2,648 research outputs found
Modular development of mobile robots with open source hardware and software components
Prototyping and engineering robot hardware and low-level control often require time and efforts thus subtracted to core research activities, such as SLAM or planning algorithms development, which need a working, reliable, platform to be evaluated in a real world scenario. In this paper, we present Rapid Robot Prototyping (R2P), an open source, hardware and software architecture for the rapid prototyping of robotic applications, where off-the-shelf embedded modules (e.g., sensors, actuators, and controllers) are combined together in a plug-and-play fashion, enabling the implementation of a complex system in a simple and modular way. R2P makes people involved in robotics, from researchers and designers to students and hobbyists, dramatically reduce the time and efforts required to build a robot prototype
Personal Food Computer: A new device for controlled-environment agriculture
Due to their interdisciplinary nature, devices for controlled-environment
agriculture have the possibility to turn into ideal tools not only to conduct
research on plant phenology but also to create curricula in a wide range of
disciplines. Controlled-environment devices are increasing their
functionalities as well as improving their accessibility. Traditionally,
building one of these devices from scratch implies knowledge in fields such as
mechanical engineering, digital electronics, programming, and energy
management. However, the requirements of an effective controlled environment
device for personal use brings new constraints and challenges. This paper
presents the OpenAg Personal Food Computer (PFC); a low cost desktop size
platform, which not only targets plant phenology researchers but also
hobbyists, makers, and teachers from elementary to high-school levels (K-12).
The PFC is completely open-source and it is intended to become a tool that can
be used for collective data sharing and plant growth analysis. Thanks to its
modular design, the PFC can be used in a large spectrum of activities.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, Accepted at the 2017 Future Technologies
Conference (FTC
Overview of modern teaching equipment that supports distant learning
Laboratory is a key element of engineering and applied sciences educational systems. With the development of Internet and connecting IT technologies, the appearance of remote laboratories was inevitable. Virtual laboratories are also available; they place the experiment in a simulated environment. However, this writing focuses on remote experiments not virtual ones. From the students’ point of view, it is a great help not only for those enrolling in distant or online courses but also for those studying in a more traditional way. With the spread of smart, portable devices capable of connection to the internet, students can expand or restructure time spent on studying. This is a huge help to them and also allows them to individually divide their time up, to learn how to self-study. This independent approach can prepare them for working environments. It offers flexibility and convenience to the students. From the universities’ point of view, it helps reduce maintenance costs and universities can share experiments which also helps the not so well-resourced educational facilities
Additive Manufacturing for Nautical Design An Automated Approach to Marine Manufacturing
How can additive manufacturing (AM) technology be applied to automate the production of small marine vessels? For the past 50 years small (below 40 meters) marine vessel manufacturing has been dominated by moulded fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP). There are several shortcomings to this manufacturing method that affect both the formal outcome and the manufacturing process of boats built in FRP: 1) manufacturing requires the use of expensive moulds, 2) formal geometric freedom is limited by moulds which reduce the potential for customization, and 3) special assemblies and structural reinforcements must be moulded separately and joined using a time-consuming hand lay-up process. The use of AM may reduce cost of production by eliminating need for moulds, allow greater ease of customization, and improve worker safety by limiting exposure to harmful materials and chemicals.
The purpose of this research project is to evaluate existing AM technology and assess its potential for application to small marine vessel manufacturing. The project aims to investigate new methods for generating novel AM tool paths and demonstrate through proof of concept that it may be possible to produce the complex topological surfaces and assemblies that are common in marine vessels using multi-bias additive manufacturing (MBAM). However, AM is a broad term that describes a variety of different ways to manufacture objects. As such, AM can be applied to marine manufacturing in a variety of different ways, in different phases of the manufacturing process, and to different extents. At the same time, building boats is a complex process that presents specific problems that must be addressed in any automation solution. Several marine vessel construction projects have already been completed using AM which can serve as case studies for understanding the opportunities and challenges for applying AM to the marine sector. A review of the current state of the technology and qualitative analysis (QA) of case studies provides a set of guidelines for designing a manufacturing method that may prove effective for producing small marine vessels using AM.
