Displays for telemanipulation

Visual displays drive the human operator's highest bandwidth sensory input channel. Thus, no telemanipulation system is adequate which does not make extensive use of visual displays. Although an important use of visual displays is the presentation of a televised image of the work scene, visual displays are examined for presentation of nonvisual information (forces and torques) for simulation and planning, and for management and control of the large numbers of subsystems which make up a modern telemanipulation system

Synchronized computational architecture for generalized bilateral control of robot arms

A master six degree of freedom Force Reflecting Hand Controller (FRHC) is available at a master site where a received image displays, in essentially real time, a remote robotic manipulator which is being controlled in the corresponding six degree freedom by command signals which are transmitted to the remote site in accordance with the movement of the FRHC at the master site. Software is user-initiated at the master site in order to establish the basic system conditions, and then a physical movement of the FRHC in Cartesean space is reflected at the master site by six absolute numbers that are sensed, translated and computed as a difference signal relative to the earlier position. The change in position is then transmitted in that differential signal form over a high speed synchronized bilateral communication channel which simultaneously returns robot-sensed response information to the master site as forces applied to the FRHC so that the FRHC reflects the feel of what is taking place at the remote site. A system wide clock rate is selected at a sufficiently high rate that the operator at the master site experiences the Force Reflecting operation in real time

Smart Medical Systems with Application to Nutrition and Fitness in Space

Smart medical systems are being developed to allow medical treatments to address alterations in chemical and physiological status in real time. In a smart medical system sensor arrays assess subject status, which are interpreted by computer processors which analyze multiple inputs and recommend treatment interventions. The response of the subject to the treatment is again assessed by the sensor arrays, closing the loop. An early form of "smart medicine" has been practiced in space to assess nutrition. Nutrient levels are assessed with food frequency questionnaires, which are interpreted by flight surgeons to recommend in-flight alterations in diet. In the future, sensor arrays will directly probe body chemistry. Near infrared spectroscopy can be used to noninvasively measure several blood and tissue parameters which are important in the assessment of nutrition and fitness. In particular, this technology can be used to measure blood hematocrit and interstitial fluid pH. The noninvasive measurement of interstitial pH is discussed as a surrogate for blood lactate measurement for the development and real-time assessment of exercise protocols in space. Earth-based application of these sensors are also described

A universal computer control system for motors

A control system for a multi-motor system such as a space telerobot, having a remote computational node and a local computational node interconnected with one another by a high speed data link is described. A Universal Computer Control System (UCCS) for the telerobot is located at each node. Each node is provided with a multibus computer system which is characterized by a plurality of processors with all processors being connected to a common bus, and including at least one command processor. The command processor communicates over the bus with a plurality of joint controller cards. A plurality of direct current torque motors, of the type used in telerobot joints and telerobot hand-held controllers, are connected to the controller cards and responds to digital control signals from the command processor. Essential motor operating parameters are sensed by analog sensing circuits and the sensed analog signals are converted to digital signals for storage at the controller cards where such signals can be read during an address read/write cycle of the command processing processor

Digital Twin for Industrial Robotics

This thesis aims to develop a Digital Twin model for robot programming that incorporates Virtual Reality (VR). The digital twin is a concept of creating a digital replica of a physical object (such as a robot), which is similar to establishing a model simulation along with some additional functionalities. Simulation software, such as robot operating system (ROS) or other industrial-owned simulation platforms, simulates a robot operation and sends the details to the robot controller. In contrast to this, the Digital Twin model establishes a two-way communication channel between the digital and the physical models. In this thesis, the proposed Digital Twin model can help in online/remote programming of a robotic cell with high accuracy by creating a 3D digital environment of a real-world physical setup, which is similar to watching a movie with 3D glasses. To create a Digital Twin model, the gaming platform is used that comes with specialized plugins for virtual and augmented reality devices. One of the main challenges in any robotic system is writing a code for a defined path and modifying it for future requirements. Programming robot via this traditional approach requires a lot of time and often disturbs the running process. Whereas, in the case of a Digital Twin model, the program can be adjusted or regenerated without disturbing the execution cycle of a physical robot

Intuitive human interactive with an arm robot for severely handicapped people - A one click approach.

