively in human plasma. The automated system has been used for more than 4 years for all plasma analyses for 7 different C-11 labeled compounds used routinely in our laboratory. The robotic radiotracer assay runs unattended and includes automated cleanup procedures that eliminates all human contact with plasma-contaminated containers

Robot-assisted general surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Hazey, Jeffrey W; Melvin, W Scott

2004-06-01

With the initiation of laparoscopic techniques in general surgery, we have seen a significant expansion of minimally invasive techniques in the last 16 years. More recently, robotic-assisted laparoscopy has moved into the general surgeon's armamentarium to address some of the shortcomings of laparoscopic surgery. AESOP (Computer Motion, Goleta, CA) addressed the issue of visualization as a robotic camera holder. With the introduction of the ZEUS robotic surgical system (Computer Motion), the ability to remotely operate laparoscopic instruments became a reality. US Food and Drug Administration approval in July 2000 of the da Vinci robotic surgical system (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) further defined the ability of a robotic-assist device to address limitations in laparoscopy. This includes a significant improvement in instrument dexterity, dampening of natural hand tremors, three-dimensional visualization, ergonomics, and camera stability. As experience with robotic technology increased and its applications to advanced laparoscopic procedures have become more understood, more procedures have been performed with robotic assistance. Numerous studies have shown equivalent or improved patient outcomes when robotic-assist devices are used. Initially, robotic-assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy was deemed safe, and now robotics has been shown to be safe in foregut procedures, including Nissen fundoplication, Heller myotomy, gastric banding procedures, and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. These techniques have been extrapolated to solid-organ procedures (splenectomy, adrenalectomy, and pancreatic surgery) as well as robotic-assisted laparoscopic colectomy. In this chapter, we review the evolution of robotic technology and its applications in general surgical procedures.

The determination of radioactive strontium in environmental samples by preferential ion exchange separation from calcium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukushima, Hiroto; Nonaka, Nobuhiro; Honda, Tetsutaro; Kimura, Toshimasa; Higuchi, Hideo

1979-01-01

The determination of radioactive strontium in environmental samples involves a difficulty in the separation and purification of strontium from large amounts of calcium. The principal technique employed in this study is based on a cation exchange separation after preferential chelation of calcium over strontium by EDTA. The alkaline earth fraction separated from samples is dissolved in 1.2 M HCl and an equivalent amount of EDTA is added. The solution is passed through a Dowex 50W-X8 ion exchange column at a flow rate of 20 ml/min after the pH has been adjusted to 5.1. A fraction of calcium retained on the resin is eluted out with 1.8 l of 2 w/v% EDTA solution at pH 5.1. Then the strontium is eluted with 450 ml of 2 M HCl. The strontium carbonate is precipitated, and the chemical yield is determined. After standing for 14 days to reach the radioactive equilibrium of 90 Sr - 90 Y, the activity of 89 Sr + 90 Sr + 90 Y is measured. Then the activity of 90 Sr + 90 Y is measured by milking the 90 Y. The proposed procedure has been applied to sea water, soil and various ash samples of vegetables, seaweeds and daily foods. The results obtained are in good agreement with those by a classical fuming nitric acid precipitation method. The detection limits are 0.1 pCi/l for 10 l of sea water, 10 pCi/kg for 100 g of soil and 1 pCi/kg-fresh for 20 g ash samples, respectively. (author)

Grasping in Robotics

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

Grasping in Robotics contains original contributions in the field of grasping in robotics with a broad multidisciplinary approach. This gives the possibility of addressing all the major issues related to robotized grasping, including milestones in grasping through the centuries, mechanical design issues, control issues, modelling achievements and issues, formulations and software for simulation purposes, sensors and vision integration, applications in industrial field and non-conventional applications (including service robotics and agriculture).   The contributors to this book are experts in their own diverse and wide ranging fields. This multidisciplinary approach can help make Grasping in Robotics of interest to a very wide audience. In particular, it can be a useful reference book for researchers, students and users in the wide field of grasping in robotics from many different disciplines including mechanical design, hardware design, control design, user interfaces, modelling, simulation, sensors and hum...

Designing Emotionally Expressive Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tsiourti, Christiana; Weiss, Astrid; Wac, Katarzyna

2017-01-01

Socially assistive agents, be it virtual avatars or robots, need to engage in social interactions with humans and express their internal emotional states, goals, and desires. In this work, we conducted a comparative study to investigate how humans perceive emotional cues expressed by humanoid...... robots through five communication modalities (face, head, body, voice, locomotion) and examined whether the degree of a robot's human-like embodiment affects this perception. In an online survey, we asked people to identify emotions communicated by Pepper -a highly human-like robot and Hobbit – a robot...... for robots....

Direct adaptive control of a PUMA 560 industrial robot

Science.gov (United States)

Seraji, Homayoun; Lee, Thomas; Delpech, Michel

1989-01-01

The implementation and experimental validation of a new direct adaptive control scheme on a PUMA 560 industrial robot is described. The testbed facility consists of a Unimation PUMA 560 six-jointed robot and controller, and a DEC MicroVAX II computer which hosts the Robot Control C Library software. The control algorithm is implemented on the MicroVAX which acts as a digital controller for the PUMA robot, and the Unimation controller is effectively bypassed and used merely as an I/O device to interface the MicroVAX to the joint motors. The control algorithm for each robot joint consists of an auxiliary signal generated by a constant-gain Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (PID) controller, and an adaptive position-velocity (PD) feedback controller with adjustable gains. The adaptive independent joint controllers compensate for the inter-joint couplings and achieve accurate trajectory tracking without the need for the complex dynamic model and parameter values of the robot. Extensive experimental results on PUMA joint control are presented to confirm the feasibility of the proposed scheme, in spite of strong interactions between joint motions. Experimental results validate the capabilities of the proposed control scheme. The control scheme is extremely simple and computationally very fast for concurrent processing with high sampling rates.

A Mobile Robot for Emergency Operation of Fuel Exchange Machine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seo, Yongchil; Lee, Sunguk; Kim, Changhoi; Shin, Hochul; Jung, Seungho; Choi, Changhwan [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2007-07-01

A Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) uses a heavy water as the coolant and moderator because it does not attenuate the neutron inside the reactor, which makes it possible to use natural uranium for nuclear fuels. However, since the uranium ratio is too low within the natural uranium, the reactor should be refueled everyday while the reactor is working. For that purpose, there is a fuel exchange machine. However as the time passes by, the durability and reliability become a problem. While the fuel handling machine exchanges the reactor fuel, it can be stuck to the pressure tube attached in the Calandra. Although this kind of situation is rarely happen, it can make the reactor be shutdown for normalizing the operation. Since the refueling is performed while the reactor is working, the radiation level is extremely high and the machine can be located at a high position up to nine meters from the floor, that is, the human worker can not approach the machine, so the fuel handling machine should be released remotely. To cope with this situation, the fuel handling machine has a manual drive mechanism at the rear side of it as shown in the circled images. If the worker can handle these manual drive mechanisms, the fuel handling machine can be released form the pressure tube. The KAERI had developed a long-reach manipulator system with a telescophic mast mechanism which can be deployed in the basement of the reactor room and manipulate the manual lever of the fuel exchange machine. Since the manipulator is located in the basement, there are several problems for its application such that the plug hole should be removed before the operation and the vibration of the mast mechanism make it difficult to locate the end effecter of the manipulator.

A Mobile Robot for Emergency Operation of Fuel Exchange Machine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seo, Yongchil; Lee, Sunguk; Kim, Changhoi; Shin, Hochul; Jung, Seungho; Choi, Changhwan

2007-01-01

A Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) uses a heavy water as the coolant and moderator because it does not attenuate the neutron inside the reactor, which makes it possible to use natural uranium for nuclear fuels. However, since the uranium ratio is too low within the natural uranium, the reactor should be refueled everyday while the reactor is working. For that purpose, there is a fuel exchange machine. However as the time passes by, the durability and reliability become a problem. While the fuel handling machine exchanges the reactor fuel, it can be stuck to the pressure tube attached in the Calandra. Although this kind of situation is rarely happen, it can make the reactor be shutdown for normalizing the operation. Since the refueling is performed while the reactor is working, the radiation level is extremely high and the machine can be located at a high position up to nine meters from the floor, that is, the human worker can not approach the machine, so the fuel handling machine should be released remotely. To cope with this situation, the fuel handling machine has a manual drive mechanism at the rear side of it as shown in the circled images. If the worker can handle these manual drive mechanisms, the fuel handling machine can be released form the pressure tube. The KAERI had developed a long-reach manipulator system with a telescophic mast mechanism which can be deployed in the basement of the reactor room and manipulate the manual lever of the fuel exchange machine. Since the manipulator is located in the basement, there are several problems for its application such that the plug hole should be removed before the operation and the vibration of the mast mechanism make it difficult to locate the end effecter of the manipulator

Fundamentals of soft robot locomotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Calisti, M; Picardi, G; Laschi, C

2017-05-01

Soft robotics and its related technologies enable robot abilities in several robotics domains including, but not exclusively related to, manipulation, manufacturing, human-robot interaction and locomotion. Although field applications have emerged for soft manipulation and human-robot interaction, mobile soft robots appear to remain in the research stage, involving the somehow conflictual goals of having a deformable body and exerting forces on the environment to achieve locomotion. This paper aims to provide a reference guide for researchers approaching mobile soft robotics, to describe the underlying principles of soft robot locomotion with its pros and cons, and to envisage applications and further developments for mobile soft robotics. © 2017 The Author(s).

Robotic Ankle for Omnidirectional Rock Anchors

Science.gov (United States)

Parness, Aaron; Frost, Matthew; Thatte, Nitish

2013-01-01

Future robotic exploration of near-Earth asteroids and the vertical and inverted rock walls of lava caves and cliff faces on Mars and other planetary bodies would require a method of gripping their rocky surfaces to allow mobility without gravitational assistance. In order to successfully navigate this terrain and drill for samples, the grippers must be able to produce anchoring forces in excess of 100 N. Additionally, the grippers must be able to support the inertial forces of a moving robot, as well gravitational forces for demonstrations on Earth. One possible solution would be to use microspine arrays to anchor to rock surfaces and provide the necessary load-bearing abilities for robotic exploration of asteroids. Microspine arrays comprise dozens of small steel hooks supported on individual suspensions. When these arrays are dragged along a rock surface, the steel hooks engage with asperities and holes on the surface. The suspensions allow for individual hooks to engage with asperities while the remaining hooks continue to drag along the surface. This ensures that the maximum possible number of hooks engage with the surface, thereby increasing the load-bearing abilities of the gripper. Using the microspine array grippers described above as the end-effectors of a robot would allow it to traverse terrain previously unreachable by traditional wheeled robots. Furthermore, microspine-gripping robots that can perch on cliffs or rocky walls could enable a new class of persistent surveillance devices for military applications. In order to interface these microspine grippers with a legged robot, an ankle is needed that can robotically actuate the gripper, as well as allow it to conform to the large-scale irregularities in the rock. The anchor serves three main purposes: deploy and release the anchor, conform to roughness or misalignment with the surface, and cancel out any moments about the anchor that could cause unintentional detachment. The ankle design contains a

Next-generation robotic surgery--from the aspect of surgical robots developed by industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakadate, Ryu; Arata, Jumpei; Hashizume, Makoto

2015-02-01

At present, much of the research conducted worldwide focuses on extending the ability of surgical robots. One approach is to extend robotic dexterity. For instance, accessibility and dexterity of the surgical instruments remains the largest issue for reduced port surgery such as single port surgery or natural orifice surgery. To solve this problem, a great deal of research is currently conducted in the field of robotics. Enhancing the surgeon's perception is an approach that uses advanced sensor technology. The real-time data acquired through the robotic system combined with the data stored in the robot (such as the robot's location) provide a major advantage. This paper aims at introducing state-of-the-art products and pre-market products in this technological advancement, namely the robotic challenge in extending dexterity and hopefully providing the path to robotic surgery in the near future.

Humanlike Robots - The Upcoming Revolution in Robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Bar-Cohen, Yoseph

2009-01-01

Humans have always sought to imitate the human appearance, functions and intelligence. Human-like robots, which for many years have been a science fiction, are increasingly becoming an engineering reality resulting from the many advances in biologically inspired technologies. These biomimetic technologies include artificial intelligence, artificial vision and hearing as well as artificial muscles, also known as electroactive polymers (EAP). Robots, such as the vacuum cleaner Rumba and the robotic lawnmower, that don't have human shape, are already finding growing use in homes worldwide. As opposed to other human-made machines and devices, this technology raises also various questions and concerns and they need to be addressed as the technology advances. These include the need to prevent accidents, deliberate harm, or their use in crime. In this paper the state-of-the-art of the ultimate goal of biomimetics, the development of humanlike robots, the potentials and the challenges are reviewed.

