Semi-autonomous driving is an emerging – though not unprecedented – technology which cannot necessarily be seen as safe and reliably accident-free. Insurance companies thus play an important role as influential stakeholders in the negotiation and implementation processes around this new technology. They can either push the technology (e.g. by offering beneficial, promotional insurance models for semi-autonomous car owners) or constrain it (e.g. by providing restrictive insurance models or no insurance cover at all). Insurers face questions concerning ethical or societal consequences on various levels: not only when it comes to promoting the technology – whose impact is not yet certain and may range from saving to endangering lives – but also with respect to insurance models such as “pay as you drive”, which may involve discriminatory elements. The concept of responsible research and innovation (RRI) is well suited to accompanying and guiding insurers, policy makers and other stakeholders in this field through a responsible negotiation process that may prove beneficial for everyone. Part of the RRI approach is to make stakeholders aware of “soft” factors such as the ethical, societal or historical factors which influence innovation and of the need to include these aspects in their activities responsibly.

Les clients des missions de drones sont demandeurs de systèmes d'information et de décision dans lesquels l'humain joue un rôle clé avec sa capacité unique d'analyse. Nous avons présenté comme première contribution un référentiel des niveaux d'automatisation qui interroge systématiquement sur le rôle de l'humain, et ce en rupture avec les référentiels précédents. Nous avons proposé comme seconde contribution un système décisionnel qui laisse les systèmes automatisés être incertains quant à l'ordre de certaines options de telle sorte que l'opérateur/superviseur puisse trancher. Afin d'augmenter le ratio nombre de drones / nombre d'humains, nous avons restreint l'usage de la décision humaine à l'arbitrage des conflits entre objectifs majeurs. Nous avons finalement expérimenté le sacrifice d'objectifs mineurs pour donner plus de temps à ces arbitrages. En conclusion nous rappellerons les mérites de nos deux contributions. LOA4 est un référentiel des niveaux d'autonomie centré sur l'humain, attentif à l'adaptation et compatible avec UML/PACT. Le système décisionnel que nous proposons est également centré sur l'humain et lui permet de jouer - même avec parcimonie et parfois au prix du sacrifice d'objectifs mineurs - un rôle clé basé sur sa capacité unique d'analyse. / Humans are still vital after years of automation and the clients of UAV mission systems want to preserve the human user’s key role because human knowledge, experience and judgment provide unique capability to analyze safety risks and to think ahead in uncertain and novel situations. Our first contribution is LOA4, a set of tree levels of automation in four dimensions to assess human involvement in partially automated systems. Previous sets focus too much attention on the computer rather than on the collaboration between the computer and its operator/supervisor. Unlike previous sets, our set systematically assess human involvement: is there none; some sometime; or some anytime. Its simplicity allow to recursively assess the situation of automation of a system based on the situation of automation of its parts. These information can be part of an IHM to increase the situation awareness in real time. Our second contribution is a mission system in which automated systems decide to delegate some decisions to humans. In order to increase the ratio number of “uavs / number of humans”, decisions that are untrusted to humans are mostly both ambivalent and critical. Some minor goals may be discarded to provide humans with more time to make their decisions. We implemented our approach and we report some results.

This bachelor degree project presents an extension of a base optimization model for a transit line which can be used to evaluate the efficiency of different configurations of a platoon with different scenarios of berths. Furthermore, different levels of autonomous vehicles are studied, three cases are presented. The first case implies that every vehicle has a driver, the second, semi-autonomous vehicles are used in the platoon which has a leading vehicle with driver. Then, the fully autonomous vehicles represent the last studied case. A new method to compute the service time in the stops which differentiate the time that passengers are boarding or alighting from delays or time lost in queues that may appear with an increasing demand is added to the base model. It is introduced also a two-step non-linear approach to the crowding factor that consider the sharp deterioration when the load factor of the bus is almost one. In this project the bus capacity has been considered as a variable to see if there is an optimum vehicle size that cover different values of demand. Numerical results are provided and the result show that vehicle platooning with equal number of vehicles than stop berths is always competitive in high-demands. Moreover, if semi-autonomous case is found the bus platooning gain effectiveness and is competitive with lower demand values. In the case of fully autonomous vehicles the gain of bus platooning is not as high as in the semiautonomous but has still an improvement and is competitive with medium demand values.

