Analysis of crowd behavior through pattern virtualization

The study of the concentration of individuals in public places such as squares, shopping malls, parks, gardens, etc., is an open study field in the different disciplines of science, that leads to the need of having systems that allow to forecast and to predict eventualities in uncontrolled situations, as it is the case of an earthquake. From that assumption, artificial intelligence, as a branch of computational sciences, studies the human behavior in a virtual way in order to obtain simulations based on social, psychological, neuro-scientific areas, among others, with the purpose of linking these theories to the area of artificial intelligence. This paper presents a way to generate virtual multitudes with heterogeneous behaviors, in such a way that the individuals that form the multitude present different behaviors

Workstation Configuration and Process Planning for RLW Operations

The application of Remote Laser Welding (RLW) has become an attractive assembly technology in various branches of industry, as it offers higher efficiency at lower costs compared to traditional Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) when high volumes of sheet metal assemblies are to be produced. However, the introduction of RLW technology raises multiple new issues in designing the configuration, the layout, and the behavior of the assembly system. Since configuring an RLW workstation and planning the welding process are closely interrelated problems, a hierarchical decision process must be applied where configuration and planning go hand in hand. The paper presents a hierarchical workflow forworkstation configuration and process planning for RLW operations, and proposes methods for solving the decision problems related to each step of this workflow. A software toolbox is introduced that has been developed to facilitate a semi-Automatic, mixed-initiative workstation design and t o guide the expert user throughout the configuration, planning, programming, evaluation, and simulation of the RLW workstation. A case study from the automotive industry is presented, where the software tools developed are applied to configuring and planning the behavior of an RLW workstation that replaces RSW technology in assembling a car door

Assembling 3D Objects with Artificial Spatial Intelligence

The focus of this thesis is to provide an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can develop spatial intelligence. A MATLAB application of a genetic algorithm AI system has been implemented. The AI system will incorporate three dimensional (3D) objects that can learn to maneuver in 3D space so that they may be assembled with each other. As an example, two rectangles with holes and a nut will maneuver itself onto a screw. The performance of the AI system will then be recorded as video results

Large Deformation Object Modeling Using Finite Element Method And Proper Orthogonal Decomposition For Haptic Robots

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2008Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2008Bu çalışmada, hissedici arabirimler ve bu arabirimlerde kullanılan hesaplama metotları incelenmiştir. Bu amaçla doğrultusunda, yüksek deformasyon özelliğine sahip doğrusal olmayan bir kirişin modeli sonlu elemanlar metodu kullanılarak elde edilmiştir ve bu model gerçek zamalı olarak PHANTOM® Premium 6 DOF hissedici arabirimi ile etkileşime geçirilmiştir. Etkileşimi elde etmek amacıyla, kiriş modeli OpenGL kütüphanesi kullanılarak görselleştirilmiştir ve cihaza OpenHaptics kütüphanesinin HDAPI fonksiyonları kullanılarak hükmedilmiştir. Hissedici cihazların ihtiyaç duyduğu yüksek hesaplama hızlarını elde edebilmek amacıyla uygun ortogonal ayrıştırma metodunu kullanarak düşük mertebeli model elde edilmiştir. Her iki modelin davranışı incelendiginde uygun orthogonal ayrıştırma metodunun, orjinal model davranışı gösterdiği saptanmış ve hesaplama zamanlarının büyük oranda azaldığı görülmüştür.In this study, haptic systems are introduced with investigation of haptic interfaces and haptic rendering. To this end, a large deformation real time beam model is developed and integrated with the PHANTOM® Premium 6 DOF haptic robot. OpenGL library is used as a visualization tool of the model and the haptic robot is manipulated using libraries of OpenHaptics named as HDAPI. In order to obtain high computational demands of the haptic systems, Proper Orthogonal Decomposition method is used to obtain a low order model. Investigations of both models have revealed that lower order model behaves exactly in a similar manner as the original model with reduced computational effort.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

A safe and energy efficient robotic system for industrial automatic tests on domestic appliances: Problem statement and proof of concept

In this paper, the design and the development of a robotic platform conceived to perform accelerated life tests on a newly manufactured domestic appliances is presented. The proposed system aims at improving the safety of human operators that share the workspace with the robotic platform which is a common scenario of test laboratories. A deep learning algorithm is used for the human detection and pose estimation, while the integration between a conventional motion planning algorithm with a fast 3D collision checker has been implemented as a global planner plugin for the ROS navigation stack. With the twofold objective of improving safety and saving energy in the battery-powered mobile manipulator used in this project, the problem of minimizing the overall kinetic energy is addressed through a properly designed task priority controller, in which the manipulator inertia matrix is used to weight the joint speeds while satisfying multiple robotic tasks according to a hierarchy designed to interact with the appliances while preserving the safety of the human operators. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the overall control architecture and preliminary results indicate the effectiveness of the developed system in the test laboratory floors

Quantization, Calibration and Planning for Euclidean Motions in Robotic Systems

The properties of Euclidean motions are fundamental in all areas of robotics research. Throughout the past several decades, investigations on some low-level tasks like parameterizing specific movements and generating effective motion plans have fostered high-level operations in an autonomous robotic system. In typical applications, before executing robot motions, a proper quantization of basic motion primitives could simplify online computations; a precise calibration of sensor readings could elevate the accuracy of the system controls. Of particular importance in the whole autonomous robotic task, a safe and efficient motion planning framework would make the whole system operate in a well-organized and effective way. All these modules encourage huge amounts of efforts in solving various fundamental problems, such as the uniformity of quantization in non-Euclidean manifolds, the calibration errors on unknown rigid transformations due to the lack of data correspondence and noise, the narrow passage and the curse of dimensionality bottlenecks in developing motion planning algorithms, etc. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation is to tackle these challenges in the topics of quantization, calibration and planning for Euclidean motions

