ICINCO 2013 Abstracts
Area 1 - Intelligent Control Systems and Optimization
Full Papers| Paper Nr: | 158 |
| Title: | Computational Experience in Solving Continuous-time Algebraic Riccati Equations using Standard and Modified Newton’s Method |
| Authors: | Vasile Sima |
| Abstract: | Improved algorithms for solving continuous-time algebraic Riccati equations using Newton’s method with or without line search are discussed. The basic theory and Newton’s algorithms are briefly presented. Algorithmic details the developed solvers are based on, the main computational steps (finding the Newton direction, finding the Newton step size), and convergence tests are described. The main results of an extensive performance investigation of the solvers based on Newton’s method are compared with those obtained using the widely-used MATLAB solver. Randomly generated systems with orders till 2000, as well as the systems from a large collection of examples, are considered. The numerical results often show significantly improved accuracy, measured in terms of normalized and relative residuals, and greater efficiency than the MATLAB solver. The results strongly recommend the use of such algorithms, especially for improving the solutions computed by other solvers. |
| Paper Nr: | 181 |
| Title: | Intelligent Control of a Prosthetic Ankle Joint |
| Authors: | Anh Mai and Sesh Commuri |
| Abstract: | The ability to control the prosthetic ankle joints of below-knee amputees is a challenging problem due to the lack of adequate mathematical models, the variations in the gait in response to the environment, sensor noise, and unknown intent of users. Artificial ankle joints are required to exhibit variable stiffness based on the gait and aid in locomotion as well as stability of the individual. It is desirable for control strategies for such ankle joints to adapt in real-time to any variations in the gait, have robust performance, and optimize specified performance indices relating to efficiency of the gait. In this paper, we investigate the potential of Direct Neural Dynamic Programming (DNDP) method for learning the gait in real-time and in generating control torque for the ankle joint. The residual limb is first represented by a link-segment model and the kinematic patterns for the model are derived from human gait data. Then augmented training rules are proposed to implement the DNDP-based control to generate torque which drives the prosthetic ankle joint along the designed kinematic patterns. Numerical results show that the DNDP controller is able to maintain stable gait with robust tracking and reduced performance cost in spite of measurement/actuator noises and variations in walking speed. |
| Paper Nr: | 183 |
| Title: | Explicit Homogeneous Time-varying Stabilizing Control of a Submarine Vehicle (ROV) |
| Authors: | Adel Khadhraoui, Lotfi Beji, Samir Otmane and Azgal Abichou |
| Abstract: | The stabilizing control problem of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for a submarine observing operation is solved explicitly using a homogeneous time-varying controller. We prove that the ROV kino-dynamic model fails the Brockett’s necessary condition, consequently, the system’s equilibrium cannot be stabilized using continuous pure state feedback laws. Our control strategy is based on a continuous time-varying feedback law taking into account coupling terms due to underactuation and nonlinearities. It is shown that the feedback law stabilizes the ROV at the origin, and this is illustrated by simulations. |
| Paper Nr: | 250 |
| Title: | A Layered Multi-Agent Model for Multi-Configuration Platoon Control |
| Authors: | Baudouin Dafflon, Franck Gechter, Pablo Gruer and Abderrafiaa Koukam |
| Abstract: | Nowadays, urban environments suffer from recurrent traffic jam with associated side effects. Platoon system, a set of vehicle attach by virtual link, is one of answer. in order to cope with issues such as different platoon geometrics since several years, we’re seeing the multi-agent system as element of response to many problems. This paper to apply this concept for platoon vehicles system through an multi-agent model based on key layers. Thanks this solution, implemented as an agent which makes decisions depending only on its own perception where each vehicles is recorded, analysed, transform in car command and adapted to vehicle by a command filter. |
Short Papers
| Paper Nr: | 33 |
| Title: | Enhanced Iterated Local Search Algorithms for the Permutation Flow Shop Problem Minimizing Total Flow Time |
| Authors: | Xingye Dong, Maciek Nowak, Ping Chen and Houkuan Huang |
| Abstract: | Flow shop scheduling minimizing total flow time is a famous combinatorial optimization problem. Many algorithms have been proposed to solve it. Among them, iterated local search (ILS) is a simple, efficient and effective one. However, in existing ILS, one basic insertion neighborhood is generally used, greatly limiting the search space. In this work, an enhanced iterated local search (EILS) is proposed, using a hybrid of insertion and swap neighborhoods. The perturbation method also plays an important role in ILS. Two perturbation methods, the insertion method and a destruction and construction heuristic are tested in this paper. Both perform significantly better in comparison to three state of the art algorithms, indicating that the hybrid use of insertion and swap neighborhoods is effective for the discussed problem. However, there is no significant difference between the destruction and construction and the insertion perturbation methods. |
| Paper Nr: | 39 |
| Title: | Parametric Fault Detection in Nonlinear Systems - A Recursive Subspace-based Approach |
| Authors: | Paulo Gil, Fábio Santos, Alberto Cardoso and Luis Palma |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the problem of detecting nolinear systems’ parametric faults modeled as changes in the eigenvalues of a local linear state-space model. The linear state-space model approximations are obtained by recursive subspace system identification techniques, from which the eigenvalues are extracted at each sampling time. Residuals are generated by comparing the eigenvalues against those associated with a local nominal model derived from a neural network predictor describing the nonlinear plant dynamics in free fault conditions. Parametric fault symptoms are generated from the eigenvalues residuals, whenever a given predefined threshold is exceeded. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework is demonstrated in a practical case study. |
| Paper Nr: | 44 |
| Title: | Introducing the Web-of-Things in Building Automation - A Gateway for KNX Installations |
| Authors: | Gérôme Bovet and Jean Hennebert |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 55 |
| Title: | A Generic Control Architecture for Material Handling Systems Applied to a Baggage Handling System |
| Authors: | S. W. A. Haneyah, J. M. J. Schutten, P. C. Schuur and W. H. M. Zijm |
| Abstract: | This paper is part of research on generic planning and control of automated Material Handling Systems (MHSs) in different industrial sectors. We build upon previous work to provide a proof of concept for the applicability of a generic control architecture on a specific MHS. To this end, the baggage handling system (BHS) of a major European hub represents our business case. We present the control architecture and apply it to the BHS under study in a simulation environment. This application shows how the generic control architecture adapts to the specificities of this BHS and how it handles unconventional workstation types, i.e., robots. Finally, we highlight the lessons learned and make recommendations for future applications. |
| Paper Nr: | 58 |
| Title: | Cognitive Parameter Adaption in Regular Control Structures - Using Process Knowledge for Parameter Adaption |
| Authors: | Martin Schmid, Simon Berger and Gunther Reinhart |
| Abstract: | The colour control system of an offset printing machine is one example, where modern information processing technologies allow an improved process control and higher resource efficiency. It is not possible to measure the printing quality during production start. So no regular closed loop control can be used. For better system behaviour a simulation model is integrated to calculate the printing quality at any time. To get an optimal process performance, a high simulation quality must be ensured, which includes a compensation of process simulation inaccuracies as well as variable influences. Therefore a cognitive system is installed, which measures the most important influences like the used paper and many other process parameters. After each production the right model parameters will be calculated by identification algorithms. So a data set with influences and parameters is available. For the next production run the best-fitting parameters for the simulation model can be calculated by a Neural Network. Additionally wear and deposits, which change the machine’s performance, can be compensated. The simulation accuracy and the process control quality rises, which enables a faster run-up. Savings of paper, ink, energy and time allow an economic application of this control concept. |
| Paper Nr: | 74 |
| Title: | High-order Least Squares Identification - A New Approach |
| Authors: | Rajamani Doraiswami and Lahouari Cheded |
| Abstract: | A high-order least squares (HOLS) identification method is proposed to identify a system which is subject to disturbances affecting both the dynamical equations and the measurement noise. A linear regression model of the system is obtained based on the Kalman filter structure whose equation error is a colored noise process generated by the residual of the Kalman filter. A high-order regression model is derived by whitening the colored noise process so that the equation error is a zero-mean white noise process. The high-order model is estimated using the least-square method. A reduced-order model is derived from the high-order model using the frequency-weighted least-squares method. The proposed scheme has been successfully evaluated on a number of simulated and physical systems and favorably compared with the prediction error method (PEM). |
| Paper Nr: | 94 |
| Title: | Static Output-feedback Control with Selective Pole Constraints - Application to Control of Flexible Aircrafts |
| Authors: | Isaac Yaesh and Uri Shaked |
| Abstract: | A non-smooth optimization approach is considered for designing constant output-feedback controllers for linear time-invariant systems with lightly damped poles. The design requirements combine H_infinity performance requirements with regional pole constraints excluding high frequency lightly damped poles. In contrast to the usual (full) pole-placement (FPP) problem, the problem dealt here is one of Selective Pole Placement (SPP). The latter design problem is frequently encountered in the control of aircraft with non-negligible aeroelastic modes which are too fast to be handled by the control surface actuators. As in the FPP case, the pole constraints are embedded in the design criterion using a transformation on the system model which modifies the H_infinity norm of the closed-loop system via a barrier function that is related to the closed-loop poles damping. Dissimilar to the closed-loop solution that is designed for the FPP, in the SPP case, numerical calculations of the gradient of the cost function is needed. The proposed method is applied to a flight control example of a flexible aircraft. |
| Paper Nr: | 103 |
| Title: | Kalman Filter-based Estimators for Dual Adaptive Neural Control - A Comparative Analysis of Execution Time and Performance Issues |
| Authors: | Simon G. Fabri and Marvin K. Bugeja |
| Abstract: | The real time implementation of neural network-based dual adaptive control for nonlinear systems can become significantly demanding because of the amount of network parameters requiring estimation. This paper explores the effect of three different estimation algorithms for dual adaptive control of a class of multiple-input, multiple-output nonlinear systems in terms of tracking performance and execution time. It is shown that the Unscented and Square-root Unscented Kalman filter estimators lead to a significant improvement in tracking performance when compared with the Extended Kalman filter, but with an appreciable increase in execution time. Such issues need to be given due consideration when implementing controllers for on-line operation. |
| Paper Nr: | 115 |
| Title: | Incremental Design of Organic Computing Systems - Moving System Design from Design-Time to Runtime |
| Authors: | Sven Tomforde, Jörg Hähner and Christian Müller-Schloer |
| Abstract: | System engineers are facing demanding challenges in terms of complexity and interconnectedness. Current research initiatives like Organic or Autonomic Computing propose to increase the freedom of the system to be developed using concepts like adaptivity and self-organisation. Adaptivity means that for such systems we defer a part of the design process from design time to runtime. Therefore, we need a runtime infrastructure which takes care of runtime modifications. This paper presents a meta-design process to develop adaptive systems and parametrise the runtime infrastructure in a unified way. To demonstrate the proposed design process, we applied it to a communication scenario and evaluate the resulting system in a realistic setting. |
| Paper Nr: | 147 |
| Title: | A Computational Cognition and Visual Servoing based Methodology to Design Automatic Manipulative Tasks |
| Authors: | Hendry Ferreira Chame and Philippe Martinet |
| Abstract: | In the last decades, robotics has exerted an important role in the research on diverse knowledge domains, such as, artificial intelligence, biology, neuroscience and psychology. In particular, the study of knowledge representation and thinking, has led to the proposal of cognitive architectures; capturing essential structures and processes of cognition and behavior. Robotists have also attempted to design automatic systems using these proposals. Though, certain difficulties have been reported for obtaining efficient low-level processing while sensing or controlling the robot. The main challenges involve the treatment of the differences between the computational paradigms employed by the cognitive and the robotic architectures. The objective of this work, is to propose a methodology for designing robotic systems capable of decision making and learning when executing manipulative tasks. The development of a system called the Cognitive Reaching Robot (CRR) will be reported. CRR combines the advantages of using a psychologically-oriented cognitive architecture, with efficient low-level behavior implementations through the visual servoing control technique. |
| Paper Nr: | 162 |
| Title: | Self-organizing Agents for an Adaptive Control of Heat Engines |
| Authors: | Jérémy Boes, Frédéric Migeon and François Gatto |
| Abstract: | Controlling heat engines imposes to deal with high dynamics, non-linearity and multiple interdependencies. A way handle these difficulties is enable the controller to learn how the engine behaves, hence avoiding the costly use of an explicit model of the process. Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems (AMAS) are able to learn and to adapt themselves to their environment thanks to the cooperative self-organization of their agents. A change in the organization of the agents results in a change of the emergent function. Thus we assume that AMAS are a good alternative for complex systems control, reuniting learning, adaptivity, robustness and genericity. In this paper, we present an AMAS for the control of heat engines and show several results. |
| Paper Nr: | 167 |
| Title: | Control System with State Feedback and NN based Load Torque Feedforward for PMSM with LC Filter Fed by 3-Level NPC Inverter |
| Authors: | L. M. Grzesiak and T. Tarczewski |
| Abstract: | This paper presents designing process of the control system with discrete state feedback and neural network based load torque feedforward for permanent magnet synchronous motor fed by true sine wave 3-level neutral point clamped inverter with an output LC filter. Our main objective is to reduce the effect of load torque changes and to improve dynamic behaviour of the motor during load changing. The full state feedback algorithm has been chosen to control the angular velocity of the motor and to provide true sine wave of the input motor voltages. It was found that gains of the controller and feedforward path are non-stationary and depends on the angular velocity. In such a case linearization and decoupling process of the motor with LC filter is not needed. Simulation results (at the level of 3kW) illustrate the proposed approach. |
| Paper Nr: | 192 |
| Title: | About Optimization Techniques in Application to Symbolic-Numeric Optimal Control Seeking Aproach |
| Authors: | Ivan Ryzhikov, Eugene Semenkin and Vladimir Okhorzin |