With all the advancements in autonomous and connected cars, there is a developing body of research around the security and robustness of driving automation systems. Attacks and mitigations for said attacks have been explored, but almost always solely in software simulations. For this thesis, I led a team to build the foundation for an open source platoon of scale semi-autonomous vehicles. This work will enable future research into implementing theoretical attacks and mitigations. Our 1/10 scale car leverages an Nvidia Jetson, embedded microcontroller, and sensors. The Jetson manages the computer vision, networking, control logic, and overall system control; the embedded microcontroller directly controls the car. A lidar module is responsible for recording distance to the preceding car, and an inertial measurement unit records the velocity of the car itself. I wrote the software for the networking, interprocess, and serial communications, as well as the control logic and system control.

Semi-autonomous revenue authorities (ARAs) have been established all over the world as a distinctive institutional model outside the traditional public service aimed at enhancing tax administration, and thereby raising tax revenues. In order to boost the robustness of their operations, substantial expenditures have gone towards modernising ARAs. Expenditures have been guided by medium-term corporate-wide plans, and the results monitored, assessed and reported using performance measures. Performance measurement has proved challenging for ARAs to implement and sustain in practice. Some of the challenges evolve around weak capacity, implementation costs, issues to do with quantification, competing demands from a wide range of constituents, the inappropriate selection of measures and a bias towards performance measures that focus on finances. As a means for enhancing performance measurement, there are practices, lessons and theoretical perspectives that can be discerned from the broadspectrum of literature on performance measurement in the public sector and ARAs from around the world. This thesis explores how performance measurement in African ARAs can be more strategic, efficient and effective by ascertaining which key factors shape its adoption. The research focuses on the in depth study of three ARAs in Sub Saharan Africa, involving a combination of structured interviews with internal and external stakeholders, the administration of a survey instrument and review of ARA documents. The final chapters of the thesis deploy fuzzy set logic techniques to identify and test the significance of various causal conditions in the adoption of performance measurement in ARAs, as a plausible answer to the research question.

Gaffeltruckar är motordrivna fordon som används flitigt inom industrin för att transportera gods. Automatiseringen av dessa är ett steg i linje med digitaliseringen av industrin och ett prioriterat säkerhetsarbete, och då semiautonoma truckar anses säkrare ökar både utbud och efterfrågan på dessa. Syftet med denna rapport var att undersöka hur företag involverar användare samt integrerar säkerhetsaspekter i sin produktutvecklingsprocess av semiautonoma gaffeltruckar för att minimera risken för personskador. Även synen på automatisering bland användare och tillverkare studerades, samt vilka möjligheter och utmaningar som automatiseringen medför. Forskningsfrågorna besvarades med hjälp av en litteraturstudie och en intervjustudie med fem respondenter från tre olika företag. Resultaten från intervjustudien sammanställdes och jämfördes med den teoretiska referensramen i en efterföljande analys och diskussion. Studien visade att säkerhetsaspekterna beaktas och integreras systematiskt i början av produktutvecklingsprocessen. Tillverkarna såväl som användarna ansåg att säkerhet är en allt viktigare aspekt som upplevs ha blivit mycket bättre under bara de senaste tio åren och säkerhetsaspekterna har utvecklats till att bli mer av hygienfaktorer som måste uppnås på grund av lagkrav och regleringar. En upptäckt som gjordes var därför att användare i regel inte involveras i syfte att integrera säkerhetsfunktioner utan snarare för att möta behov som är svårare att definiera och som handlar om hur produkten ska kännas och upplevas vid användning; såsom körkänsla och ergonomi. Det finns goda möjligheter att öka säkerheten med hjälp av automatisering av gaffeltruckar. Många