Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VivianeAA_pag47_ate_pag74.pdf: 8458101 bytes, checksum: b6838ee89eafca0ef9837da1230e9148 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-12-22 / In this work, we propose methodologies and computer tools to insert robots in cultural environments. The basic idea is to have a robot in a real context (a cultural space) that can represent an user connected to the system through Internet (visitor avatar in the real space) and that the robot also have its representation in a Mixed Reality space (robot avatar in the virtual space). In this way, robot and avatar are not simply real and virtual objects. They play a more important role in the scenery, interfering in the process and taking decisions. In order to have this service running, we developed a module composed by a robot, communication tools and ways to provide integration of these with the virtual environment. As welI we implemented a set of behaviors with the purpose of controlling the robot in the real space. We studied available software and hardware tools for the robotics platform used in the experiments, as welI we developed test routines to determine their potentialities. Finally, we studied the behavior-based control model, we planned and implemented alI the necessary behaviors for the robot integration to the real and virtual cultural spaces. Several experiments were conducted, in order to validate the developed methodologies and tools / Neste trabalho, propomos metodologias e ferramentas computacionais visando inserir rob?s em ambientes culturais. O objetivo ? que um rob? localizado em um contexto real (espa?o cultural) possa representar tanto um usu?rio conectado ao sistema via Internet (avatar real para o visitante virtual), como tamb?m ter seu avatar em um ambiente de Realidade Mista (avatar para o rob? no ambiente virtual). Nesse sentido, o rob? e seu avatar deixam de ser meros objetos, real e virtual, e passam a ter uma fun??o mais importante no cen?rio, podendo interferir no processo e tomar decis?es. Para que esse servi?o possa ser disponibilizado, desenvolvemos um m?dulo composto por um rob?, ferramentas de comunica??o e provemos maneiras de realizar a integra??o entre este e o ambiente virtual, bem como implementamos um conjunto de comportamentos com a finalidade de controle do prot?tipo no seu ambiente real. Estudamos ferramentas de software e Hardware dispon?veis para a plataforma rob?tica usada nos experimentos, bem como desenvolvemos rotinas de testes para determinar suas potencialidades. Ainda, estudamos o modelo de controle baseado em comportamentos, planejamos e implementamos todos os comportamentos necess?rios ? integra??o do rob? aos ambientes real e virtual. V?rios experimentos foram realizados para valida??o das metodologias e ferramentas desenvolvidas, permitindo concluir que as mesmas atendem de forma satisfat?ria ao prop?sito inicial para o qual foram desenvolvidas

A study was conducted to set up an automated system for the use of industrial robots in frequently changing palletizing applications. The system consists of an industrial robot (IBM Manufacturing System 7545), an IBM PC, a gripper carousel storage system, a quick-change mechanism, and a robot gripper. The system is set up to enable a minimum of operator intervention. Hardware aspects (quick-change mechanism and gripper storage) as well as dynamic software generation for different palletizing applications were considered in the research project. The research effort involved both software and hardware developments. A FORTRAN program was developed to generate pallet patterns based on dynamic input of package and platform parameters. The geometric pattern was then used to create an appropriate AML/E program to drive the robot through the desired motion sequence. This program was then compiled and downloaded to the robot. Hardware aspects of the research were focused on the development of a system to permit dynamic changing of end of arm tooling. This included the development of a quick-change mechanism and a gripper carousel storage system. The quick-change mechanism included interfaces for electronic signals, air, and vacuum lines. A vacuum gripper was also designed for package handling. / M.S.

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2009 / Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) have many different design specifications, although they all have certain design features in common, for instance they are designed to follow predetermined paths, and they need to be aware of their surroundings and changes to their surroundings. They are designed to house sensors for navigation and obstacle avoidance. In this study an AGV platform was developed by modifying an electric wheelchair. A serial port interface was developed between a computer and the control unit of the electric wheelchair, which enables the computer to control the movements of the platform. Different sensors were investigated to determine which would be best suited and most effective to avoid collisions. The sensors chosen were mounted on the AGV and a programme was developed to enable the sensors to assist in avoiding obstacles. An imaging device as an additional sensor system for the AGV was investigated. The image produced by a camera and dome mirror was processed into a panoramic image representing an entire 360o view of the AGV‟s surroundings. The reason for this part of the research was to enable the user to make corrections to the AGV‟s path if it became stuck along the track it was following. The entire system was also made completely wireless to improve the flexibility of the AGV‟s applications.