Generacion de multitudes heterogeneas con comportamientos inteligentes en ambientes virtuales

La simulaci ́on de multitudes consiste en representar a grupos de personajes auto ́no- mos llamados agentes virtuales, con reglas y entornos que simulan a aquellos encontrados en la vida real. Entre los objetivos de las simulaciones virtuales tam- bi ́en se encuentra el generar algoritmos capaces de producir visualizaciones de manera fluida, esto es no tener retrasos en la visualizacio ́n de la simulacio ́n. Las simulaciones de multitudes son herramientas utilizadas por organizaciones, por ejemplo una constructora, para realizar pruebas virtuales a determinadas estruc- turas como lo puede ser un estadio de fu ́tbol, las multitudes utilizadas en este tipo de simulaciones carecen de comportamientos diferentes, es decir todos los individuos de la multitud se comportan de la misma manera aunque visualmente sean diferentes. La tesis presenta una propuesta para generar multitudes virtuales heterog ́eneas, de tal forma que los individuos que conforman la multitud exhiban distintos comportamientos, y no como se hace hasta el momento donde un mismo comportamiento que se aplica a todos los agentes. Se propone tambi ́en una t ́ecnica de agrupamiento en distintas regiones del a ́rea a poblar utilizando diagramas de Voronoi, posibilitando la caracterizaci ́on de zonas en donde existe una concentra- cio ́n selectiva dependiendo de los distintos roles que asumen los individuos de la multitud. Se introducen los LCP (Lugares de concentraci ́on de la poblacio ́n) que son los lugares donde distintos grupos de la poblacio ́n se agrupan, lo que genera un comportamiento de agrupacio ́n en las multitudes. Los resultados observados permiten distinguir distintos comportamientos debido a que se generan diferentes velocidades de desplazamiento, taman ̃os y pesos. La utilizacio ́n de los LCP emula un comportamiento de agrupaci ́on dependiendo del rol que cada agente virtual tenga, lo cual permite que se agrupe en distintas zonas del ambiente virtual

Real-Time Visualization for Prevention of Excavation Related Utility Strikes.

An excavator unintentionally hits a buried utility every 60 seconds in the United States, causing several fatalities and injuries, and billions of dollars in damage each year. Most of these accidents occur either because excavator operators do not know where utilities are buried, or because they cannot perceive where the utilities are relative to the digging excavator. In particular, an operator has no practical means of knowing the distance of an excavator’s digging implement (e.g. bucket) to the nearest buried obstructions until they are visually exposed, which means that the first estimate of proximity an operator receives is often after the digging implement has already struck the buried utility. The objective of this dissertation was to remedy this situation and explore new proximity monitoring methods for improving the spatial awareness and decision-making capabilities of excavator operators. The research pursued fundamental knowledge in equipment articulation monitoring, and geometric proximity interpretation, and their integration for improving spatial awareness and operator knowledge. A comprehensive computational framework was developed to monitor construction activities in real-time in a concurrent 3D virtual world. As an excavator works, a geometric representation of the real ongoing process is recreated in the virtual environment using 3D models of the excavator, buried utilities and jobsite terrain. Data from sensors installed on the excavator is used to update the position and orientation of the corresponding equipment in the virtual world. Finally, geometric proximity monitoring and collision detection computations are performed between the equipment end-effector and co-located buried utility models to provide distance and impending collision information to the operator, thereby realizing real time knowledge-based excavator operation and control. The outcome of this research has the potential to transform excavator operation from a primarily skill-based activity to a knowledge-based practice, leading to significant increases in construction productivity and safety. This is turn is expected to help realize tangible cost savings and reduction of potential hazards to citizens, improvement in competitiveness of U.S. industry, and reduction in life cycle costs of underground infrastructure.PHDCivil EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96133/1/stalmaki_1.pd

Ambiente virtual interativo com colisão de deformação de objetos para treinamento médico utilizando a API Java

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Hélio PedriniCo-orientadora: Profa. Dra. Fátima L.S.N. MarquesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciencias Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa: Curitiba, 28/08/2008Bibliografia: 64-69Resumo: O treinamento de procedimentos médicos pode ser beneficiado com o uso de ambientes virtuais interativos que simulam com realismo as ações do usuário. A simulação deve emitir respostas rápidas ao usuário relativas ao encontro de objetos, deformação, restrição de movimento ou mesmo produzir forças e vibrações. Este trabalho descreve a criação de um protótipo de ambiente virtual para treinamento médico. Classes e métodos são projetados e implementados no ambiente por meio da linguagem de programação Java. Métodos de colisão e de deformação de objetos são utilizados para incorporar realismo à cena, sendo itens complexos e dependentes das informações de interação monitoradas no ambiente virtual. Os objetos modelados são representados por malhas poligonais. A deteção de colisão entre objetos é baseada na subdivisão hierárquica do espaço com octrees. Deformação massa-mola é utilizada para simular a alteração na forma dos objetos que se colidem. Experimentos são realizados para demonstrar as funcionalidades do protótipo.Abstract: Medical procedure training can be benefited from the use of interactive virtual environments that realistically simulates the actions of the user. The enviroment should produce quick answers to the user such as object collision, deformation, motion limitation, or forces and vibrations when objects collide. This paper describes the development of a virtual environment prototype for medical training. Classes and methods are designed and implemented in the environment using Java programming language. Object collision and deformation methods are used to incorporate realism to the scene. The modeled objects are represented by polygonal meshes. The collision detection between objects are based on spatial hierarchical subdivision with octrees. Mass-spring deformation is used to simulate shape changes in the objects that collide. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the prototype