Humanlike robots: the upcoming revolution in robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Bar-Cohen, Yoseph

2009-08-01

Humans have always sought to imitate the human appearance, functions and intelligence. Human-like robots, which for many years have been a science fiction, are increasingly becoming an engineering reality resulting from the many advances in biologically inspired technologies. These biomimetic technologies include artificial intelligence, artificial vision and hearing as well as artificial muscles, also known as electroactive polymers (EAP). Robots, such as the vacuum cleaner Rumba and the robotic lawnmower, that don't have human shape, are already finding growing use in homes worldwide. As opposed to other human-made machines and devices, this technology raises also various questions and concerns and they need to be addressed as the technology advances. These include the need to prevent accidents, deliberate harm, or their use in crime. In this paper the state-of-the-art of the ultimate goal of biomimetics, the development of humanlike robots, the potentials and the challenges are reviewed.

Inverse kinematic solution for near-simple robots and its application to robot calibration

Science.gov (United States)

Hayati, Samad A.; Roston, Gerald P.

1986-01-01

This paper provides an inverse kinematic solution for a class of robot manipulators called near-simple manipulators. The kinematics of these manipulators differ from those of simple-robots by small parameter variations. Although most robots are by design simple, in practice, due to manufacturing tolerances, every robot is near-simple. The method in this paper gives an approximate inverse kinematics solution for real time applications based on the nominal solution for these robots. The validity of the results are tested both by a simulation study and by applying the algorithm to a PUMA robot.

Fish and robots swimming together: attraction towards the robot demands biomimetic locomotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Marras, Stefano; Porfiri, Maurizio

2012-08-07

The integration of biomimetic robots in a fish school may enable a better understanding of collective behaviour, offering a new experimental method to test group feedback in response to behavioural modulations of its 'engineered' member. Here, we analyse a robotic fish and individual golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) swimming together in a water tunnel at different flow velocities. We determine the positional preference of fish with respect to the robot, and we study the flow structure using a digital particle image velocimetry system. We find that biomimetic locomotion is a determinant of fish preference as fish are more attracted towards the robot when its tail is beating rather than when it is statically immersed in the water as a 'dummy'. At specific conditions, the fish hold station behind the robot, which may be due to the hydrodynamic advantage obtained by swimming in the robot's wake. This work makes a compelling case for the need of biomimetic locomotion in promoting robot-animal interactions and it strengthens the hypothesis that biomimetic robots can be used to study and modulate collective animal behaviour.

Micro robot bible

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Jin Yeong

2000-08-01

This book deals with micro robot, which tells of summary of robots like entertainment robots and definition of robots, introduction of micro mouse about history, composition and rules, summary of micro controller with its history, appearance and composition, introduction of stepping motor about types, structure, basic characteristics, and driving ways, summary of sensor section, power, understanding of 80C196KC micro controller, basic driving program searching a maze algorithm, smooth turn and making of tracer line.

Micro robot bible

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoon, Jin Yeong

2000-08-15

This book deals with micro robot, which tells of summary of robots like entertainment robots and definition of robots, introduction of micro mouse about history, composition and rules, summary of micro controller with its history, appearance and composition, introduction of stepping motor about types, structure, basic characteristics, and driving ways, summary of sensor section, power, understanding of 80C196KC micro controller, basic driving program searching a maze algorithm, smooth turn and making of tracer line.

Robots at Work

OpenAIRE

Graetz, Georg; Michaels, Guy

2015-01-01

Despite ubiquitous discussions of robots' potential impact, there is almost no systematic empirical evidence on their economic effects. In this paper we analyze for the first time the economic impact of industrial robots, using new data on a panel of industries in 17 countries from 1993-2007. We find that industrial robots increased both labor productivity and value added. Our panel identification is robust to numerous controls, and we find similar results instrumenting increased robot use wi...

To Err Is Robot: How Humans Assess and Act toward an Erroneous Social Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Mirnig

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We conducted a user study for which we purposefully programmed faulty behavior into a robot’s routine. It was our aim to explore if participants rate the faulty robot different from an error-free robot and which reactions people show in interaction with a faulty robot. The study was based on our previous research on robot errors where we detected typical error situations and the resulting social signals of our participants during social human–robot interaction. In contrast to our previous work, where we studied video material in which robot errors occurred unintentionally, in the herein reported user study, we purposefully elicited robot errors to further explore the human interaction partners’ social signals following a robot error. Our participants interacted with a human-like NAO, and the robot either performed faulty or free from error. First, the robot asked the participants a set of predefined questions and then it asked them to complete a couple of LEGO building tasks. After the interaction, we asked the participants to rate the robot’s anthropomorphism, likability, and perceived intelligence. We also interviewed the participants on their opinion about the interaction. Additionally, we video-coded the social signals the participants showed during their interaction with the robot as well as the answers they provided the robot with. Our results show that participants liked the faulty robot significantly better than the robot that interacted flawlessly. We did not find significant differences in people’s ratings of the robot’s anthropomorphism and perceived intelligence. The qualitative data confirmed the questionnaire results in showing that although the participants recognized the robot’s mistakes, they did not necessarily reject the erroneous robot. The annotations of the video data further showed that gaze shifts (e.g., from an object to the robot or vice versa and laughter are typical reactions to unexpected robot behavior

ROILA : RObot Interaction LAnguage

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mubin, O.

2011-01-01

The number of robots in our society is increasing rapidly. The number of service robots that interact with everyday people already outnumbers industrial robots. The easiest way to communicate with these service robots, such as Roomba or Nao, would be natural speech. However, the limitations

Evidence for robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Shenoy, Ravikiran; Nathwani, Dinesh

2017-01-01

Robots have been successfully used in commercial industry and have enabled humans to perform tasks which are repetitive, dangerous and requiring extreme force. Their role has evolved and now includes many aspects of surgery to improve safety and precision. Orthopaedic surgery is largely performed on bones which are rigid immobile structures which can easily be performed by robots with great precision. Robots have been designed for use in orthopaedic surgery including joint arthroplasty and spine surgery. Experimental studies have been published evaluating the role of robots in arthroscopy and trauma surgery. In this article, we will review the incorporation of robots in orthopaedic surgery looking into the evidence in their use. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017.

Message Encryption in Robot Operating System: Collateral Effects of Hardening Mobile Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco J. Rodríguez-Lera

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In human–robot interaction situations, robot sensors collect huge amounts of data from the environment in order to characterize the situation. Some of the gathered data ought to be treated as private, such as medical data (i.e., medication guidelines, personal, and safety information (i.e., images of children, home habits, alarm codes, etc.. However, most robotic software development frameworks are not designed for securely managing this information. This paper analyzes the scenario of hardening one of the most widely used robotic middlewares, Robot Operating System (ROS. The study investigates a robot’s performance when ciphering the messages interchanged between ROS nodes under the publish/subscribe paradigm. In particular, this research focuses on the nodes that manage cameras and LIDAR sensors, which are two of the most extended sensing solutions in mobile robotics, and analyzes the collateral effects on the robot’s achievement under different computing capabilities and encryption algorithms (3DES, AES, and Blowfish to robot performance. The findings present empirical evidence that simple encryption algorithms are lightweight enough to provide cyber-security even in low-powered robots when carefully designed and implemented. Nevertheless, these techniques come with a number of serious drawbacks regarding robot autonomy and performance if they are applied randomly. To avoid these issues, we define a taxonomy that links the type of ROS message, computational units, and the encryption methods. As a result, we present a model to select the optimal options for hardening a mobile robot using ROS.

1st Iberian Robotics Conference

CERN Document Server

Sanfeliu, Alberto; Ferre, Manuel; ROBOT2013; Advances in robotics

2014-01-01

This book contains the proceedings of the ROBOT 2013: FIRST IBERIAN ROBOTICS CONFERENCE and it can be said that included both state of the art and more practical presentations dealing with implementation problems, support technologies and future applications. A growing interest in Assistive Robotics, Agricultural Robotics, Field Robotics, Grasping and Dexterous Manipulation, Humanoid Robots, Intelligent Systems and Robotics, Marine Robotics, has been demonstrated by the very relevant number of contributions. Moreover, ROBOT2013 incorporates a special session on Legal and Ethical Aspects in Robotics that is becoming a topic of key relevance. This Conference was held in Madrid (28-29 November 2013), organised by the Sociedad Española para la Investigación y Desarrollo en Robótica (SEIDROB) and by the Centre for Automation and Robotics - CAR (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)), along with the co-operation of Grupo Temático de Robótica CEA-GT...

TEXPLORE temporal difference reinforcement learning for robots and time-constrained domains

CERN Document Server

Hester, Todd

2013-01-01

This book presents and develops new reinforcement learning methods that enable fast and robust learning on robots in real-time. Robots have the potential to solve many problems in society, because of their ability to work in dangerous places doing necessary jobs that no one wants or is able to do. One barrier to their widespread deployment is that they are mainly limited to tasks where it is possible to hand-program behaviors for every situation that may be encountered. For robots to meet their potential, they need methods that enable them to learn and adapt to novel situations that they were not programmed for. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a paradigm for learning sequential decision making processes and could solve the problems of learning and adaptation on robots. This book identifies four key challenges that must be addressed for an RL algorithm to be practical for robotic control tasks. These RL for Robotics Challenges are: 1) it must learn in very few samples; 2) it must learn in domains with continuou...

Springer handbook of robotics

CERN Document Server

Khatib, Oussama

2016-01-01

The second edition of this handbook provides a state-of-the-art cover view on the various aspects in the rapidly developing field of robotics. Reaching for the human frontier, robotics is vigorously engaged in the growing challenges of new emerging domains. Interacting, exploring, and working with humans, the new generation of robots will increasingly touch people and their lives. The credible prospect of practical robots among humans is the result of the scientific endeavour of a half a century of robotic developments that established robotics as a modern scientific discipline. The ongoing vibrant expansion and strong growth of the field during the last decade has fueled this second edition of the Springer Handbook of Robotics. The first edition of the handbook soon became a landmark in robotics publishing and won the American Association of Publishers PROSE Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences & Mathematics as well as the organization’s Award for Engineering & Technology. The second edition o...

Innovations in robotic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Gettman, Matthew; Rivera, Marcelino

2016-05-01

Developments in robotic surgery have continued to advance care throughout the field of urology. The purpose of this review is to evaluate innovations in robotic surgery over the past 18 months. The release of the da Vinci Xi system heralded an improvement on the Si system with improved docking, the ability to further manipulate robotic arms without clashing, and an autofocus universal endoscope. Robotic simulation continues to evolve with improvements in simulation training design to include augmented reality in robotic surgical education. Robotic-assisted laparoendoscopic single-site surgery continues to evolve with improvements on technique that allow for tackling previously complex pathologic surgical anatomy including urologic oncology and reconstruction. Last, innovations of new surgical platforms with robotic systems to improve surgeon ergonomics and efficiency in ureteral and renal surgery are being applied in the clinical setting. Urologic surgery continues to be at the forefront of the revolution of robotic surgery with advancements in not only existing technology but also creation of entirely novel surgical systems.

Faster-than-real-time robot simulation for plan development and robot safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crane, C.D. III; Dalton, R.; Ogles, J.; Tulenko, J.S.; Zhou, X.

1990-01-01

The University of Florida, in cooperation with the Universities of Texas, Tennessee, and Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is developing an advanced robotic system for the US Department of Energy under the University Program for Robotics for Advanced Reactors. As part of this program, the University of Florida has been pursuing the development of a faster-than-real-time robotic simulation program for planning and control of mobile robotic operations to ensure the efficient and safe operation of mobile robots in nuclear power plants and other hazardous environments

Soft-Material Robotics

OpenAIRE

Wang, L; Nurzaman, SG; Iida, Fumiya

2017-01-01

There has been a boost of research activities in robotics using soft materials in the past ten years. It is expected that the use and control of soft materials can help realize robotic systems that are safer, cheaper, and more adaptable than the level that the conventional rigid-material robots can achieve. Contrary to a number of existing review and position papers on soft-material robotics, which mostly present case studies and/or discuss trends and challenges, the review focuses on the fun...

AssistMe robot, an assistance robotic platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. I. Alexan

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and implementation of a full size assistance robot. Its main purpose it to assist a person and eventually avoid a life threatening situation. Its implementation revolves around a chipKIT Arduino board that interconnects a robotic base controller with a 7 inch TABLET PC and various sensors. Due to the Android and Arduino combination, the robot can interact with the person and provide an easy development platform for future improvement and feature adding. The TABLET PC is Webcam, WIFI and Bluetooth enabled, offering a versatile platform that is able to process data and in the same time provide the user a friendly interface.