| Abstract: | The optimal control problem for nonlinear dynamic systems is considered. The proposed approach is based on the both partially analytical and partially numerical techniques of the optimal control problem solving. Using the maximum principle the system with the state and co-state variables can be determined and after closing up the initial optimal control problem, it can be reduced to unconstrained extremum problem. The extremum problem is related to seeking for the initial point for the co-state variables that would satisfy the boundaries. To solve the optimization problem, well-known global optimization techniques are suggested and compared. The settings of the algorithms were varied. Also, the new modified hybrid evolutionary strategies algorithm was compared to common techniques and in the current study it was more efficient. |
Posters
| Paper Nr: | 6 |
| Title: | Pitch Control for Variable Speed Wind Turbines |
| Authors: | A. I. Roussos, V. E. Ntampasi and O. I. Kosmidou |
| Abstract: | The main thrust of this paper is to present an efficient method for the pitch control of large scale wind turbines. After an investigation in wind turbine working regions, the “optimum” working levels are determined. A PID controller is designed based on the Ziegler – Nichols method. By appropriately tuning the controller gains, the proposed controller ensures achieving a rapid convergence to the extracted power set point with the minimum of fluctuations even in extreme wind conditions. |
| Paper Nr: | 26 |
| Title: | A Hybrid Control System for a Tentacle Arm |
| Authors: | Nirvana Popescu, Decebal Popescu and Mircea Ivanescu |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the control problem of a class of light- hyper-redundant robots, a tentacle arm, described by hyperbolic Partial Differential Equations with uncertain components. The stability analysis and the resulting controllers are obtained using the concept of boundary geometric control and a spatial weighted error control technique. A hybrid controller with two control components: a PD boundary control and a pneumatic system that controls the locking forces in the joints are discussed. Liapunov techniques are used to prove the control system stability. Numerical simulations and experimental results are also provided to verify the effectiveness of the presented approach. |
| Paper Nr: | 35 |
| Title: | H.264 Video Encoder Simulator applied in the Brazilian TV Digital Platform |
| Authors: | Arthur Tórgo Gómez and Iris Corrêa das Chagas Linck |
| Abstract: | This work presents a hybrid metaheuristic simulator applied to the H.264 encoder and decoder of video signals (H.264 codec). The simulator tries to find a good configuration for the parameters of the H.264 codec that are directly related to the compression and the image quality of the video. The parameters considered were the frame rate, the bit rate, the quantization parameter for I slice, B slice, and P slice, and the number of B slices in a group of pictures. It was made a study of the behaviour dynamic of these parameters and it was found a behaviour pattern among them. The behaviour pattern, found by the studies, was used as the basis for building the simulator. The main function of the simulator is to reproduce the dynamics of such behaviour in order to find results that can be applied in the H.264 codec of the digital platform of the Brazilian TV. The expected results are the balance and the improvement in compression of video and in the image quality. The simulator supports several video formats and it was developed by using two metaheuristics, the Tabu Search and the Genetic Algorithm. It was made several experiments with different video formats. The results obtained by the simulator were utilized to configure the H.264 codec. As a result, it was obtained encoded videos with better picture quality and better compression. |
| Paper Nr: | 38 |
| Title: | Semi-centralized Reconstruction of Robot Swarm Topologies - The Largest Laplacian Eigenvalue and High Frequency Noise are used to Calculate the Adjacency Matrix of an Underwater Swarm from Time-series |
| Authors: | Vincenzo Fioriti, Stefano Chiesa and Fabio Fratichini |
| Abstract: | An important task in underwater autonomous vehicle swarm management is the knowledge of the graph topology, to be obtained with the minimum possible communication exchanges and amid heavy interferences and background noises. Despite the importance of the task, this problem is still partially unsolved. Recently, the Fast Fourier Transform and the addition of white noise to consensus signals have been proposed independently to determine respectively the laplacian spectrum and the adjacency matrix of the graph of interacting agents from consensus time series, but both methodologies suffer technical difficulties. In this paper, we combine them in order to simplify calculations, save energy and avoid topological reconstruction errors using only the largest eigenvalue of the spectrum and instead of white noise, a high frequency, low amplitude noise. Numerical simulations of several swarms (random, small-world, pipeline, grid) show an exact reconstruction of the configuration topologies. |
| Paper Nr: | 42 |
| Title: | Application of Metaheuristics in Developing an Optimization Model for Audio Coding Process MPEG-4 AAC |
| Authors: | Maurício Harff and Arthur Tórgo Gómez |
| Abstract: | The perceptual quality achieved by audio encoders depends directly on the choice of its parameters. The MPEG-4 AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), used in Brazilian Digital Television System (BDTS), has a step in its structure that consists in an iteration loop to choose the parameters of the encoder dynamically during the encoding process. This selection process can be defined as a problem of Operational Research, being a Part Selection Problem, termed as AAC Encoding Problem. The structure in the reference encoder not solves this problem optimally. Thus, this paper proposes the development and implementation of a model simulation of a structure, to find the internal parameters of the MPEG-4 AAC audio encoder, so as to optimize the perceptual audio quality for a given bit rate. The implementation of the optimization framework was developed in ANSI C programming language, using the Tabu Search and Genetic Algorithm metaheuristics in a hybrid structure. Through the minimization of the ANMR (Average Noise-to-Mask Ratio) metric, algorithm tries to identify the best configuration of internal parameters of the MPEG-4 AAC and improve the perceptual audio quality. |
| Paper Nr: | 45 |
| Title: | Remarks on an Adaptive-type Self-tuning Controller using Quantum Neural Network with Qubit Neurons |
| Authors: | Kazuhiko Takahashi, Yuka Shiotani and Masafumi Hashimoto |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a self-tuning controller based on a quantum neural network and investigates the controller’s characteristics for control systems. A multi-layer quantum neural network which uses qubit neurons as an information processing unit is utilized to design an adaptive-type self-tuning controller which conducts the training of the quantum neural network as an online process. As an example of designing the self-tuning controller, either a proportional integral derivative controller or a fuzzy logic controller is utilized as a conventional controller for which parameters are tuned by the quantum neural network. To evaluate the learning performance and capability of the adaptive-type quantum neural self-tuning controller, we conduct computational experiments to control the single-input single-output non-linear discrete time plant. The results of the computational experiments confirm both feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed self-tuning controller. |
| Paper Nr: | 48 |
| Title: | Multistep Fuzzy Classifier Design with Self-tuning Coevolutionary Algorithm |
| Authors: | Roman Sergienko and Eugene Semenkin |
| Abstract: | A method of Michigan and Pittsburgh approaches combining for fuzzy classifier design with evolutionary algorithms is presented. Michigan-style stage provides fast search of fuzzy rules with the best grade of certainty values for different classes and smoothing of randomness at initial population forming. Pittsburgh method provides rules subset search with the best performance and predefined number of the rules and doesn’t require a lot of computational power. Besides self-tuning cooperative-competitive coevolutionary algorithm for strategy adaptation is used on Michigan and Pittsburgh stages of fuzzy classifier design. This algorithm solves the problem of genetic algorithm parameters setting automatically. The next result is multistep fuzzy classifier design based on multiple repetition of previous fuzzy classifier design. After each iteration standard deviation of classification performance decreases and classification performance increases. Results of numerical experiments for machine learning problems from UCI repository are presented. Fuzzy classifier design methods comparison with alternative classification methods by performance value demonstrates advantages of the proposed algorithms. |
| Paper Nr: | 62 |
| Title: | A Robust Design for Image-based Visual Servoing |
| Authors: | Hajer Abidi, Khaled Kaaniche, Hassen Mekki and Mohamed Chtourou |
| Abstract: | In this paper we introduce a new robust visual scheme intended to 2D visual servoing robotic tasks. The main object is to direct the robot to its desired position. To be able to carry out such a task robustly the tough and major step is primarily the image processing procedure. We should find good selections of visual data in order to be correctly matched and interpreted by the visual control law regardless of the different sorts of errors. The new proposed design combines the speed up robust features (SURF) algorithm and progressive sample consensus (PROSAC) algorithm to accomplish a good feature extraction and to rapidly resist the environment constraints while removing the erroneous matches. |
| Paper Nr: | 98 |
| Title: | Control of Mobile Manipulator with Skid-steering Platform Moving in Unknown Terrain in Presence of Disturbance |
| Authors: | Alicja Mazur, Jurek Sasiadek and Mateusz Cholewiński |
| Abstract: | In this paper new approach to control of nonholonomic mobile manipulator with skid-steering platform has been presented. For mathematical model of such object, expressed in auxiliary coordinates, control law based on virtual force concept has been introduced. Skid-steering mobile platform is an underactuated control system with rectangular input matrix. In our approach it was assumed that there exists additional control input, giving additional column in input matrix and causing this matrix to be invertible. Because such actuator does not exists in reality, therefore this input was kept equal to zero equivalently. Simulations have proved that such method works properly in unknown terrain and in presence of disturbances. |
| Paper Nr: | 107 |
| Title: | Cooperative Area Extension of PSO - Transfer Learning vs. Uncertainty in a Simulated Swarm Robotics |
| Authors: | Adham Atyabi and David M. W. Powers |
| Abstract: | The study investigates the effectiveness of 2 variations of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) called Area Extended PSO (AEPSO) and Cooperative AEPSO (CAEPSO) in simulated robotic environments affected by a combinatorial noise. Knowledge Transfer, the use of the expertise and knowledge gained from previous experiments, can improve the robots decision making and reduce the number of wrong decisions in such uncertain environments. This study investigates the impact of transfer learning on robots’ performance in such hostile environment. The results highlight the feasibility of CAEPSO to be used as the controller and decision maker of a swarm of robots in the simulated uncertain environment when gained expertise from past training is transferred to the robots in the testing phase. |
| Paper Nr: | 116 |
| Title: | Set-membership Method for Discrete Optimal Control |
| Authors: | Rémy Guyonneau, Sébastien Lagrange, Laurent Hardouin and Mehdi Lhommeau |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 117 |
| Title: | Image based 3D Reconstruction in Cultural Heritage Preservation |
| Authors: | Alessandro Cefalu, Mohammed Abdel-Wahab, Michael Peter, Konrad Wenzel and Dieter Fritsch |
| Abstract: | Documentation of the current state of an object is often the first crucial step in cultural heritage preservation. Especially for large scale objects as buildings this task becomes complex and time consuming. Hence, there is a growing interest in new, more efficient techniques, which ease the process and reduce the financial impact of surveying actions. In case of façade restoration, experts need to map damages and plan the corresponding measures, before the actual restoration can take place. Here, two-dimensional CAD drawings, depicting each single stone, serve as a basis. Traditionally these plans are derived from classical surveying. Often a photogrammetric approach is chosen to reduce the efforts on site. But still image processing, including image registration and point measurements, is carried out punctually and manually. Since about three years, our institute supports the introduction of modern image processing tool chains to the application field of heritage preservation. Recently we participated in the restoration of the tower facades of the St. Martin dome in Rottenburg/Neckar, Germany. We combined laser scans, terrestrial imagery and images captured from a UAV platform, incorporating structure-from-motion, dense image matching, point cloud registration and production of orthographic projections, from which the CAD drawings could be derived. |
| Paper Nr: | 126 |
| Title: | Stator Winding Short Circuit Fault Detection based on Uncertainty Ellipsoid Intersection for Three Phase Induction Motors |
| Authors: | Mohammed Obaid Mustafa and George Nikolakopoulos |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 148 |
| Title: | Uncertainty Analysis of the LOCA Break Size Prediction Model using GMDH |
| Authors: | Soon Ho Park, Jae Hwan Kim, Dae Seop Kim and Man Gyun Na |
| Abstract: | When transients or accidents occur in the nuclear power plants, the plant operators and technical staffs are provided with only partial information and faced with a number of signals and alarms. Therefore, providing information such as a break size in case of LOCA is essential to control these events successively. In this paper, in order to predict the LOCA break size, a prediction model was developed by using group method of data handling (GMDH) algorithm, and we have conducted its uncertainty analysis. The proposed prediction model was verified using the acquired data from the OPR1000 nuclear power plant. |
| Paper Nr: | 152 |
| Title: | Detection of Hot Pipe Defects using IR Thermography |
| Authors: | Kwae Hwan Yoo, Ju Hyun Kim, Man Gyun Na, Jin Weon Kim, Kyeong Suk Kim and Chang-Doo Kee |
| Abstract: | Wall-thinned defects, which are attributable to acceleration of corrosion that is occurred by fluid flow in the inner pipe, appear in various structures of the secondary system in nuclear power plants (NPPs), playing a role as a major factor to degrade integrity of pipes. It is required to manage wall-thinned defects not only when the NPP is under maintenance but also when the NPP is in normal operation. To this end, this paper developed a test technique to manage such wall-thinned defects based on temperature difference on surface of hot pipe with use of infrared thermography and cooling device. Finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted to examine tendency of and test conditions for cooling experiment. Based on the FEA results, equipment was configured before the cooling experiment was conducted. Then, infrared camera was used to detect defects in the inner pipe of the pipe specimen that had artificially induced defects. The infrared thermography developed in this study is expected to help resolve issues related to limitations on the nondestructive inspection that is currently conducted for NPP’s secondary system and expected to be very useful on the NPP site. |
| Paper Nr: | 156 |
| Title: | Derivation of Control Input using Optimization with CFD Simulator and its Application to a Molten-metal Pouring Process |
| Authors: | Yoshifumi Kuriyama, Hisashi Yamada, Ken'ichi Yano, Yuya Michioka, Yasunori Nemoto and Panya Minyong |
| Abstract: | Tilting-type automatic pouring machines are used for gravity casting in manufacturing processes, and their pouring speed is set by workers through trial and error. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve pouring that results in high-quality casting and high process yield. On the other hand, in recent years, this control input has been derived by computer using a CFD simulator. However, the computation of a single condition currently requires a few hours, and the entire optimization requires hundreds of such computations. Thus, a considerable amount of time is required in order to perform an optimization using a CFD simulator. The purpose of this study was to design a calculation method for a pouring machine that would reduce the calculation time. The effectiveness of the proposed system is shown through CFD simulation. |
| Paper Nr: | 163 |
| Title: | Static Balance based Rescue Robot Navigation Algorithm in Random Step Environment |
| Authors: | Evgeni Magid and Takashi Tsubouchi |
