Furniture Mover

The movement of furniture is an often overlooked pain point for physically-challenged individuals, especially when rearranging furniture in a room. These individuals may try to minimize the risk of tip-over or strain-related injuries by seeking assistance from others. Still, some individuals are limited in finding volunteers forthcoming and capable of helping. This can lead to a dilemma of either being able to find individuals willing to assist in the process or risking one’s own personal safety when moving furniture. The proposed design project implements the use of multiple, independent platforms with mecanum wheels placed underneath each corner of a piece of furniture by a user. These devices will work together to move furniture based on commands from a wireless device, allowing for the adjustment of furniture with more flexible positioning and will negate the requirement of human force, preventing physical strain on one\u27s body

A Hierarchical Architectural Framework for Securing Unmanned Aerial Systems

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are becoming more widely used in the new era of evolving technology; increasing performance while decreasing size, weight, and cost. A UAS equipped with a Flight Control System (FCS) that can be used to fly semi- or fully-autonomous is a prime example of a Cyber Physical and Safety Critical system. Current Cyber-Physical defenses against malicious attacks are structured around security standards for best practices involving the development of protocols and the digital software implementation. Thus far, few attempts have been made to embed security into the architecture of the system considering security as a holistic problem. Therefore, a Hierarchical, Embedded, Cyber Attack Detection (HECAD) framework is developed to provide security in a holistic manor, providing resiliency against cyber-attacks as well as introducing strategies for mitigating and dealing with component failures. Traversing the hardware/software barrier, HECAD provides detection of malicious faults at the hardware and software level; verified through the development of an FPGA implementation and tested using a UAS FCS

MARV: Marine Autonomous Research Vessel

Conducting hydrologic research in remote areas is currently performed manually, making it a labor intensive and inaccurate solution. Due to the size, weight, and cost of automated solutions on the market today, a need has arisen for a low cost, highly portable, autonomous solution. Working closely with Santa Clara University’s Robotics Systems Lab (RSL), our team has developed a low cost, highly portable autonomous marine research vessel named MARV (Marine Autonomous Research Vessel). It is an autonomous surface platform where scientists outfit the vessel with their own data acquisition equipment. The mechanical chassis is collapsible for modes of remote transportation (i.e. helicopter, small trucks, backpacking). With a final weight of 25 kilograms, material cost of $4,482, and a cross track error of ±1 meter, we have successfully designed and manufactured low cost, highly portable autonomous solution. However, MARV does not operate on an adaptive navigation system. Further developments such as object avoidance and depth control would result in a fully autonomous marine platform

Digital design techniques for dependable High-Performance Computing

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Towards the use of unmanned aerial systems for providing sustainable services in smart cities

La sostenibilidad está en el centro de muchos campos de aplicación en los que el uso de los sistemas aéreos no tripulados (SUA) es cada vez más importante (por ejemplo, la agricultura, la detección y predicción de incendios, la vigilancia ambiental, la cartografía, etc.). Sin embargo, su uso y evolución están muy condicionados por el campo de aplicación específico para el que están diseñados y, por lo tanto, no pueden ser fácilmente reutilizados entre los diferentes campos de aplicación. Desde este punto de vista, al no ser polivalentes, podemos decir que no son totalmente sostenibles. Teniendo esto en cuenta, el objetivo de este trabajo es doble: por un lado, identificar el conjunto de características que debe proporcionar un UAS para ser considerado sostenible y demostrar que no hay ningún UAS que satisfaga todas estas características; por otra parte, presentar una arquitectura abierta y sostenible de los UAS que pueda utilizarse para construir UAS a petición para proporcionar las características necesarias en cada campo de aplicación. Dado que esta arquitectura se basa principalmente en la adaptabilidad del software y el hardware, contribuye a la sostenibilidad técnica de las ciudades.Sustainability is at the heart of many application fields where the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is becoming more and more important (e.g., agriculture, fire detection and prediction, environmental surveillance, mapping, etc.). However, their usage and evolution are highly conditioned by the specific application field they are designed for, and thus, they cannot be easily reused among different application fields. From this point of view, being that they are not multipurpose, we can say that they are not fully sustainable. Bearing this in mind, the objective of this paper is two-fold: on the one hand, to identify the whole set of features that must be provided by a UAS to be considered sustainable and to show that there is no UAS satisfying all these features; on the other hand, to present an open and sustainable UAS architecture that may be used to build UAS on demand to provide the features needed in each application field. Since this architecture is mainly based on software and hardware adaptability, it contributes to the technical sustainability of cities.• Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y Fondos FEDER. Proyecto TIN2015-69957-R (I+D+i) • Junta de Extremadura y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional. Ayuda GR15098 y IB16055 • Parcialmente financiado por Interreg V-A España-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 program. Proyecto 0045-4IE-4-PpeerReviewe

sCAM: An Untethered Insertable Laparoscopic Surgical Camera Robot

Fully insertable robotic imaging devices represent a promising future of minimally invasive laparoscopic vision. Emerging research efforts in this field have resulted in several proof-of-concept prototypes. One common drawback of these designs derives from their clumsy tethering wires which not only cause operational interference but also reduce camera mobility. Meanwhile, these insertable laparoscopic cameras are manipulated without any pose information or haptic feedback, which results in open loop motion control and raises concerns about surgical safety caused by inappropriate use of force.This dissertation proposes, implements, and validates an untethered insertable laparoscopic surgical camera (sCAM) robot. Contributions presented in this work include: (1) feasibility of an untethered fully insertable laparoscopic surgical camera, (2) camera-tissue interaction characterization and force sensing, (3) pose estimation, visualization, and feedback with sCAM, and (4) robotic-assisted closed-loop laparoscopic camera control. Borrowing the principle of spherical motors, camera anchoring and actuation are achieved through transabdominal magnetic coupling in a stator-rotor manner. To avoid the tethering wires, laparoscopic vision and control communication are realized with dedicated wireless links based on onboard power. A non-invasive indirect approach is proposed to provide real-time camera-tissue interaction force measurement, which, assisted by camera-tissue interaction modeling, predicts stress distribution over the tissue surface. Meanwhile, the camera pose is remotely estimated and visualized using complementary filtering based on onboard motion sensing. Facilitated by the force measurement and pose estimation, robotic-assisted closed-loop control has been realized in a double-loop control scheme with shared autonomy between surgeons and the robotic controller.The sCAM has brought robotic laparoscopic imaging one step further toward less invasiveness and more dexterity. Initial ex vivo test results have verified functions of the implemented sCAM design and the proposed force measurement and pose estimation approaches, demonstrating the technical feasibility of a tetherless insertable laparoscopic camera. Robotic-assisted control has shown its potential to free surgeons from low-level intricate camera manipulation workload and improve precision and intuitiveness in laparoscopic imaging

RTRLIB : a high-level modeling tool for dynamically partially reconfigurable systems

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, 2020.Reconfiguração dinâmica parcial é considerada uma interessante técnica a ser aplicada para o aumento da flexibilidade de sistemas implementados em FPGA, em função da implementação dinâmica de módulos de hardware enquanto o restante do circuito permanece em operação. Trata- se de uma técnica utilizada em sistemas com requisitos muito restritos, como adaptabilidade, robustez, consumo de potência, custo e tolerância à falhas. Entretanto, a complexidade de desen- volvimento de sistemas com reconfiguração dinâmica parcial é consideravelmente alta quando comparada à de sistemas com lógica totalmente estática. Nesse sentido, novas metodologias e ferramentas de desenvolvimento são necessárias para reduzir a complexidade de implementação desse tipo de sistema. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho apresenta o RTRLib, uma ferramenta de modelagem em alto nível para o desenvolvimento de sistemas com reconfiguração dinâmica parcial em dispositivos Xilinx Zynq a partir da especificação e parametrização de alguns blocos. Sob condições específi- cas, o RTRLib automaticamante produz os scripts de hardware e software para implementação da solução utilizando o Vivado Design Suite e o SDK. Tais scripts são compostos pelos comandos necessários para a implementação do sistema desde a criação do projeto de hardware até a criação do arquivo de boot. Uma vez que o RTRLib é composto por IP-Cores previamente caracterizados, a ferramenta também pode ser utilizada para a análise, em fase de modelagem, do sistema a ser implementado, por meio da estimação de características importantes do sistema, como o consumo de recursos e latência. O presente trabalho também inclui novas funcionalidades implementadas no RTRLib no con- texto do design de hardware e de software, como: generalização do script de hardware, mapea- mento de IO, floorplanning por meio de uma GUI, criação de um gerador de script de software, gerador de template de aplicação standalone que faz uso do partial reconfiguration controller (PRC) e implementação de uma biblioteca para aplicações FreeRTOS. Por fim, quatro estudos de casos foram implementados para demonstrar as funcionalidades da ferramenta: um sistema de classificação de terrenos baseado em redes neurais, um sistema com regressores lineares utilizado para controle de uma prótese miocinética de mão e, por último, uma aplicação hipotética de um sistema com requisitos de tempo real.Partial dynamic reconfiguration is considered an interesting technique to increase flexibility in FPGA designs due to the dynamic replacement of hardware modules while the remainder of the circuit remains in operation. It is used in systems with hard requirements such as adaptability, robustness, power consumption, cost, and fault-tolerance. However, the complexity to develop dynamically partially reconfigurable systems in considerably higher comparing with static de- signs. Therefore, new design methodologies and tools have been required to reduce the design complexity of such systems. In this context, this work presents the RTRLib, a high-level modeling tool for the development of dynamically reconfigurable systems on Xilinx Zynq devices by a simple system specification and parametrization of some blocks. Under specific conditions, RTRLib automatically generates the hardware and software scripts to implement the solution using Vivado and SDK. These scripts are composed by the sequential design steps from hardware project creation to the boot image elaboration. Since RTRLib is composed of pre-characterized IP-Cores, the tool also can be used to analyze the system behavior during the design process by the early estimation of essential characteristics of the system such as resource consumption and latency. The present work also includes the new functionalities implemented on RTRLib in the context of the hardware and the software design, such as: hardware script generalization, IO mapping, floorplanning by a GUI, software script creation, generator of a standalone template application that uses PRC, and implementation of a FreeRTOS library application. Finally, four case studies were implemented to demonstrate the tool capability: a system for terrain classification based on neuron networks, a linear regressor system used to control a myokinetic-based prosthetic hand, and a hypothetical real-time application

Design and Development of a High-Performance Quadrotor Control Architecture Based on Feedback Linearization

The purpose of this thesis is to outline the development of a high-performance quadrotor control system for an AscTec Hummingbird quadrotor using direct motor speed control within a Vicon motion capture system environment. A Ground Control Station (GCS) acts as a user interface for selecting flight patterns and displaying sensor values. An on-board Intel Edison embedded Linux computer acts as the quadrotor\u27s controller. The Vicon system measures the quadrotor\u27s position and orientation, while the Hummingbird\u27s stock AscTec Autopilot board provides inertial measurements and receives motor speed commands. Based on the flight pattern set by the GCS, smooth and di erentiable trajectories are generated. A control program was written for the Edison to obtain measurements, receive flight pattern commands, perform state estimation, calculate control laws, send motor speed commands to the Autopilot board, and log values. The program was written as a multithreaded C++ program for increased performance. A feedback linearization of the quadrotor\u27s dynamics was performed to account for its nonlinearities. A controller structure designed to ensure exponential Lyapunov stability was applied to the input-output linearized dynamics. The simplex method was used to aid the controller in pushing the Hummingbird\u27s actuators for aggressive maneuvers within set input limitations. The Edison\u27s Wi-Fi capabilities enable it to contact the Vicon server directly for position and orientation measurements. Accelerations and angular velocities are measured by the Autopilot\u27s inertial measurement unit (IMU). A quick state estimation process was implemented to filter the measured states, and state prediction was used to compensate for latency in the system. A custom circuit board and communication framework was designed and assembled for interfacing the Edison with the Autopilot. The custom communication framework allowed for a 16 times speed improvement over the default settings while bypassing the stock wireless communication\u27s inherently unreliable timing. The Hummingbird\u27s physical properties, such as propeller performance and rotational inertias, were characterized via static and step response experiments. The control system\u27s flight performance was evaluated through simulation and experimental tests

Autonomous Pedestrian Detection in Transit Buses

This project created a proof of concept for an automated pedestrian detection and avoidance system designed for transit buses. The system detects objects up to 12 meters away, calculates the distance from the system using a solid-state LIDAR, and determines if that object is human by passive infrared. This triggers a visual and sound warning. A Xilinx Zynq-SoC utilizing programmable logic and an ARM-based processing system drive data fusion, and an external power unit makes it configurable for transit-buses