Detta examensarbete har utförts på Ovako Bar i Hällefors i syfte att kontrollera möjligheterna att automatisera en slipningsprocess på stänger med ytdefekter. Det största skälet till arbetets uppkomst är de vibrationsskador som uppstår i operatörers händer vilket i sin tur leder till sjukskrivningar. Arbetet inleddes med en nulägesanalys på Kontrollstation 7 för att kontrollera hur processen går till, hur operatörerna upplever situationen och få en större förståelse för situationen. Information om nuvarande utrustning inhämtas i syfte att kunna utvärdera möjligheter. Kontakter med potentiella leverantörer togs också, i syfte att få ytterligare bollplank. Efter nulägesanalysen inleddes förbättringsförslagsprocessen. Lösningar till problemet uppkom ur brainstorming efter kravspecifikationen. De lösningar som blev godkända skickades ut till diverse leverantörer som tidigare kontaktats för vidare idéutbyte och möjlighet till utförande. De leverantörer som kontaktades var IM Teknik och Robotslipning AB. Investeringsanalysen visar att lösningen ”robotslipning med visionssystem” är den mest kostnadseffektiva för att uppnå de krav och önskemål som skulle uppfyllas. / This thesis has been carried out on Ovako Bar in Hellefors in order to check the possibility of automating the manual grinding process on bars with surface defects. The biggest reason for the occurrence of this thesis is the vibration damages in operators' hands, which in turn leads to sick leave. Work began with a current situation analysis of KS-7 to observe how the process works, how operators perceive the situation and get a better understanding of the situation as well as acquiring information on the current equipment. Contacts with potential suppliers were taken as well in order to obtain additional exchange about the potential products. After the current situation analysis the improvement suggestions phase took place. Solutions to the problem arose out of brainstorming according to the specifications. The solutions that were approved were sent to various vendors for further exchange of ideas and the possibility of execution. IM Teknik and Robotslipning are the companies that were contacted. Investment analysis shows that the solution with robotic grinding with vision system is the most cost efficient to meet the demands and requirements to be fulfilled.

Le domaine de l'Interaction Humain-Robot (HRI) est en pleine expansion. En effet, de plus en plus de plateformes robotiques sont mises en oeuvre pour faire évoluer ce domaine. Sur ces plateformes, toujours plus de modalités d'interaction sont mises en place telles que les mouvements corporels, la reconnaissance de gestes ou d'objets, la reconnaissance et la synthèse vocale ou encore la mobilité, pour pouvoir effectuer l'interaction la plus complète et la plus naturelle pour l'humain. Mais ceci amène aussi une complexité croissante de l'intégration de ces modalités sur une seule et même plateforme. Aussi, le domaine HRI étant à ses débuts, la méthodologie expérimentale des travaux se limite le plus souvent à des preuves de concept éprouvées en laboratoire ou en milieux ouverts non contrôlés. Il se trouve que peu de chercheurs présentent une démarche structurée et rigoureuse pour l'évaluation expérimentale d'interaction humain-robot en milieux ouverts, et il en résulte des recherches de types exploratoires qui examinent principalement la complexité technologique des modalités interactives à mettre en oeuvre, et non l'impact de ces modalités sur la qualité des interactions. Le but de l'étude présentée dans ce document est d'étudier l'intégration de plusieurs modalités interactives sur un robot mobile humanoïde telles que la parole, les gestes et la mobilité sur la qualité des interactions humain-robot. Plus spécifiquement, le contexte de l'étude consiste à examiner l'impact de modalités interactives sur la capacité du robot à attirer l'attention d'une personne et à engager une interaction avec elle. Le scénario expérimental consiste à permettre au robot, à partir de la parole, d'expressions faciales, de mouvement de la tête, de gestes avec son bras et de sa mobilité, de demander de l'assistance à une personne à proximité de lui remettre un objet se trouvant au sol. L'hypothèse sous-jacente est que l'intégration de l'ensemble de ces modalités devrait améliorer la capacité du robot à engager des personnes à interagir avec lui. Des expérimentations ont été faites en milieu contrôlé et non-contrôlé selon deux protocoles expérimentaux : une étude des modalités à l'intérieur d'une population, et une étude de variation entre individus. D'une manière générale, il en ressort que l'ajout de modalités améliore la qualité de l'engagement de l'interaction par le robot, mais qu'il faut porter une attention particulière à l'approche de la personne par le robot, principalement pour les personnes non familières avec ce dernier. De plus, les observations indiquent qu'il est plus facile d'obtenir des résultats significatifs en environnement contrôlé, elles permettent d'identifier des pistes d'amélioration pour éventuellement arriver à en obtenir en milieu non-contrôlé. Enfin, ce premier projet d'intégration et d'évaluation de capacités interactives d'un robot mobile servira à alimenter une prochaine itération avec un robot plus sophistiqué présentement en conception.