IMPERA: Integrated Mission Planning for Multi-Robot Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Saur

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of the project IMPERA (Integrated Mission Planning for Distributed Robot Systems. The goal of IMPERA was to realize an extraterrestrial exploration scenario using a heterogeneous multi-robot system. The main challenge was the development of a multi-robot planning and plan execution architecture. The robot team consists of three heterogeneous robots, which have to explore an unknown environment and collect lunar drill samples. The team activities are described using the language ALICA (A Language for Interactive Agents. Furthermore, we use the mission planning system pRoPhEt MAS (Reactive Planning Engine for Multi-Agent Systems to provide an intuitive interface to generate team activities. Therefore, we define the basic skills of our team with ALICA and define the desired goal states by using a logic description. Based on the skills, pRoPhEt MAS creates a valid ALICA plan, which will be executed by the team. The paper describes the basic components for communication, coordinated exploration, perception and object transportation. Finally, we evaluate the planning engine pRoPhEt MAS in the IMPERA scenario. In addition, we present further evaluation of pRoPhEt MAS in more dynamic environments.

Socially Impaired Robots: Human Social Disorders and Robots' Socio-Emotional Intelligence

OpenAIRE

Vitale, Jonathan; Williams, Mary-Anne; Johnston, Benjamin

2016-01-01

Social robots need intelligence in order to safely coexist and interact with humans. Robots without functional abilities in understanding others and unable to empathise might be a societal risk and they may lead to a society of socially impaired robots. In this work we provide a survey of three relevant human social disorders, namely autism, psychopathy and schizophrenia, as a means to gain a better understanding of social robots' future capability requirements. We provide evidence supporting...

Educational Robotics as Mindtools

Science.gov (United States)

Mikropoulos, Tassos A.; Bellou, Ioanna

2013-01-01

Although there are many studies on the constructionist use of educational robotics, they have certain limitations. Some of them refer to robotics education, rather than educational robotics. Others follow a constructionist approach, but give emphasis only to design skills, creativity and collaboration. Some studies use robotics as an educational…

Robot friendship: Can a robot be a friend?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Emmeche, Claus

2014-01-01

Friendship is used here as a conceptual vehicle for framing questions about the distinctiveness of human cognition in relation to natural systems such as other animal species and to artificial systems such as robots. By exploring this very common form of a human interpersonal relationship......, the author indicates that even though it is difficult to say something generally true about friendship among humans, distinct forms of friendship as practiced and distinct notions of friendship have been investigated in the social and human sciences and in biology. A more general conceptualization...... of friendship as a triadic relation analogous to the sign relation is suggested. Based on this the author asks how one may conceive of robot-robot and robot-human friendships; and how an interdisciplinary perspective upon that relation can contribute to analyse levels of embodied cognition in natural...

Multi-robot caravanning

KAUST Repository

Denny, Jory

2013-11-01

We study multi-robot caravanning, which is loosely defined as the problem of a heterogeneous team of robots visiting specific areas of an environment (waypoints) as a group. After formally defining this problem, we propose a novel solution that requires minimal communication and scales with the number of waypoints and robots. Our approach restricts explicit communication and coordination to occur only when robots reach waypoints, and relies on implicit coordination when moving between a given pair of waypoints. At the heart of our algorithm is the use of leader election to efficiently exploit the unique environmental knowledge available to each robot in order to plan paths for the group, which makes it general enough to work with robots that have heterogeneous representations of the environment. We implement our approach both in simulation and on a physical platform, and characterize the performance of the approach under various scenarios. We demonstrate that our approach can successfully be used to combine the planning capabilities of different agents. © 2013 IEEE.

Self-Organizing Robots

CERN Document Server

Murata, Satoshi

2012-01-01

It is man’s ongoing hope that a machine could somehow adapt to its environment by reorganizing itself. This is what the notion of self-organizing robots is based on. The theme of this book is to examine the feasibility of creating such robots within the limitations of current mechanical engineering. The topics comprise the following aspects of such a pursuit: the philosophy of design of self-organizing mechanical systems; self-organization in biological systems; the history of self-organizing mechanical systems; a case study of a self-assembling/self-repairing system as an autonomous distributed system; a self-organizing robot that can create its own shape and robotic motion; implementation and instrumentation of self-organizing robots; and the future of self-organizing robots. All topics are illustrated with many up-to-date examples, including those from the authors’ own work. The book does not require advanced knowledge of mathematics to be understood, and will be of great benefit to students in the rob...

An affordable compact humanoid robot for Autism Spectrum Disorder interventions in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Dickstein-Fischer, Laurie; Alexander, Elizabeth; Yan, Xiaoan; Su, Hao; Harrington, Kevin; Fischer, Gregory S

2011-01-01

Autism Spectrum Disorder impacts an ever-increasing number of children. The disorder is marked by social functioning that is characterized by impairment in the use of nonverbal behaviors, failure to develop appropriate peer relationships and lack of social and emotional exchanges. Providing early intervention through the modality of play therapy has been effective in improving behavioral and social outcomes for children with autism. Interacting with humanoid robots that provide simple emotional response and interaction has been shown to improve the communication skills of autistic children. In particular, early intervention and continuous care provide significantly better outcomes. Currently, there are no robots capable of meeting these requirements that are both low-cost and available to families of autistic children for in-home use. This paper proposes the piloting the use of robotics as an improved diagnostic and early intervention tool for autistic children that is affordable, non-threatening, durable, and capable of interacting with an autistic child. This robot has the ability to track the child with its 3 degree of freedom (DOF) eyes and 3-DOF head, open and close its 1-DOF beak and 1-DOF each eyelids, raise its 1-DOF each wings, play sound, and record sound. These attributes will give it the ability to be used for the diagnosis and treatment of autism. As part of this project, the robot and the electronic and control software have been developed, and integrating semi-autonomous interaction, teleoperation from a remote healthcare provider and initiating trials with children in a local clinic are in progress.

Human-robot interaction tests on a novel robot for gait assistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Tagliamonte, Nevio Luigi; Sergi, Fabrizio; Carpino, Giorgio; Accoto, Dino; Guglielmelli, Eugenio

2013-06-01

This paper presents tests on a treadmill-based non-anthropomorphic wearable robot assisting hip and knee flexion/extension movements using compliant actuation. Validation experiments were performed on the actuators and on the robot, with specific focus on the evaluation of intrinsic backdrivability and of assistance capability. Tests on a young healthy subject were conducted. In the case of robot completely unpowered, maximum backdriving torques were found to be in the order of 10 Nm due to the robot design features (reduced swinging masses; low intrinsic mechanical impedance and high-efficiency reduction gears for the actuators). Assistance tests demonstrated that the robot can deliver torques attracting the subject towards a predicted kinematic status.

Pose Estimation and Adaptive Robot Behaviour for Human-Robot Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenstrup, Mikael; Hansen, Søren Tranberg; Andersen, Hans Jørgen

2009-01-01

Abstract—This paper introduces a new method to determine a person’s pose based on laser range measurements. Such estimates are typically a prerequisite for any human-aware robot navigation, which is the basis for effective and timeextended interaction between a mobile robot and a human. The robot......’s pose. The resulting pose estimates are used to identify humans who wish to be approached and interacted with. The interaction motion of the robot is based on adaptive potential functions centered around the person that respect the persons social spaces. The method is tested in experiments...

From sex robots to love robots: is mutual love with a robot possible?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nyholm, S.R.; Frank, L.E.; Danaher, J.; McArthur, N.

2017-01-01

Some critics of sex-robots worry that their use might spread objectifying attitudes about sex, and common sense places a higher value on sex within love-relationships than on casual sex. If there could be mutual love between humans and sex-robots, this could help to ease the worries about

The relation between people's attitudes and anxiety towards robots in human-robot interaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Graaf, M.M.A.; Ben Allouch, Soumaya

2013-01-01

This paper examines the relation between an interaction with a robot and peoples’ attitudes and emotion towards robots. In our study, participants have had an acquaintance talk with a social robot and both their general attitude and anxiety towards social robots were measured before and after the

Robotic hand project

OpenAIRE

Karaçizmeli, Cengiz; Çakır, Gökçe; Tükel, Dilek

2014-01-01

In this work, the mechatronic based robotic hand is controlled by the position data taken from the glove which has flex sensors mounted to capture finger bending of the human hand. The angular movement of human hand’s fingers are perceived and processed by a microcontroller, and the robotic hand is controlled by actuating servo motors. It has seen that robotic hand can simulate the movement of the human hand that put on the glove, during tests have done. This robotic hand can be used not only...

Pick-up, transport and release of a molecular cargo using a small-molecule robotic arm

Science.gov (United States)

Kassem, Salma; Lee, Alan T. L.; Leigh, David A.; Markevicius, Augustinas; Solà, Jordi

2016-02-01

Modern-day factory assembly lines often feature robots that pick up, reposition and connect components in a programmed manner. The idea of manipulating molecular fragments in a similar way has to date only been explored using biological building blocks (specifically DNA). Here, we report on a wholly artificial small-molecule robotic arm capable of selectively transporting a molecular cargo in either direction between two spatially distinct, chemically similar, sites on a molecular platform. The arm picks up/releases a 3-mercaptopropanehydrazide cargo by formation/breakage of a disulfide bond, while dynamic hydrazone chemistry controls the cargo binding to the platform. Transport is controlled by selectively inducing conformational and configurational changes within an embedded hydrazone rotary switch that steers the robotic arm. In a three-stage operation, 79-85% of 3-mercaptopropanehydrazide molecules are transported in either (chosen) direction between the two platform sites, without the cargo at any time fully dissociating from the machine nor exchanging with other molecules in the bulk.

PEAR: Prototyping Expressive Animated Robots - A framework for social robot prototyping

OpenAIRE

Balit , Etienne; Vaufreydaz , Dominique; Reignier , Patrick

2018-01-01

International audience; Social robots are transitioning from lab experiments to commercial products, creating new needs for proto-typing and design tools. In this paper, we present a framework to facilitate the prototyping of expressive animated robots. For this, we start by reviewing the design of existing social robots in order to define a set of basic components of social robots. We then show how to extend an existing 3D animation software to enable the animation of these components. By co...

Developing a successful robotics program.

Science.gov (United States)

Luthringer, Tyler; Aleksic, Ilija; Caire, Arthur; Albala, David M

2012-01-01

Advancements in the robotic surgical technology have revolutionized the standard of care for many surgical procedures. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the important considerations in developing a new robotics program at a given healthcare institution. Patients' interest in robotic-assisted surgery has and continues to grow because of improved outcomes and decreased periods of hospitalization. Resulting market forces have created a solid foundation for the implementation of robotic surgery into surgical practice. Given proper surgeon experience and an efficient system, robotic-assisted procedures have been cost comparable to open surgical alternatives. Surgeon training and experience is closely linked to the efficiency of a new robotics program. Formally trained robotic surgeons have better patient outcomes and shorter operative times. Training in robotics has shown no negative impact on patient outcomes or mentor learning curves. Individual economic factors of local healthcare settings must be evaluated when planning for a new robotics program. The high cost of the robotic surgical platform is best offset with a large surgical volume. A mature, experienced surgeon is integral to the success of a new robotics program.

Communication of Robot Status to Improve Human-Robot Collaboration

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Future space exploration will require humans and robots to collaborate to perform all the necessary tasks. Current robots mostly operate separately from humans due...

Making Humanoid Robots More Acceptable Based on the Study of Robot Characters in Animation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Maleki

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper we take an approach in Humanoid Robots are not considered as robots who resembles human beings in a realistic way of appearance and act but as robots who act and react like human that make them more believable by people. Regarding this approach we will study robot characters in animation movies and discuss what makes some of them to be accepted just like a moving body and what makes some other robot characters to be believable as a living human. The goal of this paper is to create a rule set that describes friendly, socially acceptable, kind, cute... robots and in this study we will review example robots in popular animated movies. The extracted rules and features can be used for making real robots more acceptable.

Robotics in medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Kuznetsov, D. N.; Syryamkin, V. I.

