Standardised systems of food production where food is brought into cities from far away is accompanied with high emissions from both production and transport. Simultaneously, food growing in the urban surroundings is not picked and left to rot. This thesis is concerned with urban foraging, the practice of picking edibles in the urban landscape, a practice often overlooked by research and policymakers. The case study area is Skarpnäck, southern Stockholm and the focus is specifically on foraging of fruit and berries from public vegetation. Using a qualitative mixed methods approach where a questionnaire was followed by interviews, the aim has been to assess how the practice is perceived in the case study area and if there are certain cultural norms that limit picking activities. Results suggest that foraging is perceived to be out of place in the urban area. Although some people do pick, others feel it is inappropriate and do not want to be seen picking fruit or berries and therefore limit picking. The thesis concludes that urban foraging has the potential to increase urban sustainability, but efforts are needed for foraging to be a culturally accepted practice.

This bachelor’s thesis has been carried through at the company Mabema AB in Linköping which offers complete vision based systems for multiple applications. With camera technology and advanced image processing, the company is working mainly in four different business areas; RobotVision, Vision, Nuclear and Wood. Mabema AB has been assigned to develop a vision system for robot guidance for the company Pipelife Sverige AB which is a big supplier of plastic pipes. The vision system is supposed to identify plastic pipes which are transported by a conveyor belt in random order. The pipes are then to be picked by two robots and placed in fixtures for further processing. Through studies of existing similar systems and analysis of suitable hardware, a system that satisfies the customer’s needs was made and alternative systems was presented. The result of the thesis ended with vision controlled system built of two robots and a 3D-scanner that accomplishes the assigned task with high robustness and an analysis of alternative systems was presented.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T17:05:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 19 / Nenhuma / O objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar os impactos ocorridos com a implementação de tecnologia logística na atividade de separação de pedidos de produtos acabados em um centro de distribuição de uma empresa comercial gaúcha que trabalha com estoque e uma quantidade elevada de itens. A empresa realizou investimento em tecnologia na separação de pedidos, atividade esta considerada de alta complexidade na área de armazenagem, por impactar diretamente no tempo do ciclo de pedido. Para a realização da pesquisa, foi realizada revisão teórica sobre os conceitos de logística de distribuição, ciclo do pedido e, além disso, verificaram-se as tecnologias logísticas disponíveis na literatura e no mercado aplicáveis à atividade de separação de pedidos. O processo de separação de pedidos da empresa, até o ano de 2005, era realizado de forma manual, ou seja, os pedidos eram separados com papel e alto grau de interferência humana e sem uma gestão adequada dos recursos disponíveis. Foi organizado um grupo focado com especialis / The objective of this research is to examine the impacts that occur with the implementation of logistics technology in the activity of picking the finished product in a distribution center of a commercial gaucho who works with stock and a high amount of items. The company made investments in technology in the separation of applications, activity is considered high complexity in the storage area by directly impact the cycle time of request. To perform the study has theoretical review on the concepts of distribution logistics, order cycle and, moreover, there were logistical technologies available in the literature and the market activity for the picking. The process of picking the company by the year 2005 was done manually, ie, the applications were separated with paper and a high degree of human interference and without proper management of available resources. Organized a focus group with specialists in logistics, in order to identify points to be raised with the company and to prepare a questionnaire that c