Thesis (M.Tech.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2007 / The latest technological trend worldwide, is automation. Reducing human labour and introducing robots to do the work is a pure business decision. The reason for automating a plant can be some, or all, of the following: Improve productivity Reduce labour and equipment costs Reduce product damage System reliability can be monitored Improves plant safety When the automation process is started, Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) will be one of the first commodities that can be used. The reason for this is that they are so versatile. They can be programmed to follow specific paths when moving material from one point to another and the biggest advantage of all is that they can operate for twenty four hours a day. Automatic Guided Vehicles are developed for many different applications and therefore many different types of AGVs are available. All AGVs are equipped with sensors so that they are able to “see” what is happening around them. Since the AGV must be able to function without any human help or control, it must be able to navigate through the work environment. In this study a remote control car was converted to an AGV and thorough research was done on the different types of sensors that can be used to make the AGV more intelligent when it comes to navigating in an unknown environment.

Thesis (M.Tech.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2006 / The ultimate goal regarding this research was to make an intelligent learning machine, thus a new method had to be developed. This was to be made possible by creating a programme that generates another programme. By constantly changing the generated programme to improve itself, the machines are given the ability to adapt to there surroundings and, thus, learn from experience. This generated programme had to perform a specific task. For this experiment the programme was generated for a simulated PIC microcontroller aboard a simulated robot. The goal was to get the robot as close to a specific position inside a simulated maze as possible. The robot therefore had to show the ability to avoid obstacles, although only the distance to the destination was given as an indication of how well the generated programme was performing. The programme performed experiments by randomly changing a number of instructions in the current generated programme. The generated programme was evaluated by simulating the reactions of the robot. If the change to the generated programme resulted in getting the robot closer to the destination, then the changed generated programme was kept for future use. If the change resulted in a less desired reaction, then the newly generated programme was removed and the unchanged programme was kept for future use. This process was repeated for a total of one hundred thousand times before the generated program was considered valid. Because there was a very slim chance that the instruction chosen will be advantageous to the programme, it will take many changes to get the desired instruction and, thus, the desired result. After each change an evaluation was made through simulation. The amount of necessary changes to the programme is greatly reduced by giving seemingly desirable instructions a higher chance of being chosen than the other seemingly unsatisfactory instructions. Due to the extensive use of the random function in this experiment, the results differ from one another. To overcome this barrier, many individual programmes had to be generated by simulating and changing an instruction in the generated programme a hundred thousand times. This method was compared against Genetic Algorithms, which were used to generate a programme for the same simulated robot. The new method made the robot adapt much faster to its surroundings than the Genetic Algorithms. A physical robot, similar to the virtual one, was build to prove that the programmes generated could be used on a physical robot. There were quite a number of differences between the generated programmes and the way in which a human would generally construct the programme. Therefore, this method not only gives programmers a new perspective, but could also possibly do what human programmers have not been able to achieve in the past.

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Orientadores: João Maurício Rosário, Humberto Ferasoli Filho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T15:08:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alves_SilasFrancodosReis_M.pdf: 3766365 bytes, checksum: dbbe1298b44cd06d13a9d2e56dfe873e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: A navegação e a colaboração são aspectos importantes da robótica móvel. A navegação confere aos robôs móveis as habilidades básicas de interação com o ambiente, os obstáculos e agentes nele situado. Já a colaboração permite que os robôs coordenem sua navegação e interação com o ambiente de forma que os permita realizar tarefas complexas de forma rápida e eficiente. Neste trabalho de pesquisa foi desenvolvida uma plataforma de software que oferece suporte a algumas técnicas tradicionais de navegação e colaboração de robôs móveis. Com esta plataforma, é possível programar diferentes robôs com os mesmos componentes de software, o que reduz o tempo de desenvolvimento do aplicativo ao incentivar o reuso de software. Além disso, as técnicas de navegação e colaboração fornecidas pela plataforma amenizam o esforço em desenvolver o software de controle para robôs móveis colaborativos, pois a plataforma permite que o usuário concentre seus esforços na solução dos problemas pertinentes a aplicação do robô, uma vez que as técnicas de navegação e colaboração são fornecidas pela plataforma / Abstract: The navigation and collaboration are important aspects of mobile robotics. The navigation provides to mobile robots the basic skills of interaction with the environment, and the obstacles and agents located therein. The collaboration allows the robots to coordinate their navigation and interaction with the environment in a way that enables them to per-form complex tasks quickly and efficiently. This research project developed a software plat-form that supports some traditional navigation techniques and collaboration of mobile robots. With this platform, different robots can be programmed with the same software components, reducing the application's development time by encourage software reuse. Furthermore, the techniques of navigation and collaboration provided by the platform alleviate the effort to develop the control software for collaborative mobile robots, because the plat-form allows the user to focus their efforts on solving the problems relevant to the robot's application, since the navigation techniques and collaboration are provided by the platform / Mestrado / Mecanica dos Sólidos e Projeto Mecanico / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