2015-11-01

Modern technologies play a very important role in our lives. It is hard to imagine how people can get along without personal computers, and companies - without powerful computer centers. Nowadays, many devices make modern medicine more effective. Medicine is developing constantly, so introduction of robots in this sector is a very promising activity. Advances in technology have influenced medicine greatly. Robotic surgery is now actively developing worldwide. Scientists have been carrying out research and practical attempts to create robotic surgeons for more than 20 years, since the mid-80s of the last century. Robotic assistants play an important role in modern medicine. This industry is new enough and is at the early stage of development; despite this, some developments already have worldwide application; they function successfully and bring invaluable help to employees of medical institutions. Today, doctors can perform operations that seemed impossible a few years ago. Such progress in medicine is due to many factors. First, modern operating rooms are equipped with up-to-date equipment, allowing doctors to make operations more accurately and with less risk to the patient. Second, technology has enabled to improve the quality of doctors' training. Various types of robots exist now: assistants, military robots, space, household and medical, of course. Further, we should make a detailed analysis of existing types of robots and their application. The purpose of the article is to illustrate the most popular types of robots used in medicine.

BiLBIQ A Biologically Inspired Robot with Walking and Rolling Locomotion

CERN Document Server

King, Ralf Simon

2013-01-01

The book ‘BiLBIQ: A biologically inspired Robot with walking and rolling locomotion’ deals with implementing a locomotion behavior observed in the biological archetype Cebrennus villosus to a robot prototype whose structural design needs to be developed.   The biological sample is investigated as far as possible and compared to other evolutional solutions within the framework of nature’s inventions. Current achievements in robotics are examined and evaluated for their relation and relevance to the robot prototype in question. An overview of what is state of the art in actuation ensures the choice of the hardware available and most suitable for this project. Through a constant consideration of the achievement of two fundamentally different ways of locomotion with one and the same structure, a robot design is developed and constructed taking hardware constraints into account. The development of a special leg structure that needs to resemble and replace body elements of the biological archetype is a speci...

Inventing Japan's 'robotics culture': the repeated assembly of science, technology, and culture in social robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabanović, Selma

2014-06-01

Using interviews, participant observation, and published documents, this article analyzes the co-construction of robotics and culture in Japan through the technical discourse and practices of robotics researchers. Three cases from current robotics research--the seal-like robot PARO, the Humanoid Robotics Project HRP-2 humanoid, and 'kansei robotics' - show the different ways in which scientists invoke culture to provide epistemological grounding and possibilities for social acceptance of their work. These examples show how the production and consumption of social robotic technologies are associated with traditional crafts and values, how roboticists negotiate among social, technical, and cultural constraints while designing robots, and how humans and robots are constructed as cultural subjects in social robotics discourse. The conceptual focus is on the repeated assembly of cultural models of social behavior, organization, cognition, and technology through roboticists' narratives about the development of advanced robotic technologies. This article provides a picture of robotics as the dynamic construction of technology and culture and concludes with a discussion of the limits and possibilities of this vision in promoting a culturally situated understanding of technology and a multicultural view of science.

German robots: The impact of industrial robots on workers

OpenAIRE

Dauth, Wolfgang; Findeisen, Sebastian; Südekum, Jens; Wößner, Nicole

2017-01-01

We study the impact of rising robot exposure on the careers of individual manufacturing workers, and the equilibrium impact across industries and local labor markets in Germany. We find no evidence that robots cause total job losses, but they do affect the composition of aggregate employment. Every robot destroys two manufacturing jobs. This accounts for almost 23 percent of the overall decline of manufacturing employment in Germany over the period 1994-2014, roughly 275,000 jobs. But this lo...

Autonomous military robotics

CERN Document Server

Nath, Vishnu

2014-01-01

This SpringerBrief reveals the latest techniques in computer vision and machine learning on robots that are designed as accurate and efficient military snipers. Militaries around the world are investigating this technology to simplify the time, cost and safety measures necessary for training human snipers. These robots are developed by combining crucial aspects of computer science research areas including image processing, robotic kinematics and learning algorithms. The authors explain how a new humanoid robot, the iCub, uses high-speed cameras and computer vision algorithms to track the objec

Rehabilitation robotics: an academic engineer perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Krebs, Hermano I

2011-01-01

In this paper, we present a retrospective review of our efforts to revolutionize the way physical medicine is practiced by developing and deploying rehabilitation robots. We present a sample of our clinical results with well over 600 stroke patients, both inpatients and outpatients. We discuss the different robots developed at our laboratory over the past 20 years and their unique characteristics. All are configured both to deliver reproducible interactive therapy and also to measure outcomes with minimal encumbrance, thus providing critical measurement tools to help unravel the key remaining question: what constitutes "best practice"? While success to date indicates that this therapeutic application of robots has opened an emerging new frontier in physical medicine and rehabilitation, the barrier to further progress lies not in developing new hardware but rather in finding the most effective way to enhance neuro-recovery. We close this manuscript discussing some of the tools required for advancing the effort beyond the present state to what we believe will be the central feature of research during the next 10 years.

Robotic arm

Science.gov (United States)

Kwech, Horst

1989-04-18

A robotic arm positionable within a nuclear vessel by access through a small diameter opening and having a mounting tube supported within the vessel and mounting a plurality of arm sections for movement lengthwise of the mounting tube as well as for movement out of a window provided in the wall of the mounting tube. An end effector, such as a grinding head or welding element, at an operating end of the robotic arm, can be located and operated within the nuclear vessel through movement derived from six different axes of motion provided by mounting and drive connections between arm sections of the robotic arm. The movements are achieved by operation of remotely-controllable servo motors, all of which are mounted at a control end of the robotic arm to be outside the nuclear vessel.

Toward cognitive robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Laird, John E.

2009-05-01

Our long-term goal is to develop autonomous robotic systems that have the cognitive abilities of humans, including communication, coordination, adapting to novel situations, and learning through experience. Our approach rests on the recent integration of the Soar cognitive architecture with both virtual and physical robotic systems. Soar has been used to develop a wide variety of knowledge-rich agents for complex virtual environments, including distributed training environments and interactive computer games. For development and testing in robotic virtual environments, Soar interfaces to a variety of robotic simulators and a simple mobile robot. We have recently made significant extensions to Soar that add new memories and new non-symbolic reasoning to Soar's original symbolic processing, which should significantly improve Soar abilities for control of robots. These extensions include episodic memory, semantic memory, reinforcement learning, and mental imagery. Episodic memory and semantic memory support the learning and recalling of prior events and situations as well as facts about the world. Reinforcement learning provides the ability of the system to tune its procedural knowledge - knowledge about how to do things. Mental imagery supports the use of diagrammatic and visual representations that are critical to support spatial reasoning. We speculate on the future of unmanned systems and the need for cognitive robotics to support dynamic instruction and taskability.

Conceptions of health service robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lystbæk, Christian Tang

2015-01-01

Technology developments create rich opportunities for health service providers to introduce service robots in health care. While the potential benefits of applying robots in health care are extensive, the research into the conceptions of health service robot and its importance for the uptake...... of robotics technology in health care is limited. This article develops a model of the basic conceptions of health service robots that can be used to understand different assumptions and values attached to health care technology in general and health service robots in particular. The article takes...... a discursive approach in order to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the social values of health service robots. First a discursive approach is proposed to develop a typology of conceptions of health service robots. Second, a model identifying four basic conceptions of health service robots...

Continuum limbed robots for locomotion

Science.gov (United States)

Mutlu, Alper

This thesis focuses on continuum robots based on pneumatic muscle technology. We introduce a novel approach to use these muscles as limbs of lightweight legged robots. The flexibility of the continuum legs of these robots offers the potential to perform some duties that are not possible with classical rigid-link robots. Potential applications are as space robots in low gravity, and as cave explorer robots. The thesis covers the fabrication process of continuum pneumatic muscles and limbs. It also provides some new experimental data on this technology. Afterwards, the designs of two different novel continuum robots - one tripod, one quadruped - are introduced. Experimental data from tests using the robots is provided. The experimental results are the first published example of locomotion with tripod and quadruped continuum legged robots. Finally, discussion of the results and how far this technology can go forward is presented.

Soft computing in advanced robotics

CERN Document Server

Kobayashi, Ichiro; Kim, Euntai

2014-01-01

Intelligent system and robotics are inevitably bound up; intelligent robots makes embodiment of system integration by using the intelligent systems. We can figure out that intelligent systems are to cell units, while intelligent robots are to body components. The two technologies have been synchronized in progress. Making leverage of the robotics and intelligent systems, applications cover boundlessly the range from our daily life to space station; manufacturing, healthcare, environment, energy, education, personal assistance, logistics. This book aims at presenting the research results in relevance with intelligent robotics technology. We propose to researchers and practitioners some methods to advance the intelligent systems and apply them to advanced robotics technology. This book consists of 10 contributions that feature mobile robots, robot emotion, electric power steering, multi-agent, fuzzy visual navigation, adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system, swarm EKF localization and inspection robot. Th...

Situation Assessment for Mobile Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck, Anders Billesø

Mobile robots have become a mature technology. The first cable guided logistics robots were introduced in the industry almost 60 years ago. In this time the market for mobile robots in industry has only experienced a very modest growth and only 2.100 systems were sold worldwide in 2011. In recent...... years, many other domains have adopted the mobile robots, such as logistics robots at hospitals and the vacuum robots in our homes. However, considering the achievements in research the last 15 years within perception and operation in natural environments together with the reductions of costs in modern...... sensor systems, the growth potential for mobile robot applications are enormous. Many new technological components are available to move the limits of commercial mobile robot applications, but a key hindrance is reliability. Natural environments are complex and dynamic, and thus the risk of robots...

Fundamentals of soft robot locomotion

OpenAIRE

Calisti, M.; Picardi, G.; Laschi, C.

2017-01-01

Soft robotics and its related technologies enable robot abilities in several robotics domains including, but not exclusively related to, manipulation, manufacturing, human���robot interaction and locomotion. Although field applications have emerged for soft manipulation and human���robot interaction, mobile soft robots appear to remain in the research stage, involving the somehow conflictual goals of having a deformable body and exerting forces on the environment to achieve locomotion. This p...

Open Issues in Evolutionary Robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Fernando; Duarte, Miguel; Correia, Luís; Oliveira, Sancho Moura; Christensen, Anders Lyhne

2016-01-01

One of the long-term goals in evolutionary robotics is to be able to automatically synthesize controllers for real autonomous robots based only on a task specification. While a number of studies have shown the applicability of evolutionary robotics techniques for the synthesis of behavioral control, researchers have consistently been faced with a number of issues preventing the widespread adoption of evolutionary robotics for engineering purposes. In this article, we review and discuss the open issues in evolutionary robotics. First, we analyze the benefits and challenges of simulation-based evolution and subsequent deployment of controllers versus evolution on real robotic hardware. Second, we discuss specific evolutionary computation issues that have plagued evolutionary robotics: (1) the bootstrap problem, (2) deception, and (3) the role of genomic encoding and genotype-phenotype mapping in the evolution of controllers for complex tasks. Finally, we address the absence of standard research practices in the field. We also discuss promising avenues of research. Our underlying motivation is the reduction of the current gap between evolutionary robotics and mainstream robotics, and the establishment of evolutionary robotics as a canonical approach for the engineering of autonomous robots.

Mergeable nervous systems for robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathews, Nithin; Christensen, Anders Lyhne; O'Grady, Rehan; Mondada, Francesco; Dorigo, Marco

2017-09-12

Robots have the potential to display a higher degree of lifetime morphological adaptation than natural organisms. By adopting a modular approach, robots with different capabilities, shapes, and sizes could, in theory, construct and reconfigure themselves as required. However, current modular robots have only been able to display a limited range of hardwired behaviors because they rely solely on distributed control. Here, we present robots whose bodies and control systems can merge to form entirely new robots that retain full sensorimotor control. Our control paradigm enables robots to exhibit properties that go beyond those of any existing machine or of any biological organism: the robots we present can merge to form larger bodies with a single centralized controller, split into separate bodies with independent controllers, and self-heal by removing or replacing malfunctioning body parts. This work takes us closer to robots that can autonomously change their size, form and function.Robots that can self-assemble into different morphologies are desired to perform tasks that require different physical capabilities. Mathews et al. design robots whose bodies and control systems can merge and split to form new robots that retain full sensorimotor control and act as a single entity.

