Capacitive power transfer for maritime electrical charging applications

Wireless power transfer can provide the convenience of automatic charging while the ships or maritime vehicles are docking, mooring, or in a sailing maneuver. It can address the challenges facing conventional wired charging technologies, including long charging and queuing time, wear and tear of the physical contacts, handling cables and wires, and electric shock hazards. Capacitive power transfer (CPT) is one of the wireless charging technologies that has received attention in on-road electric vehicle charging applications. By the main of electric fields, CPT offers an inexpensive and light charging solution with good misalignment performance. Thus, this study investigates the CPT system in which air and water are the separation medium for the electrical wireless charging of small ships and unmanned maritime vehicles. Unlike on-road charging applications, air or water can be utilized as charging mediums to charge small ships and unmanned maritime vehicles. Because of the low permittivity of the air, the air-gapped capacitive coupling in the Pico Farad range requires a mega-hertz operating frequency to transfer power over a few hundred millimeters. This study examines an air-gapped CPT system to transfer about 135 W at a separation distance of 50 mm, a total efficiency of approximately 83.9%, and a 1 MHz operating efficiency. At 13.56 MHz, the study tested a shielded air-gapped CPT system that transfers about 100 W at a separation distance of 30 mm and a total efficiency of about 87%. The study also examines the underwater CPT system by submerging the couplers in water to increase the capacitive coupling. The system can transfer about 129 W at a separation distance of 300 mm, a total efficiency of aboutapproximately%, and a 1.1 MHz operating efficiency. These CPT systems can upscale to provide a few kW for small ships and unmanned maritime vehicles. But they are still facing several challenges that need further investigations

Reconfigurable Autonomy

This position paper describes ongoing work at the Universities of Liverpool, Sheffield and Surrey in the UK on developing hybrid agent architectures for controlling autonomous systems, and specifically for ensuring that agent-controlled dynamic reconfiguration is viable. The work outlined here forms part of the Reconfigurable Autonomy research project

Strategi Self-Assembly Paralel pada Swarm Robot

ABSTRAK Dari banyaknya strategi yang diusulkan untuk proses self-assembly pada swarm robotics, hanya beberapa grup riset berkonsentrasi di bidang ini yang mengusulkan proses paralel pada penggabungan antar robot. Tetapi, strategi ini hanya digunakan ketika sebuah robot memerlukan tumpuan dari dua robot atau lebih pada satu waktu. Berdasar pada kebutuhan untuk menyebarkan ratusan hingga ribuan robot pada satu swarm, strategi penggabungan antar robot satu-demi-satu memerlukan waktu yang sangat lama untuk diselesaikan. Di artikel ini, strategi self-assembly antar robot pada suatu swarm secara paralel diusulkan untuk mengurangi waktu proses self-assembly dengan menempatkan sejumlah robot di posisi tertentu. Saat penggabungan, robot-robot ini akan bergerak menempatkan dirinya sesuai dengan posisi akhir yang ditargetkan. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa strategi ini dapat mereduksi waktu proses self-assembly hingga setengah dari waktu yang diperlukan dengan proses penggabungan satu-demi-satu. Kata kunci: swarm robot, self-assembly, proses paralel   ABSTRACT Despite the number of strategies proposed for self-assembly process in swarm robotics, only few research groups working in this area have proposed the parallel process of robots assembled each other. However, this strategy only works when a robot needs to be supported by two or more robots in a time. When deploying hundred to thousand robots in a swarm is required, the strategy of robots connecting to the structure of assembled robots in a one-by-one manner requires an extremely long time to accomplish. In this paper, a strategy of parallel selfassembly for robots in a swarm is proposed for reducing the self-assembly process time by placing a number of robots at particular positions. While connecting, they will move to position themselves appropriately to the targeted final structure. Result shows that this strategy can reduce the process of self-assembly time up to half of the time required for one-by-one process. Keywords: swarm robots, self-assembly, parallel proces

Advances in Intelligent Robotics and Collaborative Automation

This book provides an overview of a series of advanced research lines in robotics as well as of design and development methodologies for intelligent robots and their intelligent components. It represents a selection of extended versions of the best papers presented at the Seventh IEEE International Workshop on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications IDAACS 2013 that were related to these topics. Its contents integrate state of the art computational intelligence based techniques for automatic robot control to novel distributed sensing and data integration methodologies that can be applied to intelligent robotics and automation systems. The objective of the text was to provide an overview of some of the problems in the field of robotic systems and intelligent automation and the approaches and techniques that relevant research groups within this area are employing to try to solve them.The contributions of the different authors have been grouped into four main sections:• Robots• Control and Intelligence• Sensing• Collaborative automationThe chapters have been structured to provide an easy to follow introduction to the topics that are addressed, including the most relevant references, so that anyone interested in this field can get started in the area