| Abstract: | To increase safety and extend human rescuers capabilities during a rescue mission a robot is deployed at a rescue site for exploration purposes. To improve a teleoperated rescue robot performance, we develop an automatic pilot system which recommends an operator a safe path to a chosen target. We manage the proposed path from static balance standpoint, based on our previous works. This paper concentrates on path search algorithm in a simulated 3D debris environment, called Random Step Environment. |
| Paper Nr: | 216 |
| Title: | A Methodology for the Design of Fuzzy Fractional PID Controllers |
| Authors: | Ramiro S. Barbosa and Isabel S. Jesus |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes two novel fuzzy fractional PID structures. The tuning of the fuzzy fractional controllers is based on the prior knowledge of fractional-order control tuning rules. The digital implementation of these controllers is also investigated. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed tuning methodology is illustrated through its application on a fractional-order plant. The simulations results show that the control system performance is better than that of conventional fractional PID control. |
| Paper Nr: | 221 |
| Title: | Tuning of Fuzzy Fractional PDb + I Controllers by Genetic Algorithm |
| Authors: | Isabel S. Jesus and Ramiro S. Barbosa |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 227 |
| Title: | SmaCCS: Smart Camera Cloud Services - Towards an Intelligent Cloud-based Surveillance System |
| Authors: | Sven Tomforde, Uwe Jänen, Jörg Hähner and Martin Hoffmann |
| Abstract: | Today, high performance and feature rich surveillance systems are very costly as they require an expensive set of infrastructure components. As a consequence, such systems including, e.g., complex automatic video content analysis, are restricted to large scale applications, such as airports or train stations. In smaller settings, e.g. in shop surveillance, mostly low-cost display or record-only systems are in use. In this position paper we propose to combine two well-known approaches in order to make Intelligent Video Surveillance applicable and affordable in small to medium-scale scenarios. The proposal includes to combine the concept of Smart Cameras, i.e. cameras equipped with local processing resources, with the ideas of Cloud Computing, i.e. the on-demand provisioning of computing and storage services for complex calculations, and the management of large amounts of data, i.e. video storage. The former allows for the cost effective pre-processing of video data close to the sensor, while using the latter concept does not require large initial investments into expensive infrastructure components such as powerful compute servers. The paper presents research issues of the necessary system design, including precise system goal and system model aspects. Based on this, we discuss several research issues required to be addressed for solving the overall goals. |
| Paper Nr: | 233 |
| Title: | In Need of Methods to Solve Imprecisely Posed Problems |
| Authors: | Andreas Geiger, Andreas Kroll and Hanns J. Sommer |
| Abstract: | Problem solving and problem understanding are interwoven. Often at the beginning of a project, engineers’ knowledge is insufficient with regard to the posed problems. The correct specification of a task may depend on its solution, which is why the conventional sequence of specification and solution cannot be maintained. Methods are needed to deal with ’imprecisely posed problems’, by which the solution process will be adapted to the essential problem structures only. We present procedures to detect these essential structures and to acquire problem solving skills from the solution process itself. |
| Paper Nr: | 239 |
| Title: | An Architecture of a Multi-Agent System for SCADA - Dealing With Uncertainty, Plans and Actions |
| Authors: | Sarah Calderwood, Weiru Liu, Jun Hong and Michael Loughlin |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a multi-agent system approach to address the difficulties encountered in traditional SCADA systems deployed in critical environments such as electrical power generation, transmission and distribution. The approach models uncertainty and combines multiple sources of uncertain information to deliver robust plan selection. We examine the approach in the context of a simplified power supply/demand scenario using a residential grid connected solar system and consider the challenges of modelling and reasoning with uncertain sensor information in this environment. We discuss examples of plans and actions required for sensing, establish and discuss the effect of uncertainty on such systems and investigate different uncertainty theories and how they can fuse uncertain information from multiple sources for effective decision making in such a complex system. |
| Paper Nr: | 240 |
| Title: | Optimized Eigenstructure Assignment |
| Authors: | Ngoc Minh Dao, Dominikus Noll and Pierre Apkarian |
| Abstract: | . |
Area 2 - Robotics and Automation
Full Papers| Paper Nr: | 32 |
| Title: | Nonlinear Modeling and Parameter Identification of Dynamic Friction Model in Tendon Sheath for Flexible Endoscopic Systems |
| Authors: | T. N. Do, T. Tjahjowidodo, M. W. S. Lau and S. J. Phee |
| Abstract: | Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) has established a revolution in surgical communities, with its many advantages over open surgery. The need of more simplicity and high maneuverability makes the tendon sheath a very suitable mechanism in flexible endoscopic systems. Due to the restriction on size constraints and sterilization problems, traditional sensors cannot be mounted on the tool tips of a slave manipulator. Moreover, in the presence of nonlinear friction and hysteresis between the tendon and the sheath, it is extremely difficult to control the precise motion and sense the force during the operation. This paper proposes a new dynamic friction model to estimate the force at the end effector for the tendon sheath mechanism. The proposed friction model can adapt with any initial pretension of the tendon and any configuration of the sheath. The nonlinearities in both sliding and presliding regimes can be captured by using an internal state variable and functions dependent velocity and acceleration. A specific setup has been designed in order to measure the friction force between the tendon and the sheath. Finally, the validity of the identified model is confirmed by a good agreement of its prediction and experimental data. |
| Paper Nr: | 34 |
| Title: | Sliding Mode Slip Suppression Control of Electric Vehicles |
| Authors: | Shaobo Li and Tohru Kawabe |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a new SMC (sliding mode control) method for the slip suppression control of EVs (electric vehicles) is proposed. The proposed method aims to improve the maneuverability, the stability and the low energy consumption of EVs by controlling the wheel slip ratio. The proposed method is the extended SMC method adding the integral term to improve the control performance. There also include numerical simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. |
| Paper Nr: | 53 |
| Title: | A Reactive Trajectory Controller for Object Manipulation in Human Robot Interaction |
| Authors: | Wuwei He, Daniel Sidobre and Ran Zhao |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a reactive trajectory controller for manipulating objects in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) context. The trajectories to be followed by the robot are provided by a human aware motion planner. The controller is based on an online trajectory generator, which is capable of calculating a trajectory from an arbitrary initial condition to a target within one control cycle. The controller is capable of switching to a new trajectory each time the motion planner provides a new trajectory, changing the frame in which the input trajectory is controlled and tracking a target or a trajectory in a frame, which moves with respect to the robot frame. The controller chooses different control modes for different situations. Visual servoing by trajectory generation is considered as one case of the control situations. Some results obtained with this controller are presented to illustrate the potential of the approach. |
| Paper Nr: | 54 |
| Title: | A Strategy for Dynamic Controller Emulation in Packet-based Networked Control |
| Authors: | S. Falasca, M. Gamba and A. Bicchi |
| Abstract: | The problem of the stabilisation of a nonlinear system via output-feedback dynamic control is addressed, under the assumption that every communication between the plant and the controller is subject to network-induced constraints. These constraints include variable transfer intervals; time varying, large communication delays; non-simultaneous access to the network. A control technique that copes with these constraints is presented which is based on recent results addressing the problem of static state-feedback. The stability of the resulting nonlinear networked control system is assessed. Network-in-the-loop experiment results are presented, which confirm that the proposed method is effective. |
| Paper Nr: | 92 |
| Title: | Creating Metric-topological Maps for Large-scale Monocular SLAM |
| Authors: | Eduardo Fernández-Moral, Javier Gonzalez-Jimenez and Vicente Arévalo |
| Abstract: | In the last very few years, monocular SLAM approaches based on bundle adjustment are achieving amazing results in terms of accuracy, computational efficiency, and density of the map. When such solutions are applied on large scenarios it is crucial for the system scalability to maintain a map representation that permits efficient map optimization and augmentation. In order to cope with such large maps, we present an on-the-fly partitioning technique which allows abstraction from the metric map to operate more efficiently. The result is a metric-topological arrangement where the areas with highly-connected observations are grouped in submaps weakly interconnected to each other. This is accomplished by progressively cutting a graph representation of the map, where the nodes are keyframes and the arcs between them represent their shared observations. The experimental results indicate that the proposed approach improves the efficiency of monocular SLAM and provides a metric-topological world representation suitable for other robotic tasks. |
| Paper Nr: | 95 |
| Title: | Path Following Control of Rhombic Like Vehicles - Performance Assessment with Dynamic Vehicle Model |
| Authors: | Nuno Silva, Alberto Vale and Luca Baglivo |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the path following problem of a wheeled mobile robot with rhombic like kinematics (drivable and steerable wheels both at front and rear) operating in cluttered environments. Four path following controllers are developed to steer the kinematic model of a rhombic like vehicle (RLV) along a desired path: three are based on feedback laws derived at a kinematic level with geometrical inspiration; the fourth is a nonlinear controller built upon a kinematic model of a RLV using Lyapunov functions. All the developed controllers are capable of performing under two situations: when both wheels follow the same path, or when each wheel follows a different path. The dynamic modelling of a RLV is lastly introduced. Simulated results present a comparative performance assessment of the controllers while dealing, or not, with vehicle dynamics. The main conclusions of these controllers are summarized, leading to a possible application in the actual vehicles that will operate in the remote handling missions of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). |
| Paper Nr: | 97 |
| Title: | Novel Virtual Training System to Learn the Sway Suppression of Rotary Crane by Presenting Ideal Operation of Joystick or Visual Information |
| Authors: | Tsuyoshi Sasaki, Shoma Fushimi, Yong Jian Nyioh and Kazuhiko Terashima |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we propose a novel virtual training system capable of shortening the training period of unskilled crane operators. First, a simulator representing the motion behavior of load and boom during transfer operation in crane’s cockpit is newly built. Second, referring to such the sway suppression skill taught in crane driving school, sway suppression control input is theoretically derived. Thirdly, a learning support method with ideal operation of joystick or visual sensory information to facilitate acquisition of the sway-suppression skill for unskilled operators is proposed. Finally, a lot of experiments were performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed learning support method. |
| Paper Nr: | 100 |
| Title: | Some Aspects of Autonomous Robot Navigation with Unscented HybridSLAM |
| Authors: | Amir Monjazeb, Jurek Z. Sasiadek and Dan Necsulescu |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the linearization process of an autonomous mobile robot utilizing the second order Sterling polynomial interpolation specifically used for Unscented HybridSLAM algorithm. It describes the implementation of the linearization method to estimate the posterior mean and covariance of the system. The major interest is to apply linearized equations for a simultaneous localization and mapping case in a non-domestic environment with a random distribution of landmarks. Using computer simulations, Unscented HybridSLAM and the associated theoretical interpolation is examined for a double-loop scenario and the efficacy of the Unscented HybridSLAM is validated. |
| Paper Nr: | 161 |
| Title: | Human Motion Recognition from 3D Pose Information - Trisarea: A New Pose-based Feature |
| Authors: | M. Vinagre, J. Aranda and A. Casals |
| Abstract: | The use of pose-based features has demonstrated to be a promising approach for human motion recognition. Encouraged by the results achieved, a new relational pose-based feature, Trisarea, based on geometric relationship between human joints, is proposed and analysed. This feature is defined as the area of the triangle formed by connecting three joints. The paper shows how the variation of a selected set of Trisarea features over time constitutes a descriptor of human motion. It also demonstrates how this motion descriptor based on Trisarea features can provide useful information in terms of human motion for its application to action recognition tasks. |
| Paper Nr: | 172 |
| Title: | Wall Estimation from Stereo Vision in Urban Street Canyons |
| Authors: | Tobias Schwarze and Martin Lauer |
| Abstract: | Geometric context has been recognised as important high-level knowledge towards the goal of scene understanding. In this work we present two approaches to estimate the local geometric structure of urban street canyons captured from a head-mounted stereo camera. A dense disparity estimation is the only input for both approaches. First, we show how the left and right building facade can be obtained by planar segmentation based on random sampling. In a second approach we transform the disparity into an elevation map from which we extract the main building orientation. We evaluate both approaches on a set of challenging inner city scenes and demonstrate how visual odometry can be incorporated to keep track of the estimated geometry. |
Short Papers
| Paper Nr: | 3 |
| Title: | Autonomous Wheelchair for Patients with Severe Motor Disabilities |
| Authors: | Alfredo Chávez, Hector Caltenco, Kim Dremstrup and Alvaro Fuentes Cabrera |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 20 |
| Title: | Dealing with Standard and Reverse Motion of Multi-legged Robots Joints |
| Authors: | Alan Llantada, Arthur Tórgo Gomez and Marta Becker Villamil |
| Abstract: | Modelling of articulated figures such as simple hierarchical relationships are suitable for most cases of animation. Typically, for the representation of human and animal figures, a tree topology is sufficient. But complex high-dimensional articulated structures with many end-effectors and the movement that can be generated in any joint in any direction, are extremely complex to model. Multi-legged robots made to attend applications which needs the extreme versatility to climb or move into places of very difficult access are more efficient if its joints can perform motion at standard and reverse direction, its segments can be moved by more than one joint and any of its joints can be the root of the motion chain. This article presents an approach to deal with these gaps in modeling the motion topology of legged-robots based on rotation of joints references frames. We also present an aplication of an hybrid algorithm based on Genetic Algorithm and Tabu Search to find a good quality solution to the robot motion sequences. |
| Paper Nr: | 56 |
| Title: | Mobile Robot Localization based on a Set Approach using Heterogeneous Measurements |
| Authors: | Etienne Colle, Simon Galerne and Maxime Jubert |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 72 |
| Title: | Design of Non-linear Controller for a Flexible Rotatory Beam using State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) Control |
| Authors: | Pierre Bigot and Luiz C. G. de Souza |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 91 |
| Title: | Online Dynamic Smooth Path Planning for an Articulated Vehicle |
| Authors: | Thaker Nayl, George Nikolakopoulos and Thomas Gustafsson |
