Open pit mine planning : development of a scheduling technique using interactive computer graphics

Imperial Users onl

Käsinkirjoituksen toistaminen paikkaohjatuilla teollisuusroboteilla

Testing the performance of touchscreen devices requires high accuracy and repeatability from the tester. This is why industrial robots can be considered excellent tools for this task. When performing end-to-end testing for touchscreen devices, realistic touch inputs have to be applied to the device under test. Simple inputs such as taps and swipes can be accomplished relatively easily with industrial robots. However, to test more complicated features, the robots should also be able to perform more complicated actions, such as handwriting. This introduces much bigger challenges for the test system. The goal of this project is to utilize an industrial robot to reproduce handwriting as accurately as possible. In addition to replicating the original pen path, the robot should also be able to replicate temporal qualities such as pen velocity in different points of the path. First of all, this project includes sampling real handwriting data in digital format. To improve the robot performance, the data has to be pre-processed in various ways. The data is then transmitted to the robot controller, which will replicate the sampled writing trajectories as well as possible. Lastly, the results have to be measured so that the performance of the system can be evaluated

The cartography of time-changing phenomena: the animated map

This research examines the role of the animated film in the portrayal of time series data, specifically change in the British population. It concentrates on cartographic animation and first reviews techniques developed thus far for computer-animated generation of maps for films. In order to generate an animated film, time; series data is first needed. Existing sources of time series data are shown to contain serious deficiencies for this purpose, and thus a new set of population data is generated for Britain throughout the period 1901 - 1971, and based on the Census. Ways of presenting change in this data set are then examined. Conventional methods of measuring change in the population, whilst satisfactory in static cartography, have definite limitations when used in animated cartography. Two methods, based on population density and on expected change in the population, are developed and the results mapped. As with conventional methods of measuring change, standard cartographic techniques may not be used in animated filming with any degree of success, and the resultant film shows significant departures from accepted cartographic theory. The method of film production is then examined, from the compilation of the maps themselves, through the use of the microfilm plotter in generation of the film, to the final sound tracking. The resultant film is enclosed with the thesis; the final chapter examines the success of this film. Whilst significant imperfections are shown in this example, it is concluded that the animated film has a role to play in the portrayal of time series data

Software for C1 interpolation

The problem of mathematically defining a smooth surface, passing through a finite set of given points is studied. Literature relating to the problem is briefly reviewed. An algorithm is described that first constructs a triangular grid in the (x,y) domain, and first partial derivatives at the modal points are estimated. Interpolation in the triangular cells using a method that gives C sup.1 continuity overall is examined. Performance of software implementing the algorithm is discussed. Theoretical results are presented that provide valuable guidance in the development of algorithms for constructing triangular grids