2,201 research outputs found
The emergence of active perception - seeking conceptual foundations
The aim of this thesis is to explain the emergence of active perception. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, by providing the necessary conceptual foundations for active perception research - the key notions that bridge the conceptual gaps remaining in understanding emergent behaviours of active perception in the context of robotic implementations. On the one hand, the autonomous agent approach to mobile robotics claims that perception is active. On the other hand, while explanations of emergence have been extensively pursued in Artificial Life, these explanations have not yet successfully accounted for active perception.The main question dealt with in this thesis is how active perception systems, as behaviour -based autonomous systems, are capable of providing relatively optimal perceptual guidance in response to environmental challenges, which are somewhat unpredictable. The answer is: task -level emergence on grounds of complicatedly combined computational strategies, but this notion needs further explanation.To study the computational strategies undertaken in active perception re- search, the thesis surveys twelve implementations. On the basis of the surveyed implementations, discussions in this thesis show that the perceptual task executed in support of bodily actions does not arise from the intentionality of a homuncu- lus, but is identified automatically on the basis of the dynamic small mod- ules of particular robotic architectures. The identified tasks are accomplished by quasi -functional modules and quasi- action modules, which maintain transformations of perceptual inputs, compute critical variables, and provide guidance of sensory -motor movements to the most relevant positions for fetching further needed information. Given the nature of these modules, active perception emerges in a different fashion from the global behaviour seen in other autonomous agent research.The quasi- functional modules and quasi- action modules cooperate by estimating the internal cohesion of various sources of information in support of the envisaged task. Specifically, such modules basically reflect various computational facilities for a species to single out the most important characteristics of its ecological niche. These facilities help to achieve internal cohesion, by maintaining a stepwise evaluation over the previously computed information, the required task, and the most relevant features presented in the environment.Apart from the above exposition of active perception, the process of task - level emergence is understood with certain principles extracted from four models of life origin. First, the fundamental structure of active perception is identified as the stepwise computation. Second, stepwise computation is promoted from baseline to elaborate patterns, i.e. from a simple system to a combinatory system. Third, a core requirement for all stepwise computational processes is the comparison between collected and needed information in order to insure the contribution to the required task. Interestingly, this point indicates that active perception has an inherent pragmatist dimension.The understanding of emergence in the present thesis goes beyond the distinc- tion between external processes and internal representations, which some current philosophers argue is required to explain emergence. The additional factors are links of various knowledge sources, in which the role of conceptual foundations is two -fold. On the one hand, those conceptual foundations elucidate how various knowledge sources can be linked. On the other, they make possible an interdisci- plinary view of emergence. Given this two -fold role, this thesis shows the unity of task -level emergence. Thus, the thesis demonstrates a cooperation between sci- ence and philosophy for the purpose of understanding the integrity of emergent cognitive phenomena
Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications
Proceedings of a conference held in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 15-16, 1988. The Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications brings together diverse technical and scientific work in order to help those who employ AI methods in space applications to identify common goals and to address issues of general interest in the AI community. Topics include the following: space applications of expert systems in fault diagnostics, in telemetry monitoring and data collection, in design and systems integration; and in planning and scheduling; knowledge representation, capture, verification, and management; robotics and vision; adaptive learning; and automatic programming
Development of PVDF tactile dynamic sensing in a behaviour-based assembly robot
The research presented in this thesis focuses on the development of tactile event sig¬
nature sensors and their application, especially in reactive behaviour-based robotic
assembly systems.In pursuit of practical and economic sensors for detecting part contact, the application
ofPVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) film, a mechanical vibration sensitive piezo material,
is investigated. A Clunk Sensor is developed which remotely detects impact vibrations,
and a Push Sensor is developed which senses small changes in the deformation of a
compliant finger surface. The Push Sensor is further developed to provide some force
direction and force pattern sensing capability.By being able to detect changes of state in an assembly, such as a change of contact
force, an assembly robot can be well informed of current conditions. The complex
structure of assembly tasks provides a rich context within which to interpret changes
of state, so simple binary sensors can conveniently supply a lot more information than
in the domain of mobile robots. Guarded motions, for example, which require sensing a
change of state, have long been recognised as very useful in part mating tasks. Guarded
motions are particularly well suited to be components of assembly behavioural modules.In behaviour-based robotic assembly systems, the high level planner is endowed with
as little complexity as possible while the low level planning execution agent deals with
actual sensing and action. Highly reactive execution agents can provide advantages by
encapsulating low level sensing and action, hiding the details of sensori-motor complexity from the higher levels.Because behaviour-based assembly systems emphasise the utility of this kind of quali¬
tative state-change sensor (as opposed to sensors which measure physical quantities),
the robustness and utility of the Push Sensor was tested in an experimental behaviourbased system. An experimental task of pushing a ring along a convoluted stiff wire is
chosen, in which the tactile sensors developed here are aided by vision. Three differ¬
ent methods of combining these different sensors within the general behaviour-based
paradigm are implemented and compared. This exercise confirms the robustness and
utility of the PVDF-based tactile sensors. We argue that the comparison suggests
that for behaviour-based assembly systems using multiple concurrent sensor systems,
bottom-level motor control in terms of force or velocity would be more appropriate
than positional control. Behaviour-based systems have traditionally tried to avoid
symbolic knowledge. Considering this in the light of the above work, it was found
useful to develop a taxonomy of type of knowledge and refine the prohibition
Advancement in robot programming with specific reference to graphical methods
This research study is concerned with the derivation of advanced robot
programming methods. The methods include the use of proprietary
simulation modelling and design software tools for the off-line
programming of industrial robots. The study has involved the generation
of integration software to facilitate the co-operative operation of these
software tools.