Evolving self-assembly in autonomous homogeneous robots: experiments with two physical robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Ampatzis, Christos; Tuci, Elio; Trianni, Vito; Christensen, Anders Lyhne; Dorigo, Marco

2009-01-01

This research work illustrates an approach to the design of controllers for self-assembling robots in which the self-assembly is initiated and regulated by perceptual cues that are brought forth by the physical robots through their dynamical interactions. More specifically, we present a homogeneous control system that can achieve assembly between two modules (two fully autonomous robots) of a mobile self-reconfigurable system without a priori introduced behavioral or morphological heterogeneities. The controllers are dynamic neural networks evolved in simulation that directly control all the actuators of the two robots. The neurocontrollers cause the dynamic specialization of the robots by allocating roles between them based solely on their interaction. We show that the best evolved controller proves to be successful when tested on a real hardware platform, the swarm-bot. The performance achieved is similar to the one achieved by existing modular or behavior-based approaches, also due to the effect of an emergent recovery mechanism that was neither explicitly rewarded by the fitness function, nor observed during the evolutionary simulation. Our results suggest that direct access to the orientations or intentions of the other agents is not a necessary condition for robot coordination: Our robots coordinate without direct or explicit communication, contrary to what is assumed by most research works in collective robotics. This work also contributes to strengthening the evidence that evolutionary robotics is a design methodology that can tackle real-world tasks demanding fine sensory-motor coordination.

[Robotics in pediatric surgery].

Science.gov (United States)

Camps, J I

2011-10-01

Despite the extensive use of robotics in the adult population, the use of robotics in pediatrics has not been well accepted. There is still a lack of awareness from pediatric surgeons on how to use the robotic equipment, its advantages and indications. Benefit is still controversial. Dexterity and better visualization of the surgical field are one of the strong values. Conversely, cost and a lack of small instruments prevent the use of robotics in the smaller patients. The aim of this manuscript is to present the controversies about the use of robotics in pediatric surgery.

Toward a framework for levels of robot autonomy in human-robot interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Beer, Jenay M; Fisk, Arthur D; Rogers, Wendy A

2014-07-01

A critical construct related to human-robot interaction (HRI) is autonomy, which varies widely across robot platforms. Levels of robot autonomy (LORA), ranging from teleoperation to fully autonomous systems, influence the way in which humans and robots may interact with one another. Thus, there is a need to understand HRI by identifying variables that influence - and are influenced by - robot autonomy. Our overarching goal is to develop a framework for levels of robot autonomy in HRI. To reach this goal, the framework draws links between HRI and human-automation interaction, a field with a long history of studying and understanding human-related variables. The construct of autonomy is reviewed and redefined within the context of HRI. Additionally, the framework proposes a process for determining a robot's autonomy level, by categorizing autonomy along a 10-point taxonomy. The framework is intended to be treated as guidelines to determine autonomy, categorize the LORA along a qualitative taxonomy, and consider which HRI variables (e.g., acceptance, situation awareness, reliability) may be influenced by the LORA.

Modeling and Simulation of Elementary Robot Behaviors using Associative Memories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claude F. Touzet

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Today, there are several drawbacks that impede the necessary and much needed use of robot learning techniques in real applications. First, the time needed to achieve the synthesis of any behavior is prohibitive. Second, the robot behavior during the learning phase is – by definition – bad, it may even be dangerous. Third, except within the lazy learning approach, a new behavior implies a new learning phase. We propose in this paper to use associative memories (self-organizing maps to encode the non explicit model of the robot-world interaction sampled by the lazy memory, and then generate a robot behavior by means of situations to be achieved, i.e., points on the self-organizing maps. Any behavior can instantaneously be synthesized by the definition of a goal situation. Its performance will be minimal (not necessarily bad and will improve by the mere repetition of the behavior.

[Robot-aided training in rehabilitation].

Science.gov (United States)

Hachisuka, Kenji

2010-02-01

Recently, new training techniques that involve the use of robots have been used in the rehabilitation of patients with hemiplegia and paraplegia. Robots used for training the arm include the MIT-MANUS, Arm Trainer, mirror-image motion enabler (MIME) robot, and the assisted rehabilitation and measurement (ARM) Guide. Robots that are used for lower-limb training are the Rehabot, Gait Trainer, Lokomat, LOPES Exoskeleton Robot, and Gait Assist Robot. Robot-aided therapy has enabled the functional training of the arm and the lower limbs in an effective, easy, and comfortable manner. Therefore, with this type of therapy, the patients can repeatedly undergo sufficient and accurate training for a prolonged period. However, evidence of the benefits of robot-aided training has not yet been established.

Towards a compact and precise sample holder for macromolecular crystallography.

Science.gov (United States)

Papp, Gergely; Rossi, Christopher; Janocha, Robert; Sorez, Clement; Lopez-Marrero, Marcos; Astruc, Anthony; McCarthy, Andrew; Belrhali, Hassan; Bowler, Matthew W; Cipriani, Florent

2017-10-01

Most of the sample holders currently used in macromolecular crystallography offer limited storage density and poor initial crystal-positioning precision upon mounting on a goniometer. This has now become a limiting factor at high-throughput beamlines, where data collection can be performed in a matter of seconds. Furthermore, this lack of precision limits the potential benefits emerging from automated harvesting systems that could provide crystal-position information which would further enhance alignment at beamlines. This situation provided the motivation for the development of a compact and precise sample holder with corresponding pucks, handling tools and robotic transfer protocols. The development process included four main phases: design, prototype manufacture, testing with a robotic sample changer and validation under real conditions on a beamline. Two sample-holder designs are proposed: NewPin and miniSPINE. They share the same robot gripper and allow the storage of 36 sample holders in uni-puck footprint-style pucks, which represents 252 samples in a dry-shipping dewar commonly used in the field. The pucks are identified with human- and machine-readable codes, as well as with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. NewPin offers a crystal-repositioning precision of up to 10 µm but requires a specific goniometer socket. The storage density could reach 64 samples using a special puck designed for fully robotic handling. miniSPINE is less precise but uses a goniometer mount compatible with the current SPINE standard. miniSPINE is proposed for the first implementation of the new standard, since it is easier to integrate at beamlines. An upgraded version of the SPINE sample holder with a corresponding puck named SPINEplus is also proposed in order to offer a homogenous and interoperable system. The project involved several European synchrotrons and industrial companies in the fields of consumables and sample-changer robotics. Manual handling of mini

Current status of robotic simulators in acquisition of robotic surgical skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Anup; Smith, Roger; Patel, Vipul R

2015-03-01

This article provides an overview of the current status of simulator systems in robotic surgery training curriculum, focusing on available simulators for training, their comparison, new technologies introduced in simulation focusing on concepts of training along with existing challenges and future perspectives of simulator training in robotic surgery. The different virtual reality simulators available in the market like dVSS, dVT, RoSS, ProMIS and SEP have shown face, content and construct validity in robotic skills training for novices outside the operating room. Recently, augmented reality simulators like HoST, Maestro AR and RobotiX Mentor have been introduced in robotic training providing a more realistic operating environment, emphasizing more on procedure-specific robotic training . Further, the Xperience Team Trainer, which provides training to console surgeon and bed-side assistant simultaneously, has been recently introduced to emphasize the importance of teamwork and proper coordination. Simulator training holds an important place in current robotic training curriculum of future robotic surgeons. There is a need for more procedure-specific augmented reality simulator training, utilizing advancements in computing and graphical capabilities for new innovations in simulator technology. Further studies are required to establish its cost-benefit ratio along with concurrent and predictive validity.

Novel Sample-handling Approach for XRD Analysis with Minimal Sample Preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Sarrazin, P.; Chipera, S.; Bish, D.; Blake, D.; Feldman, S.; Vaniman, D.; Bryson, C.

2004-01-01

Sample preparation and sample handling are among the most critical operations associated with X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. These operations require attention in a laboratory environment, but they become a major constraint in the deployment of XRD instruments for robotic planetary exploration. We are developing a novel sample handling system that dramatically relaxes the constraints on sample preparation by allowing characterization of coarse-grained material that would normally be impossible to analyze with conventional powder-XRD techniques.

Rugged Walking Robot

Science.gov (United States)

Larimer, Stanley J.; Lisec, Thomas R.; Spiessbach, Andrew J.

1990-01-01

Proposed walking-beam robot simpler and more rugged than articulated-leg walkers. Requires less data processing, and uses power more efficiently. Includes pair of tripods, one nested in other. Inner tripod holds power supplies, communication equipment, computers, instrumentation, sampling arms, and articulated sensor turrets. Outer tripod holds mast on which antennas for communication with remote control site and video cameras for viewing local and distant terrain mounted. Propels itself by raising, translating, and lowering tripods in alternation. Steers itself by rotating raised tripod on turntable.

A Human-Robot Interaction Perspective on Assistive and Rehabilitation Robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Beckerle, Philipp; Salvietti, Gionata; Unal, Ramazan; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Rossi, Simone; Castellini, Claudio; Hirche, Sandra; Endo, Satoshi; Amor, Heni Ben; Ciocarlie, Matei; Mastrogiovanni, Fulvio; Argall, Brenna D; Bianchi, Matteo

2017-01-01

Assistive and rehabilitation devices are a promising and challenging field of recent robotics research. Motivated by societal needs such as aging populations, such devices can support motor functionality and subject training. The design, control, sensing, and assessment of the devices become more sophisticated due to a human in the loop. This paper gives a human-robot interaction perspective on current issues and opportunities in the field. On the topic of control and machine learning, approaches that support but do not distract subjects are reviewed. Options to provide sensory user feedback that are currently missing from robotic devices are outlined. Parallels between device acceptance and affective computing are made. Furthermore, requirements for functional assessment protocols that relate to real-world tasks are discussed. In all topic areas, the design of human-oriented frameworks and methods is dominated by challenges related to the close interaction between the human and robotic device. This paper discusses the aforementioned aspects in order to open up new perspectives for future robotic solutions.

DSLs in robotics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Bordignon, Mirko; Stoy, Kasper

2017-01-01

Robotic systems blend hardware and software in a holistic way that intrinsically raises many crosscutting concerns such as concurrency, uncertainty, and time constraints. These concerns make programming robotic systems challenging as expertise from multiple domains needs to be integrated...... conceptually and technically. Programming languages play a central role in providing a higher level of abstraction. This briefing presents a case study on the evolution of domain-specific languages based on modular robotics. The case study on the evolution of domain-specific languages is based on a series...... of DSL prototypes developed over five years for the domain of modular, self-reconfigurable robots....

Robots de servicio

OpenAIRE

Aracil, Rafael; Balaguer, Carlos; Armada, Manuel

2008-01-01

8 págs, 9 figs. El término Robots de Servicio apareció a finales de los años 80 como una necesidad de desarrollar máquinas y sistemas capaces de trabajar en entornos diferentes a los fabriles. Los Robots de Servicio tenían que poder trabajar en entornos noestructurados, en condiciones ambientales cambiantes y con una estrecha interacción con los humanos. En 1995 fue creado por la IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, el Technical Committee on Service Robots, y este comité definió en el año...

Robotic arm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwech, H.

1989-01-01

A robotic arm positionable within a nuclear vessel by access through a small diameter opening and having a mounting tube supported within the vessel and mounting a plurality of arm sections for movement lengthwise of the mounting tube as well as for movement out of a window provided in the wall of the mounting tube is disclosed. An end effector, such as a grinding head or welding element, at an operating end of the robotic arm, can be located and operated within the nuclear vessel through movement derived from six different axes of motion provided by mounting and drive connections between arm sections of the robotic arm. The movements are achieved by operation of remotely-controllable servo motors, all of which are mounted at a control end of the robotic arm to be outside the nuclear vessel. 23 figs

Human-robot skills transfer interfaces for a flexible surgical robot.