tillbud och olyckor uppstår på grund av mänskliga faktorer, såsom missförstånd och ouppmärksamhet. Att reducera eller eliminera den mänskliga delen skulle troligen bidra till färre problematiska situationer och misstag, vilket kan rädda liv. Andra möjligheter är kopplade till produktivitet, där det bland annat finns ekonomiska vinster att hämta när industrin effektiviseras. Samtidigt finns det alltid utmaningar i samband med stora digitala omställningar. Automatiseringen av materialhanteringen innebär en investering som behöver godkännas och genomföras, vilket även kräver förarbete och efterforskning. Just bristande kunskap var något som framhävdes som ett hinder, men varken bland användare eller tillverkare ansågs hindrena större än möjligheterna. / Forklifts are motor-driven vehicles which are frequently used for the transportation of goods in the industry. The automation of these is a step in the right direction when it comes to digitalization and prioritized safety work, and as semi-autonomous forklifts are regarded as safer, both the supply and the demand for them are increasing. The aim of this report was to investigate how companies involve users and integrate safety aspects in their product development process of semi-autonomous forklifts to minimize the risk for bodily injuries. Furthermore, the view on automation among users and manufacturers was studied, along with the possibilities and challenges automation entails. The research questions were answered through a literature study and an interview study with five respondents from three different companies. The results from the interview study were compiled and compared with the theoretical source in a subsequent analysis and discussion. The study showed that safety aspects are regarded and integrated systematically during the start of the product development process. The manufacturers as well as the users believed that safety is an aspect which is becoming more and more important and which is perceived as having improved immensely during the last ten years. The safety aspects have evolved into more of hygiene factors which need to be reached due to legislative demands and regulations. A finding from this study was therefore that users were not involved with the purpose to integrate safety functions but rather to meet demands which are more difficult to define and which concern how the product should feel and be perceived in usage, such as driving sense and ergonomics. There are good possibilities to increase safety by automation. Many mishaps and accidents originate from human factors, such as misunderstandings and lack of attention. Reducing or eliminating the human contribution would probably lead to fewer problematic situations and mistakes, which could save lives. Other possibilities are in productivity, where there are financial profits to gain when streamlining the industry. However, there are always challenges related to large, digital transitions. Automation of the material handling means an investment which needs to be approved and realized, which also requires preparatory work and research. Lack of knowledge was a suggested obstacle, but neither the users nor the manufacturers considered the obstacles larger than the possibilities.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5924.pdf: 2807754 bytes, checksum: 3d23771c039861a524611ded561280a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-30 / The manufacturing companies are increasingly investing time and attention to improving its operating performance by accepting that this is one of the few ways to be competitive in the medium and long term and thus leaving the short-term vision where operational improvements are mainly evaluated as cost reductions of production and labor. The manufacturing management must seek the proper standardization of operations, compliance with these standards and continuous improvement, using this as a basis for synchronization of material flows and information, and to guarantee the quality and safety requirements, as well as the increase responsibilities and autonomy of people in the workplace. This is the main base of lean manufacturing (lean), which, associated with the concept of semi autonomous teams (this aimed at increasing the responsibility of the workers), significant operational success is bringing to companies that have deepened in its implementation and support. This thesis