Internet of robotic things : converging sensing/actuating, hypoconnectivity, artificial intelligence and IoT Platforms

The Internet of Things (IoT) concept is evolving rapidly and influencing newdevelopments in various application domains, such as the Internet of MobileThings (IoMT), Autonomous Internet of Things (A-IoT), Autonomous Systemof Things (ASoT), Internet of Autonomous Things (IoAT), Internetof Things Clouds (IoT-C) and the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT) etc.that are progressing/advancing by using IoT technology. The IoT influencerepresents new development and deployment challenges in different areassuch as seamless platform integration, context based cognitive network integration,new mobile sensor/actuator network paradigms, things identification(addressing, naming in IoT) and dynamic things discoverability and manyothers. The IoRT represents new convergence challenges and their need to be addressed, in one side the programmability and the communication ofmultiple heterogeneous mobile/autonomous/robotic things for cooperating,their coordination, configuration, exchange of information, security, safetyand protection. Developments in IoT heterogeneous parallel processing/communication and dynamic systems based on parallelism and concurrencyrequire new ideas for integrating the intelligent “devices”, collaborativerobots (COBOTS), into IoT applications. Dynamic maintainability, selfhealing,self-repair of resources, changing resource state, (re-) configurationand context based IoT systems for service implementation and integrationwith IoT network service composition are of paramount importance whennew “cognitive devices” are becoming active participants in IoT applications.This chapter aims to be an overview of the IoRT concept, technologies,architectures and applications and to provide a comprehensive coverage offuture challenges, developments and applications

A plug and play transparent communication layer for cloud robotics architectures

The cloud robotics paradigm aims at enhancing the abilities of robots by using cloud services, but it still poses several challenges in the research community. Most of the current literature focuses on how to enrich specific robotic capabilities, overlooking how to effectively establish communication between the two fields. Our work proposes a “plug-and-play” solution to bridge the communication gap between cloud and robotic applications. The proposed solution is designed based on the mature WebSocket technology and it can be extended to any ROS-based robotic platform. The main contributions of this work are the definition of a reliable autoconnection/autoconfiguration mechanism as well as to outline a scalable communication layer that allows the effective control of multiple robots from multiple users. The “plug-and-play” solution was evaluated in both simulated and real scenarios. In the first case, the presence of users and robots was simulated with Robot Operating System (ROS) nodes running on five machines. In the real scenario, three non-expert users teleoperated, simultaneously, three remote robots by using the proposed communication layer with different networking protocols. Results confirmed the reliability at different levels: at startup (success_rate = 100%); during high-rate communications (message_lost = 0%); in performing open-loop spiral trajectories with enhancement, with respect to similar works; and in the quality of simultaneous teleoperations

A real-time distributed software infrastructure for cooperating mobile autonomous robots

Cooperating mobile autonomous robots have been generating a growing interest in fields such as rescue, demining and security. These applications require a real time middleware and wireless communication protocol that can effecient and timely support the fusion of the distributed perception and the development of coordinated behaviors. This paper proposes an affordable middleware, based on low-cost and open-source COTS technologies, which relies on a real-time database partially replicated in all team members, containing both local and remote state variables, in a distributed shared memory style. This provides seamless access to the complete team state, with fast non-blocking local operations. The remote data is updated autonomously in the background by a WiFi-based wireless communication protocol, at an adequate refresh rate. The software infrastruture is complemented with a task manager that provides scheduling and synchronization services to the application processes on top of the Linux operating system. Such infrastructure has been successfully used for four years in one RoboCup middle-size soccer team, and it has proved to be dependable in the presence of uncontrolled spurious traffic in the communication channel, using an adaptive technique to synchronizating the robots in the team and reconfiguring the communications dynamically and automatically according, to the number of currently active team members