The project relied on design-based research (DBR) to develop a series of experimental extruder prototypes for novel toolpath testing on excerpts from a small reference vessel. The combination of QA and DBR experimentation point to a manufacturing solution using articulated robotic manipulators and a continuous fiber thermoset plastic extruder using a modified version of the fused filament fabrication process. This kinematic solution can be extended with external linear or rotational axes and/or by mounting robotic manipulators within a large gantry. This will allow the extruder to approach the work using a wide range of orientations that will be optimal for both the geometry of marine vessels and the requirements of MBAM extrusion. Meanwhile, toolpath generation using the software Grasshopper with KukaPRC plugin demonstrated a proof of concept for creating MBAM toolpaths optimized for small marine vessels. While the method proved feasible for smaller excerpts there remain significant challenges to successful deployment of this manufacturing method that can only be addressed with additional research
Use of robotic systems on airport management optimization
Given the chip and processor size reduction given in the last decades, added to the cheaper and more computational power of them, digitalization and automation of processes has been a nowadays topic that is slowly but steadily increasing and having bigger presence, creating big extended concepts like Industry 4.0 and all the related topics like robotics or artificial intelligence. For the other side, the aerospatial sector, each time wiht a bigger presene, goes inside a big problem where the actual infrastructure is getting small and they need, from one side, optimize the system and from the other, reduce pollutant emissions to the minimum to reach the net-zero 2050 goal for 2050, when the greenhouse effect emissions are expected to be zero o that the created emissions are re-absorbed by the nature and not emitted. Given this situation, in this project it will be shown actual situation of both the aerospace sector and the robotics, and the possible applications can be done on this sector. Also, a little study will allow us to corroborate that the robotic systems have big importance to accomplis the incoming challenges on the aerospatial sector. Also, a series of prototypes, starting from a simple one without graphical interface, going through another with a graphical interface and finally to one controlled by using virtual reality glasses, will be developed and tested as a proof of concept of a robot with applications on the sector, using always technologies that allow an easie reproduccion or platform change to agilize all the future development. All of this with the objective of proving that nowadays robotics does not present a big challenge for solutions development to the aerospace sector.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No ContaminantObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::9 - IndĂşstria, InnovaciĂł i Infraestructur
RTS2 - the Remote Telescope System
RTS2 is an open source observatory manager. It was written from scratch in
the C++ language, with portability and modularity in mind. Its driving
requirements originated from quick follow-ups of Gamma Ray Bursts. After some
years of development it is now used to carry tasks it was originally not
intended to carry. This article presents the current development status of the
RTS2 code. It focuses on describing strategies which worked as well as things
which failed to deliver expected results.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, Workshop on Robotic Autonomous Observatories,
M\'alaga, Spain, 18-21 May 200
iviz: A ROS Visualization App for Mobile Devices
In this work, we introduce iviz, a mobile application for visualizing ROS
data. In the last few years, the popularity of ROS has grown enormously, making
it the standard platform for open source robotic programming. A key reason for
this success is the availability of polished, general-purpose modules for many
tasks, such as localization, mapping, path planning, and quite importantly,
data visualization. However, the availability of the latter is generally
restricted to PCs with the Linux operating system. Thus, users that want to see
what is happening in the system with a smartphone or a tablet are stuck with
solutions such as screen mirroring or using web browser versions of rviz, which
are difficult to interact with from a mobile interface. More importantly, this
makes newer visualization modalities such as Augmented Reality impossible. Our
application iviz, based on the Unity engine, addresses these issues by
providing a visualization platform designed from scratch to be usable in mobile
platforms, such as iOS, Android, and UWP, and including native support for
Augmented Reality for all three platforms. If desired, it can also be used in a
PC with Linux, Windows, or macOS without any changes.Comment: This work has 7 pages and 7 figures. The repository of the project
can be found in https://github.com/KIT-ISAS/iviz/tree/deve
Distributed Control Architecture
This document describes the development and testing of a novel Distributed Control Architecture (DCA). The DCA developed during the study is an attempt to turn the components used to construct unmanned vehicles into a network of intelligent devices, connected using standard networking protocols. The architecture exists at both a hardware and software level and provides a communication channel between control modules, actuators and sensors.
A single unified mechanism for connecting sensors and actuators to the control software will reduce the technical knowledge required by platform integrators and allow control systems to be rapidly constructed in a Plug and Play manner. DCA uses standard networking hardware to connect components, removing the need for custom communication channels between individual sensors and actuators.
The use of a common architecture for the communication between components should make it easier for software to dynamically determine the vehicle s current capabilities and increase the range of processing platforms that can be utilised. Implementations of the architecture currently exist for Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile 5, Linux and Microchip dsPIC30 microcontrollers.
Conceptually, DCA exposes the functionality of each networked device as objects with interfaces and associated methods. Allowing each object to expose multiple interfaces allows for future upgrades without breaking existing code. In addition, the use of common interfaces should help facilitate component reuse, unit testing and make it easier to write generic reusable software
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