| Abstract: | This article proposes a novel online dynamic smooth path planning scheme based on a bug like modified path planning algorithm for an articulated vehicle under limited and sensory reconstructed surrounding static environment. In the general case, collision avoidance techniques can be performed by altering the articulated steering angle to drive the front and rear parts of the articulated vehicle away from the obstacles. In the presented approach factors such as the real dynamics of the articulated vehicle, the initial and the goal configuration (displacement and orientation), minimum and total travel distance between the current and the goal points, and the geometry of the operational space are taken under consideration to calculate the update on the future way points for the articulated vehicle. In the sequel the produced path planning is being online and iteratively smoothen by the utilization of Bezier lines before producing the necessary rate of change for the vehicle’s articulated angle. The efficiency of the proposed scheme is being evaluated by multiple simulation studies. |
| Paper Nr: | 96 |
| Title: | 3D Realtime Simulation Framework for a Wall-climbing Robot using Negative-pressure Adhesion |
| Authors: | Daniel Schmidt, Jens Wettach and Karsten Berns |
| Abstract: | Simulation frameworks are wide-spread in the range of robotics to test algorithms and analyze system behavior beforehand – which tremendously reduces effort and time needed for conducting experiments on the real machines. This paper addresses a component based framework for simulating a wall-climbing robot that uses negative pressure adhesion in combination with an omnidirectional drive system. Key aspect is the adhesion system which interacts with the environmental features such as surface characteristics (e. g. roughness) or defects. An elaborate thermodynamic model provides the basis for a realistic simulation of the airflow between the virtual environment and the vacuum chambers of the robot. These features facilitate the validation of closed-loop controllers and control algorithms offline and in realtime. |
| Paper Nr: | 104 |
| Title: | Efficient 3D Control for Needle Steering using Duty-cycled Rotation |
| Authors: | Xiao Li, Craig A. Lehocky and Cameron N. Riviere |
| Abstract: | Bevel-tipped flexible needles can be steered to reach clinical targets along curvilinear paths in 3D while avoiding obstacles. Steering by duty-cycled rotation increases the versatility of this approach by providing proportional control of trajectory curvature. This paper presents computationally efficient techniques for path planning and path-following control for this application, using a 3D simulated brain environment. Path planning algorithms for this class of steerable needles have been developed using Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRTs). This paper expands on these methods, using quaternions for representation of rotation, and enhancing computational efficiency through use of interpolation, and by relaxing the entry constraint. For path-following, a look-ahead proportional controller for position and orientation is presented. Simulations in a 3D brain-like environment demonstrate the performance of the proposed planner and path-following controller. The look-ahead is seen to improve path-following performance. |
| Paper Nr: | 111 |
| Title: | Gait Optimization of a Rolling Knee Biped at Low Walking Speeds |
| Authors: | Mathieu Hobon, Nafissa Lakbakbi Elyaaqoubi and Gabriel Abba |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses an optimization problem of trajectories for a biped robot with a new modelled structure of knees which is called rolling knee (RK). The first part of article is to present the new kinematic knee on a biped robot and the different models used to know the dynamic of the robot during a walking step. The gait is cyclic and simplified by a Single Support Phase (SSP) followed by an impact. The second part is a comparison of the influence of the gait trajectory on the control, using cubic spline functions as well as the {\it B\'ezier} functions. The energetic criterion is minimized through optimization while using the simplex algorithm and the Lagrange penalty functions to meet the constraints of stability and deflection of mobile foot. The main result is the using of Bézier functions permit to improve the energy gain in slow walking speeds. These trajectories permit to the biped robot to walk progressively without energy disturbance unlike those with cubic spline functions. |
| Paper Nr: | 114 |
| Title: | Asynchronous Flooding Planner for Multi-Robot Navigation |
| Authors: | Bernd Brüeggemann, Michael Brunner and Dirk Schulz |
| Abstract: | Within the topic of coordinated navigation of multi-robot systems (MRS) the problem may occur that there is a difference between where the robots are able to move to and where they are allowed to move. To deal with such constraints we propose a roadmap approach where those two different kinds of information are merged. So we encounter the problem of connecting several target positions with valid paths in a graph structure. Therefore, an asynchronous, parallel search algorithm is developed to find a passable and allowed way to the target positions. In addition to static planning we show that our search algorithm is able to deal with dynamic graphs and, to some extend, unknown environments. |
| Paper Nr: | 120 |
| Title: | A System Design for Teleoperated Road Vehicles |
| Authors: | Sebastian Gnatzig, Frederic Chucholowski, Tito Tang and Markus Lienkamp |
| Abstract: | The possibility to provision road vehicles unmanned and on demand will have an important influence on the development of new mobility concepts. We therefore present the teleoperated driving of road vehicles. This paper outlines the basic concepts, including a static multi-camera design, an operator interface with a sensor fusion based display, and a cellular network based video transmission and communication architecture. We also show how we manage to fulfill the system’s technical requirements with our hard- and software design and point out the occurring problems due to communication limitations and lack of situation awareness. Finally, we propose solutions to guarantee driving safety. |
| Paper Nr: | 122 |
| Title: | Observer-based Robust Fault Diagnosis - Logic-dinamic Approach |
| Authors: | Alexey N. Zhirabok, Alexey Ye Shumsky and Alexey Yu Suvorov |
| Abstract: | The problem of robust fault detection and isolation in robotic and mechatronic systems described by nonlinear models with non-smooth nonlinearities is considered. So-called logic-dynamic approach to construct the diagnostic observer with non-smooth nonlinearities by linear methods is considered. The method which allows obtaining full set of solutions with minimal sensitivity to the disturbance is suggested. This set of solutions can be used to choose the optimal solution with maximal sensitivity to the faults. |
| Paper Nr: | 134 |
| Title: | A Driving Assistance System for a Manual Wheelchair using Servo Brakes |
| Authors: | Daisuke Chugo, Tatsuya Higuchi, Yuki Sakaida, Sho Yokota and Hiroshi Hashimoto |
| Abstract: | We propose a novel intelligent wheelchair based on the passive robotics. Our proposed assistive wheelchair consists of a frame, casters, wheels and servo brakes. Our wheelchair system estimates the trajectory its user wants using the characteristic of the row motion and realizes the estimated tracks by controlling a torque of its servo brake. Our system requires no actuators, and its mechanism is simple and low cost. There is no risk by malfunction of servomotors and patients can use it intuitively because they use our wheelchair passively with their own intentional force. Our key ideas are two topics. One is the development of a passive-type assistive wheelchair which is suitable for practical use. The other key topic is a novel driving assistance algorithm with estimation of its user’s intention. For realizing this estimation, we use a minimum jerk trajectory model, which expresses a typical human movement. Our proposed system compares a beginning part of row motion by the user and this trajectory model, and estimates a whole row motion which will be operated. Using our proposed system, the user can drive our wheelchair with a natural feeling. We test our proposed assistance system by the experiments with our prototype and verify its effectiveness. |
| Paper Nr: | 140 |
| Title: | SafeNet of Unsafe Devices - Extending the Robot Safety in Collaborative Workspaces |
| Authors: | Federico Vicentini, Nicola Pedrocchi and Lorenzo Molinari Tosatti |
| Abstract: | Collaborative workspaces represent the benchmark scenario of contemporary and future industrial robotics, where hybrid production systems and multimodal interactions among human operators and robots in cooperative tasks can foster the flexibility of robotic systems. Physical interactions together with dynamic workspacesharing represent some reference applications in ISO 10218-2, where restrictive conditions for safety are posed at system level, eventually limiting the robot execution speed. With the aim of extending the use of industrial robots in shared environments and allowing the use of generically unsafe sensory and computational components for advanced applications, a methodology called SafeNet is presented. It considers the system as a device at large and applies the concept of functional safety (ISO 13489-1) with a set of architectural procedures and implementations. The safety aspects of structure, reliability and monitoring are addressed by a redundant system of computational nodes distributed over a network. SafeNet systems can be upgraded to candidate for safe Performance Levels. |
| Paper Nr: | 141 |
| Title: | Approximation to Quadrotor Control based on Simplified Dynamic Models to Reduce Computacional Cost |
| Authors: | L. Solaque, C. Riaño and A. Velasco |
| Abstract: | In this work, the complete dynamicmodeling of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is obtained; then, a simplification of the model is derived. Sliding mode technique and Feedback linearization technique are used to design controllers for the quadrotor. With each technique, two controllers are designed: one based on the complete model and the other based on the simplified model. A simplified model based controller is required to reduce the computational cost due to the control action, on board. The controllers’ performance is tested in simulation, and the viability of implementing the controllers on the aircraft is studied. Clear conclusions show that it is possible to use the simplified model to design the controllers with a good performance if compared to the complete model based controllers. Moreover, the behavior of the system, observed when applying the simplified model based control actions is alike for each control technique. Differences are shown in the uncertainties’ rejection. |
| Paper Nr: | 169 |
| Title: | RTCAN - A Real-time CAN-bus Protocol for Robotic Applications |
| Authors: | Martino Migliavacca, Andrea Bonarini and Matteo Matteucci |
| Abstract: | Robots are distributed systems where different devices perform specific tasks and need to exchange data to run the overall system. In this paper, the communication requirements of robotic systems are summarized, highlighting which characteristics are relevant to the different tasks and showing the limits of the present communication protocols. Then, RTCAN is presented: a new real-time CAN-Bus protocol for robotic applications, which aims at combining the advantages of different approaches to communication scheduling. RTCAN takes into account time-triggered communication derived from control loops, guaranteeing temporal determinism, as well as event-triggered communication by sensors, which are transmitted with low latency. An implementation of the protocol is available as open-source software library, which can easily be ported to new platforms. Finally, results from benchmarks performed on actual hardware are reported, showing the ability of RTCAN in handling heterogeneous communications. |
| Paper Nr: | 175 |
| Title: | The Underwater Simulator UWSim - Benchmarking Capabilities on Autonomous Grasping |
| Authors: | Javier Pérez, Jorge Sales, Mario Prats, José V. Martí, David Fornas, Raúl Marín and Pedro J. Sanz |
| Abstract: | Benchmarking is nowadays an issue on robotic research platforms, due to the fact that it is not easy to reproduce previous experiments and to know in detail in which real conditions other algorithms have been applied. In the context of Underwater interventions with semi-autonomous robots the situation gets even more interesting. Experiments performed by other researchers normally do not include the whole set of real conditions such as visibility or even water currents data that would allow the best scientific procedure. Underwater interventions and specially those performed on real sea scenarios are expensive, difficult to perform and reproduce. For this particular scenario, the use of an open platform simulation tool, with benchmarking capabilities can provide an enormous help, as will be shown in the present paper. The Underwater Simulator UWSIM (https://www.irs.uji.es/uwsim) has been shown to be a very useful tool for simulation, integration and benchmarking, during the experiments performed in the context of the FP7 TRIDENT Project. In particular, in this paper the use of the benchmarking capabilities of the UWSim platform for grasping autonomously an object (airplane black box) from the sea floor in different water visibility and current conditions will be shown. |
| Paper Nr: | 177 |
| Title: | Distributed Localization and Scene Reconstruction from RGB-D Data |
| Authors: | Sergio Ayuso, Carlos Sagüés and Rosario Aragüés |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a method to make every robot of a team to compute a global 3D map of the scenarios explored by all the members, obtaining also the trajectories of the team. Every robot has a RGB-D device on board which gives RGB and depth data simultaneously and uses this information to build its own local map in real time. Once all robots have formed their local maps, they start a communication process to transform all maps to a common reference and merge them. The interest of this work is related to the establishment of the global reference and the management of the local point clouds to get correspondences between local maps which make possible to obtain the best possible transformation from the reference of every robot to the global reference. |
| Paper Nr: | 191 |
| Title: | A Mixed Map Representation Approach for Mobile Robot Localization Planning |
| Authors: | Paulo Pinheiro and Jacques Wainer |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 202 |
| Title: | Minimizing the Inter-vehicle Distances of the Time Headway Policy for Platoon Control on Highways |
| Authors: | Alan Ali, Gaetan Garcia and Philippe Martinet |
| Abstract: | Heavy traffic on highways requires the optimization of inter-distances between vehicles in order to reach time performance and to provide safety solution in transport. Variable spacing and constant spacing are the two policies for the longitudinal control of platoon. Variable spacing doesn’t require a lot of data (position, speed...) from other vehicles, and string stability using only on-board information is obtained. However, intervehicle distances are very large, and hence traffic density is low. Constant spacing can offer string stability with high traffic density, but it requires at least data from the leader. In this paper, a novel expression of the variable spacing policy has been proposed. It is effective to decrease the distance between the cars, to become nearly equal to the constant spacing policy. It also enables increasing the string stability and the robustness of the control regarding to unmodeled lags, and it can avoid control torque saturation. This novel approach doesn’t require heavy communication between the cars. The new control law has been evaluated by simulation with perfect system using Matlab, and with imperfect system using TORCS. The good results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the novel approach. |
| Paper Nr: | 214 |
| Title: | Towards a Multi-Agent Platform for Cyber-physical Systems based on Low-power Microcontroller for Automated Intralogistics - A Minimized Embedded Solution for the Internet of Things in Intralogistical Environments |
| Authors: | Arne Stasch and Axel Hahn |
| Abstract: | Today the fluctuating market requires more flexibility from central controlled material flow systems. A new approach such as the Internet of Things is able to turn the common structure into a cognitive decentralized system. This paper addresses a modularized solution for material flow systems in intralogistical environment. The promising concept of Internet of Things leads to an idea of a cyber-physical system with a Multi-agent platform which is presented in this paper. In order to develop a system which is capable of meeting industrial needs, a low-power microcontroller is chosen as basis for the Multi-agent system. The combination has advantages but also restrictions which are discussed. A demonstrator for the future implementation of the system and evaluation is introduced. |
| Paper Nr: | 232 |