MISSION-ORIENTED HETEROGENEOUS ROBOT COOPERATION BASED ON SMART RESOURCES EXECUTION

Home environments are changing as more technological devices are used to improve daily life. The growing demand for high technology in our homes means that robot integration will soon arrive. Home devices are evolving in a connected paradigm in which data flows to perform efficient home task management. Heterogeneous home robots connected in a network can establish a workflow that complements their capabilities and so increases performance within a mission execution. This work addresses the definition and requirements of a robot-group mission in the home context. The proposed solution relies on a network of smart resources, which are defined as cyber-physical systems that provide high-level service execution. Firstly, control middleware architecture is introduced as the execution base for the Smart resources. Next, the Smart resource topology and its integration within a robotic platform are addressed. Services supplied by Smart resources manage their execution through a robot behavior architecture. Robot behavior execution is hierarchically organized through a mission definition that can be established as an individual or collective approach. Environment model and interaction tasks characterize the operation capabilities of each robot within a mission. Mission goal achievement in a heterogeneous group is enhanced through the complement of the interaction capabilities of each robot. To offer a clearer explanation, a full use case is presented in which two robots cooperate to execute a mission and the previously detailed steps are evaluated. Finally, some of the obtained results are discussed as conclusions and future works is introduced.Los entornos domésticos se encuentran sometidos a un proceso de cambio gracias al empleo de dispositivos tecnológicos que mejoran la calidad de vida de las personas. La creciente demanda de alta tecnología en los hogares señala una próxima incorporación de la robótica de servicio. Los dispositivos domésticos están evolucionando hacia un paradigma de conexión en el cual la información fluye para ofrecer una gestión más eficiente. En este entorno, robots heterogéneos conectados a la red pueden establecer un flujo de trabajo que ofreciendo nuevas soluciones y incrementando la eficiencia en la ejecución de tareas. Este trabajo aborda la definición y los requisitos necesarios para la ejecución de misiones en grupos de robots heterogéneos en entornos domésticos. La solución propuesta se apoya en una red de Smart resources, que son definidos como sistemas ciber-físicos que proporcionan servicios de alto nivel. En primer lugar, se presenta la arquitectura del middleware de control en la cual se basa la ejecución de los Smart resources. A continuación se detalla la topología de los Smart resources, así como su integración en plataformas robóticas. Los servicios proporcionados por los Smart resources gestionan su ejecución mediante una arquitectura de comportamientos para robots. La ejecución de estos comportamientos se organiza de forma jerárquica mediante la definición de una misión con un objetivo establecido de forma individual o colectiva a un grupo de robots. Dentro de una misión, las tareas de modelado e interacción con el entorno define las capacidades de operación de los robots dentro de una misión. Mediante la integración de un grupo heterogéneo de robots sus diversas capacidades son complementadas para el logro un objetivo común. A fin de caracterizar esta propuesta, los mecanismos presentados en este documento se evaluarán en detalle a lo largo de una serie experimentos en los cuales un grupo de robots heterogéneos ejecutan una misión colaborativa para alcanzar un objetivo común. Finalmente, los resultados serán discutidos a modo de conclusiones dando lugar el establecimiento de un trabajo futuro.Els entorns domèstics es troben sotmesos a un procés de canvi gràcies a l'ocupació de dispositius tecnològics que milloren la qualitat de vida de les persones. La creixent demanda d'alta tecnologia a les llars assenyala una propera incorporació de la robòtica de servei. Els dispositius domèstics estan evolucionant cap a un paradigma de connexió en el qual la informació flueix per oferir una gestió més eficient. En aquest entorn, robots heterogenis connectats a la xarxa poden establir un flux de treball que ofereix noves solucions i incrementant l'eficiència en l'execució de tasques. Aquest treball aborda la definició i els requisits necessaris per a l'execució de missions en grups de robots heterogenis en entorns domèstics. La solució proposada es recolza en una xarxa de Smart resources, que són definits com a sistemes ciber-físics que proporcionen serveis d'alt nivell. En primer lloc, es presenta l'arquitectura del middleware de control en la qual es basa l'execució dels Smart resources. A continuació es detalla la tipologia dels Smart resources, així com la seva integració en plataformes robòtiques. Els serveis proporcionats pels Smart resources gestionen la seva execució mitjançant una arquitectura de comportaments per a robots. L'execució d'aquests comportaments s'organitza de forma jeràrquica mitjançant la definició d'una missió amb un objectiu establert de forma individual o col·lectiva a un grup de robots. Dins d'una missió, les tasques de modelatge i interacció amb l'entorn defineix les capacitats d'operació dels robots dins d'una missió. Mitjançant la integració d'un grup heterogeni de robots seves diverses capacitats són complementades per a l'assoliment un objectiu comú. Per tal de caracteritzar aquesta proposta, els mecanismes presentats en aquest document s'avaluaran en detall mitjançant d'una sèrie experiments en els quals un grup de robots heterogenis executen una missió col·laborativa per aconseguir un objectiu comú. Finalment, els resultats seran discutits a manera de conclusions donant lloc a l'establiment d'un treball futur.Munera Sánchez, E. (2017). MISSION-ORIENTED HETEROGENEOUS ROBOT COOPERATION BASED ON SMART RESOURCES EXECUTION [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/88404TESI

Designing Distributed, Component-Based Systems for Industrial Robotic Applications

none3noneM. Amoretti; S. Caselli; M. ReggianiM., Amoretti; S., Caselli; Reggiani, Monic

Design and implementation of architecture for multi-robot cooperation in the context of WSN

International audienceThe concept of autonomous mobile agents gets a lot of attention in the domain of wireless sensor networks (WSN) or wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSAN). Multiple robots that coordinate or cooperate with other sensors, robots or human operator, allow the WSN/WSAN to perform tasks that are far beyond the scope of single robot unit. In this work, we describe the robot middleware architecture that allows networked multi-robot control and data acquisition in the context of wireless sensor networks. Furthermore, we present three examples of robot network deployment and illustrate the proposed architecture usability: the robotic network deployment with the goal of covering the Point of Interest, adaptable multi-hop video transmission scenario, and the case of obtaining the energy consumption during the deployment

a human in the loop cyber physical system for collaborative assembly in smart manufacturing

Abstract Industry 4.0 rose with the introduction of cyber-physical systems (CPS) and Internet of things (IoT) inside manufacturing systems. CPS represent self-controlled physical processes, having tight networking capabilities and efficient interfaces for human interaction. The interactive dimension of CPS reaches its maximum when defined in terms of natural human-machine interfaces (NHMI), i.e., those reducing the technological barriers required for the interaction. This paper presents a NHMI bringing the human decision-making capabilities inside the cybernetic control loop of a smart manufacturing assembly system. The interface allows to control, coordinate and cooperate with an industrial cobot during the task execution