International audienceAssistance to disabled people is still a domain in which a lot of progress needs to be done. The more severe the handicap is, more complex are the devices, implying increased efforts to simplify the interactions between man and these devices. In this document we propose a solution to reduce the interaction between a user and a robotic arm. The system is equipped with two cameras. One is fixed on the top of the wheelchair (eye-to-hand) and the other one is mounted on the end effector of the robotic arm (eye-in-hand). The two cameras cooperate to reduce the grasping task to one click. The method is generic, it does not require marks on the object, geometrical model or the database. It thus provides a tool applicable to any kind of graspable object. The paper first gives an overview of the existing grasping tools for disabled people and proposes a novel approach toward an intuitive human machine interaction

HAPTICS IN ROBOTICS AND AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS

Haptics is the science of applying touch (tactile) sensation and control to interaction with computer applications. The devices used to interact with computer applications are known as haptic interfaces. These devices sense some form of human movement, be it finger, head, hand or body movement and receive feedback from computer applications in form of felt sensations to the limbs or other parts of the human body. Examples of haptic interfaces range from force feedback joysticks/controllers in video game consoles to tele-operative surgery. This thesis deals with haptic interfaces involving hand movements. The first experiment involves using the end effector of a robotic manipulator as an interactive device to aid patients with deficits in the upper extremities in passive resistance therapy using novel path planning. The second experiment involves the application of haptic technology to the human-vehicle interface in a steer-by-wire transportation system using adaptive control

IDENTIFICATION OF TYPE THREE SECRETION SYSTEM EFFECTORS LINKED TO CLINICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PREVALENCE OF VIBRIO PARAHAEMOLYTICUS

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an emergent human pathogen that is the leading cause of seafood-borne bacterial infections in the United States and worldwide. Recently, clinical prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus has increased in the United States, especially from the North Atlantic Ocean. The majority of clinical isolates of V. parahaemolyticus harbor a hemolysin gene (tdh and/or trh) and a Type III Secretion System (T3SS)-containing mobile Vibrio Pathogenicity Island (VPaI). The VPaIs are evolutionary related yet distinct. These VPaIs include VPaIα (tdh+), VPaIβ (trh+), and a mosaic VPaIγ (tdh+/trh+). Strains harboring VPaIα cause the most infections globally, whose major effectors are known. In the United States, in particular from the North Atlantic, human infections with V. parahaemolyticus are predominantly caused by strains harboring the relatively uncharacterized VPaIγ. There are four major VPaIγ lineages in V. parahaemolyticus strains of North Atlantic, identified by the tdh allele they harbor. Strains harboring tdh3-VPaIγ are isolated most clinically, though strains harboring tdh5-VPaIγ are environmentally predominant. Using a dual approach of bioinformatics and bioassays, in this study we identify five novel T3SS2 effectors on VPaIγ. We provide evidence that suggests a V. parahaemolyticus population-based contribution towards its pathogenicity and environmental prevalence. Patterns of recombination in toxin orthologs from tdh3-VPaIγ and tdh5-VPaIγ indicate that the surrounding population is a major contributor to the content of these VPaIs. The divergence seen in these orthologs were assessed for contribution towards their effectiveness in pathogenesis or environmental fitness. Our predatory grazing assay suggests that one effector may have evolved for survival against eukaryotic predators in the environment. Utilizing bioassays to assess toxicity and virulence, we found evidence that four of the VPaIγ orthologs likely contribute to the tdh3-VPaIγ clinical prevalence. This work lays the foundation for understanding VPaIγ effector fitness benefits in relation to their environment and population