presents six case studies where there was the application of a model of standardized work and the concept of semi-autonomous teams simultaneously in different plants of the same company in the Brazilian chemical industry. The developed approach was the adaptation and application of a systematic model with five pre-defined steps, and structuring teams with semi autonomous work patterns as well as their roles and responsibilities. The model applied in the six cases studied was adapted based on a reference from the company's headquarters and research of market practices, adapted to reality and to the organizational structure of these units. The plants studied have different levels of technology and products portfolio, as well as operation time that distanced up to four decades of each other, where it was observed significant impact on speed of deployment, with different levels of acceptance by the leadership and comprehensiveness of results arising from the application of the model. Quantitative aspects of implementation, such as Safety, Quality and Productivity, which showed significant weight gains after the implementation of the model were evaluated and achieved medium gains of 25% in Productivity, 33% in Quality and 47% reduction in setup times as well as qualitative aspects such as absenteeism, the perception of those involved on the shop floor by the physical change in the working environment and the impact of standardization and systematization of activities on the motivation and performance of employees working in the semi autonomous teams. As conclusions, it´s discussed the potential constraints that influence the greater or lesser success of the applications in each of the six units. / As empresas manufatureiras estão investindo cada vez mais tempo e atenção à melhoria de seu desempenho operacional aceitando que este é um dos poucos caminhos para serem competitivas no médio e longo prazo e desta forma saindo da visão de curto prazo onde melhorias operacionais são principalmente avaliadas como redução de custos de produção e de mão de obra. A gestão da manufatura deve buscar a correta padronização das operações, o cumprimento destes padrões e sua melhoria contínua, usando isto como base para a sincronização dos fluxos de materiais e informações, e para a garantia dos requisitos de qualidade e segurança, assim como o incremento das responsabilidades e da autonomia das pessoas no ambiente de trabalho. Esta é a base principal da manufatura enxuta (lean), que, associada ao conceito de equipes semi autônomas (este visando o incremento da responsabilidade dos operários), tanto sucesso operacional está trazendo às empresas que se aprofundaram em sua implementação e sustentação. Nesta tese apresentam-se seis estudos de caso onde houve a aplicação de um modelo de trabalho padronizado e do conceito de equipes semi autônomas de forma simultânea em diferentes fábricas de uma mesma empresa do setor químico brasileiro. A abordagem desenvolvida foi a adaptação e aplicação de um modelo sistematizado com cinco etapas pré definidas, e estruturação das equipes semi autônomas com padrões de trabalho bem como de seus papéis e responsabilidades. O modelo aplicado nos seis casos estudados foi adaptado com base em uma referência da empresa matriz e pesquisas de práticas de mercado, alinhado à realidade e à estrutura organizacional destas unidades. As fábricas estudadas possuem diferentes níveis de tecnologia e tipos de produtos, assim como tempo em operação que as distanciam até quatro décadas umas das outras, de onde se observou significativo impacto na velocidade de implantação, havendo diferentes níveis de aceitação das lideranças e abrangência dos resultados oriundos da aplicação do modelo. Foram avaliados aspectos quantitativos da aplicação, tais como Segurança, Qualidade e Produtividade, que apresentaram ganhos significativos médios após a aplicação do modelo, da ordem de: 25% em Produtividade, 33% em Qualidade e 47% de redução dos tempos de Setup, assim como os aspectos qualitativos como o absenteísmo, a percepção dos envolvidos do chão de fábrica quanto à mudança física do ambiente de trabalho e o impacto da padronização e sistematização das atividades na motivação e desempenho dos empregados atuando no formato semi autônomo. Como conclusão, discute-se que condicionantes influenciam o maior ou menor sucesso das aplicações em cada uma das seis unidades.

