393 research outputs found

    2023- The Twenty-seventh Annual Symposium of Student Scholars

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    The full program book from the Twenty-seventh Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 18-21, 2023. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1027/thumbnail.jp

    Energy-Sustainable IoT Connectivity: Vision, Technological Enablers, Challenges, and Future Directions

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    Technology solutions must effectively balance economic growth, social equity, and environmental integrity to achieve a sustainable society. Notably, although the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm constitutes a key sustainability enabler, critical issues such as the increasing maintenance operations, energy consumption, and manufacturing/disposal of IoT devices have long-term negative economic, societal, and environmental impacts and must be efficiently addressed. This calls for self-sustainable IoT ecosystems requiring minimal external resources and intervention, effectively utilizing renewable energy sources, and recycling materials whenever possible, thus encompassing energy sustainability. In this work, we focus on energy-sustainable IoT during the operation phase, although our discussions sometimes extend to other sustainability aspects and IoT lifecycle phases. Specifically, we provide a fresh look at energy-sustainable IoT and identify energy provision, transfer, and energy efficiency as the three main energy-related processes whose harmonious coexistence pushes toward realizing self-sustainable IoT systems. Their main related technologies, recent advances, challenges, and research directions are also discussed. Moreover, we overview relevant performance metrics to assess the energy-sustainability potential of a certain technique, technology, device, or network and list some target values for the next generation of wireless systems. Overall, this paper offers insights that are valuable for advancing sustainability goals for present and future generations.Comment: 25 figures, 12 tables, submitted to IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Societ

    Design, fabrication and stiffening of soft pneumatic robots

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    Although compliance allows the soft robot to be under-actuated and generalise its control, it also impacts the ability of the robot to exert forces on the environment. There is a trade-off between robots being compliant or precise and strong. Many mechanisms that change robots' stiffness on demand have been proposed, but none are perfect, usually compromising the device's compliance and restricting its motion capabilities. Keeping the above issues in mind, this thesis focuses on creating robust and reliable pneumatic actuators, that are designed to be easily manufactured with simple tools. They are optimised towards linear behaviour, which simplifies modelling and improve control strategies. The principle idea in relation to linearisation is a reinforcement strategy designed to amplify the desired, and limit the unwanted, deformation of the device. Such reinforcement can be achieved using fibres or 3D printed structures. I have shown that the linearity of the actuation is, among others, a function of the reinforcement density and shape, in that the response of dense fibre-reinforced actuators with a circular cross-section is significantly more linear than that of non-reinforced or non-circular actuators. I have explored moulding manufacturing techniques and a mixture of 3D printing and moulding. Many aspects of these techniques have been optimised for reliability, repeatability, and process simplification. I have proposed and implemented a novel moulding technique that uses disposable moulds and can easily be used by an inexperienced operator. I also tried to address the compliance-stiffness trade-off issue. As a result, I have proposed an intelligent structure that behaves differently depending on the conditions. Thanks to its properties, such a structure could be used in applications that require flexibility, but also the ability to resist external disturbances when necessary. Due to its nature, individual cells of the proposed system could be used to implement physical logic elements, resulting in embodied intelligent behaviours. As a proof-of-concept, I have demonstrated use of my actuators in several applications including prosthetic hands, octopus, and fish robots. Each of those devices benefits from a slightly different actuation system but each is based on the same core idea - fibre reinforced actuators. I have shown that the proposed design and manufacturing techniques have several advantages over the methods used so far. The manufacturing methods I developed are more reliable, repeatable, and require less manual work than the various other methods described in the literature. I have also shown that the proposed actuators can be successfully used in real-life applications. Finally, one of the most important outcomes of my research is a contribution to an orthotic device based on soft pneumatic actuators. The device has been successfully deployed, and, at the time of submission of this thesis, has been used for several months, with good results reported, by a patient

    A survey and tutorial on deep reinforcement learning algorithms for robotic manipulation

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    Robotic manipulation challenges, such as grasping and object manipulation, have been tackled successfully with the help of deep reinforcement learning systems. We give an overview of the recent advances in deep reinforcement learning algorithms for robotic manipulation tasks in this review. We begin by outlining the fundamental ideas of reinforcement learning and the parts of a reinforcement learning system. The many deep reinforcement learning algorithms, such as value-based methods, policy-based methods, and actor–critic approaches, that have been suggested for robotic manipulation tasks are then covered. We also examine the numerous issues that have arisen when applying these algorithms to robotics tasks, as well as the various solutions that have been put forth to deal with these issues. Finally, we highlight several unsolved research issues and talk about possible future directions for the subject

    Legged Robots for Object Manipulation: A Review

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    Legged robots can have a unique role in manipulating objects in dynamic, human-centric, or otherwise inaccessible environments. Although most legged robotics research to date typically focuses on traversing these challenging environments, many legged platform demonstrations have also included "moving an object" as a way of doing tangible work. Legged robots can be designed to manipulate a particular type of object (e.g., a cardboard box, a soccer ball, or a larger piece of furniture), by themselves or collaboratively. The objective of this review is to collect and learn from these examples, to both organize the work done so far in the community and highlight interesting open avenues for future work. This review categorizes existing works into four main manipulation methods: object interactions without grasping, manipulation with walking legs, dedicated non-locomotive arms, and legged teams. Each method has different design and autonomy features, which are illustrated by available examples in the literature. Based on a few simplifying assumptions, we further provide quantitative comparisons for the range of possible relative sizes of the manipulated object with respect to the robot. Taken together, these examples suggest new directions for research in legged robot manipulation, such as multifunctional limbs, terrain modeling, or learning-based control, to support a number of new deployments in challenging indoor/outdoor scenarios in warehouses/construction sites, preserved natural areas, and especially for home robotics.Comment: Preprint of the paper submitted to Frontiers in Mechanical Engineerin