| Title: | Observation-based Assistance by Mobile Robot for Object Handling of its Partner Robot |
| Authors: | Toyomi Fujita and Tetsuya Endo |
| Abstract: | The authors consider a situation in which a working robot can not detect a target object to handle due to a sensor occlusion. If another cooperative robot that has a camera observes the working robot with the target object and detects their positions and orientations, it will be possible for the working robot to complete the handling task. This study proposes a method for such an indirect cooperation with assistance based on an observation by the partner robot. The observing robot obtains corresponding points of SIFT(Scale-Invariant Feature Transformation) on the working robot with hand and the target object from multiple captured images. The 3-D position of the target object and hand motion of the working robot can be detected by applying stereo vision theory to the points. The working robot is then able to get the relation between its hand and the target object indirectly from the observing robot. This paper describes each process to establish the indirect cooperation. Fundamental experiments confirmed the validity of presented method. |
| Paper Nr: | 247 |
| Title: | Increasing Weightlifting Ability of Robotic Manipulators |
| Authors: | Sergy Stepura and Joshua Dayan |
| Abstract: | In this position paper we concentrate on one aspect of the robot tasks, its ability to pick up and move heavy loads, far beyond the manufacturer instructions. Such expansions may apply to other tasks, as well. Three approaches to improve manipulators weightlifting ability are suggested: mimicking the Olympic weightlifter’s strategy; weightlifting along the minimal energy trajectory and overloading manipulator's motors. The analytical analysis has been worked out on a simple pendulum. Three optimization methods were compared: calculus of variation, Genetic algorithm, Line-search. Then, the results were demonstrated on a model of the Mitsubishi RV-M2 manipulator. Combination of motor overloading with minimal energy trajectory yielded increase of weightlifting capability 10 times higher than the manufacturer specs. |
Posters
| Paper Nr: | 17 |
| Title: | Thermal and 3D Kinect Sensor Fusion for Robust People Detection using Evolutionary Selection of Supervised Classifiers |
| Authors: | Loreto Susperregi, Ekaitz Jauregi, Basilio Sierra, José María Martínez-Otzeta, Elena Lazkano and Ander Ansuategi |
| Abstract: | In this paper we propose a novel approach for combining information from low cost multiple sensors for people detection on a mobile robot. Robustly detecting people is a key capability needed for robots that operate inpopulated environments. Several works show the advantages of fusing data coming from complementary sensors. Kinect sensor offers a rich data set at a significantly low cost, however, there are some limitations using it in a mobile platform, mainly that Kinect relies on images captured by a static camera. To cope with these limitations, this work is based on the fusion of Kinect and thermopile array sensor mounted on top of a mobile platform. We propose the implementation of evolutionary selection of people detection supervised classifiers built using several computer vision transformation. Experimental results carried out with a mobile platform in a manufacturing shop floor show that the percentage of wrong classified using only Kinect is drastically reduced with the classification algorithms and with the combination of the three information sources. |
| Paper Nr: | 19 |
| Title: | Analytical Forward Kinematics to the 3 DOF Congruent Spherical Parallel Robot Manipulator |
| Authors: | Ping Ji and Hongtao Wu |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the kinematics of a special three degree-of-freedom (3 DOF) spherical parallel robot manipulator, where the two pyramids are exactly the same and so it is commonly called the 3 DOF congruent spherical parallel platform. Due to this special structure, the movement of the mobile pyramid can be regarded as the rotation of a rigid body from its base posture to its current status. By use of this special property, the forward kinematics of the parallel robot manipulator is obtained in this paper, and the final solution is a univariate quartic equation, which can be solved analytically without numerical iterations. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the method. |
| Paper Nr: | 51 |
| Title: | Dynamic Characteristics Control of 2-DOF Manipulator with Artificial Muscles and Differential Gear using Disturbance Observer |
| Authors: | T. Watanabe, D. Kamo, D. Tanaka, T. Nakamura and H. Osumi |
| Abstract: | Recently, the demand for robots that operate in the fields of nursing and human life have increased due to the aging population and falling birthrates. Since these robots are intended to operate near humans, it is necessary they should have increased safety measures. Moreover, since it is desired that these robots use actuators that are light and soft, in several cases artificial muscles have been used as actuators. However, the Mckibben-type artificial muscles that are most commonly used have several drawbacks. Therefore, we developed a straight-fiber-type artificial muscle that was utilized to construct a two degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) manipulator. Because the manipulator is equipped with a differential gear mechanism, it is capable of performing 2-DOF bending and torsion motions using only one mechanism. However, the rotation speed of gears respectively differs in this mechanism, so the interference occurs in unintended directions because the speed of contraction and extension of the artificial muscle respectively differs. To address this problem, we introduce the disturbance observer (DOB) in the control system. Finally, we show that using our proposed DOB control method results in less interference in the 2-DOF manipulator than when using the proportional integral (PI) control method. |
| Paper Nr: | 70 |
| Title: | Multi-Agent Systems for Evasive Maneuvers of Mobile Robots through Agreements |
| Authors: | Ángel Soriano, Enrique J. Bernabeu, Ángel Valera and Marina Vallés |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new methodical approach to the problem of collision avoidance of mobile robots taking advantages of multi-agents systems to deliver solutions that benefit the whole system. The approach proposed is based-on the information interchange among the involved agents. The implemented method has the next phases: collision detection, obstacle identification, negotiation, agreement, and collision avoidance. In addition of simulations with virtual robots, in order to validate the proposed algorithm, an implementation with real mobile robots has been developed. The robots are based on Lego NXT, and they are equipped with a ring of proximity sensors for the collisions detections. The platform for the implementation and management of the multi-agent system is JADE. |
| Paper Nr: | 77 |
| Title: | Path Planning Optimization based on Bézier Curves through Open-doors Way Point |
| Authors: | Simon Landrault, Philippe Lucidarme and Nicolas Delanoue |
| Abstract: | Generalized Voronoï Diagrams has been demonstrated to be a relevant tool for planification in a mobile robotics context. Therefore, the generated trajectories may suffer of discontinuities and non-optimality. This paper introduces a reflexion on the use of Bézier curves to solve both of this drawbacks. The key idea of this paper it is to be able to smooth a trajectory in order to save traveling time and therefore limits displacement and overall consumption (in our mobile robotics context, reduction of battery usage and localization errors). The presented work is firstly detailed and explained on a synthetic map, and experimental results with mobile robots are presented. Disadvantages and advantages are discussed at the end of the paper. |
| Paper Nr: | 82 |
| Title: | A Bayesian Approach to FDD Combining Two Different Bayesian Networks Modeling a Data-Driven Method and a Model-based Method |
| Authors: | Mohamed Amine Atoui, Sylvain Verron and Abdessamad Kobi |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present an original FDD method. The interest of this method is her ability to coexist residuals and measures, under a same and a single tool. Indeed, our proposal is to combine two different Bayesian networks to FDD. A model-based method is associated to a data-driven method to enhance decision making on the system operating state. This method is evaluated on a simulation of a water heater system in some various circumstances. |
| Paper Nr: | 85 |
| Title: | Isotropy Analysis of Optical Mouse Array for Mobile Robot Velocity Estimation |
| Authors: | Sungbok Kim |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the isotropic analysis of an optical mouse array for the velocity estimation of a mobile robot. It is assumed that there can be positional restriction on the installation of optical mice at the bottom of a mobile robot. First, the velocity kinematics of a mobile robot with an array of optical mice is obtained, and the resulting Jacobian matrix is analyzed symbolically. Second, the isotropic, anisotropic, and singular optical mouse placements are identified, along with the corresponding characteristic lengths. Third, the least squares mobile robot velocity estimation from the noisy optical mouse velocity measurements is discussed. Finally, simulation results for the isotropic placement of three optical mice are given. |
| Paper Nr: | 109 |
| Title: | Diver-based Control of a Tethered Unmanned Underwater Vehicle |
| Authors: | Andrew Speers and Michael Jenkin |
| Abstract: | Human-robot communication with an underwater vehicle is a complex problem. Standard wireless communication protocols are unavailable, and the lack of direct supervision from surface-based operators reduces situational awareness and operational efficiencies. Here we describe recent research results with tethered operation of autonomous vehicles at depth by diving operators. We review different operational designs and describe a novel system based on exploiting advances in lightweight computational platforms (tablet devices) as the basis of the operator control console. Recent field experiments are also described. |
| Paper Nr: | 112 |
| Title: | Three Dimensional Localisation in Underwater Swarms through a Kalman Approach |
| Authors: | Fabio Fratichini, Stefano Chiesa and Sergio Taraglio |
| Abstract: | A three dimensional localisation algorithm for a swarm of underwater vehicles is presented. The proposed approach is grounded on an extended Kalman filter (EKF) scheme used to fuse some proprioceptive data such as the vessel’s speed and some esteroceptive measurement such as the time of flight (TOF) sonar distance of the companion vessels. The results of several simulations are presented. Some considerations about the available underwater bandwidth and the communication needed by the approach are discussed. |
| Paper Nr: | 127 |
| Title: | Speed Control of Drive Unit in Four-rotor Flying Robot |
| Authors: | Stanisław Gardecki, Wojciech Giernacki and Jaroslaw Goslinski |
| Abstract: | In this paper the synthesis of speed controller for drive unit is presented. Its aim is to generate the lift force of multi-rotor flying robot. Parameters of drive unit model were experimentally determined based on recorded time characteristics from engine test stand. The use of two alternative controllers: CDM and PID types was proposed. The CDM controller was tuned in accordance with the Coefficient Diagram Method and the PID controller in MATLAB’s Simulink Response Optimization tool. The efficiency of both types control systems was compared for specified conditions. Integral quality indices were adopted as a measure of assessment. Obtained simulation results were discussed in the context of implementation on a real robot. |
| Paper Nr: | 128 |
| Title: | Identification of Orientation Dynamics of Miniature Helicopter in Hover Mode |
| Authors: | Damian Vigouroux, Fares Beainy and Sesh Commuri |
| Abstract: | Reliable operation of helicopters in hover mode is essential for carrying out missions of surveillance, reconnaissance, and deployment of communication networks in disaster hit areas, among many others. Achieving autonomous operation in hover mode requires the development of robust model-based controllers. In this paper, the use of linear and nonlinear models to identify the orientation dynamics of a small scale helicopter is addressed. A linear architecture that combines the input-output dynamics and perturbation-output dynamics is introduced in this paper. In contrast to the linear models that have been reported in the literature, no assumptions about decoupled roll-pitch-yaw axes are made in the proposed approach. The nonlinear model of orientation dynamics is identified using artificial recurrent neural networks. Verification of these models is performed using actual data collected during the flight of the helicopter. The results show that incorporating the perturbation dynamics in the model can result in a description that can accurately predict the dynamics during actual flight conditions. |
| Paper Nr: | 138 |
| Title: | Singular and Non-singular Path Following Control of a Wheeled Mobile Robot of (2,0) Type |
| Authors: | Joanna Plaskonka |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 144 |
| Title: | Deep Level Situation Understanding and its Application to Casual Communication between Robots and Humans |
| Authors: | Yongkang Tang, Fangyan Dong, Mina Yuhki, Yoichi Yamazaki, Takanori Shibata and Kaoru Hirota |
| Abstract: | The concept of Deep Level Situation Understanding is proposed to realize human-like natural communication among agents (e.g., humans and robots/machines), where it consists of surface level understanding (such as gesture/posture recognition, facial expression recognition, and speech/voice recognition), emotion understanding, intention understanding, and atmosphere understanding by applying customised knowledge of each agent and by taking considerations to careful attentions. It aims to not impose burden on humans in human-machine communication, to realize harmonious communication by excluding unnecessary troubles or misunderstandings among agents, and finally to create a peaceful, happy, and prosperous humans-robots society. A scenario is established to demonstrate several communication activities between a businessman and a secretary-robot/a human-boss/a waitress-robot/a human-partner/a therapy-robot (PARO) in one day. |
| Paper Nr: | 145 |
| Title: | An Autonomous Mobile Inspection Robot for an Electric Power Sub-station |
| Authors: | Simon Thompson, Satoshi Kagami and Masafumi Okajima |
| Abstract: | In this work, we describe the development of an outdoor, autonomous mobile robot that performs inspections of various facilities within an electric power sub-station. A segway-based robot was developed that can perform autonomous navigation along a given set of waypoints and perform inspection tasks (taking photographs at set locations). A retractable leg system was developed to allow the robot to enter/exit self-balancing mode and achieve a stable rest position from which to perform inspection tasks. The robot platform, localisation and control systems, and the inspection process are described, and a real world experiment consisting of navigation over a 1km path with 5 inspection points is reported. All inspection tasks were completed to the satisfaction of plant operators. |
| Paper Nr: | 153 |
| Title: | Event-based Visual Servoing |
| Authors: | G. J. Garcia, J. Pomares, F. Torres and P. Gil |
| Abstract: | Traditional visual servoing systems have been widely studied in the last years. These systems control the position of the camera attached to the robot end-effector guiding it from any position to the desired one. These controllers can be improved by using the event-based control paradigm. The system proposed in this paper is based on the idea of activating the visual controller only when something significant has occurred in the system (e.g. when any visual feature can be loosen because it is going outside the frame). Different event triggers have been defined in the image space in order to activate or deactivate the visual controller. The tests implemented to validate the proposal have proved that this new scheme avoids visual features to go out of the image whereas the system complexity is reduced considerably. Events can be used in the future to change different parameters of the visual servoing systems. |
| Paper Nr: | 154 |
| Title: | Guidance of Robot Arms using Depth Data from RGB-D Camera |
| Authors: | G. J. Garcia, P. Gil, D. Llácer and F. Torres |
| Abstract: | Image Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) is a robotic control scheme based on vision. This scheme uses only the visual information obtained from a camera to guide a robot from any robot pose to a desired one. However, IBVS requires the estimation of different parameters that cannot be obtained directly from the image. These parameters range from the intrinsic camera parameters (which can be obtained from a previous camera calibration), to the measured distance on the optical axis between the camera and visual features, it is the depth. This paper presents a comparative study of the performance of D-IBVS estimating the depth from three different ways using a low cost RGB-D sensor like Kinect. The visual servoing system has been developed over ROS (Robot Operating System), which is a meta-operating system for robots. The experiments prove that the computation of the depth value for each visual feature improves the system performance. |