物流中心是為因應現代商業環境中，『少量、多樣、多頻次』的需求型態 ，而設立的貨品儲存及配送中心，具有倉儲、流通加工及配送等等整合性 的功能，在管理上不僅要求訂單處理的效率，更注重客戶服務水準的提高 以及總成本的降低等的管理課題。本研究基於這樣的管理需求，針對物流 中心的撿貨作業，研究撿貨資訊系統設計的方法及其內容，希望透過資訊 系統的協助，可以改善撿貨作業管理的決策品質，並進而提升撿貨作業之 整體效率。本研究共分為『撿貨資訊系統之設計』以及『實作分析』等兩 部分。在撿貨資訊系統設計部分，本研究透過撿貨作業管理決策問題的分 析，整理出在發展撿貨作業管理的決策方案時，有哪些限制因素，以及哪 些可控制的因素。並且定義出可協助決策制定的撿貨資訊系統需要提供哪 些資訊，具備哪些功能。此外，針對撿貨作業決策問題的特性，本研究提 出發展撿貨作業管理決策方案的操作模式，並以這個操作模式作為撿貨資 訊系設計的基礎，配合決策支援系統之概念，提出一個可以幫助決策制定 的撿貨資訊系統的設計架構。在實作分析方面，本研究根據所提出設計架 構，實際以一個案廠商的撿貨作業為例，一方面分析其訂單的成長狀況， 成長型態，另一方面則依據其目前的撿貨作業進行方式，建立一個雛型系 統。首先，由訂單分析知道，該個案廠商所面臨的壓力為訂單張數成長的 問題，其餘如每張訂單項目數的成長，則較不明顯，尚不造成撿貨作業效 率的阻礙。另外，透過雛型系統的操作分析，本研究提供個案廠商在人力 配置方面的建議，指出增加人力對效率改進有限，並且發現，該個案廠商 目前的撿作業進行方式的瓶頸主要在撿取貨物完畢後，包裝作業的進行上 ，為配合該案廠商所制定的客戶服務政策，本研究建議管理者可以從增加 人力之外的方案著手，尋求訂單張數不斷成長的狀況之下，撿貨作業效率 改進的方案。

One of the remaining obstacles to the widespread application of industrial robots is their inability to deal with parts that are not precisely positioned. In the case of manual assembly, components are often presented in bins. Current automated systems, on the other hand, require separate feeders which present the parts with carefully controlled position and attitude. Here we show how results in machine vision provide techniques for automatically directing a mechanical manipulator to pick one object at a time out of a pile. The attitude of the object to be picked up is determined using a histogram of the orientations of visible surface patches. Surface orientation, in turn, is determined using photometric stereo applied to multiple images. These images are taken with the same camera but differing lighting. The resulting needle map, giving the orientations of surface patches, is used to create an orientation histogram which is a discrete approximation to the extended Gaussian image. This can be matched against a synthetic orientation histogram obtained from prototypical models of the objects to be manipulated. Such models may be obtained from computer aided design (CAD) databases. The method thus requires that the shape of the objects be described, but it is not restricted to particular types of objects.

This paper describes a hand-eye system we developed to perform the binpicking task. Two basic tools are employed: the photometric stereo method and the extended Gaussian image. The photometric stereo method generates the surface normal distribution of a scene. The extended Gaussian image allows us to determine the attitude of the object based on the normal distribution. Visual analysis of an image consists of two stages. The first stage segments the image into regions and determines the target region. The photometric stereo system provides the surface normal distribution of the scene. The system segments the scene into isolated regions using the surface normal distribution rather than the brightness distribution. The second stage determines object attitude and position by comparing the surface normal distribution with the extended-Gaussian-image. Fingers, with LED sensor, mounted on the PUMA arm can successfully pick an object from a pile based on the information from the vision part.

Automated storage and Retrieval (AS/R) systems have had a significant impact on storage and retrieval of finished goods, work-in-process, and raw materials and supplies. A microcomputer-based simulation model was developed to evaluate different unit load AS/R systems serving multiple input sources and output destinations. The simulation results were statistically analyzed on different performance measures including throughput, mean waiting times maximum waiting times and rejects. The results showed that for single-dock, square-in-time layouts, the class based arrangement produced significantly higher throughput for all scheduling policies. Among the scheduling policies, the relief nearest neighbor produced consistently higher throughput. Comparing square-in-time versus non-square-in-time layouts, the square-in-time layout performance was better; the performance deteriorated as deviations from square-in-time increased. For the two dual-dock layouts, at lower arrival rates the dedicated layout produced higher throughput; there was no significant difference between the two layouts at higher arrival rates. / Graduation date: 1992

