Business Case and Technology Analysis for 5G Low Latency Applications

A large number of new consumer and industrial applications are likely to change the classic operator's business models and provide a wide range of new markets to enter. This article analyses the most relevant 5G use cases that require ultra-low latency, from both technical and business perspectives. Low latency services pose challenging requirements to the network, and to fulfill them operators need to invest in costly changes in their network. In this sense, it is not clear whether such investments are going to be amortized with these new business models. In light of this, specific applications and requirements are described and the potential market benefits for operators are analysed. Conclusions show that operators have clear opportunities to add value and position themselves strongly with the increasing number of services to be provided by 5G.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication

In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion

Improvement of the sensory and autonomous capability of robots through olfaction: the IRO Project

Proyecto de Excelencia Junta de Andalucía TEP2012-530Olfaction is a valuable source of information about the environment that has not been su ciently exploited in mobile robotics yet. Certainly, odor information can contribute to other sensing modalities, e.g. vision, to successfully accomplish high-level robot activities, such as task planning or execution in human environments. This paper describes the developments carried out in the scope of the IRO project, which aims at making progress in this direction by investigating mechanisms that exploit odor information (usually coming in the form of the type of volatile and its concentration) in problems like object recognition and scene-activity understanding. A distinctive aspect of this research is the special attention paid to the role of semantics within the robot perception and decisionmaking processes. The results of the IRO project have improved the robot capabilities in terms of efciency, autonomy and usefulness.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Hotel 4.0: technologies and its relation with the Portuguese guest

Due to the development of technology, this dissertation aims to explore its impact in the hospitality industry, mainly, in Portugal. The most important technologies for the Portuguese were identified as well as how the latest technologies. It was also investigated if the technology implemented in the Portuguese hotels correspond to the Portuguese needs. For the sake of understanding the task at hand, on chapter 2 – literature review – studies about the industry and technology as well as its relation with customer satisfaction were analyzed. Furthermore, the Portuguese industry and the guests’ profile were also unveiled. A questionnaire distributed among the Portuguese population was integrated as part of the study in order to analyze the underlying Portuguese expectations and needs. The results indicated that, although the respondents are pleased with technology present in the Portuguese hotels, they would change some technology to obtain the best guest experience. The respondents expressed a strong desire to experience something new. However, there were services where the traditional methods were preferred, even though they were less convenient. The Portuguese is, usually, resistant to innovation. However, the constant innovation together with the changing expectations, technologies that were once innovative become common over time. Therefore, with this dissertation, hotels may obtain updated information regarding the technology the Portuguese really wants.Devido à evolução da tecnologia, esta dissertação visa explorar o impacto que esta tem no setor hoteleiro, principalmente, em Portugal. Foram identificadas as tecnologias mais importantes para os portugueses assim como as últimas tecnologias na indústria. Adicionalmente, foi investigado se a tecnologia presente nos hotéis portugueses corresponde às necessidades dos portugueses. Com o objetivo de entender a tarefa em questão, no capítulo 2 - revisão da literatura – estudos referentes à indústria hoteleira e tecnologia, e a relação da tecnologia com a satisfação do cliente foram analisados. Além disso, a indústria portuguesa e o perfil dos hóspedes também foram incluídos. Um questionário distribuído pela população portuguesa, com o intuito de analisar as expetativas dos portugueses, foi integrado como parte do estudo. A partir dos resultados obtidos, é possível afirmar que, embora satisfeitos com a tecnologia presente nos hotéis portugueses, os respondentes alterariam alguma tecnologia de modo a obter a melhor experiência. Um forte desejo de experimentar algo novo foi expressado. No entanto, havia serviços em que os métodos tradicionais eram os preferidos, mesmo sendo menos convenientes. Os portugueses são, geralmente, resistentes à inovação. No entanto, as tecnologias, que eram antes inovadoras, tornam-se comuns ao longo do tempo devido à contante evolução da tecnologia e das expetativas. Assim, com esta dissertação, os hotéis poderão obter informação detalhada da tecnologia que os portugueses realmente desejam

Mechatronics versus Robotics

In Bolton, mechatronics is defined as the integration of electronics, control engineering, and mechanical engineering, thus recognizing the fundamental role of control in joining electronics and mechanics. A robot is commonly considered as a typical mechatronic system, which integrates software, control, electronics, and mechanical designs in a synergistic manner. Robotics can be considered as a part of mechatronics; i.e., all robots are mechatronic systems, but not all mechatronic systems are robots. Advanced robots usually plan their actions by combining an assigned functional task with the knowledge about the environment in which they operate. By using a simplified approach, advanced robots could be defined as mechatronic devices governed by a smart brain, placed at a higher hierarchical level. Actuators are building blocks of any mechatronic system. Such systems, however, have a huge application span, ranging from low-cost consumer applications to high-end, high-precision industrial manufacturing equipment

Intelligent Robotic Perception Systems

Robotic perception is related to many applications in robotics where sensory data and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) techniques are involved. Examples of such applications are object detection, environment representation, scene understanding, human/pedestrian detection, activity recognition, semantic place classification, object modeling, among others. Robotic perception, in the scope of this chapter, encompasses the ML algorithms and techniques that empower robots to learn from sensory data and, based on learned models, to react and take decisions accordingly. The recent developments in machine learning, namely deep-learning approaches, are evident and, consequently, robotic perception systems are evolving in a way that new applications and tasks are becoming a reality. Recent advances in human-robot interaction, complex robotic tasks, intelligent reasoning, and decision-making are, at some extent, the results of the notorious evolution and success of ML algorithms. This chapter will cover recent and emerging topics and use-cases related to intelligent perception systems in robotics