Science.gov (United States)

Calinon, Sylvain; Bruno, Danilo; Malekzadeh, Milad S; Nanayakkara, Thrishantha; Caldwell, Darwin G

2014-09-01

In minimally invasive surgery, tools go through narrow openings and manipulate soft organs to perform surgical tasks. There are limitations in current robot-assisted surgical systems due to the rigidity of robot tools. The aim of the STIFF-FLOP European project is to develop a soft robotic arm to perform surgical tasks. The flexibility of the robot allows the surgeon to move within organs to reach remote areas inside the body and perform challenging procedures in laparoscopy. This article addresses the problem of designing learning interfaces enabling the transfer of skills from human demonstration. Robot programming by demonstration encompasses a wide range of learning strategies, from simple mimicking of the demonstrator's actions to the higher level imitation of the underlying intent extracted from the demonstrations. By focusing on this last form, we study the problem of extracting an objective function explaining the demonstrations from an over-specified set of candidate reward functions, and using this information for self-refinement of the skill. In contrast to inverse reinforcement learning strategies that attempt to explain the observations with reward functions defined for the entire task (or a set of pre-defined reward profiles active for different parts of the task), the proposed approach is based on context-dependent reward-weighted learning, where the robot can learn the relevance of candidate objective functions with respect to the current phase of the task or encountered situation. The robot then exploits this information for skills refinement in the policy parameters space. The proposed approach is tested in simulation with a cutting task performed by the STIFF-FLOP flexible robot, using kinesthetic demonstrations from a Barrett WAM manipulator. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combining psychological and engineering approaches to utilizing social robots with children with autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Dickstein-Fischer, Laurie; Fischer, Gregory S

2014-01-01

It is estimated that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 68 children. Early identification of an ASD is exceedingly important to the introduction of an intervention. We are developing a robot-assisted approach that will serve as an improved diagnostic and early intervention tool for children with autism. The robot, named PABI® (Penguin for Autism Behavioral Interventions), is a compact humanoid robot taking on an expressive cartoon-like embodiment. The robot is affordable, durable, and portable so that it can be used in various settings including schools, clinics, and the home. Thus enabling significantly enhanced and more readily available diagnosis and continuation of care. Through facial expressions, body motion, verbal cues, stereo vision-based tracking, and a tablet computer, the robot is capable of interacting meaningfully with an autistic child. Initial implementations of the robot, as part of a comprehensive treatment model (CTM), include Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy where the child interacts with a tablet computer wirelessly interfaced with the robot. At the same time, the robot makes meaningful expressions and utterances and uses stereo cameras in eyes to track the child, maintain eye contact, and collect data such as affect and gaze direction for charting of progress. In this paper we present the clinical justification, anticipated usage with corresponding requirements, prototype development of the robotic system, and demonstration of a sample application for robot-assisted ABA therapy.

Measuring Attitudes Towards Telepresence Robots

OpenAIRE

M Tsui, Katherine; Desai, Munjal; A. Yanco, Holly; Cramer, Henriette; Kemper, Nicander

2011-01-01

Studies using Nomura et al.’s “Negative Attitude toward Robots Scale” (NARS) [1] as an attitudinal measure have featured robots that were perceived to be autonomous, indepen- dent agents. State of the art telepresence robots require an explicit human-in-the-loop to drive the robot around. In this paper, we investigate if NARS can be used with telepresence robots. To this end, we conducted three studies in which people watched videos of telepresence robots (n=70), operated te...

Robotic environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bier, H.H.

2011-01-01

Technological and conceptual advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and material science have enabled robotic architectural environments to be implemented and tested in the last decade in virtual and physical prototypes. These prototypes are incorporating sensing-actuating

2016 International Symposium on Experimental Robotics

CERN Document Server

Nakamura, Yoshihiko; Khatib, Oussama; Venture, Gentiane

2017-01-01

Experimental Robotics XV is the collection of papers presented at the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan on October 3-6, 2016. 73 scientific papers were selected and presented after peer review. The papers span a broad range of sub-fields in robotics including aerial robots, mobile robots, actuation, grasping, manipulation, planning and control and human-robot interaction, but shared cutting-edge approaches and paradigms to experimental robotics. The readers will find a breadth of new directions of experimental robotics. The International Symposium on Experimental Robotics is a series of bi-annual symposia sponsored by the International Foundation of Robotics Research, whose goal is to provide a forum dedicated to experimental robotics research. Robotics has been widening its scientific scope, deepening its methodologies and expanding its applications. However, the significance of experiments remains and will remain at the center of the discipline. The ISER gatherings are...

Automation &robotics for future Mars exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Schulte, W.; von Richter, A.; Bertrand, R.

2003-04-01

site. In the frame of near-term Mars exploration a dedicated exobiology mission is envisaged. Scientific and technical studies for a facility to detect the evidence of past of present life have been carried out under ESA contract. Mars soil/rock samples are to be analyzed for their morphology, organic and inorganic composition using a suite of scientific instruments. Robotic devices, e.g. for the acquisition, handling and onboard processing of Mars sample material retrieved from different locations, and surface mobility are important elements in a fully automated mission. Necessary robotic elements have been identified in past studies. Their realization can partly be based on heritage of existing space hardware, but will require dedicated development effort.

Service Oriented Robotic Architecture for Space Robotics: Design, Testing, and Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Fluckiger, Lorenzo Jean Marc E; Utz, Hans Heinrich

2013-01-01

This paper presents the lessons learned from six years of experiments with planetary rover prototypes running the Service Oriented Robotic Architecture (SORA) developed by the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) at the NASA Ames Research Center. SORA relies on proven software engineering methods and technologies applied to space robotics. Based on a Service Oriented Architecture and robust middleware, SORA encompasses on-board robot control and a full suite of software tools necessary for remotely operated exploration missions. SORA has been eld tested in numerous scenarios of robotic lunar and planetary exploration. The experiments conducted by IRG with SORA exercise a large set of the constraints encountered in space applications: remote robotic assets, ight relevant science instruments, distributed operations, high network latencies and unreliable or intermittent communication links. In this paper, we present the results of these eld tests in regard to the developed architecture, and discuss its bene ts and limitations.

Design of Biomedical Robots for Phenotype Prediction Problems.

Science.gov (United States)

deAndrés-Galiana, Enrique J; Fernández-Martínez, Juan Luis; Sonis, Stephen T

2016-08-01

Genomics has been used with varying degrees of success in the context of drug discovery and in defining mechanisms of action for diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative and rare diseases in the quest for orphan drugs. To improve its utility, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness optimization of analytical methods, especially those that translate to clinically relevant outcomes, is critical. Here we define a novel tool for genomic analysis termed a biomedical robot in order to improve phenotype prediction, identifying disease pathogenesis and significantly defining therapeutic targets. Biomedical robot analytics differ from historical methods in that they are based on melding feature selection methods and ensemble learning techniques. The biomedical robot mathematically exploits the structure of the uncertainty space of any classification problem conceived as an ill-posed optimization problem. Given a classifier, there exist different equivalent small-scale genetic signatures that provide similar predictive accuracies. We perform the sensitivity analysis to noise of the biomedical robot concept using synthetic microarrays perturbed by different kinds of noises in expression and class assignment. Finally, we show the application of this concept to the analysis of different diseases, inferring the pathways and the correlation networks. The final aim of a biomedical robot is to improve knowledge discovery and provide decision systems to optimize diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. This analysis shows that the biomedical robots are robust against different kinds of noises and particularly to a wrong class assignment of the samples. Assessing the uncertainty that is inherent to any phenotype prediction problem is the right way to address this kind of problem.

Robot Control Overview: An Industrial Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Brogårdh

2009-07-01

Full Text Available One key competence for robot manufacturers is robot control, defined as all the technologies needed to control the electromechanical system of an industrial robot. By means of modeling, identification, optimization, and model-based control it is possible to reduce robot cost, increase robot performance, and solve requirements from new automation concepts and new application processes. Model-based control, including kinematics error compensation, optimal servo reference- and feed-forward generation, and servo design, tuning, and scheduling, has meant a breakthrough for the use of robots in industry. Relying on this breakthrough, new automation concepts such as high performance multi robot collaboration and human robot collaboration can be introduced. Robot manufacturers can build robots with more compliant components and mechanical structures without loosing performance and robots can be used also in applications with very high performance requirements, e.g., in assembly, machining, and laser cutting. In the future it is expected that the importance of sensor control will increase, both with respect to sensors in the robot structure to increase the control performance of the robot itself and sensors outside the robot related to the applications and the automation systems. In this connection sensor fusion and learning functionalities will be needed together with the robot control for easy and intuitive installation, programming, and maintenance of industrial robots.

Low cost submarine robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ponlachart Chotikarn

2010-10-01

Full Text Available A submarine robot is a semi-autonomous submarine robot used mainly for marine environmental research. We aim todevelop a low cost, semi-autonomous submarine robot which is able to travel underwater. The robot’s structure was designedand patented using a novel idea of the diving system employing a volume adjustment mechanism to vary the robot’s density.A light weight, flexibility and small structure provided by PVC can be used to construct the torpedo-liked shape robot.Hydraulic seal and O-ring rubbers are used to prevent water leaking. This robot is controlled by a wired communicationsystem.

Vision-Based Robot Following Using PID Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chandra Sekhar Pati

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Applications like robots which are employed for shopping, porter services, assistive robotics, etc., require a robot to continuously follow a human or another robot. This paper presents a mobile robot following another tele-operated mobile robot based on a PID (Proportional–Integral-Differential controller. Here, we use two differential wheel drive robots; one is a master robot and the other is a follower robot. The master robot is manually controlled and the follower robot is programmed to follow the master robot. For the master robot, a Bluetooth module receives the user’s command from an android application which is processed by the master robot’s controller, which is used to move the robot. The follower robot receives the image from the Kinect sensor mounted on it and recognizes the master robot. The follower robot identifies the x, y positions by employing the camera and the depth by using the Kinect depth sensor. By identifying the x, y, and z locations of the master robot, the follower robot finds the angle and distance between the master and follower robot, which is given as the error term of a PID controller. Using this, the follower robot follows the master robot. A PID controller is based on feedback and tries to minimize the error. Experiments are conducted for two indigenously developed robots; one depicting a humanoid and the other a small mobile robot. It was observed that the follower robot was easily able to follow the master robot using well-tuned PID parameters.

Robotics-assisted mass spectrometry assay platform enabled by open-source electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Shih-Hao; Urban, Pawel L

2015-02-15

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an important analytical technique with numerous applications in clinical analysis, biochemistry, environmental analysis, geology and physics. Its success builds on the ability of MS to determine molecular weights of analytes, and elucidate their structures. However, sample handling prior to MS requires a lot of attention and labor. In this work we were aiming to automate processing samples for MS so that analyses could be conducted without much supervision of experienced analysts. The goal of this study was to develop a robotics and information technology-oriented platform that could control the whole analysis process including sample delivery, reaction-based assay, data acquisition, and interaction with the analyst. The proposed platform incorporates a robotic arm for handling sample vials delivered to the laboratory, and several auxiliary devices which facilitate and secure the analysis process. They include: multi-relay board, infrared sensors, photo-interrupters, gyroscopes, force sensors, fingerprint scanner, barcode scanner, touch screen panel, and internet interface. The control of all the building blocks is achieved through implementation of open-source electronics (Arduino), and enabled by custom-written programs in C language. The advantages of the proposed system include: low cost, simplicity, small size, as well as facile automation of sample delivery and processing without the intervention of the analyst. It is envisaged that this simple robotic system may be the forerunner of automated laboratories dedicated to mass spectrometric analysis of biological samples. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ROBOTICS 2014 - The International Conference on ROBOTICS, Bucharest, Romania, October 23-24, 2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iulian TABĂRĂ

2014-12-01

Full Text Available ROBOTICS 2014 was organized by Robotics Society of Romania (RSR with the support of University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB, Institute of Solid Mechanics of the Romanian Academy (ISMRA and Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (TUCEB, Ministry of National Education (MNE, under the patronage of International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM. The first scientific event in the field of Robotics in Romania was held at the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB, in 1981, by Professor Chrisitan PELECUDI, head of the Mechanisms and Robots research and design team MERO (MEchanisms and RObots and was named "National Symposium of Robotics ". Since the first edition have been held in Romania various scientific events dedicated to Robotics under the name of National Seminars (first fifteen events, since 1981 and National and International Conferences (last five editions. This is the 22nd edition of these scientific events, the first three (1981, 1982, and 1983 being held at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.

Robotic hand with modular extensions

Science.gov (United States)

Salisbury, Curt Michael; Quigley, Morgan

2015-01-20

A robotic device is described herein. The robotic device includes a frame that comprises a plurality of receiving regions that are configured to receive a respective plurality of modular robotic extensions. The modular robotic extensions are removably attachable to the frame at the respective receiving regions by way of respective mechanical fuses. Each mechanical fuse is configured to trip when a respective modular robotic extension experiences a predefined load condition, such that the respective modular robotic extension detaches from the frame when the load condition is met.