Monitoring of sea-ice-atmosphere interface in the proximity of arctic tidewater glaciers: The contribution of marine robotics

The Svalbard archipelago, with its partially closed waters influenced by both oceanic conditions and large tidal glaciers, represents a prime target for understanding the effects of ongoing climate change on glaciers, oceans, and ecosystems. An understanding of the role played by tidewater glaciers in marine primary production is still affected by a lack of data from close proximity to glacier fronts, to which, for safety reasons, manned surface vessels cannot get too close. In this context, autonomous marine vehicles can play a key role in collecting high quality data in dangerous interface areas. In particular, the contribution given by light, portable, and modular marine robots is discussed in this paper. The state-of-the-art of technology and of operating procedures is established on the basis of the experience gained in campaigns carried out by Italian National Research Council (CNR) robotic researchers in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard Islands, in 2015, 2017, and 2018 respectively. The aim was to demonstrate the capability of an Unmanned Semi-Submersible Vehicle (USSV): (i) To collect water samples in contact with the front of a tidewater glacier; (ii) to work in cooperation with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for sea surface and air column characterisation in the proximity of the fronts of the glaciers; and (iii) to perform, when equipped with suitable tools and instruments, repetitive sampling of water surface as well as profiling the parameters of the water and air column close to the fronts of the tidewater glaciers. The article also reports the issues encountered in navigating in the middle of bergy bits and growlers as well as the problems faced in using some sensors at high latitudes

Modeling and formal verification of probabilistic reconfigurable systems

In this thesis, we propose a new approach for formal modeling and verification of adaptive probabilistic systems. Dynamic reconfigurable systems are the trend of all future technological systems, such as flight control systems, vehicle electronic systems, and manufacturing systems. In order to meet user and environmental requirements, such a dynamic reconfigurable system has to actively adjust its configuration at run-time by modifying its components and connections, while changes are detected in the internal/external execution environment. On the other hand, these changes may violate the memory usage, the required energy and the concerned real-time constraints since the behavior of the system is unpredictable. It might also make the system's functions unavailable for some time and make potential harm to human life or large financial investments. Thus, updating a system with any new configuration requires that the post reconfigurable system fully satisfies the related constraints. We introduce GR-TNCES formalism for the optimal functional and temporal specification of probabilistic reconfigurable systems under resource constraints. It enables the optimal specification of a probabilistic, energetic and memory constraints of such a system. To formally verify the correctness and the safety of such a probabilistic system specification, and the non-violation of its properties, an automatic transformation from GR-TNCES models into PRISM models is introduced. Moreover, a new approach XCTL is also proposed to formally verify reconfigurable systems. It enables the formal certification of uncompleted and reconfigurable systems. A new version of the software ZIZO is also proposed to model, simulate and verify such GR-TNCES model. To prove its relevance, the latter was applied to case studies; it was used to model and simulate the behavior of an IPV4 protocol to prevent the energy and memory resources violation. It was also used to optimize energy consumption of an automotive skid conveyor.In dieser Arbeit wird ein neuer Ansatz zur formalen Modellierung und Verifikation dynamisch rekonfigurierbarer Systeme vorgestellt. Dynamische rekonfigurierbare Systeme sind in vielen aktuellen und zukünftigen Anwendungen, wie beispielsweise Flugsteuerungssystemen, Fahrzeugelektronik und Fertigungssysteme zu finden. Diese Systeme weisen ein probabilistisches, adaptives Verhalten auf. Um die Benutzer- und Umgebungsbedingungen kontinuierlich zu erfüllen, muss ein solches System seine Konfiguration zur Laufzeit aktiv anpassen, indem es seine Komponenten, Verbindungen zwischen Komponenten und seine Daten modifiziert (adaptiv), sobald Änderungen in der internen oder externen Ausführungsumgebung erkannt werden (probabilistisch). Diese Anpassungen dürfen Beschränkungen bei der Speichernutzung, der erforderlichen Energie und bestehende Echtzeitbedingungen nicht verletzen. Eine nicht geprüfte Rekonfiguration könnte dazu führen, dass die Funktionen des Systems für einige Zeit nicht verfügbar wären und potenziell menschliches Leben gefährdet würde oder großer finanzieller Schaden entstünde. Somit erfordert das Aktualisieren eines Systems mit einer neuen Konfiguration, dass das rekonfigurierte System die zugehörigen Beschränkungen vollständig einhält. Um dies zu überprüfen, wird in dieser Arbeit der GR-TNCES-Formalismus, eine Erweiterung von Petrinetzen, für die optimale funktionale und zeitliche Spezifikation probabilistischer rekonfigurierbarer Systeme unter Ressourcenbeschränkungen vorgeschlagen. Die entstehenden Modelle sollen über probabilistische model checking verifiziert werden. Dazu eignet sich die etablierte Software PRISM. Um die Verifikation zu ermöglichen wird in dieser Arbeit ein Verfahren zur Transformation von GR-TNCES-Modellen in PRISM-Modelle beschrieben. Eine neu eingeführte Logik (XCTL) erlaubt zudem die einfache Beschreibung der zu prüfenden Eigenschaften. Die genannten Schritte wurden in einer Softwareumgebung für den automatisierten Entwurf, die Simulation und die formale Verifikation (durch eine automatische Transformation nach PRISM) umgesetzt. Eine Fallstudie zeigt die Anwendung des Verfahren