Developing robots that are useful to older adults is more than simply creating robots that complete household tasks. To ensure that older adults perceive a robot to be useful, careful consideration of the users’ capabilities, robot autonomy, and task is needed (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct of perceived usefulness within the context of robot assistance. Mobile older adults (N = 12) and older adults with mobility loss (N=12) participated in an autonomy selection think aloud task, and a persona based interview. Findings suggest that older adults with mobility loss preferred an autonomy level where they command/control the robot themselves. Mobile older adults’ preferences were split between commanding/controlling the robot themselves, or the robot commands/controls itself. Reasons for their preferences were related to decision making, and were task specific. Additionally, findings from the persona base interview study support Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs, as well as adaptability, reliability, and trust as positively correlated with perceptions of usefulness. However, despite the positive correlation, barriers and facilitators of acceptance identified in the interview suggest that perceived usefulness judgments are complex, and some questionnaire constructs were interpreted differently between participants. Thus, care should be taken when applying TAM constructs to other domains, such as robot assistance to promote older adult independence.

Since smart homes will be more and more popular in the future, the needs of finding a friendly, comfortable and smart interface between users and home environments are growing. However, conventional interfaces have reached their limits. So, this paper describes a new concept of interface in a home environment. This work is distinguished by building a separable smart robot. A smart phone is used as a brain, and a robot car is used as a body. With the system, people will be allowed to carry the robot's brain when they are out of their home. In this case, the brain can not only be a normal smart phone, but also can monitor parameters such as the temperature at home. On the other hand, when people are at home, they will be allowed to put their phones on the robot car. By invoking the system, they will have an assist-robot. This assist-robot will act as a new interface in the smart home by following people and recognizing their voice commands in order to take notes, to read notes and to control smart home devices. This thesis also implements face recognition to improve the communication between users and the interface. Test results show that our proposed system is well accepted.

Autonomy is the most enabling and the least developed robot capability. A mobile robot is autonomous if capable of independently attaining its objectives in unpredictable environment. This requires interaction with the environment by sensing, assessing, and responding to events. Such interaction has not been achieved. The core problem consists in limited understanding of robot autonomy and its aspects, and is exacerbated by the limited resources available in a small autonomous mobile robot such as energy, information, and space. This thesis describes an efficient biomorphic visual capability that can provide purposeful interaction with environment for a small autonomous mobile robot. The method used for achieving this capability comprises synthesis of an integral paradigm of a purposeful autonomous mobile robot, formulation of requirements for the visual capability, and development of efficient algorithmic and technological solutions. The paradigm is a product of analysis of fundamental aspects of the problem, and the insights found in inherently autonomous biological organisms. Based on this paradigm, analysis of the biological vision and the available technological basis, and the state-of-the-art in vision algorithms, the requirements were formulated for a biomorphic visual capability that provides the situation awareness capability for a small autonomous mobile robot. The developed visual capability is comprised of a sensory and processing architecture, an integral set of motion vision algorithms, and a method for visual ranging of still objects that is based on them. These vision algorithms provide motion detection, fixation, and tracking functionality with low latency and computational complexity. High temporal resolution of CMOS imagers is exploited for reducing the logical complexity of image analysis, and consequently the computational complexity of the algorithms. The structure of the developed algorithms conforms to the arithmetic and memory resources available in a system on a programmable chip (SoPC), which allows complete confinement of the high-bandwidth datapath within a SoPC device and therefore high-speed operation by design. The algorithms proved to be functional, which validates the developed visual capability. The experiments confirm that high temporal resolution imaging simplifies image motion structure, and ultimately the design of the robot vision system.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-98).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-207).

Th.--Sci., autom.--Rennes 1, 1982. N°: 358.