Robot for Investigations and Assessments of Nuclear Areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kanaan, Daniel; Dogny, Stephane [AREVA D and S/DT, 30206 Bagnols sur Ceze (France)

2015-07-01

RIANA is a remote controlled Robot dedicated for Investigations and Assessments of Nuclear Areas. The development of RIANA is motivated by the need to have at disposal a proven robot, tested in hot cells; a robot capable of remotely investigate and characterise the inside of nuclear facilities in order to collect efficiently all the required data in the shortest possible time. It is based on a wireless medium sized remote carrier that may carry a wide variety of interchangeable modules, sensors and tools. It is easily customised to match specific requirements and quickly configured depending on the mission and the operator's preferences. RIANA integrates localisation and navigation systems. The robot will be able to generate / update a 2D map of its surrounding and exploring areas. The position of the robot is given accurately on the map. Furthermore, the robot will be able to autonomously calculate, define and follow a trajectory between 2 points taking into account its environment and obstacles. The robot is configurable to manage obstacles and restrict access to forbidden areas. RIANA allows an advanced control of modules, sensors and tools; all collected data (radiological and measured data) are displayed in real time in different format (chart, on the generated map...) and stored in a single place so that may be exported in a convenient format for data processing. This modular design gives RIANA the flexibility to perform multiple investigation missions where humans cannot work such as: visual inspections, dynamic localization and 2D mapping, characterizations and nuclear measurements of floor and walls, non destructive testing, samples collection: solid and liquid. The benefits of using RIANA are: - reducing the personnel exposures by limiting the manual intervention time, - minimizing the time and reducing the cost of investigation operations, - providing critical inputs to set up and optimize cleanup and dismantling operations. (authors)

Robot for Investigations and Assessments of Nuclear Areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanaan, Daniel; Dogny, Stephane

2015-01-01

RIANA is a remote controlled Robot dedicated for Investigations and Assessments of Nuclear Areas. The development of RIANA is motivated by the need to have at disposal a proven robot, tested in hot cells; a robot capable of remotely investigate and characterise the inside of nuclear facilities in order to collect efficiently all the required data in the shortest possible time. It is based on a wireless medium sized remote carrier that may carry a wide variety of interchangeable modules, sensors and tools. It is easily customised to match specific requirements and quickly configured depending on the mission and the operator's preferences. RIANA integrates localisation and navigation systems. The robot will be able to generate / update a 2D map of its surrounding and exploring areas. The position of the robot is given accurately on the map. Furthermore, the robot will be able to autonomously calculate, define and follow a trajectory between 2 points taking into account its environment and obstacles. The robot is configurable to manage obstacles and restrict access to forbidden areas. RIANA allows an advanced control of modules, sensors and tools; all collected data (radiological and measured data) are displayed in real time in different format (chart, on the generated map...) and stored in a single place so that may be exported in a convenient format for data processing. This modular design gives RIANA the flexibility to perform multiple investigation missions where humans cannot work such as: visual inspections, dynamic localization and 2D mapping, characterizations and nuclear measurements of floor and walls, non destructive testing, samples collection: solid and liquid. The benefits of using RIANA are: - reducing the personnel exposures by limiting the manual intervention time, - minimizing the time and reducing the cost of investigation operations, - providing critical inputs to set up and optimize cleanup and dismantling operations. (authors)

Physical Human Robot Interaction for a Wall Mounting Robot - External Force Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alonso García, Alejandro; Villarmarzo Arruñada, Noelia; Pedersen, Rasmus

2018-01-01

The use of collaborative robots enhances human capabilities, leading to better working conditions and increased productivity. In building construction, such robots are needed, among other tasks, to install large glass panels, where the robot takes care of the heavy lifting part of the job while...

A Dual Launch Robotic and Human Lunar Mission Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, David L.; Mulqueen, Jack; Percy, Tom; Griffin, Brand; Smitherman, David

2010-01-01

This paper describes a comprehensive lunar exploration architecture developed by Marshall Space Flight Center's Advanced Concepts Office that features a science-based surface exploration strategy and a transportation architecture that uses two launches of a heavy lift launch vehicle to deliver human and robotic mission systems to the moon. The principal advantage of the dual launch lunar mission strategy is the reduced cost and risk resulting from the development of just one launch vehicle system. The dual launch lunar mission architecture may also enhance opportunities for commercial and international partnerships by using expendable launch vehicle services for robotic missions or development of surface exploration elements. Furthermore, this architecture is particularly suited to the integration of robotic and human exploration to maximize science return. For surface operations, an innovative dual-mode rover is presented that is capable of performing robotic science exploration as well as transporting human crew conducting surface exploration. The dual-mode rover can be deployed to the lunar surface to perform precursor science activities, collect samples, scout potential crew landing sites, and meet the crew at a designated landing site. With this approach, the crew is able to evaluate the robotically collected samples to select the best samples for return to Earth to maximize the scientific value. The rovers can continue robotic exploration after the crew leaves the lunar surface. The transportation system for the dual launch mission architecture uses a lunar-orbit-rendezvous strategy. Two heavy lift launch vehicles depart from Earth within a six hour period to transport the lunar lander and crew elements separately to lunar orbit. In lunar orbit, the crew transfer vehicle docks with the lander and the crew boards the lander for descent to the surface. After the surface mission, the crew returns to the orbiting transfer vehicle for the return to the Earth. This

Aerobot Sampling and Handling System, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Honeybee Robotics proposes to: ?Derive and document the functional and technical requirements for Aerobot surface sampling and sample handling across a range of...

Vision-Based Robot Following Using PID Control

OpenAIRE

Chandra Sekhar Pati; Rahul Kala

2017-01-01

Applications like robots which are employed for shopping, porter services, assistive robotics, etc., require a robot to continuously follow a human or another robot. This paper presents a mobile robot following another tele-operated mobile robot based on a PID (Proportional–Integral-Differential) controller. Here, we use two differential wheel drive robots; one is a master robot and the other is a follower robot. The master robot is manually controlled and the follower robot is programmed to ...

Why Robots Should Be Social: Enhancing Machine Learning through Social Human-Robot Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

de Greeff, Joachim; Belpaeme, Tony

2015-01-01

Social learning is a powerful method for cultural propagation of knowledge and skills relying on a complex interplay of learning strategies, social ecology and the human propensity for both learning and tutoring. Social learning has the potential to be an equally potent learning strategy for artificial systems and robots in specific. However, given the complexity and unstructured nature of social learning, implementing social machine learning proves to be a challenging problem. We study one particular aspect of social machine learning: that of offering social cues during the learning interaction. Specifically, we study whether people are sensitive to social cues offered by a learning robot, in a similar way to children's social bids for tutoring. We use a child-like social robot and a task in which the robot has to learn the meaning of words. For this a simple turn-based interaction is used, based on language games. Two conditions are tested: one in which the robot uses social means to invite a human teacher to provide information based on what the robot requires to fill gaps in its knowledge (i.e. expression of a learning preference); the other in which the robot does not provide social cues to communicate a learning preference. We observe that conveying a learning preference through the use of social cues results in better and faster learning by the robot. People also seem to form a "mental model" of the robot, tailoring the tutoring to the robot's performance as opposed to using simply random teaching. In addition, the social learning shows a clear gender effect with female participants being responsive to the robot's bids, while male teachers appear to be less receptive. This work shows how additional social cues in social machine learning can result in people offering better quality learning input to artificial systems, resulting in improved learning performance.

Why Robots Should Be Social: Enhancing Machine Learning through Social Human-Robot Interaction.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim de Greeff

Full Text Available Social learning is a powerful method for cultural propagation of knowledge and skills relying on a complex interplay of learning strategies, social ecology and the human propensity for both learning and tutoring. Social learning has the potential to be an equally potent learning strategy for artificial systems and robots in specific. However, given the complexity and unstructured nature of social learning, implementing social machine learning proves to be a challenging problem. We study one particular aspect of social machine learning: that of offering social cues during the learning interaction. Specifically, we study whether people are sensitive to social cues offered by a learning robot, in a similar way to children's social bids for tutoring. We use a child-like social robot and a task in which the robot has to learn the meaning of words. For this a simple turn-based interaction is used, based on language games. Two conditions are tested: one in which the robot uses social means to invite a human teacher to provide information based on what the robot requires to fill gaps in its knowledge (i.e. expression of a learning preference; the other in which the robot does not provide social cues to communicate a learning preference. We observe that conveying a learning preference through the use of social cues results in better and faster learning by the robot. People also seem to form a "mental model" of the robot, tailoring the tutoring to the robot's performance as opposed to using simply random teaching. In addition, the social learning shows a clear gender effect with female participants being responsive to the robot's bids, while male teachers appear to be less receptive. This work shows how additional social cues in social machine learning can result in people offering better quality learning input to artificial systems, resulting in improved learning performance.

The Phoenix Mars Lander Robotic Arm

Science.gov (United States)

Bonitz, Robert; Shiraishi, Lori; Robinson, Matthew; Carsten, Joseph; Volpe, Richard; Trebi-Ollennu, Ashitey; Arvidson, Raymond E.; Chu, P. C.; Wilson, J. J.; Davis, K. R.

2009-01-01

The Phoenix Mars Lander Robotic Arm (RA) has operated for over 150 sols since the Lander touched down on the north polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. During its mission it has dug numerous trenches in the Martian regolith, acquired samples of Martian dry and icy soil, and delivered them to the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) and the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA). The RA inserted the Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe (TECP) into the Martian regolith and positioned it at various heights above the surface for relative humidity measurements. The RA was used to point the Robotic Arm Camera to take images of the surface, trenches, samples within the scoop, and other objects of scientific interest within its workspace. Data from the RA sensors during trenching, scraping, and trench cave-in experiments have been used to infer mechanical properties of the Martian soil. This paper describes the design and operations of the RA as a critical component of the Phoenix Mars Lander necessary to achieve the scientific goals of the mission.

Robot Tracer with Visual Camera

Science.gov (United States)

Jabbar Lubis, Abdul; Dwi Lestari, Yuyun; Dafitri, Haida; Azanuddin

2017-12-01

Robot is a versatile tool that can function replace human work function. The robot is a device that can be reprogrammed according to user needs. The use of wireless networks for remote monitoring needs can be utilized to build a robot that can be monitored movement and can be monitored using blueprints and he can track the path chosen robot. This process is sent using a wireless network. For visual robot using high resolution cameras to facilitate the operator to control the robot and see the surrounding circumstances.

Robotics for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shiraiwa, Takanori; Watanabe, Atsuo; Miyasawa, Tatsuo

1984-01-01

Demand for robots in nuclear power plants is increasing of late in order to reduce workers' exposure to radiations. Especially, owing to the progress of microelectronics and robotics, earnest desire is growing for the advent of intellecturized robots that perform indeterminate and complicated security work. Herein represented are the robots recently developed for nuclear power plants and the review of the present status of robotics. (author)

Robotics for nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shiraiwa, Takanori; Watanabe, Atsuo; Miyasawa, Tatsuo

1984-10-01

Demand for robots in nuclear power plants is increasing of late in order to reduce workers' exposure to radiations. Especially, owing to the progress of microelectronics and robotics, earnest desire is growing for the advent of intellecturized robots that perform indeterminate and complicated security work. Herein represented are the robots recently developed for nuclear power plants and the review of the present status of robotics.

The Sample Handling System for the Mars Icebreaker Life Mission: from Dirt to Data

Science.gov (United States)

Dave, Arwen; Thompson, Sarah J.; McKay, Christopher P.; Stoker, Carol R.; Zacny, Kris; Paulsen, Gale; Mellerowicz, Bolek; Glass, Brian J.; Wilson, David; Bonaccorsi, Rosalba;

30 Years of Robotic Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Leal Ghezzi, Tiago; Campos Corleta, Oly

2016-10-01

The idea of reproducing himself with the use of a mechanical robot structure has been in man's imagination in the last 3000 years. However, the use of robots in medicine has only 30 years of history. The application of robots in surgery originates from the need of modern man to achieve two goals: the telepresence and the performance of repetitive and accurate tasks. The first "robot surgeon" used on a human patient was the PUMA 200 in 1985. In the 1990s, scientists developed the concept of "master-slave" robot, which consisted of a robot with remote manipulators controlled by a surgeon at a surgical workstation. Despite the lack of force and tactile feedback, technical advantages of robotic surgery, such as 3D vision, stable and magnified image, EndoWrist instruments, physiologic tremor filtering, and motion scaling, have been considered fundamental to overcome many of the limitations of the laparoscopic surgery. Since the approval of the da Vinci(®) robot by international agencies, American, European, and Asian surgeons have proved its factibility and safety for the performance of many different robot-assisted surgeries. Comparative studies of robotic and laparoscopic surgical procedures in general surgery have shown similar results with regard to perioperative, oncological, and functional outcomes. However, higher costs and lack of haptic feedback represent the major limitations of current robotic technology to become the standard technique of minimally invasive surgery worldwide. Therefore, the future of robotic surgery involves cost reduction, development of new platforms and technologies, creation and validation of curriculum and virtual simulators, and conduction of randomized clinical trials to determine the best applications of robotics.