Vehicles are becoming increasingly autonomous, as automotive industries are investing in innovative technology. Therefore the technology becomes more available and affordable, making it possible for Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) to introduce automated features in their trucks. Vehicles that have a forward collision warning system, and thus are partly autonomous, are involved in less accidents than those without. In manufacturing industries there is currently a problem with truck collisions and an automated solution might be a suitable way to prevent these. When implementing an automation device, human machine interaction and user-friendliness are aspects to keep in mind during the development. The thesis concerns how autonomous features can assist the truck driver, and how to provide the driver with intuitive feedback. The purpose was to ensure the drivers’ and surrounding personnel’s safety as well as increase the productivity. Research was performed regarding in what situation an assisting device is needed and how to communicate information in an intuitive manner to help the driver in this situation. A conceptual interface was developed that allows communication between the driver and a future all-knowing system, that tracks all objects and personnel in a warehouse. The drivers have had a central role in the process. The observations were performed in the TMHE warehouse to identify situations. The most perilous and frequent situation was when drivers need to focus both in the fork and drive wheel directions simultaneously. This either puts the surroundings or the driver in danger. A conceptual interface was developed to help the driver in this situation. This resulted in a concept implementable in both current and future trucks, to harmonise the solution and ensure a safe warehouse environment. A lo-fi prototype was constructed and evaluated iteratively with drivers to ensure the quality and usability of the concept. The resulting feedback solution consists of sounds from speakers mounted in the headrest and a display interface with warning symbols. The sounds are directional to notify the driver if the danger is to the left or right behind his back. If the danger is only semi-close, the driver receives a warning, but if it is very close, the truck is stopped autonomously. The symbols appear on the display simultaneously as the sounds are heard, to provide further feedback. Additionally, an Autonomous Positioning feature has been developed, that consists of symbols and buttons on the display interface, as well as an alert sound from the display to indicate the system’s activation and deactivation. Safety is enhanced since neither personnel nor trucks are in risk of collision when implementing the concept. As the concept helps the driver position the truck effortlessly towards the pallet the productivity is also improved.

Alors que l’utilisation d’un fauteuil roulant permet aux personnes en situation de handicap de compenser une perte de la mobilité, certaines personnes se voient privées de l’utilisation d’un fauteuil roulant électrique. En effet, la présence de troubles cognitifs ou de la perception visuelle altère la capacité à conduire sans danger. Dans ce contexte, l’accès à la mobilité peut être amélioré par l’apport d’aides techniques adaptées permettant de compenser la perte de mobilité dans tous types d’environnements. Alors que les premiers travaux sur les fauteuils roulants intelligents datent du début des années 80, aucune solution n’est à ce jour sur le marché ou dans les centres de rééducation. Ce travail vise à proposer un ensemble de solutions d’aide à la conduite de fauteuil roulant électrique conçu en collaboration. Le développement de telles aides techniques constitue de multiples défis robotiques mêlant techniques de détection innovantes et méthodes de contrôle partagé avec l’utilisateur. Dans ce travail, un simulateur de conduite visant à appuyer la recherche et le développement de nouvelles solutions robotiques est proposé. Puis des solutions bas coût d’assistance semiautonome à la conduite en intérieur et en extérieur sont détaillées. L’évaluation avec des participants sains nous permet de valider les méthodes mathématiques mises en oeuvre et de fournir des preuves de concept des solutions proposées. Enfin, les premières évaluations cliniques avec des usagers au Pôle MPR Saint Hélier montrent la validation de de la méthode proposée en termes de satisfaction des utilisateurs. / While the use of a wheelchair allows people with disabilities to compensate for a loss of mobility, people with severe disabilities are denied the use of a power wheelchair. Indeed, cognitive or visual perception impairments can affect the ability to drive safely. In this context, access to mobility can be improved by providing appropriate assistive technologies to compensate for loss of mobility in all types of environments. While the first research on smart wheelchairs dates back to the early 1980s, no solutions have yet been proposed on the market or in rehabilitation centers and other specialized structures. This work aims to propose a set of solutions for power wheelchair navigation assistance designed in close collaboration with users and therapists. The development of such assistive solutions faces multiple robotic challenges combining innovative detection techniques, shared control with the user. In this work, a driving simulator supporting research and development of new robotic solutions for wheelchair navigation assistance is proposed. Then low-cost semi-autonomous assistance solutions for navigation assistance in indoor and outdoor environments are detailed. The evaluation with able-bodied participants allows to validate the mathematical methods and provide proof of concept of the proposed solutions. Finally, the first clinical evaluations with regular users at Pôle MPR Saint Hélier show the validation of the proposed framework in terms of user satisfaction.