Advances in Intelligent Robotics and Collaborative Automation

This book provides an overview of a series of advanced research lines in robotics as well as of design and development methodologies for intelligent robots and their intelligent components. It represents a selection of extended versions of the best papers presented at the Seventh IEEE International Workshop on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications IDAACS 2013 that were related to these topics. Its contents integrate state of the art computational intelligence based techniques for automatic robot control to novel distributed sensing and data integration methodologies that can be applied to intelligent robotics and automation systems. The objective of the text was to provide an overview of some of the problems in the field of robotic systems and intelligent automation and the approaches and techniques that relevant research groups within this area are employing to try to solve them.The contributions of the different authors have been grouped into four main sections:• Robots• Control and Intelligence• Sensing• Collaborative automationThe chapters have been structured to provide an easy to follow introduction to the topics that are addressed, including the most relevant references, so that anyone interested in this field can get started in the area

Modular soft pneumatic actuator system design for compliance matching

The future of robotics is personal. Never before has technology been as pervasive as it is today, with advanced mobile electronics hardware and multi-level network connectivity pushing âsmartâ devices deeper into our daily lives through home automation systems, virtual assistants, and wearable activity monitoring. As the suite of personal technology around us continues to grow in this way, augmenting and offloading the burden of routine activities of daily living, the notion that this trend will extend to robotics seems inevitable. Transitioning robots from their current principal domain of industrial factory settings to domestic, workplace, or public environments is not simply a matter of relocation or reprogramming, however. The key differences between âtraditionalâ types of robots and those which would best serve personal, proximal, human interactive applications demand a new approach to their design. Chief among these are requirements for safety, adaptability, reliability, reconfigurability, and to a more practical extent, usability. These properties frame the context and objectives of my thesis work, which seeks to provide solutions and answers to not only how these features might be achieved in personal robotic systems, but as well what benefits they can afford. I approach the investigation of these questions from a perspective of compliance matching of hardware systems to their applications, by providing methods to achieve mechanical attributes complimentary to their environment and end-use. These features are fundamental to the burgeoning field of Soft Robotics, wherein flexible, compliant materials are used as the basis for the structure, actuation, sensing, and control of complete robotic systems. Combined with pressurized air as a power source, soft pneumatic actuator (SPA) based systems offers new and novel methods of exploiting the intrinsic compliance of soft material components in robotic systems. While this strategy seems to answer many of the needs for human-safe robotic applications, it also brings new questions and challenges: What are the needs and applications personal robots may best serve? Are soft pneumatic actuators capable of these tasks, or âusefulâ work output and performance? How can SPA based systems be applied to provide complex functionality needed for operation in diverse, real-world environments? What are the theoretical and practical challenges in implementing scalable, multiple degrees of freedom systems, and how can they be overcome? I present solutions to these problems in my thesis work, elucidated through scientific design, testing and evaluation of robotic prototypes which leverage and demonstrate three key features: 1) Intrinsic compliance: provided by passive elastic and flexible component material properties, 2) Extrinsic compliance: rendered through high number of independent, controllable degrees of freedom, and 3) Complementary design: exhibited by modular, plug and play architectures which combine both attributes to achieve compliant systems. Through these core projects and others listed below I have been engaged in soft robotic technology, its application, and solutions to the challenges which are critical to providing a path forward within the soft robotics field, as well as for the future of personal robotics as a whole toward creating a better society