Reality as a simulation of reality: robot illusions, fundamental limits, and a physical demonstration

We consider problems in which robots conspire to present a view of the world that differs from reality. The inquiry is motivated by the problem of validating robot behavior physically despite there being a discrepancy between the robots we have at hand and those we wish to study, or the environment for testing that is available versus that which is desired, or other potential mismatches in this vein. After formulating the concept of a convincing illusion, essentially a notion of system simulation that takes place in the real world, we examine the implications of this type of simulability in terms of infrastructure requirements. Time is one important resource: some robots may be able to simulate some others but, perhaps, only at a rate that is slower than real-time. This difference gives a way of relating the simulating and the simulated systems in a form that is relative. We establish some theorems, including one with the flavor of an impossibility result, and providing several examples throughout. Finally, we present data from a simple multi-robot experiment based on this theory, with a robot navigating amid an unbounded field of obstacles

Running Agent-based-models Simulations Synchronized with Reality to Control Transport Systems

Adaptable, flexible and evolvable manufacturing systems and warehouses are so complex to manage that control systems have to be divided into several aspects. One of these is internal transportation, which has to do with all tasks involved in fulfilling a set of so-called transportation orders, i.e. commands to collect and deliver material from origin to destination spots. A common approach to design the controllers for these applications begins by modeling them as multi-agent systems and continues to final deployment through a cascade of transformations. To minimize development costs of internal transportation controllers, we have proposed a model of construction that includes components that synchronize the events from reality simulation and the ones from actual reality. By using these \textit{synchronizers}, further development is required only for those parts of the initial multi-agent controller models with real counterparts. In this paper, we review the model and the architecture of the proposed internal transportation system controllers and we illustrate the whole design process through the development of a controller for an automated laboratory. Indirectly, we prove the validity of the architecture and of its key component, the synchronizer

Metodología para un sistemas de visión artificial apoyado con realidad aumentada en base a marcadores para un robot móvil

En la presente investigación, se propone una metodología para integrar sistemas de visión artificial apoyada con realidad aumentada en base a marcadores, para robots móviles, con el fin de evaluar la navegación en ambientes de trabajo, combinando objetos virtuales y reales en un solo escenario, de modo que no sea obligatorio tener los elementos físicos para estudiar el comportamiento de los robots, permitiendo diferentes pruebas en los prototipos, obteniendo la flexibilidad del mundo virtual y la fiabilidad de los ambientes de prueba realesIn the present research, there is a proposition of a methodology forwarded to integrate artificial vision systems, supported whit amplified reality, based on markets for mobile robots, trying to evaluate its navigation in working environments, mixing both virtual and real objects in only one scenery in a way that possibilities or makes no mandatory, the existence of the objects in order to study the behavior of the robots, allowing different kinds of test in the prototypes, obtaining by this way, the flexibility of the virtual environment, and the trustiness of the actual test environmentsMagister en Automatización y Contro

Human-Machine Interfaces for Service Robotics

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Communication kinesthésique des émotions dans un contexte d'interaction homme-machine

The communication of emotions use several modalities of expression, as facial expressions or touch. The affective computing field aims to integrate an emotional component in human-computer interactions. Even though touch is an effective vector of emotions, is remains little explored. This thesis aims to investigate the kinesthetic features of the expression and perception of emotions in a human-computer interaction setting. Firstly, this thesis considers the kinesthetic expression and perception of semantically close and acted emotions. Secondly, this thesis proposes a facial-kinesthetic combination of expressions of several close emotions. This aims to investigate the influence of the kinesthetic modality on the multimodal perception of emotions. Finally, this thesis goes beyond acted emotions by focusing on the expression and perception of a spontaneous state of stress. Those different experiments used various devices for kinesthetic interaction, as Geomagic Touch devices and a pressure rendering device developed for this thesis. Results have multiple applications. Firstly, a better integration of the kinesthetic modality in virtual settings, from human-human remote communications to immersion in video games. This thesis also paves the way for an automatic recognition of affective states expressed by the kinesthetic modality.La communication des émotions s'effectue naturellement par le biais de différentes modalités, comme par exemple les expressions faciales et le toucher. L'informatique affective cherche à intégrer la composante émotionnelle dans les interactions homme-machine. Cependant, le toucher, qui est un puissant vecteur d'émotions, reste peu exploité. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier les paramètres qui influencent l'expression et la perception des émotions dans la modalité kinesthésique dans un contexte d'interaction homme-machine. Dans un premier temps, cette thèse considère l'expression kinesthésique liée à la perception physique de forces et de mouvements d'un ensemble d'émotions actées sémantiquement proches. Sur la base des résultats de cette première étude, un couplage des expressions kinesthésiques typiques de différentes émotions avec des expressions faciales exprimées par un avatar est proposé afin d'étudier l'influence de la modalité kinesthésique dans la perception d'une expression multimodale d’émotion. Enfin, cette thèse va au-delà de ces émotions actées en abordant dans une dernière étude le cas de l'expression et de la perception d'un état affectif de stress spontané. Ces différentes expérimentations ont considéré différents dispositifs matériels pour la communication kinesthésique : des dispositifs de type Geomagic Touch ainsi qu'un dispositif de rendu de pression développé spécifiquement dans le cadre de cette thèse. Les résultats de ces travaux ont de multiples applications pratiques. Premièrement, une meilleure intégration de la modalité kinesthésique en contexte virtuel, qu'il s'agisse de communication humain-humain à distance ou d'immersion dans les jeux vidéo. Cette thèse ouvre également la voie à la détection automatique d'états affectifs exprimés spontanément par la modalité kinesthésique