Suitable task allocation in intelligent systems for assistive environments

The growing need of technological assistance to provide support to people with special needs demands for systems more and more efficient and with better performances. With this aim, this work tries to advance in a multirobot platform that allows the coordinated control of different agents and other elements in the environment to achieve an autonomous behavior based on the user’s needs or will. Therefore, this environment is structured according to the potentiality of each agent and elements of this environment and of the dynamic context, to generate the adequate actuation plans and the coordination of their execution.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Systems simulations supporting NASA telerobotics

Two simulation and analysis environments have been developed to support telerobotics research at the Langley Research Center. One is a high-fidelity, nonreal-time, interactive model called ROBSIM, which combines user-generated models of workspace environment, robots, and loads into a working system and simulates the interaction among the system components. Models include user-specified actuator, sensor, and control parameters, as well as kinematic and dynamic characteristics. Kinematic, dynamic, and response analyses can be selected, with system configuration, task trajectories, and arm states displayed using computer graphics. The second environment is a real-time, manned Telerobotic Systems Simulation (TRSS) which uses the facilities of the Intelligent Systems Research Laboratory (ISRL). It utilizes a hierarchical structure of functionally distributed computers communicating over both parallel and high-speed serial data paths to enable studies of advanced telerobotic systems. Multiple processes perform motion planning, operator communications, forward and inverse kinematics, control/sensor fusion, and I/O processing while communicating via common memory. Both ROBSIM and TRSS, including their capability, status, and future plans are discussed. Also described is the architecture of ISRL and recent telerobotic system studies in ISRL

Integrating Olfaction in a Robotic Telepresence Loop

In this work we propose enhancing a typical robotic telepresence architecture by considering olfactory and wind flow information in addition to the common audio and video channels. The objective is to expand the range of applications where robotics telepresence can be applied, including those related to the detection of volatile chemical substances (e.g. land-mine detection, explosive deactivation, operations in noxious environments, etc.). Concretely, we analyze how the sense of smell can be integrated in the telepresence loop, covering the digitization of the gases and wind flow present in the remote environment, the transmission through the communication network, and their display at the user location. Experiments under different environmental conditions are presented to validate the proposed telepresence system when localizing a gas emission leak at the remote environment.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Potential applications of simulation modelling techniques in healthcare: lessons learned from aerospace and military

The Aerospace and Military areas are to do with complex missions and situations. Modelling and Simulation (M&S) has been applied in many areas of defence ranging from space sciences, satellite engineering to multi-warfare (air warfare, undersea warfare), air & missile defence, acquisition, tactical military trainings & exercises, national security analysis and strategic decision making & planning, etc. The application of simulation modelling techniques in healthcare would improve the provision of healthcare services; however, their application has been much relatively feeble in the healthcare sector as compared to the defence sector. This paper presents results from a systematic literature survey on applications of modelling simulation techniques in the Aerospace & Military. The knowledge gained or lessons learned from the survey were finally used to analyze the potential applications of the simulation modelling techniques to the healthcare sector. Results show that in the defence sector, Distributed Simulation has now become a widely adopted technique. However, System Dynamics (SD) and Discrete Event Simulation (DSE) have also gained relative attention. From this survey it becomes clear that various simulation modelling techniques are useful for specific purposes and have potential applications in the healthcare sector

NASA Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration

NASA's program for the civilian exploration of space is a challenge to scientists and engineers to help maintain and further develop the United States' position of leadership in a focused sphere of space activity. Such an ambitious plan requires the contribution and further development of many scientific and technological fields. One research area essential for the success of these space exploration programs is Intelligent Robotic Systems. These systems represent a class of autonomous and semi-autonomous machines that can perform human-like functions with or without human interaction. They are fundamental for activities too hazardous for humans or too distant or complex for remote telemanipulation. To meet this challenge, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has established an Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE). The Center was created with a five year $5.5 million grant from NASA submitted by a team of the Robotics and Automation Laboratories. The Robotics and Automation Laboratories of RPI are the result of the merger of the Robotics and Automation Laboratory of the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE) and the Research Laboratory for Kinematics and Robotic Mechanisms of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, and Mechanics (ME,AE,&M), in 1987. This report is an examination of the activities that are centered at CIRSSE

Real-time, interactive, visually updated simulator system for telepresence

Time delays and limited sensory feedback of remote telerobotic systems tend to disorient teleoperators and dramatically decrease the operator's performance. To remove the effects of time delays, key components were designed and developed of a prototype forward simulation subsystem, the Global-Local Environment Telerobotic Simulator (GLETS) that buffers the operator from the remote task. GLETS totally immerses an operator in a real-time, interactive, simulated, visually updated artificial environment of the remote telerobotic site. Using GLETS, the operator will, in effect, enter into a telerobotic virtual reality and can easily form a gestalt of the virtual 'local site' that matches the operator's normal interactions with the remote site. In addition to use in space based telerobotics, GLETS, due to its extendable architecture, can also be used in other teleoperational environments such as toxic material handling, construction, and undersea exploration