Using a 3DOF Parallel Robot and a Spherical Bat to hit a Ping-Pong Ball

Playing the game of Ping-Pong is a challenge to human abilities since it requires developing skills, such as fast reaction capabilities, precision of movement and high speed mental responses. These processes include the utilization of seven DOF of the human arm, and translational movements through the legs, torso, and other extremities of the body, which are used for developing different game strategies or simply imposing movements that affect the ball such as spinning movements. Computationally, Ping-Pong requires a huge quantity of joints and visual information to be processed and analysed, something which really represents a challenge for a robot. In addition, in order for a robot to develop the task mechanically, it requires a large and dexterous workspace, and good dynamic capacities. Although there are commercial robots that are able to play Ping-Pong, the game is still an open task, where there are problems to be solved and simplified. All robotic Ping-Pong players cited in the bibliography used at least four DOF to hit the ball. In this paper, a spherical bat mounted on a 3-DOF parallel robot is proposed. The spherical bat is used to drive the trajectory of a Ping-Pong ball.Fil: Trasloheros, Alberto. Universidad Aeronáutica de Querétaro; MéxicoFil: Sebastián, José María. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Torrijos, Jesús. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; EspañaFil: Carelli Albarracin, Ricardo Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Roberti, Flavio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; Argentin

Inside the brain of an elite athlete: The neural processes that support high achievement in sports

Events like the World Championships in athletics and the Olympic Games raise the public profile of competitive sports. They may also leave us wondering what sets the competitors in these events apart from those of us who simply watch. Here we attempt to link neural and cognitive processes that have been found to be important for elite performance with computational and physiological theories inspired by much simpler laboratory tasks. In this way we hope to inspire neuroscientists to consider how their basic research might help to explain sporting skill at the highest levels of performance

The potential and challenges of monitoring-supported energy efficiency improvement strategies in existing buildings

The ongoing EU-supported CAMPUS 21 explores the energy efficiency potential of integrated security, control, and building management software. The main objective of the project is to compare the energy and indoor-environmental performance of a number of existing facilities before and after real or virtual implementation of monitoring-based control improvement measures

Detecting System Errors in Virtual Reality Using EEG Through Error-Related Potentials

When persons interact with the environment and experience or wit-ness an error (e.g. an unexpected event), a specific brain pattern,known as error-related potential (ErrP) can be observed in the elec-troencephalographic signals (EEG). Virtual Reality (VR) technologyenables users to interact with computer-generated simulated envi-ronments and to provide multi-modal sensory feedback. Using VRsystems can, however, be error-prone. In this paper, we investigatethe presence of ErrPs when Virtual Reality users face 3 types ofvisualization errors: (Te) tracking errors when manipulating virtualobjects, (Fe) feedback errors, and (Be) background anomalies. Weconducted an experiment in which 15 participants were exposed tothe 3 types of errors while performing a center-out pick and placetask in virtual reality. The results showed that tracking errors gener-ate error-related potentials, the other types of errors did not generatesuch discernible patterns. In addition, we show that it is possible todetect the ErrPs generated by tracking losses in single trial, with anaccuracy of 85%. This constitutes a first step towards the automaticdetection of error-related potentials in VR applications, paving theway to the design of adaptive and self-corrective VR/AR applicationsby exploiting information directly from the user’s brain

The effect of haptic guidance and visual feedback on learning a complex tennis task

While haptic guidance can improve ongoing performance of a motor task, several studies have found that it ultimately impairs motor learning. However, some recent studies suggest that the haptic demonstration of optimal timing, rather than movement magnitude, enhances learning in subjects trained with haptic guidance. Timing of an action plays a crucial role in the proper accomplishment of many motor skills, such as hitting a moving object (discrete timing task) or learning a velocity profile (time-critical tracking task). The aim of the present study is to evaluate which feedback conditions—visual or haptic guidance—optimize learning of the discrete and continuous elements of a timing task. The experiment consisted in performing a fast tennis forehand stroke in a virtual environment. A tendon-based parallel robot connected to the end of a racket was used to apply haptic guidance during training. In two different experiments, we evaluated which feedback condition was more adequate for learning: (1) a time-dependent discrete task—learning to start a tennis stroke and (2) a tracking task—learning to follow a velocity profile. The effect that the task difficulty and subject's initial skill level have on the selection of the optimal training condition was further evaluated. Results showed that the training condition that maximizes learning of the discrete time-dependent motor task depends on the subjects' initial skill level. Haptic guidance was especially suitable for less-skilled subjects and in especially difficult discrete tasks, while visual feedback seems to benefit more skilled subjects. Additionally, haptic guidance seemed to promote learning in a time-critical tracking task, while visual feedback tended to deteriorate the performance independently of the task difficulty and subjects' initial skill level. Haptic guidance outperformed visual feedback, although additional studies are needed to further analyze the effect of other types of feedback visualization on motor learning of time-critical task

Platform Portable Anthropomorphic Grasping with the Bielefeld 20-DOF Shadow and 9-DOF TUM Hand

Röthling F, Haschke R, Steil JJ, Ritter H. Platform Portable Anthropomorphic Grasping with the Bielefeld 20-DOF Shadow and 9-DOF TUM Hand. In: Proc. Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). IEEE; 2007: 2951-2956