Reusable Software Components for Robots Using Fuzzy Abstractions

Mobile robots today, while varying greatly in design, often have a large number of similarities in terms of their tasks and goals. Navigation, obstacle avoidance, and vision are all examples. In turn, robots of similar design, but with varying configurations, should be able to share the bulk of their controlling software. Any changes required should be minimal and ideally only to specify new hardware configurations. However, it is difficult to achieve such flexibility, mainly due to the enormous variety of robot hardware available and the huge number of possible configurations. Monolithic controllers that can handle such variety are impossible to build. This paper will investigate these portability problems, as well as techniques to manage common abstractions for user-designed components. The challenge is in creating new methods for robot software to support a diverse variety of robots, while also being easily upgraded and extended. These methods can then provide new ways to support the operational and functional reuse of the same high-level components across a variety of robots

Reconfigurable wideband patch antenna for cognitive radio

Cognitive radio communication is envisaged to be a new paradigm of methodologies for enhancing the performance of radio communication systems through the efficient utilization of radio spectrum. A key enabler for realization of a cognitive communication system is the capability of re-configurability in the underlying hardware and the associated protocol suite. Reconfigurable double C-Slot microstrip patch antenna fed by 50 ohm microstrip line is proposed in this paper. The frequency tuning is performed by switching on and off two patches. The antenna can operate in dual-band or in very wide band mode in 5, 6 and 7 GHz bands. The wide-band mode can be obtained when both switches are in the ON state with impedance bandwidth of 33.52 % from 4.99 to 7 GHz. The total size of the ground plane is 50 x 50 mm2. The proposed antenna verified through both numerical simulation and measurement of an experimental prototype. The antenna achieves a gain of 5 to 8 dBi and radiation efficiency about 80%

Интеллектуальные сенсорные системы – техническая основа "Умного предприятия" цифровой экономики

На использовании интеллектуальных сенсорных систем как технической основы «Умного предприятия» цифровой экономики решается одна задача создания интеллектуальных технологий, наиболее конструктивная и экономически оправданная при разработке современных цифровых систем автоматизированного управления. Для принятия управленческих решений найдены пути решения проблемы дополнительной обработки информации в системе данных определенными методами и проблемы механизмов доставки и визуализации. Предложены пути создания промежуточных программно-аппаратных средств для интегрирования ERP и АСУ ТТП.На використанні інтелектуальних сенсорних систем як технічної основи «Розумного підприємства» цифрової економіки розв’язується одна задача створення інтелектуальних технологій, найбільш конструктивна і економічно виправдана у розробці сучасних цифрових систем автоматизованого керування. Для прийняття управлінських рішень знайдено шляхи рішення проблеми додаткової обробки інформації в системі даних певними методами та проблеми механізмів доставки і візуалізації. Запропоновано шляхи створення проміжних програмно-апаратних засобів для інтегрування ERP и АСУ ТП.Using the Intelligent Sensor Systems as a technical basis for the Smart enterprise in the digital economy one of the problem how to create new intelligent technologies is solved. These new intelligent technologies turn out to be the most constructive and economically sound when developing modern digital automated management systems. For managerial decision-making based on the integration of the upper and lower level’s systems (Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and the Automated Control System of the Technological Process (ACS TP) the solutions are found to solve both the problem of the additional information processing in the data system using the certain method and the problem of the ways for their delivery and visualization. The necessity to create the intermediary soft hardware that will integrate ERP and ACS TP is substantiated. The ways how to do it are suggested. **************************

Systems overview of Ono: a DIY reproducible open source social robot

One of the major obstacles in the study of HRI (human-robot interaction) with social robots is the lack of multiple identical robots that allow testing with large user groups. Often, the price of these robots prohibits using more than a handful. A lot of the commercial robots do not possess all the necessary features to perform specific HRI experiments and due to the closed nature of the platform, large modifications are nearly impossible. While open source social robots do exist, they often use high-end components and expensive manufacturing techniques, making them unsuitable for easy reproduction. To address this problem, a new social robotics platform, named Ono, was developed. The design is based on the DIY mindset of the maker movement, using off-the-shelf components and more accessible rapid prototyping and manufacturing techniques. The modular structure of the robot makes it easy to adapt to the needs of the experiment and by embracing the open source mentality, the robot can be easily reproduced or further developed by a community of users. The low cost, open nature and DIY friendliness of the robot make it an ideal candidate for HRI studies that require a large user group

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Automating control system design via a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm

This chapter presents a performance-prioritized computer aided control system design (CACSD) methodology using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. The evolutionary CACSD approach unifies different control laws in both the time and frequency domains based upon performance satisfactions, without the need of aggregating different design criteria into a compromise function. It is shown that control engineers' expertise as well as settings on goal or priority for different preference on each performance requirement can be easily included and modified on-line according to the evolving trade-offs, which makes the controller design interactive, transparent and simple for real-time implementation. Advantages of the evolutionary CACSD methodology are illustrated upon a non-minimal phase plant control system, which offer a set of low-order Pareto optimal controllers satisfying all the conflicting performance requirements in the face of system constraints