| Paper Nr: | 157 |
| Title: | Building and Exploiting Maps in a Telepresence Robotic Application |
| Authors: | Javier Gonzalez-Jimenez, Cipriano Galindo, Francisco Melendez-Fernandez and J. R. Ruiz-Sarmiento |
| Abstract: | Robotic telepresence is a promising tool for enhancing remote communications in a variety of applications. It enables a person to embody a robot and interact within a remote place in a direct and natural way. A particular scenario where robotic telepresence demonstrates its advantages is in elder telecare applications in which a caregiver regularly connects to the robots deployed at the apartments of the patients to check their health. Normally, in these cases, the caregiver may encounter additional problems in guiding the robot because s/he is not familiar with the houses. In this paper we describe a procedure to remotely create and to exploit different types of maps for facilitating the guidance of a telepresence robot. Our work has been implemented and successfully tested on the Giraff telepresence robot. |
| Paper Nr: | 159 |
| Title: | SLAM of View-based Maps using SGD |
| Authors: | David Valiente, Arturo Gil Aparicio, Francisco Amorós Espí and Oscar Reinoso |
| Abstract: | This work presents a solution for the problem of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) based on a Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) technique and using omnidirectional images. In the field of applications of mobile robotics, SGD has never been tested with visual information obtained from the environment. This paper suggests the introduction of a SGD algorithm into a SLAM scheme which exploits the benefits of omnidirectional images provided by a single camera. Several improvements have been introduced to the vanilla SGD in order to adapt it to the case of omnidirectional observations. This new SGD approach reduces the undesired harmful effects provoked by non-linearities which compromise the convergence of the traditional filter estimates. Particularly, we rely on an efficient map representation, conformed by a reduced set of image views. The first contribution is the adaption of the basic SGD algorithm to work with omnidirectional observations, whose nature is angular, and thus it lacks of scale. Former SGD approaches only process one constraint independently at each iteration step. Instead, we think of a strategy which employes several constraints simultaneously as system inputs, with the purpose of improving the convergence speed when estimating a SLAM solution. In this context, we present different sets of experiments which have been carried out seeking for validation of our new approach based on SGD with omnidirectional observations. In addition, we compare our approach with a basic SGD in order to prove the expected benefits in terms of efficiency. |
| Paper Nr: | 165 |
| Title: | A Developmental Approach to Concept Learning |
| Authors: | Liesl Wigand, Monica Nicolescu and Mircea Nicolescu |
| Abstract: | The ability to learn new concepts is essential for any robot to be successful in real-world applications. This is due to the fact that it is impractical for a robot designer to pre-endow it with all the concepts that it would encounter during its operational lifetime. In this context, it becomes necessary that the robot is able to acquire new concepts, in a real-world context, from cues provided in natural, unconstrained interactions, similar to a human-teaching approach. However, existing approaches on concept learning from visual images and abstract concept learning address this problem in a manner that makes them unsuitable for learning in an embodied, real-world environment. This paper presents a developmental approach to concept learning. The proposed system learns abstract, generic features of objects and associates words from sentences referring to those objects with the features, thus providing a grounding for the meaning of the words. The method thus allows the system to later identify such features in previously unseen images. The paper presents results obtained on data acquired with a Kinect camera and on synthetic images. |
| Paper Nr: | 168 |
| Title: | Evaluation of the Fusion of Visible and Thermal Image Data for People Detection with a Trained People Detector |
| Authors: | Achim Königs and Dirk Schulz |
| Abstract: | People detection surely is one of the hottest topics in Computer Vision. In this work we propose and evaluate the fusion of thermal images and images from the visible spectrum for the task of people detection. Our main goal is to reduce the false positive rate of the Implicit Shape Model (ISM) object detector, which is commonly used for people detection. We describe five possible methods to integrate the thermal data into the detection process at different processing steps. Those five methods are evaluated on several test sets we recorded. Their performance is compared to three baseline detection approaches. The test sets contain data from an indoor environment and from outdoor environments at days with different ambient temperatures. The data fusion methods decrease the false positive rate especially on the outdoor test sets. |
| Paper Nr: | 173 |
| Title: | A Flexible Framework for Mobile Robot Pose Estimation and Multi-Sensor Self-Calibration |
| Authors: | Davide Antonio Cucci and Matteo Matteucci |
| Abstract: | The design and the development of the position and orientation tracking system of a mobile robot, and the calibration of its sensor parameters (e.g., displacement, misalignment and iron distortions), are challenging and time consuming tasks in every autonomous robotics project. The ROAMFREE framework delivers turn-on-and-go multi-sensors pose tracking and self-calibration modules and it is designed to be flexible and to adapt to every kind of mobile robotic platform. In ROAMFREE, the sensor data fusion problem is formulated as a hyper-graph optimization where nodes represent poses and calibration parameters and edges the non-linear measurement constraints. This formulation allows us to solve both the on-line pose tracking and the off-line sensor self-calibration problems. In this paper, we introduce the approach and we discuss a real platform case study, along with experimental results. |
| Paper Nr: | 178 |
| Title: | Topological Map Building and Path Estimation Using Global-appearance Image Descriptors |
| Authors: | Francisco Amoros, Luis Paya, Oscar Reinoso, Walterio Mayol-Cuevas and Andrew Calway |
| Abstract: | Visual-based navigation has been a source of numerous researches in the field of mobile robotics. In this paper we present a topological map building and localization algorithm using wide-angle scenes. Global-appearance descriptors are used in order to optimally represent the visual information. First, we build a topological graph that represents the navigation environment. Each node of the graph is a different position within the area, and it is composed of a collection of images that covers the complete field of view. We use the information provided by a camera that is mounted on the mobile robot when it travels along some routes between the nodes in the graph. With this aim, we estimate the relative position of each node using the visual information stored. Once the map is built, we propose a localization system that is able to estimate the location of the mobile not only in the nodes but also on intermediate positions using the visual information. The approach has been evaluated and shows good performance in real indoor scenarios under realistic illumination conditions. |
| Paper Nr: | 180 |
| Title: | Improving 2D Reactive Navigators with Kinect |
| Authors: | Javier Gonzalez-Jimenez, J. R. Ruiz-Sarmiento and Cipriano Galindo |
| Abstract: | Most successful mobile robots rely on 2D radial laser scanners for perceiving the environment. The use of these sensors for reactive navigation has a serious limitation: the robot can only detect obstacles in the plane scanned by the sensor, with the consequent risk of collision with objects out of this plane. The recent commercialization of RGB-D cameras, like Kinect, opens new possibilities in this respect. In this paper we address the matter of adding the 3D information provided by these cameras to a reactive navigator designed to work with radial laser scanners. We experimentally analyze the suitability of Kinect to detect small objects and propose a simple but effective method to combine readings from both type of sensors as well as to overcome some of the drawbacks that Kinect presents. Experiments with a real robot and a particular reactive algorithm have been conducted, proving a significant upgrade in performance. |
| Paper Nr: | 194 |
| Title: | UMOC – A C Library for Clients of ONVIF Network Video Transmitters - Library Design and Device Discovery Support |
| Authors: | Sérgio F. Lopes, Sérgio Silva, José Cabral and João L. Monteiro |
| Abstract: | Video surveillance and control systems are becoming increasingly important as video analysis techniques evolve. The interoperability of IP video equipment is a critical problem for surveillance systems and other video application developers. Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) is one of the two specifications addressing the standardization of networked devices interface, but it is a complex specification and difficult to implement. This paper describes a library that helps to develop clients of ONVIF video cameras, by taking advantage of opportunities to abstract useless details and to provide higher-level functionalities. The library architecture is explained and it is shown how it can be used to implement operations and features that present challenges to developers. The module supporting Device Discovery is addressed. We demonstrate how the library reduces the complexity, without affecting flexibility. The work presented has been validated by an industry partner. |
| Paper Nr: | 212 |
| Title: | Will Vehicles Go the Mobile Way? - Merits and Challenges Arising by Car-apps |
| Authors: | Franziska Wolf |
| Abstract: | Currently people are used to share and to get information wherever they are. This new information requirements is for now not sufficiently satisfied when it comes to the mobility and especially car sector due to the currently developments of social media and smartphone applications. Here, due to questions of safety and security, in-car systems are still closed, despite the fact that C2X applications are developed, but not yet on the market. Here challenges for current key players arise because these information gaps could be closed by not authorised parties developing information applications. How and by which extend such “car-apps” might lead to new markets and consumer habits is discussed in this paper. |
| Paper Nr: | 215 |
| Title: | Throwing and Capturing of Workpieces by Robots - New Transport Services for the Internet-Of-Things in Production Systems |
| Authors: | Heinz Frank and Roland Koblinger |
| Abstract: | In the first part of the paper for the transportation of workpieces within production systems an approach in which robots are throwing and capturing the workpieces is presented. This concept also can be applied for elevating, turn-over and commissioning of workpieces. The main advantages of this method are high speeds, high flexibility and the need of few resources. In the second part of the paper it is described how throwing and capturing of workpieces can be applied in production systems which are realized according to the internet-of-things concept. |
| Paper Nr: | 220 |
| Title: | Road Traffic Efficiency and Safety Improvements Trends |
| Authors: | Vadim Glazunov, Leonid Kurochkin, Mihail Kurochkin, Sergey Popov and Dimitri Timofeev |
| Abstract: | Given article covers the next few problems: safety in highway traffic management; electronic assistance in conventional transportation; cooperative movement of conventional vehicles and driverless cars; some of the unmanned vehicle technologies. |
| Paper Nr: | 225 |
| Title: | Estimation of User’s Motion Intention of Hand based on Both EMG and EEG Signals |
| Authors: | Kazuo Kiguchi and Yoshiaki Hayashi |
| Abstract: | A surface EMG signal is one of the most widely used signals as input signals for wearable robots. However, EMG signals are not always available to all users. On the other hand, an EEG signal has drawn attention as input signals for those robots in recent years. However, the EEG signal does not have straightforward relationships with the corresponding brain part. Therefore, it is more difficult to find the required signals for the control of the robot in accordance with the user’s motion intention using the EEG signals compared with that using the EMG signals. In this paper, both the EMG and EEG signals are used to estimate the user’s motion intention. The EMG signals are used as main input signals because the EMG signals have higher relative to the motion of a user. The EEG signals are used as sub signals in order to cover the estimation of the user’s motion intention when all required EMG signals cannot be measured. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been evaluated by performing experiments. |
| Paper Nr: | 228 |
| Title: | Surface Cleaning Force Control of Rotating Brushes for an Air Duct Cleaning Robot |
| Authors: | Wootae Jeong, Seung-Woo Jeon, Duckshin Park and Soon-Bark Kwon |
| Abstract: | Due to the complexity of the air duct and ventilation system, removing accumulated dusts and particular matters at inner surface of air duct system becomes key issue for improving indoor air quality and maintaining the green environment of underground facilities. Although various tools and technologies for air duct cleaning have been developed, mechanical brushing method is evaluated as the most effective method in cleaning duct and ventilation system. Therefore, automotive duct cleaning robot with rolling brushes has been developed in this study. In particular, by adding compliant force feedback sensors to the rolling brushes, the developed cleaning robot can control the cleaning force consistantly between brush and duct surface. Force feedback control algorithm has been also developed and evaluated through control simulation tools. |
| Paper Nr: | 242 |
| Title: | Exploring the Potential of Combining Time of Flight and Thermal Infrared Cameras for Person Detection |
| Authors: | Wim Abbeloos and Toon Goedemé |
| Abstract: | Combining new, low-cost thermal infrared and time-of-flight range sensors provides new opportunities. In this position paper we explore the possibilities of combining these sensors and using their fused data for person detection. The proposed calibration approach for this sensor combination differs from the traditional stereo camera calibration in two fundamental ways. A first distinction is that the spectral sensitivity of the two sensors differs significantly. In fact, there is no sensitivity range overlap at all. A second distinction is that their resolution is typically very low, which requires special attention. We assume a situation in which the sensors’ relative position is known, but their orientation is unknown. In addition, some of the typical measurement errors are discussed, and methods to compensate for them are proposed. We discuss how the fused data could allow increased accuracy and robustness without the need for complex algorithms requiring large amounts of computational power and training data. |
| Paper Nr: | 244 |
| Title: | Epipolar Geometry for Vision-guided Laser Surgery |
| Authors: | Nicolas Andreff, Sounkalo Dembélé, Brahim Tamadazte and Zill-e Hussnain |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes to use the analogy between a scanning laser beam and a camera. Thereby, a degenerate stereoscopic system can be defined by such a virtual camera and a real camera observing the laser spot on the tissues. This system can be mathematically described by means of epipolar geometry. From the latter, a vision-based control law which has no any matrix inversion nor estimation of the 3D scene is developed. According to the first results of simulation, the proposed control law shows an exponential convergence and robustness with the presence of noise in the sensors signals. |
| Paper Nr: | 246 |
| Title: | Collision Energy Mitigation through Active Control of Future Lightweight Vehicle Architectures |
| Authors: | James E. Trollope and Keith J. Burnham |
| Abstract: | The paper challenges the current state-of-the-art which is accepted by the automotive industry. Present day vehicles are unsophisticatedly over-engineered and, as a consequence, are uneconomic, hence unsustainable. Vehicles currently under development, however, offer tremendous opportunities for shifting from this position to include onboard active safety systems, e.g. collision avoidance. It is argued that future vehicles should be significantly lighter and exploit the developing safety features to the full. Indeed, such a development would reduce the existing need for crashworthiness. The above arguments coupled with parallel developments in smart materials, paves the way towards a new generation of actively controlled vehicle architecture design. Whilst the move to lighter vehicles, with onboard active safety systems and actively controlled structures, may be seen as controversial, there is a convincing case for a paradigm shift towards a truly sustainable transport future. |