Order-picking operations constitute the costliest activities in a warehouse. The order-picking problem (OPP) aims to determine the route of the picker(s) in such a way that the total order-picking time, hence the order-picking costs are minimized. In this study, a warehouse that consists of parallel pick aisles is assumed, and various versions of the OPP are considered. Although the single-picker version of the problem has been well studied in the literature, the multiple-picker version has not received much attention in terms of algorithmic approaches. The literature also does not take into account the time taken by the number of turns during the picking route. In this thesis, a detailed discussion is made regarding the computational complexity of the OPP with a single picker. A heuristic procedure, which makes use of the exact algorithm for the OPP with no middle aisles, is proposed for the single-picker OPP with middle aisles, and computational results on randomly generated problems are given. Additionally, an evolutionary algorithm that makes use of the cluster-first, route-second and route-first, cluster-second heuristics for the VRP is provided. The parameters of the algorithm are determined based on preliminary runs and the algorithm is also tested on randomly generated problems, with different weights given to the cluster-first, route-second and route-first, cluster-second approaches. Lastly, a polynomial time algorithm is proposed for the problem of minimizing the number of turns in a parallel-aisle warehouse.

Induced seismicity is a common phenomenon that occurs as soon as the stress state in the subsurface is externally altered in a way that faults are destabilized. It is especially problematic in stable tectonic regions where the area is not used to earthquakes; the infrastructure is not built to withstand ground movement and thus when the induced seismicity occurs damage can follow. In this thesis, mining-induced seismicity has been studied at the Dannemora mine, located in central Sweden, with the aim to locate the seismicity and gain understanding of its occurrence and behavior. The mining company, Dannemora Mineral AB, provided with blasting locations and times, as well as maps over the mine's orebodies and stopes. Seismic data acquired between 01 July 2014 - 25 March 2015 from 4 temporary seismic stations, deployed in the summer of 2014 surrounding the mine, along with 8 SNSN stations was analyzed. The project encompassed field work and processing of the data, which involved different methods to investigate the characteristics of the mine's seismicity: Statistics were kept to record the activity rate of the seismicity over time; spectral analysis was used to study the frequency content of the seismicity; particle motion plots were constructed to identify body-phases in the seismicity; Local Earthquake Tomography was used to upgrade the velocity model of the mine and to relocate the induced seismicity with more accuracy; cross-correlation was used to find events originating from similar sources; and finally, magnitude analysis was used to compare the different types of seismicity within the mine. Three main types of induced events were observed in the mine: low-frequency events with clear first arrivals, emergent events with long duration, and high-frequency events that could either have clear first arrivals or emergent-like with long durations. Through the analysis of their characteristics, they were linked to different types of rockbursts. The low-frequency events were linked to both reactivation of fault zones triggered by the mine activity, and rockbursts within the mine directly related to the mining. The emergent and high-frequency events were also linked to rockbursts directly related to the mine activity, e.g. ejection of rock from the tunnel walls or arch collapses in stopes.

This thesis investigates the boundary of human rationality and how psychological processes interact with underlying regularities in the environment and affect beliefs and achievement. Two common modes in everyday experiential learning, supervised and unsupervised learning were hypothesized to tap different ecological and epistemological approaches to human adaptation; the Brunswikian and the Gibsonian approach. In addition, they were expected to be differentially effective for achievement depending on underlying regularities in the task environment. The first approach assumes that people use top-down processes and learn from hypothesis testing and external feedback, while the latter assumes that people are receptive to environmental stimuli and learn from bottom-up processes, without mediating inferences and support from external feedback, only exploratory observations and actions. Study I investigates selective supervised learning and showed that biased beliefs arise when people store inferences about category members when information is partially absent. This constructivist coding of pseudo-exemplars in memory yields a conservative bias in the relative frequency of targeted category members when the information is constrained by the decision maker’s own selective sampling behavior, suggesting that niche picking and risk aversion contribute to conservatism or inertia in human belief systems. However, a liberal bias in the relative frequency of targeted category members is more likely when information is constrained by the external environment. This result suggests that highly exaggerated beliefs and risky behaviors may be more likely in environments where information is systematically manipulated, for example when positive examples are highlighted to convey a favorable image while negative examples are systematically withheld from the public eye. Study II provides support that the learning modes engage different processes. Supervised learning is more accurate in less complex linear task environments, while unsupervised learning is more accurate in complex nonlinear task environments. Study III provides further support for abstraction based on hypothesis testing in supervised learning, and abstraction based on receptive bottom-up processes in unsupervised learning that aimed to form ideal prototypes as highly valid reference points stored in memory. The studies support previous proposals that integrating the Brunswikian and the Gibsonian approach can broaden the scope of psychological research and scientific inquiry.