Wilderness on the Page

This essay explores the role that literature can play in a rethinking of Western culture\u27s relationship with the natural environment

Collaborative Robotics Strategies for Handling Non-Repetitive Micro-Drilling Tasks Characterized by Low Structural Mechanical Impedance

Mechanical micro-drilling finds widespread use in diverse applications ranging from advanced manufacturing to medical surgery. This dissertation aims to develop techniques that allow programming of robots to perform effective micro-drilling tasks. Accomplishing this goal is faced with several challenges. Micro-drills suffer from frequent breakage caused from variations in drill process parameters. Micro-drilling tasks afford extremely low feed rates and almost zero tolerance for any feed rate variations. The accompanying robot programming task is made difficult as mathematical models that capture the micro-drilling process complexities and sensitive variations in micro-drill parameters are highly difficult to obtain. Therefore, an experimental approach is adopted to identify the feasible parameter space by carrying out a systematic characterization of the tool-specimen interaction that is crucial for understanding the robotic micro-drilling process. The diameter of the hole to be drilled on a material is a primary defining factor for micro-drilling. For the purposes of this dissertation, micro-drills are defined as having a diameter less than or equal to 1 mm. The Sawyer and KUKA collaborative robots that meet the sensitive speed requirements have been chosen for this study. A regression analysis revealed a relationship between feed rate and reaction forces involved in the micro-drilling process that matched the underlying mathematical model of the tool-specimen interactions. Subsequently, this dissertation addresses the problem of destabilization in robotic micro-drilling caused by the low impedance of the collaborative robot’s cantilever structure. A semi-robotic method that combines force-controlled adaptive drill feed rate and human-assisted impedance enhancement strategy is developed to address the destabilization problem. This approach is inspired by the capability of humans to stabilize unstable dynamics while performing contact-based tasks by using selective control of arm mechanical impedance. A human-robot collaborative kinesthetic drilling mode was also developed using the selective compliance capability of the KUKA robot. Experimental results show that the Sawyer and KUKA robots can use the developed strategies to drill micro-holes of diameters up to a minimum of 0.6 mm and 0.2 mm, respectively. Finally, experiments involving drilling in different materials reveal the potential application of the collaborative robotic micro-drilling approach in composite repairs, micro-channels, dental drilling, and bone drilling

“I spy, with my little sensor”:Fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security

The paper suggests an amendment to Principle 4 of ethical robot design, and a demand for "transparency by design". It argues that while misleading vulnerable users as to the nature of a robot is a serious ethical issue, other forms of intentionally deceptive or unintentionally misleading aspects of robotic design pose challenges that are on the one hand more universal and harmful in their application, on the other more difficult to address consistently through design choices. The focus will be on transparent design regarding the sensory capacities of robots. Intuitive, low-tech but highly efficient privacy preserving behaviour is regularly dependent on an accurate understanding of surveillance risks. Design choices that hide, camouflage or misrepresent these capacities can undermine these strategies. However, formulating an ethical principle of "sensor transparency" is not straightforward, as openness can also lead to greater vulnerability and with that security risks. We argue that the discussion on sensor transparency needs to be embedded in a broader discussion of "fair data handling principles" for robots that involve issues of privacy, but also intellectual property rights such as copyright

A Peer-reviewed Newspaper About_ Machine Feeling

On the ability of technologies to capture and structure feelings and experiences that are active, in flux, and situated in the present. Publication resulting from research workshop at CRASSH, University of Cambridge, organised in collaboration with CRASSH, University of Cambridge and transmediale festival for art and digital culture, Berlin

Transmediale workshops and publications

APRJA is an annual open-access research journal (of which Cox is co-founder and co-editor) produced in collaboration with Transmediale festival for art and digital culture in Berlin. The title “A Peer-Reviewed Journal About” invites the addition of a specific research topic to complete the full title of each issue, broadly addressing the annual festival theme, and following an iterative form: following an open call released through Transmediale, participants collaborate online, and join a research workshop to exchange ideas. Subsequently they produce short articles for a (newspaper) publication distributed at the festival, alongside a public event, held at Haus der Kulteren der Welt, Berlin. Researchers are then invited to develop longer scientific papers for the online journal. The aim is to promote research by a new generation of researchers and promote the very latest thinking in the field. The overall aim of APRJA is to publish new research that promotes open access but without losing sight of rigorous academic conventions of peer-review. Since 2014, all submissions are anonymized and distributed to independent qualified experts via our advisory board and extended networks. The combined sharing of work online, as part of the workshop and the public presentation at Transmediale further qualifies the academic rigour of submissions through peer critique. The partnership with Transmediale, the foremost festival for art and digital culture in Europe, brings the journal widespread attention, and an engaged specialist audience and readership. In addition, each issue of the journal is underpinned by wider partnerships with other key institutions to form an expanding network of collaboration: Kunsthal Aarhus (2014); City University Hong Kong (2015); Liverpool John Moores University & Liverpool Biennial (2016); Constant Association for Art and Media, Brussels (2017); Brandenburg Center for Media Studies – ZeM, Potsdam (2018); CRASSH, University of Cambridge (2019); Global Emergent Media Lab, Concordia University (2020)

Design and development of a three dimensional kinematic simulation, steering system and scientific instrument deployment mechanism for a planetary micro-rover

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (p. 112).by Shane M. Farritor.M.S

Brachial Plexus Injury

In this book, specialists from different countries and continents share their knowledge and experience in brachial plexus surgery. It discusses the different types of brachial plexus injury and advances in surgical treatments

Normative Affordances Through and By Technology: Technological Mediation and Human Enhancement

Human activity is fundamentally embedded in and constituted by technology. In this regard, technology influences not only how people experience the world, but also which possibilities for action offered by the environment (affordances) can be perceived and ultimately acted upon. As having socio-cultural and normative aspects, affordances are deeply relational to the technological human form of life. Postphenomenology describes several human-technology relations and their perception and action mediating effects. Therefore, it provides a suitable framework to examine how technology mediates the perception of affordances and leads to different behavioral outcomes. Technology can reveal hitherto hidden affordances but can also result in the manipulation and concealment of action possibilities. Both aspects can be deliberately controlled by using a particular technology and/or interfering with the technological hermeneutic process. Technological mal-functions, limitations, purposeful corruption, or human error can disrupt the hermeneutic qualities of technology and may lead to false conclusions about affordances and respective maladaptive behavioral outcomes. Technology can also be applied to humans to form “better” versions of them. One consequence of these so-called Human Enhancement technologies is the emergence of different affordances for the enhanced individual and the possible establishment of new affordances inside a form of life. Manipulating the perception and emergence of affordances through technological mediation or Human Enhancement can have severe political and ethical consequences. It is necessary to engage in an open debate about the perception and action mediating power of technology and the human reliance on them in our current and future form of life

Political Bots and the Manipulation of Public Opinion in Venezuela

Social and political bots have a small but strategic role in Venezuelan political conversations. These automated scripts generate content through social media platforms and then interact with people. In this preliminary study on the use of political bots in Venezuela, we analyze the tweeting, following and retweeting patterns for the accounts of prominent Venezuelan politicians and prominent Venezuelan bots. We find that bots generate a very small proportion of all the traffic about political life in Venezuela. Bots are used to retweet content from Venezuelan politicians but the effect is subtle in that less than 10 percent of all retweets come from bot-related platforms. Nonetheless, we find that the most active bots are those used by Venezuela's radical opposition. Bots are pretending to be political leaders, government agencies and political parties more than citizens. Finally, bots are promoting innocuous political events more than attacking opponents or spreading misinformation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure