Intelligent Haptic Perception for Physical Robot Interaction

Doctorado en Ingeniería mecatrónica. Fecha de entrega de la Tesis doctoral: 8 de enero de 2020. Fecha de lectura de Tesis doctoral: 30 de marzo 2020.The dream of having robots living among us is coming true thanks to the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The gap that still exists between that dream and reality will be filled by scientific research, but manifold challenges are yet to be addressed. Handling the complexity and uncertainty of real-world scenarios is still the major challenge in robotics nowadays. In this respect, novel AI methods are giving the robots the capability to learn from experience and therefore to cope with real-life situations. Moreover, we live in a physical world in which physical interactions are both vital and natural. Thus, those robots that are being developed to live among humans must perform tasks that require physical interactions. Haptic perception, conceived as the idea of feeling and processing tactile and kinesthetic sensations, is essential for making this physical interaction possible. This research is inspired by the dream of having robots among us, and therefore, addresses the challenge of developing robots with haptic perception capabilities that can operate in real-world scenarios. This PhD thesis tackles the problems related to physical robot interaction by employing machine learning techniques. Three AI solutions are proposed for different physical robot interaction challenges: i) Grasping and manipulation of humans’ limbs; ii) Tactile object recognition; iii) Control of Variable-Stiffness-Link (VSL) manipulators. The ideas behind this research work have potential robotic applications such as search and rescue, healthcare or rehabilitation. This dissertation consists of a compendium of publications comprising as the main body a compilation of previously published scientific articles. The baseline of this research is composed of a total of five papers published in prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals and international robotics conferences

Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm With Integrated Elastic Joints for TCM Remedial Massage

International audienceFor reproducing the manipulation of TCM remedial massage and meanwhile guaranteeing safety, a 4-DOF anthropomorphic robotic arm with integrated elastic joints is developed, and a passivity-based impedance control is used. Due to the series elasticity, integrated joints may minimize large forces which occur during accidental impacts and, further, may offer more accurate and stable force control and a capacity for energy storage. Human expert's fingertip force curve in the process of massage therapy is acquired in vivo by a dedicated measurement device. Then, three massage techniques, pressing, kneading and plucking, are implemented by the soft arm, respectively, on torso model in vitro and on human body in vivo. Experimental results show that the developed robotic arm can effectively replicates the TCM remedial massage techniques

Shortest Route at Dynamic Location with Node Combination-Dijkstra Algorithm

Abstract— Online transportation has become a basic requirement of the general public in support of all activities to go to work, school or vacation to the sights. Public transportation services compete to provide the best service so that consumers feel comfortable using the services offered, so that all activities are noticed, one of them is the search for the shortest route in picking the buyer or delivering to the destination. Node Combination method can minimize memory usage and this methode is more optimal when compared to A* and Ant Colony in the shortest route search like Dijkstra algorithm, but can’t store the history node that has been passed. Therefore, using node combination algorithm is very good in searching the shortest distance is not the shortest route. This paper is structured to modify the node combination algorithm to solve the problem of finding the shortest route at the dynamic location obtained from the transport fleet by displaying the nodes that have the shortest distance and will be implemented in the geographic information system in the form of map to facilitate the use of the system. Keywords— Shortest Path, Algorithm Dijkstra, Node Combination, Dynamic Location (key words

Queensland University of Technology: Handbook 1996

The Queensland University of Technology handbook gives an outline of the faculties and subject offerings available that were offered by QUT