    Electronic musical instruments as interactive exhibits in museums

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    Whilst recent museum exhibitions have explored electronic musical instruments, the interpretational focus has been on materiality rather than sounds produced. Similarly, whilst authors have ‘followed the instruments’ to find the people who used and designed them, those who create and shape their sounds remain comparatively hidden. To address this problem, this thesis introduces sound genealogy – a methodology towards following the evolution of a sound through material networks and people - as an interpretational framework to support exhibition teams in explicitly connecting sounds to instrument interfaces using multi-sensory interactive exhibits. Adopting this methodology will improve visitors’ experiences of music and sound content, helping them connect sounds from their lived experiences to the instruments associated with them: demonstrating how material networks can influence a sound’s popularity and musical value over time, whilst drawing attention to the people involved in the design and use of both sounds and instruments. Chapter one positions this research within contemporary exhibition practices and analyses the methodologies and literature that define the scope for upcoming discussions. The involvement of the UK’s Science Museum Group institutions is also highlighted. Chapters two to four present three case-study insights based on observations of objects and their sounds, and the use of representative exhibits, in North American, European, and British museums. These case studies were chosen so as to represent a range of instrument categories (synthesizers, samplers, drum machines) and interpretational foci (interface, sound, function). Interview data obtained from exhibition team members highlights the strategies and challenges in co-creating positive exhibit experiences for diverse audiences. Evidence from these case studies also supports the analyses of theories and concepts from museum studies, science and technology studies, and sound studies in chapters five and six. This helps to position - and advocate for - the adoption of a sound genealogy methodology in demonstrating the value of sound through interactivity. Additionally, the anticipation and management of visitor behaviours is considered in the context of successfully attaining learning and entertainment goals. Finally, chapters seven and eight document the creation and evaluation of an original interactive exhibit by the author, supported by the sound genealogy methodology

    Mars delivery service - development of the electro-mechanical systems of the Sample Fetch Rover for the Mars Sample Return Campaign

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    This thesis describes the development of the Sample Fetch Rover (SFR), studied for Mars Sample Return (MSR), an international campaign carried out in cooperation between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The focus of this document is the design of the electro-mechanical systems of the rover. After placing this work into the general context of robotic planetary exploration and summarising the state of the art for what concerns Mars rovers, the architecture of the Mars Sample Return Campaign is presented. A complete overview of the current SFR architecture is provided, touching upon all the main subsystems of the spacecraft. For each area, it is discussed what are the design drivers, the chosen solutions and whether they use heritage technology (in particular from the ExoMars Rover) or new developments. This research focuses on two topics of particular interest, due to their relevance for the mission and the novelty of their design: locomotion and sample acquisition, which are discussed in depth. The early SFR locomotion concepts are summarised, covering the initial trade-offs and discarded designs for higher traverse performance. Once a consolidated architecture was reached, the locomotion subsystem was developed further, defining the details of the suspension, actuators, deployment mechanisms and wheels. This technology is presented here in detail, including some key analysis and test results that support the design and demonstrate how it responds to the mission requirements. Another major electro-mechanical system developed as part of this work is the one dedicated to sample tube acquisition. The concept of operations of this machinery was defined to be robust against the unknown conditions that characterise the mission. The design process led to a highly automated robotic system which is described here in its main components: vision system, robotic arm and tube storage

    Ankle-Actuated Human-Machine Interface for Walking in Virtual Reality

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    This thesis work presents design, implementation and experimental study of an impedance type ankle haptic interface for providing users with the immersive navigation experience in virtual reality (VR). The ankle platform enables the use of foot-tapping gestures to reproduce realistic walking experience in VR and to haptically render different types of walking terrains. The system is designed to be used by seated users allowing more comfort, causing less fatigue and motion sickness. The custom-designed ankle interface is composed of a single actuator-sensors system making it a cost-efficient solution for VR applications. The designed interface consists of a single degree of freedom actuated platform which can rotate around the ankle joint of the user. The platform is impedance controlled around the horizontal position by an electric motor and capstan transmission system. to perform walking in a virtual scene, a seated user is expected to perform walking gestures in form of ankle plantar-flexion and dorsiflexion movements causing the platform to tilt forward and backward. We present three algorithms for simulating the immersive locomotion of a VR avatar using the platform movement information. We also designed multiple impedance controllers to render haptic feedback for different virtual terrains during walking. We carried out experiments to understand how quickly users adapt to the interface, how well they can control their locomotion speed in VR, and how well they can distinguish different types of terrains presented through haptic feedback. We implemented qualitative questionnaires on the usability of the device and the task load of the experimental procedures. The experimental studies demonstrated that the interface can be easily used to navigate in VR and it is capable of rendering dynamic multi-layer complex terrains containing structures with different stiffness and brittleness properties
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