Area 3 - Signal Processing, Sensors, Systems Modelling and Control
Full Papers| Paper Nr: | 22 |
| Title: | Parametric Macromodeling using Interpolation of Sylvester based State-space Realizations |
| Authors: | Elizabeth Rita Samuel, Luc Knockaert and Tom Dhaene |
| Abstract: | A novel state-space realization for parametric macromodeling is proposed in this paper. A judicious choice of the state-space realization is required to account for the generally assumed smoothness of the state-space matrices with respect to the design parameters. This is used in combination with suitable interpolation schemes to interpolate a set of state-space matrices, and hence the poles and residues indirectly, in order to build accurate parametric macromodels. The key points are the choice of a proper pivot matrix and the solution of a Sylvester equation for pole placement. Pertinent numerical examples validate the proposed state-space realization for parametric macromodeling |
| Paper Nr: | 101 |
| Title: | Adaptive Filtering for Stochastic Volatility by using Exact Sampling |
| Authors: | ShinIchi Aihara, Arunabha Bagchi and Saikat Saha |
| Abstract: | We study the sequential identification problem for Bates stochastic volatility model, which is widely used as the model of a stock in finance. By using the exact simulation method, a particle filter for estimating stochastic volatility is constructed. The systems parameters are sequentially estimated with the aid of parallel filtering algorithm. To improve the estimation performance for unknown parameters, the new resampling procedure is proposed. Simulation studies for checking the feasibility of the developed scheme are demonstrated. |
| Paper Nr: | 190 |
| Title: | Modeling the Behavior of Hair Follicle Receptors as Technical Sensors using Adaptive Control |
| Authors: | Carsten Behn |
| Abstract: | Based on the paradigm biological receptor and its fundamental feature to filter signals and transduce them, we set up a mechanical sensor system to find hints to establish a measurement or monitoring system. These technical systems have to offer high sensitivity to signals from the environment. To mimic the complex behavior of the biological system, adaptive controllers have to be applied to a mechanical sensor system to compensate and filter unknown ground excitations (uncertainties of the system). Before doing this we summarize previous work on controlling such mechanical systems. We expose the need of improvements of already existing strategies from literature, the corresponding problems are formulated. Improved adaptive controllers are presented. Their working principle is illustrated in various numerical simulations and experiments. |
Short Papers
| Paper Nr: | 50 |
| Title: | A Concept of the Real-time Diagnostic System for Prototype Engines - Architecture and Algorithm |
| Authors: | Vitaly Promyslov and Stanislav Masolkin |
| Abstract: | The paper summarizes the main ideas and methods used in a software design of the real time diagnostic system for an advanced engines prototype test bed. The software architecture of the diagnostic systems is built on a top of the multiprocessor computer system which allows affectively performs various tasks. The SVM (support vector machine) algorithm is discussed from a point of view its real time implementation. The simulation results are presented and discussed. |
| Paper Nr: | 63 |
| Title: | Optimal Errors-in-variables Interpolation of Noise-corrupted Algebraic Observations |
| Authors: | Roberto Guidorzi |
| Abstract: | Extracting linear relations from data affected by additive noise is a problem of practical relevance in many fields. All available procedures are based on sets of assumptions concerning the errors so that their prformance depends from the gap between the actual process and the assumptions that have been introduced. The Errors– in–Variables (EIV) context is based on less a priori assumptions than other commonly used methods like, for instance, Least Squares, in that it assumes that all variables are affected by an unknown amount of additive noise but leads to more complex estimation procedures and, in some cases, to a whole family of models compatible with the data instead than to a single one. This paper describes some of the problems associated with the estimation of EIV models for algebraic processes and introduces an optimal interpolation procedure leading to Maximum Likelihood or to minimal variance estimates of the noiseless data. |
| Paper Nr: | 93 |
| Title: | Overview of Bounded Support Distributions and Methods for Bayesian Treatment of Industrial Data |
| Authors: | Kamil Dedecius and Pavel Ettler |
| Abstract: | Statistical analysis and modelling of various phenomena are well established in nowadays industrial practice. However, the traditional approaches neglecting the true properties of the phenomena still dominate. Among others, this includes also the cases when a variable with bounded range is analyzed using probabilistic distributions with unbounded domain. Since many of those variables nearly fulfill the basic conditions imposed by the chosen distribution, the properties of used statistical models are violated rather rarely. Still, there are numerous cases, when inference with distributions with unbounded domain may lead to absurd conclusions. This paper addresses this issue from the Bayesian viewpoint. It briefly discusses suitable distributions and inferential methods overcoming the emerging computational issues. |
| Paper Nr: | 110 |
| Title: | A Kalman Filter for Odometry using a Wheel Mounted Inertial Sensor |
| Authors: | Bernd Gersdorf and Udo Freese |
| Abstract: | This paper describes an Extended Kalman Filter for a wheel mounted inertial measurement unit using two accelerometers and a single gyroscope as a substitute for classical odometry sensing. The sensor can be mounted with minimal effort on existing wheeled vehicles. It is highly robust against vibration while rolling on uneven terrain and can cope with higher speeds even when the measurement range is partially exceeded. It has been developed as a component of a GPS based urban navigation assistant for elderly people using walkers, wheelchairs, or tricycles as an add-on device. |
| Paper Nr: | 119 |
| Title: | Component Oriented Modeling of Biomass Incineration Plants |
| Authors: | Fethi Belkhir, Christian Gierend and Georg Frey |
| Abstract: | The thermal treatment of biomass in the so called incineration plants represents one of the most appealing ways for biomass treatment. It reduces not only the volume of the disposed biomass, but also it can convert the heat produced by the combustion into electrical energy or steam for the district heating. Any organic non-fossil fuel can be considered as a biomass such as industrial and municipal waste and any material that was created by a photosynthesis reaction. Hence, it can contribute considerably in the global energy supply, as it can be collected from different sources. However, the variability in biomass composition, the complex thermochemical reactions and heat transfer phenomena occurring during the combustion have justified the development of multiple mathematical models to investigate the process as precisely as possible. Usually, they aim to achieve a better combustion chamber design. Unfortunately, these models are very complex and very detailed, composed mainly of a set of partial differential equations that cannot be considered if the intent is the control of the plant. Hence, the goal of the proposed work in a first step is to reduce the present complexity by proposing a simplified mathematical model that captures the main dynamics present inside the incineration chamber. The model takes the heterogeneous solid phase and the homogeneous gas phase into account, and it considers the large unsteady variation in the biomass composition. The control part of the plant is also addressed by giving an overview on the current control schemes that are used in the context of biomass combustion control. Finally, the model is implemented using the object-oriented language Modelica in order to investigate the dynamic behavior of the system. |
| Paper Nr: | 135 |
| Title: | Stabilization of a Trajectory for Nonlinear Systems using the Time-varying Pole Placement Technique |
| Authors: | Yasuhiko Mutoh and Shuhei Naitoh |
| Abstract: | The author proposed the simple design procedure of pole placement controller for linear time-varying systems. The feedback gain can be obtained directly from the plant parameters without transforming the system into any standard form. This design method will be applied to the problem of stabilization of some desired trajectory of nonlinear systems. |
| Paper Nr: | 136 |
| Title: | Robotic Pre-manipulation - Real-Time Polynomial Trajectory Control for Dynamic Object Interception with Minimum Jerk |
| Authors: | Arjun Nagendran, Remo Pillat and Robert Richardson |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a method for capturing a free-moving object in the presence of noise and uncertainty with respect to its estimated position and velocity. The approach is based on Hermite polynomials and involves matching the state-space parameters of the object and the end effector at the moment of contact. The method involves real-time re-planning of the robot trajectory whenever new estimates of the object’s motion parameters are available. Continuity in position, velocity, and acceleration is preserved independently of the planning update rate and the resulting trajectories are characterized by low jerk. Compared to other methods that directly solve for higher-order polynomial coefficients, the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and does not require a linear solver. Experimental results confirm the advantages of this method during real-time interception of a dynamically moving object with continuous velocity estimation and high-frequency re-planning. |
| Paper Nr: | 186 |
| Title: | LUC - Land Uptake Control - A GIS-based Approach |
| Authors: | Elena De Santis and Bernardino Romano |
| Abstract: | Land use caused by urbanisation is one of the main causes of political and social conflicts and altered environmental quality of land. It is a widespread feeling that the zero-balance objective (i.e. new areas can be urbanized only if already urbanized areas are restored) is feasible, at least in developed country, where the population is stabilizing around constant values. But it is very important to control the transient, between the current almost unrestricted situation and the zero-balance regime. Therefore, this paper proposes land uptake control procedures, based on geographical information systems and remote sensing. |
| Paper Nr: | 210 |
| Title: | Easily Reprogrammable embedded Logic Control |
| Authors: | Václav Dvořák and Petr Mikušek |
| Abstract: | The paper deals with software implementation of logic-intensive control algorithms in a form of look-up table cascades. Provided that logic control is described by multiple-output Boolean function, control output evaluation then reduces to several table look-ups. Depending on a required speed, one or more input variables are used for the look-ups in a single step, and the size of tables varies accordingly. Trade-offs between performance and memory footprint are thus possible. Changes in logic control can be implemented rapidly by reloading data into look-up tables. The presented method is thus useful for logic control embedded in microcontroller software. |
| Paper Nr: | 237 |
| Title: | Multi-source Energy Harvesting Powered Acoustic Emission Sensing System for Rotating Machinery Condition Monitoring Applications |
| Authors: | Wensi Wang, Anderson Machado Ortiz, Ningning Wang, Michael Hayes, Brendan O’Flynn and Cian O’Mathuna |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 238 |
| Title: | BITalino - A Multimodal Platform for Physiological Computing |
| Authors: | José Guerreiro, Raúl Martins, Hugo Silva, André Lourenço and Ana Fred |
| Abstract: | By definition, physical computing deals with the study and development of interactive systems that sense and react to the analog world. In an analogous way, physiological computing can be defined as the field, within physical computing, that deals with the study and development of systems that sense and react to the human body. While physical computing has seen significant advancements leveraged by the popular Arduino platform, no such equivalent can yet be found for physiological computing. In this paper we present a novel, low-cost and versatile platform, targeted at multimodal biosignal acquisition and that can be used to support classroom activities, interface with other devices, or perform rapid prototyping of end-user applications in the field of physiological computing. We build on previous work developed by our group, by presenting an improved version of the BITalino platform, emphasizing on the hardware characterization, benchmarking and design principles. |
| Paper Nr: | 241 |
| Title: | Comfort in Cars - Estimating Equivalent Temperature for Comfort Driven Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Control |
| Authors: | Diana Hintea, James Brusey, Elena Gaura, John Kemp and Neil Beloe |
| Abstract: | Equivalent Temperature is generally considered an accurate predictor for thermal comfort in car cabins. However, direct measurement of this parameter is impractical in fielded applications. The paper presents an empirical, multiple linear regression based approach for estimating body segment equivalent temperatures for car cabin occupants from different sensors within the car. Body part equivalent temperature at eight segments and cabin sensor data (air temperature, surface temperature, mean radiant temperature, humidity and solar load) was gathered in a variety of environmental and cabin conditions. 38 experimental hours of trials in a controlled environment and 26 experimental hours of realistic driving trials were used for training and evaluating the estimator’s performance. The estimation errors were on average between 0.5 °C and 1.9 °C for different body parts for trials within a controlled environment, while for trials in realistic driving scenarios they ranged between 1 °C and 2 °C. This demonstrates that passenger body part equivalent temperature can be estimated using a multiple linear regression from environmental sensors and leads the way to comfort driven Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning control. |
Posters
| Paper Nr: | 36 |
| Title: | Adabook and Multibook - Adaptive Boosting with Chance Correction |
| Authors: | David M. W. Powers |
| Abstract: | There has been considerable interest in boosting and bagging, including the combination of the adaptive techniques of AdaBoost with the random selection with replacement techniques of Bagging. At the same time there has been a revisiting of the way we evaluate, with chance-corrected measures like Kappa, Informedness, Correlation or ROC AUC being advocated. This leads to the question of whether learning algorithms can do better by optimizing an appropriate chance corrected measure. Indeed, it is possible for a weak learner to optimize Accuracy to the detriment of the more reaslistic chance-corrected measures, and when this happens the booster can give up too early. This phenomenon is known to occur with conventional Accuracy-based AdaBoost, and the MultiBoost algorithm has been developed to overcome such problems using restart techniques based on bagging. This paper thus complements the theoretical work showing the necessity of using chance-corrected measures for evaluation, with empirical work showing how use of a chance-corrected measure can improve boosting. We show that the early surrender problem occurs in MultiBoost too, in multiclass situations, so that chance-corrected AdaBook and Multibook can beat standard Multiboost or AdaBoost, and we further identify which chance-corrected measures to use when. |
| Paper Nr: | 84 |
| Title: | Enhancing the Life Time of a Wireless Sensor Network in Target Tracking Applications |
| Authors: | Phuong Pham and Sesh Commuri |
| Abstract: | We propose a method to enhance the life span of the WSN under the constraint of tracking quality. The problem is cast as an optimization problem to minimize the power consumption cost function under the constraint of tracking quality. The cost function accounts for both the residual power of each sensor node and its sensing task. The cost function increases when the residual power of a sensor node decreases or a sensing task requires more power. The improvement in the tracking performance obtained by the proposed method is demonstrated through numerical examples. |
| Paper Nr: | 124 |
| Title: | Robust Sliding Mode Control for a Roll-to-Roll Machine |