A Method on Dynamic Path Planning for Robotic Manipulator Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance Based on an Improved RRT Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Kun; Ren, Bingyin

2018-02-13

In a future intelligent factory, a robotic manipulator must work efficiently and safely in a Human-Robot collaborative and dynamic unstructured environment. Autonomous path planning is the most important issue which must be resolved first in the process of improving robotic manipulator intelligence. Among the path-planning methods, the Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm based on random sampling has been widely applied in dynamic path planning for a high-dimensional robotic manipulator, especially in a complex environment because of its probability completeness, perfect expansion, and fast exploring speed over other planning methods. However, the existing RRT algorithm has a limitation in path planning for a robotic manipulator in a dynamic unstructured environment. Therefore, an autonomous obstacle avoidance dynamic path-planning method for a robotic manipulator based on an improved RRT algorithm, called Smoothly RRT (S-RRT), is proposed. This method that targets a directional node extends and can increase the sampling speed and efficiency of RRT dramatically. A path optimization strategy based on the maximum curvature constraint is presented to generate a smooth and curved continuous executable path for a robotic manipulator. Finally, the correctness, effectiveness, and practicability of the proposed method are demonstrated and validated via a MATLAB static simulation and a Robot Operating System (ROS) dynamic simulation environment as well as a real autonomous obstacle avoidance experiment in a dynamic unstructured environment for a robotic manipulator. The proposed method not only provides great practical engineering significance for a robotic manipulator's obstacle avoidance in an intelligent factory, but also theoretical reference value for other type of robots' path planning.

Human Robotic Systems (HRS): Controlling Robots over Time Delay Element

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This element involves the development of software that enables easier commanding of a wide range of NASA relevant robots through the Robot Application Programming...

The MVACS Robotic Arm Camera

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, H. U.; Hartwig, H.; Kramm, R.; Koschny, D.; Markiewicz, W. J.; Thomas, N.; Fernades, M.; Smith, P. H.; Reynolds, R.; Lemmon, M. T.; Weinberg, J.; Marcialis, R.; Tanner, R.; Boss, B. J.; Oquest, C.; Paige, D. A.

2001-08-01

The Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) is one of the key instruments newly developed for the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor payload of the Mars Polar Lander. This lightweight instrument employs a front lens with variable focus range and takes images at distances from 11 mm (image scale 1:1) to infinity. Color images with a resolution of better than 50 μm can be obtained to characterize the Martian soil. Spectral information of nearby objects is retrieved through illumination with blue, green, and red lamp sets. The design and performance of the camera are described in relation to the science objectives and operation. The RAC uses the same CCD detector array as the Surface Stereo Imager and shares the readout electronics with this camera. The RAC is mounted at the wrist of the Robotic Arm and can characterize the contents of the scoop, the samples of soil fed to the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer, the Martian surface in the vicinity of the lander, and the interior of trenches dug out by the Robotic Arm. It can also be used to take panoramic images and to retrieve stereo information with an effective baseline surpassing that of the Surface Stereo Imager by about a factor of 3.

Monte Carlo Simulation Of The Portfolio-Balance Model Of Exchange Rates: Finite Sample Properties Of The GMM Estimator

OpenAIRE

Hong-Ghi Min

2011-01-01

Using Monte Carlo simulation of the Portfolio-balance model of the exchange rates, we report finite sample properties of the GMM estimator for testing over-identifying restrictions in the simultaneous equations model. F-form of Sargans statistic performs better than its chi-squared form while Hansens GMM statistic has the smallest bias.

Automated extraction of DNA from reference samples from various types of biological materials on the Qiagen BioRobot EZ1 Workstation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stangegaard, Michael; Jørgensen, Mads; Hansen, Anders Johannes

2009-01-01

, and muscle biopsies. The DNA extraction was validated according to EN/ISO 17025 for the STR kits AmpFlSTR« Identifiler« and AmpFlSTR« Yfiler« (Applied Biosystems). Of 298 samples extracted, 11 (4%) did not yield acceptable results. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that extraction of DNA from various types......We have validated and implemented a protocol for DNA extraction from various types of biological materials using a Qiagen BioRobot EZ1 Workstation. The sample materials included whole blood, blood from deceased, buccal cells on Omni swabs and FTA Cards, blood on FTA Cards and cotton swabs...... of biological material can be performed quickly and without the use of hazardous chemicals, and that the DNA may be successfully STR typed according to the requirements of forensic genetic investigations accredited according to EN/ISO 17025...

Advances in robot kinematics

CERN Document Server

Khatib, Oussama

2014-01-01

The topics addressed in this book cover the whole range of kinematic analysis, synthesis and design and consider robotic systems possessing serial, parallel and cable driven mechanisms. The robotic systems range from being less than fully mobile to kinematically redundant to overconstrained.  The fifty-six contributions report the latest results in robot kinematics with emphasis on emerging areas such as design and control of humanoids or humanoid subsystems. The book is of interest to researchers wanting to bring their knowledge up to date regarding modern topics in one of the basic disciplines in robotics, which relates to the essential property of robots, the motion of mechanisms.

Effect of cognitive biases on human-robot interaction: a case study of robot's misattribution

OpenAIRE

Biswas, Mriganka; Murray, John

2014-01-01

This paper presents a model for developing long-term human-robot interactions and social relationships based on the principle of 'human' cognitive biases applied to a robot. The aim of this work is to study how a robot influenced with human ‘misattribution’ helps to build better human-robot interactions than unbiased robots. The results presented in this paper suggest that it is important to know the effect of cognitive biases in human characteristics and interactions in order to better u...

Robotic systems in spine surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Onen, Mehmet Resid; Naderi, Sait

2014-01-01

Surgical robotic systems have been available for almost twenty years. The first surgical robotic systems were designed as supportive systems for laparoscopic approaches in general surgery (the first procedure was a cholecystectomy in 1987). The da Vinci Robotic System is the most common system used for robotic surgery today. This system is widely used in urology, gynecology and other surgical disciplines, and recently there have been initial reports of its use in spine surgery, for transoral access and anterior approaches for lumbar inter-body fusion interventions. SpineAssist, which is widely used in spine surgery, and Renaissance Robotic Systems, which are considered the next generation of robotic systems, are now FDA approved. These robotic systems are designed for use as guidance systems in spine instrumentation, cement augmentations and biopsies. The aim is to increase surgical accuracy while reducing the intra-operative exposure to harmful radiation to the patient and operating team personnel during the intervention. We offer a review of the published literature related to the use of robotic systems in spine surgery and provide information on using robotic systems.

Current status of robotic bariatric surgery: a systematic review

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment to obtain weight loss in severely obese patients. The feasibility and safety of bariatric robotic surgery is the topic of this review. Methods A search was performed on PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, BioMed Central, and Web of Science. Results Twenty-two studies were included. Anastomotic leak rate was 8.51% in biliopancreatic diversion. 30-day reoperation rate was 1.14% in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and 1.16% in sleeve gastrectomy. Major complication rate in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass resulted higher than in sleeve gastrectomy ( 4,26% vs. 1,2%). The mean hospital stay was longer in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (range 2.6-7.4 days). Conclusions The major limitation of our analysis is due to the small number and the low quality of the studies, the small sample size, heterogeneity of the enrolled patients and the lack of data from metabolic and bariatric outcomes. Despite the use of the robot, the majority of these cases are completed with stapled anastomosis. The assumption that robotic surgery is superior in complex cases is not supported by the available present evidence. The major strength of the robotic surgery is strongly facilitating some of the surgical steps (gastro-jejunostomy and jejunojejunostomy anastomosis in the robotic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or the vertical gastric resection in the robotic sleeve gastrectomy). PMID:24199869

Robots in the Roses

OpenAIRE

2014-01-01

2014-04 Robots in the Roses A CRUSER Sponsored Event. The 4th Annual Robots in the Roses provides a venue for Faculty & NPS Students to showcase unmanned systems research (current or completed) and recruit NPS Students to join in researching on your project. Posters, robots, vehicles, videos, and even just plain humans welcome! Families are welcome to attend Robots in the Roses as we'll have a STEM activity for children to participate in.

Robot Motion and Control 2011

CERN Document Server

2012-01-01

Robot Motion Control 2011 presents very recent results in robot motion and control. Forty short papers have been chosen from those presented at the sixth International Workshop on Robot Motion and Control held in Poland in June 2011. The authors of these papers have been carefully selected and represent leading institutions in this field. The following recent developments are discussed: • Design of trajectory planning schemes for holonomic and nonholonomic systems with optimization of energy, torque limitations and other factors. • New control algorithms for industrial robots, nonholonomic systems and legged robots. • Different applications of robotic systems in industry and everyday life, like medicine, education, entertainment and others. • Multiagent systems consisting of mobile and flying robots with their applications The book is suitable for graduate students of automation and robotics, informatics and management, mechatronics, electronics and production engineering systems as well as scientists...

Full autonomous microline trace robot

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Deer; Lu, Si; Yan, Yingbai; Jin, Guofan

2000-10-01

Optoelectric inspection may find applications in robotic system. In micro robotic system, smaller optoelectric inspection system is preferred. However, as miniaturizing the size of the robot, the number of the optoelectric detector becomes lack. And lack of the information makes the micro robot difficult to acquire its status. In our lab, a micro line trace robot has been designed, which autonomous acts based on its optoelectric detection. It has been programmed to follow a black line printed on the white colored ground. Besides the optoelectric inspection, logical algorithm in the microprocessor is also important. In this paper, we propose a simply logical algorithm to realize robot's intelligence. The robot's intelligence is based on a AT89C2051 microcontroller which controls its movement. The technical details of the micro robot are as follow: dimension: 30mm*25mm*35*mm; velocity: 60mm/s.

Rehabilitation robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Krebs, H I; Volpe, B T

2013-01-01

This chapter focuses on rehabilitation robotics which can be used to augment the clinician's toolbox in order to deliver meaningful restorative therapy for an aging population, as well as on advances in orthotics to augment an individual's functional abilities beyond neurorestoration potential. The interest in rehabilitation robotics and orthotics is increasing steadily with marked growth in the last 10 years. This growth is understandable in view of the increased demand for caregivers and rehabilitation services escalating apace with the graying of the population. We provide an overview on improving function in people with a weak limb due to a neurological disorder who cannot properly control it to interact with the environment (orthotics); we then focus on tools to assist the clinician in promoting rehabilitation of an individual so that s/he can interact with the environment unassisted (rehabilitation robotics). We present a few clinical results occurring immediately poststroke as well as during the chronic phase that demonstrate superior gains for the upper extremity when employing rehabilitation robotics instead of usual care. These include the landmark VA-ROBOTICS multisite, randomized clinical study which demonstrates clinical gains for chronic stroke that go beyond usual care at no additional cost. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robots of the Future

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

two main types of robots: industrial robots, and autonomous robots. .... position); it also has a virtual CPU with two stacks and three registers that hold 32-bit strings. Each item ..... just like we can aggregate images, text, and information from.

A Human–Robot Interaction Perspective on Assistive and Rehabilitation Robotics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philipp Beckerle

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Assistive and rehabilitation devices are a promising and challenging field of recent robotics research. Motivated by societal needs such as aging populations, such devices can support motor functionality and subject training. The design, control, sensing, and assessment of the devices become more sophisticated due to a human in the loop. This paper gives a human–robot interaction perspective on current issues and opportunities in the field. On the topic of control and machine learning, approaches that support but do not distract subjects are reviewed. Options to provide sensory user feedback that are currently missing from robotic devices are outlined. Parallels between device acceptance and affective computing are made. Furthermore, requirements for functional assessment protocols that relate to real-world tasks are discussed. In all topic areas, the design of human-oriented frameworks and methods is dominated by challenges related to the close interaction between the human and robotic device. This paper discusses the aforementioned aspects in order to open up new perspectives for future robotic solutions.

A Human–Robot Interaction Perspective on Assistive and Rehabilitation Robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Beckerle, Philipp; Salvietti, Gionata; Unal, Ramazan; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Rossi, Simone; Castellini, Claudio; Hirche, Sandra; Endo, Satoshi; Amor, Heni Ben; Ciocarlie, Matei; Mastrogiovanni, Fulvio; Argall, Brenna D.; Bianchi, Matteo

2017-01-01

Assistive and rehabilitation devices are a promising and challenging field of recent robotics research. Motivated by societal needs such as aging populations, such devices can support motor functionality and subject training. The design, control, sensing, and assessment of the devices become more sophisticated due to a human in the loop. This paper gives a human–robot interaction perspective on current issues and opportunities in the field. On the topic of control and machine learning, approaches that support but do not distract subjects are reviewed. Options to provide sensory user feedback that are currently missing from robotic devices are outlined. Parallels between device acceptance and affective computing are made. Furthermore, requirements for functional assessment protocols that relate to real-world tasks are discussed. In all topic areas, the design of human-oriented frameworks and methods is dominated by challenges related to the close interaction between the human and robotic device. This paper discusses the aforementioned aspects in order to open up new perspectives for future robotic solutions. PMID:28588473