A model-based residual approach for human-robot collaboration during manual polishing operations

A fully robotized polishing of metallic surfaces may be insufficient in case of parts with complex geometric shapes, where a manual intervention is still preferable. Within the EU SYMPLEXITY project, we are considering tasks where manual polishing operations are performed in strict physical Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) between a robot holding the part and a human operator equipped with an abrasive tool. During the polishing task, the robot should firmly keep the workpiece in a prescribed sequence of poses, by monitoring and resisting to the external forces applied by the operator. However, the user may also wish to change the orientation of the part mounted on the robot, simply by pushing or pulling the robot body and changing thus its configuration. We propose a control algorithm that is able to distinguish the external torques acting at the robot joints in two components, one due to the polishing forces being applied at the end-effector level, the other due to the intentional physical interaction engaged by the human. The latter component is used to reconfigure the manipulator arm and, accordingly, its end-effector orientation. The workpiece position is kept instead fixed, by exploiting the intrinsic redundancy of this subtask. The controller uses a F/T sensor mounted at the robot wrist, together with our recently developed model-based technique (the residual method) that is able to estimate online the joint torques due to contact forces/torques applied at any place along the robot structure. In order to obtain a reliable residual, which is necessary to implement the control algorithm, an accurate robot dynamic model (including also friction effects at the joints and drive gains) needs to be identified first. The complete dynamic identification and the proposed control method for the human-robot collaborative polishing task are illustrated on a 6R UR10 lightweight manipulator mounting an ATI 6D sensor

Consistency of compact and extended models of glucose-insulin homeostasis: The role of variable pancreatic reserve

Published compact and extended models of the glucose-insulin physiologic control system are compared, in order to understand why a specific functional form of the compact model proved to be necessary for a satisfactory representation of acute perturbation experiments such as the Intra Venous Glucose Tolerance Test (IVGTT). A spectrum of IVGTT’s of virtual subjects ranging from normal to IFG to IGT to frank T2DM were simulated using an extended model incorporating the population-of-controllers paradigm originally hypothesized by Grodsky, and proven to be able to capture a wide array of experimental results from heterogeneous perturbation procedures. The simulated IVGTT’s were then fitted with the Single-Delay Model (SDM), a compact model with only six free parameters, previously shown to be very effective in delivering precise estimates of insulin sensitivity and secretion during an IVGTT. Comparison of the generating, extended-model parameter values with the obtained compact model estimates shows that the functional form of the nonlinear insulin-secretion term, empirically found to be necessary for the compact model to satisfactorily fit clinical observations, captures the pancreatic reserve level of the simulated virtual patients. This result supports the validity of the compact model as a meaningful analysis tool for the clinical assessment of insulin sensitivity

A Method to Study `Chemical' Fluctuations in Nucleus--Nucleus Collisions

A method to study event--by--event fluctuations of the `chemical' (particle type) composition of the final state of high energy collisions is proposed.}Comment: revised version, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Energy Scan Program at the Cern SPS and An Observation of the Deconfinement Phase Transition in Nucleus--Nucleus Collisions

The history and the main results of the energy scan program at the CERN SPS are reviewed. Several anomalies in energy dependence of hadron production predicted as signals of deconfinement phase transition are observed and they indicate that the onset of deconfinement is located at about 30 A GeV. For the first time we seem to have clear evidence for the existence of a deconfined state of matter in nature.Comment: talk given at the SQM 2003, March 2003, Atlantic Beach, US

A bajocian (Middle jurassic) marine gastropod assemblage from the badamu formation, Central Iran

Nine species of gastropods are reported from the Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) part of the Badamu Formation of Central Iran. This is the first report of a gastropod assemblage of this age from the shelves of the Kimmerian Continent. Seven species belong to the Vetigastropoda and two to the Caenogastropoda. Two new species, the pleurotomariid Bathrotomaria iranica sp. nov. and the eucyclid Eucycloidea badamuensis sp. nov., are described. The remaining species are left in open nomenclature owing to poor preservation. The composition of the gastropod association is strongly reminiscent of other Tethyan gastropod faunas, in particular those from the southern shores of the Tethys (India and Arabia) and from southern Europe. This indicates a relatively uniform distribution of gastropod faunas along the Middle Jurassic shores of the western Tethys.Fil: Ferrari, Silvia Mariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología.; ArgentinaFil: Binazadeh, Tayyeb. Shahid Bahonar University; IránFil: Kaim, Andrzej. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences; Poloni