| Authors: | Kuo-Ming Chang and Yen-Yeu Lin |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a robust sliding mode controller, which is derived based on the extended state observer and the sliding mode control techniques for a roll-to-roll machine to deal with the system uncertainty problem of unknown system nonlinear functions, and external disturbances. It is worth noting that the proposed sliding mode control scheme can be implemented without the condition that the system nonlinear functions, and the upper bounds of external disturbances must be known in advance and it can achieve the web transmitting speed and tension control goals satisfactorily, which are validated by numerical simulation results. |
| Paper Nr: | 137 |
| Title: | Phase-frequency Domain Model of Costas Loop with Mixer Discriminator |
| Authors: | N. V. Kuznetsov, G. A. Leonov, P. Neittaanmaki, S. M. Seledzhi, M. V. Yuldashev and R. V. Yuldashev |
| Abstract: | Problem of rigorous mathematical analysis of classical Costas Loop for non-sinusoidal signals is considered. The analytical method for phase detector characteristics computation is proposed and new classes of phase detector characteristics are computed for the first time. Effective methods for nonlinear analysis of Costas Loop are discussed. |
| Paper Nr: | 171 |
| Title: | Developing Embedded Control Systems with XtratuM - Application to Control the Attitude of a Mini-helicopter |
| Authors: | P. García, P. Albertos, A. Crespo and F. González |
| Abstract: | Developing embedded control systems requires to have the possibility of analyzing and evaluating new control algorithms before their implementation in the final system as well as their robust operation once implemented. For that purpose, a generic platform composed by the hypervisor XtratuM and RTOS PaRTiKLe is introduced in this paper. The interaction between the user and the process is generated by using Linux, while the realtime execution of the process is ensured by PaRTiKLe. Moreover, hypervisor XtratuM provides the facilities to execute several partitions with different guest OSs as well as the mechanisms to communicate PaRTiKLe partition and the control environment. By means of this platform the performance of future partitioned embedded systems are analyzed, evaluated and improved. Experimental tests are carried out in order to prove the effectiveness of the system. The reported results show the good performance of the designed system and the robustness of the platform. |
| Paper Nr: | 176 |
| Title: | Comparison of Active Sensors for 3D Modeling of Indoor Environments |
| Authors: | Abdennour Aouina, Michel Devy and Antonio Marin-Hernandez |
| Abstract: | 3D perception has known impressive advances in the past 3 years; it corresponds to several technological improvements, plus many new development teams providing open sources. First of all, researchers in Robotics and 3D Perception have made profit of the Kinect sensor; some works were already devoted to 3D cameras, using more expensive Time-of-Flight optical devices. Another common way to acquire dense 3D data, is by scanning the environment by a laser range finder (LRF); as for example, the Hokuyo tilting LRF integrated on the PR2 robot by Willow Garage. To build a dense geometrical model of an indoor environment, several sensors could be selected in order to acquire 3D data. This paper aims at giving some insights on this selection, presenting some pros and cons for Kinect, Hokuyo and ToF optical sensors. |
| Paper Nr: | 195 |
| Title: | Light Scattering Device for Measuring Finest Particles in the Exhaust of Diesel Engines |
| Authors: | Harald Axmann and Bernd Eichberger |
| Abstract: | Recent developments in engine technologies and exhaust aftertreatment systems significantly reduced the particle emissions of diesel engines. This also demands new measurement devices for the periodical emission checks, which shall ensure unchanged low emissions over the vehicles’ lifetime. As the current light transmission technique has reached its detection limit, a new device based on light scattering is presented. This paper gives a short overview of scattering theory, followed by a description of the measurement system. An emphasis is placed on the control mechanism for achieving a stable light source. Furthermore first measurement results are presented. Finally the issue of correlation between scattering and established measures is discussed. |
| Paper Nr: | 197 |
| Title: | Redundant Inertial Navigator for Robotic Applications |
| Authors: | Teodor Lucian Grigorie and Ruxandra Mihaela Botez |
| Abstract: | The architecture and implied mathematical algorithms for a redundant strap-down inertial navigator in horizontal plane are shown in the paper. As immediate application of the system, the surveillance of miniaturized vehicles like robotic systems was identified. The navigator redundance is achieved from its inertial measurement unit, which uses two arrays of four miniaturized accelerometers in the two detection axes in horizontal plane, and a four miniaturized gyro array along the vertical axis. The architecture of the sensors arrays dispositions is a linear one; for every detection array a fusion method based on minimum variance method is used to statistically combine the data acquired from the sensors. The system is experimentally tested by using a SDINS/GPS integrated navigator as reference system, and a car as monitored vehicle; the sensors fusion results are shown and the navigation solution errors are estimated. |
| Paper Nr: | 213 |
| Title: | Reduction of Reactive Power for Power Saving Utilization at Home Power Lines |
| Authors: | Ondrej Krejcar and Robert Frischer |
| Abstract: | In recognition of the ever increasing energy prices, reactive power compensation is getting more and more into the forefront. Climate protection and energy is one of the most discussed issues of current policy. Production of electrical energy from primary sources to its consumption occurs however in the process of losses. Although these total losses are obviously only a small portion of the current-dependent losses in electricity transmission, the final absolute value of those losses go to billions of kilowatt. Part of the current-dependent losses in networks raises inductive reactive power from the operation of common appliances. Many home electric appliances like refrigerators, deep-freezes, washing machines, washers, pumps, etc. produce vaste energy called reactive power, which can be reduced. This technique can lower electricity consumption (from 10 to 30% - different by countries). Current possibilities of devices for reduction of reactive power for home usage are only very limited with high price. Paper deal with a development of miniaturized solution based on 32b MCU (Micro Controller Unit) with wireless communication unit and independent powering circuit. We mentioned need of a very fine measurement of an input voltage and current as well as remote monitoring option. |
| Paper Nr: | 231 |
| Title: | The Research on the Balancing Capacitor Parameter Identification Method for Electric Double-Layer Capacitor Modules |
| Authors: | Gang Yao, Younian Qiu, Tianhao Tang and Yu Lu |
| Abstract: | The voltage imbalance between cells in electric double-layer capacitors will affect their performance and lifetime. Flying-capacitor equalization system can be employed to solve this problem. The balancing capacitor’s parameter is essential for voltage balancing effect. The existing parameter identification method obtains a capacitance range based on the stable-state analysis of charging circuit and the balance effect by selecting a value from this range is not always optimized. In this paper, a novel parameter identification method based on zero-state response is proposed. Some simulation results show that smaller voltage difference and faster balancing rate can be achieved with this new approach. |
| Paper Nr: | 245 |
| Title: | Exploratory Modeling of Complex Information Processing Systems |
| Authors: | Jochen Kerdels and Gabriele Peters |
| Abstract: | . |
Area 4 - Industrial Engineering, Production and Management
Full Papers| Paper Nr: | 76 |
| Title: | Performance Optimization in Intelligent Manufacturing - Decision Support System for Value Engineering in Flour Mills |
| Authors: | Jürg P. Keller and Mukul Agarwal |
| Abstract: | The performance of modern flour mills depends crucially on value-engineering decisions involving optimal mixing of up to 80 intermediate product streams into at most 6 final product streams during continuous operation. Optimal mixing decision depends on given physical properties and yields of intermediate streams, goals and constraints on physical properties and yields of final streams, physical and quality constraints on mixing decision variables, and qualitative judgments relating value of final streams to their physical properties. In a previous work, the authors presented an interactive tool that guided the production personnel towards an optimal decision for fractions of each intermediate stream that should be piped to each final stream. This tool could exploit multiple Linear Programming computations and graphic user-interface to enable scenario overview and manoeuvring with no perceptible time lag. However, it cannot be used in a majority of flour mills where each intermediate stream is diverted to a single final stream using physical flaps. The mixed-integer programming required in this case renders the tool too slow for interactive use. In this work, a new tool is developed for the prevalent case of discrete decision variables, which enables computations and graphic interface for scenario manoeuvring without prohibitive time lag. |
| Paper Nr: | 249 |
| Title: | Macroscopic Simulation of Multi-axis Machining Processes |
| Authors: | Meysam Minoufekr, Lothar Glasmacher and Oliver Adams |
| Abstract: | The machining of safety-critical components, e.g. turbine disks and blades, is expected to meet highest demands regarding functionality and quality. At the same time, a fast and affordable process design for the production is a major driver for the economic development of these components. Effective increase in productivity requires in addition to the development of machining technologies, new approaches in process design and planning. The integration of simulation into computer aided design of multi-axis processes provides a great potential for further optimisation of the processes. By using the macro simulation model introduced in this paper, the computational complexity to gain relevant process information is reduced and hence made accessible more easily. Through the presented macro simulation, detailed tool-workpiece engagement is calculated which co-relates to mechanical and thermal stresses on the tool. Based on the calculations the process can be designed by reducing the tool load in the course of the process. This way, the tool life of the used milling cutters can be significantly increased resulting in an increase of process robustness and efficiency, thereby reducing used resources. |
Short Papers
| Paper Nr: | 52 |
| Title: | Experimental Selection and Verification of Maximum-Heart-Rate Formulas for Use with Karvonen Formula |
| Authors: | Jinhua She, Hitoshi Nakamura, Koji Makino, Yasuhiro Ohyama, Hiroshi Hashimoto and Min Wu |
| Abstract: | Maximum heart rate (MHR) is commonly used to estimate exercise intensity with the Karvonen formula, and there are several methods of calculating it. In this study, we used pedaling experiments on a cycle ergometer to evaluate methods of determining MHR in order to select the ones most suitable for the Karvonen formula. In the experiments, 43 subjects rode an aerobike. The results show that, for people in their 20s, two methods are suitable for estimating exercise intensity with the Karvonen formula. The main physical parameters affecting exercise intensity were also extracted, based on the experimental results. |
| Paper Nr: | 102 |
| Title: | Forecasting Sales in the Presence of Promotional Events |
| Authors: | Gudni Sigurjonsson and Hlynur Stefansson |
| Abstract: | Sales promotions are widely used in industry as an effective tool for stimulating sales. Companies increasingly collect data on promotional events but this data is rarely used, neither to estimate real effect of promotional events nor to improve sale forecasts in the presence of events. This paper proposes a procedure for estimating the effects of events on sales and for utilizing the information to improve forecasting accuracy whether future events are planned or not. The paper also proposes a mathematical programming model to optimize the allocation of budget to different types of marketing events and decide timing of the selected events. The proposed procedure for forecasting in the presence of events is tested in the paper. The tests clearly indicate the usefulness of the basic functionality of the proposed procedure. Three different scenarios are solved, each representing different level of knowledge on past and future events. The results emphasize the importance of accounting for both past and future events and show how forecast accuracy can be improved by using the proposed approach. |
| Paper Nr: | 160 |
| Title: | Model-based Inspection for the Control of Quality in Advanced Manufacturing Environments |
| Authors: | Shaniel Davrajh and Glen Bright |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 160 |
| Title: | Model-based Inspection for the Control of Quality in Advanced Manufacturing Environments |
| Authors: | Shaniel Davrajh and Glen Bright |
| Abstract: | . |
| Paper Nr: | 193 |
| Title: | A Two-step Empirical-analytical Optimization Scheme - A Simulation Metamodeling Approach |
| Authors: | Wa-Muzemba Tshibangu and Anselm Tshibangu |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a two-step optimization scheme developed to find the optimal operational settings of operational systems seeking to optimize their operations using multiple performance measures. The study focuses on two conflicting performance measures, the Throughput Rate (TR) and the Mean Flow Time (MFT). First an empirical approach is used to uncover the near optimal values of the performance measures using an experimental design procedure. Second, an analytical procedure is deployed to find the exact optima using values the near optima found in the first step as target. The analytical procedure uses a non-linear regression meta-model derived from simulation outputs and compromises the two conflicting targets while minimizing the loss incurred to the overall system. This loss is expressed in the form of a multivariate version of the Taguchi quadratic loss function. Although the framework as presented in this paper is derived by analyzing a manufacturing system through discrete-event simulation, the procedure however, can successfully be applied to any processing system in various industries including food production, financial institutions, warehouse industry, and healthcare. |
| Paper Nr: | 226 |
| Title: | Intelligent Control for Sustainable Energy Management in Underground Stations |
| Authors: | Hongliang Guo and Alfons Salden |
| Abstract: | . |
Posters
| Paper Nr: | 27 |
| Title: | Partner Network and its Process Management |
| Authors: | Taivo Kangilaski, Igor Polyantchikov and Eduard Shevtshenko |
| Abstract: | Business processes define how the organizations operate, deliver products or services and interact with customers; how they support their corporate strategies and enable companies to react to changes more rapidly. Business process management empowers the business analysts to define, manage, analyse and optimize their processes. The current article specifies the principles to describe the processes in a Partner Network to ensure efficient information exchange. As fluent cooperation is based on processes and depends on process maturity, the maturity estimation model is proposed in this article. |
| Paper Nr: | 43 |
| Title: | Piaget for the Smart Control of Complex Robotized Applications in Industry |
| Authors: | H. Omori, J. -D. Dessimoz , H. Tomori, T. Nakamura and H. Osumi |
| Abstract: | The control of smart robots, and now similarly smart applications in Factory Automation require programming and control capabilities at the integral level of many heterogeneous resources. Significant proposals exist for this purpose, such as ROS, yet we had to develop an original solution, “Piaget”. Piaget can be deployed at a very low level, with very fast capabilities (e.g. 100 nanosecond long time slots in average), but more and more is concentrated on higher hierarchical levels, where it brings the capability to flexibly coordinate multiple, largely smart and otherwise autonomous subsystems. This perfectly reflects fundamental constraints in closed-loop control, which occurs in numerous instances for a smart system. Piaget is especially useful in three important phases of projects: development, programming, and real-time operation. An industrial case is studied, involving multiple, otherwise independent, commercially available subsystems, such as industrial robot arm, PLC, IP camera or joint controller. As always, a special end-effector, here multi-tool, had to be designed for the application. Highlight is given of selected software items, relating to the overall application, to the robot arm, or to the vision part. Experiments are reported, addressing three of the most significant process components. Outcomes are successful. |