The research described in this dissertation examines the possible link between self-regulated learning and LEGO Mindstorms robotics activities in teaching concepts in an introductory university computer programming course. The areas of student motivation, learning strategies, and mastery of course objectives are investigated. In all three cases analysis failed to reveal any statistically significant differences between the traditional control group and the experimental LEGO Mindstorms group as measured by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and course exams. Possible reasons for the lack of positive results include technical problems and limitations of the LEGO Mindstorms systems, limited number and availability of robots outside of class, limited amount of time during the semester for the robotics activities, and a possible difference in effectiveness based on gender. Responses to student follow-up questions, however, suggest that at least some of the students really enjoyed the LEGO activities. As with any teaching tool or activity, there are numerous ways in which LEGO Mindstorms can be incorporated into learning. This study explores whether or not LEGO Mindstorms are an effective tool for teaching introductory computer programming at the university level and how these systems can best be utilized.

In the field of formal verification of real-time systems, major developments have been recorded in the last fifteen years. It is about logics, automata, process algebra, programming languages, etc. From the beginning, a formalism has played an important role: timed automata and their natural extension,hybrid automata. Those models allow the definition of real-time constraints using real-valued clocks, or more generally analog variables whose evolution is governed by differential equations. They generalize finite automata in that their semantics defines timed words where each symbol is associated with an occurrence timestamp.<p><p>The decidability and algorithmic analysis of timed and hybrid automata have been intensively studied in the literature. The central result for timed automata is that they are positively decidable. This is not the case for hybrid automata, but semi-algorithmic methods are known when the dynamics is relatively simple, namely a linear relation between the derivatives of the variables.<p>With the increasing complexity of nowadays systems, those models are however limited in their classical semantics, for modelling realistic implementations or dynamical systems.<p><p>In this thesis, we study the algorithmics of complex semantics for timed and hybrid automata.<p>On the one hand, we propose implementable semantics for timed automata and we study their computational properties: by contrast with other works, we identify a semantics that is implementable and that has decidable properties. <p>On the other hand, we give new algorithmic approaches to the analysis of hybrid automata whose dynamics is given by an affine function of its variables.<p> / Doctorat en sciences, Spécialisation Informatique / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / There have been many endeavors to design humanoid robots that have human characteristics such as dexterity, autonomy and intelligence. Humanoid robots are intended to cooperate with humans and perform useful work that humans can perform. The main advantage of humanoid robots over other machines is that they are flexible and multi-purpose. In this thesis, a human-like robotic arm is designed and used in a task which is typically performed by humans, namely, catching a ball. The robotic arm was designed to closely resemble a human arm, based on anthropometric studies. A rigid multibody dynamics software was used to create a virtual model of the robotic arm, perform experiments, and collect data. The inverse kinematics of the robotic arm was solved using a Newton-Raphson numerical method with a numerically calculated Jacobian. The system was validated by testing its ability to find a kinematic solution for the catch position and successfully catch the ball within the robot's workspace. The tests were conducted by throwing the ball such that its path intersects different target points within the robot's workspace. The method used for determining the catch location consists of finding the intersection of the ball's trajectory with a virtual catch plane. The hand orientation was set so that the normal vector to the palm of the hand is parallel to the trajectory of the ball at the intersection point and a vector perpendicular to this normal vector remains in a constant orientation during the catch. It was found that this catch orientation approach was reliable within a 0.35 x 0.4 meter window in the robot's workspace. For all tests within this window, the robotic arm successfully caught and dropped the ball in a bin. Also, for the tests within this window, the maximum position and orientation (Euler angle) tracking errors were 13.6 mm and 4.3 degrees, respectively. The average position and orientation tracking errors were 3.5 mm and 0.3 degrees, respectively. The work presented in this study can be applied to humanoid robots in industrial assembly lines and hazardous environment recovery tasks, amongst other applications.