La relation entre progrès technologique et innovation pédagogique a récemment engendré un nouveau champ de recherche, à la croisée des chemins entre la Psychologie, les Sciences de l’Education et l’Intelligence Artificielle : la Robotique Educationnelle (RE). La présente thèse fournit un état de l’art critique sur la RE, ses origines et son positionnement au sein des technologies de l’information et de la communication pour l’enseignement (TICE). A travers une analyse des finalités éducatives atteignables en fonction du statut technologique et des modalités d’apprentissage spécifiques aux différents types de robots, nous définissons trois paradigmes pédagogiques : (i) l’apprentissage de la robotique, (ii) l'apprentissage avec la robotique, et (iii) l'apprentissage par la robotique. Ces trois paradigmes sont abordés à travers trois thématiques, dans une perspective de recherche fondamentale en Psychologie : (i) les représentations mentales que les humains ont du robot, (ii) l’acceptation et la confiance dans les interactions homme-robot et (iii) les apprentissages favorisés par les robots en contexte éducatif. / Through a psychological perspective, the thesis concerns the three ER learning paradigms that are distinguished upon the different hardware, software, and correspondent modes of interaction allowed by the robot. Learning robotics was investigated under the issue of robot representation. By robot representation, we mean its ontological and pedagogical status and how such status change when users learn robotics. In order to answer this question, we carried out an experimental study based on pre- and post-inquiries, involving 79 participants. Learning with robotics was investigated under the issue of robot’s functional and social acceptance. Here, the underlying research questions were as follows: do students trust in robot’s functional and social savvy? Is trust in functional savvy a pre-requisite for trust in social savvy? Which individuals and contextual factors are more likely to influence this trust? In order to answer these questions, we have carried an experimental study with 56 participants and an iCub robot. Trust in the robot has been considered as a main indicator of acceptance in situations of perceptual and socio-cognitive uncertainty and was measured by participants’ conformation to answers given by iCub. Learning by robotics was investigated under the issue of robot’s impact on learning. The research questions were the following: to what extent the combined RBI & IBSE frame has a positive impact on cognitive, affective, social and meta-cognitive dimensions of learning? Does this combined educational frame improve both domain-specific and non-domain specific knowledge and competences of students? In order to answer these questions, we have carried a one-year RBI & IBSE experimental study in the frame of RObeeZ, a research made through the FP7 EU project Pri-Sci-Net. The longitudinal experiments involved 26 pupils and 2 teachers from a suburb parisian primary school.

Robotic technologies possess great potential to enter our daily lives because they have the ability to interact with our world. But our world is inherently social. Whilst humans often have a natural understanding of this complex environment, it is much more challenging for robots. The field of social Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) seeks to endow robots with the characteristics and behaviours that would allow for intuitive multimodal interaction. Education is a social process and previous research has found strong links between the social behaviour of teachers and student learning. This therefore presents a promising application opportunity for social human-robot interaction. The thesis presented here is that a robot with tailored social behaviour will positively influence the outcomes of tutoring interactions with children and consequently lead to an increase in child learning when compared to a robot without this social behaviour. It has long been established that one-to-one tutoring provides a more effective means of learning than the current typical school classroom model (one teacher to many students). Schools increasingly supplement their teaching with technology such as tablets and laptops to offer this personalised experience, but a growing body of evidence suggests that robots lead to greater learning than other media. It is posited that this is due to the increased social presence of a robot. This work adds to the evidence that robots hold a social advantage over other technological media, and that this indeed leads to increased learning. In addition, the work here contributes to existing knowledge by seeking to expand our understanding of how to manipulate robot social behaviour in educational interactions such that the behaviour is tailored for this purpose. To achieve this, a means of characterising social behaviour is required, as is a means of measuring the success of the behaviour for the interaction. To characterise the social behaviour of the robot, the concept of immediacy is taken from the human-human literature and validated for use in HRI. Greater use of immediacy behaviours is also tied to increased cognitive learning gains in humans. This can be used to predict the same effect for the use of social behaviour by a robot, with learning providing an objective measure of success for the robot behaviour given the education application. It is found here that when implemented on a robot in tutoring scenarios, greater use of immediacy behaviours generally does tend to lead to increased learning, but a complex picture emerges. Merely the addition of more social behaviour is insufficient to increase learning; it is found that a balance should be struck between the addition of social cues, and the congruency of these cues.