The three major researcli'themes7of "ease of usage", calibration and the
integration of product design data have been followed to advance robot
programming. The "ease of usage" is concerned with enhancements in the
man-machine interface for robo t simulation systems in terms of computer
assisted solid modelling and computer assisted task generation.
Robot simulation models represent an idealised situation, and any off-line
robot programs generated from'them may contain'discrepancies which could
seriously effect thq programs' performance; Calibration techniques have
therefore been investigated as 'a method of overcoming discrepancies
between the simulation model and the real world.
At the present time, most computer aided design systems operate as
isolated islands of computer technology, whereas their product databases
should be used to support decision making processes and ultimately
facilitate the generation of machine programs. Thus the integration of
product design data has been studied as an important step towards truly
computer integrated manufacturing.
The functionality of the three areas of study have been generalised and
form the basis for recommended enhancements to future robot programming
systems
On flexibly integrating machine vision inspection systems in PCB manufacture
The objective of this research is to advance computer vision techniques
and their applications in the electronics manufacturing industry. The research has
been carried out with specific reference to the design of automatic optical inspection
(AOI) systems and their role in the manufacture of printed circuit boards (PCBs).
To achieve this objective, application areas of AOI systems in PCB manufacture
have been examined. As a result, a requirement for enhanced performance
characteristics has been identified and novel approaches and image processing algorithms
have been evolved which can be used within next generation of AOI systems.
The approaches are based on gaining an understanding of ways in which
manufacturing information can be used to support AOI operations. Through providing
information support, an AOI system has access to product models and associated
information which can be used to enhance the execution of visual inspection
tasks. Manufacturing systems integration, or more accurately controlled access to
electronic information, is the key to the approaches. Also in the thesis methods are
proposed to achieve the flexible integration of AOI systems (and computer vision
systems in general) within their host PCB manufacturing environment. Furthermore,
potential applications of information supported AOI systems at various stages of
PCB manufacturing have been studied.
It is envisaged that more efficient and cost-effective applications of AOI
can be attained through adopting the flexible integration methods proposed, since
AOI-generated information can now be accessed and utilized by other processes
Achieving reliability using behavioural modules in a robotic assembly system
The research in this thesis looks at improving the reliability of robotic as¬
sembly while still retaining the flexibility to change the system to cope with dif¬
ferent assemblies. The lack of a truly flexible robotic assembly system presents
a problem which current systems have yet to overcome. An experimental sys¬
tem has been designed and implemented to demonstrate the ideas presented in
this work. Runs of this system have also been performed to test and assess the
scheme which has been developed.The Behaviour-based SOMASS system looks at decomposing the task into
modular units, called Behavioural Modules, which reliably perform the as¬
sembly task by using variation reducing strategies. The thesis work looks at
expanding this framework to produce a system which relaxes the constraints of
complete reliability within a Behavioural Module by embedding these in a re¬
liable system architecture. This means that Behavioural Modules do not have
to guarantee to successfully perform their given task but instead can perform it
adequately, with occasional failures dealt with by the appropriate introduction
of alternative actionsTo do this, the concepts of Exit States, the Ideal Execution Path, and Alter¬
native Execution Paths have been described. The Exit State of a Behavioural
Module gives an indication of the control path which has actually been taken
during its execution. This information, along with appropriate information
available to the execution system (such as sensor and planner data), allows the
Ideal Execution Path and Alternative Execution Paths to be defined. These
show, respectively, the best control path through the system (as determined by
the system designer) and alternative control routes which can be taken when
necessary
Vision Experts: “Capturing the Holy Grail” Business Plan
This project investigates the potential viability of commercializing robotics software developed by a UBC engineer. The aim of this project is to provide the inventor with a business plan that will act as a tool to help in obtaining funding for the commercialization of this software. Through research and work, it has been concluded that the possibility does exist to use this software as the basis for a successful company. To that end, a business plan is presented with the goal of helping the developer achieve her goals
Basic set of behaviours for programming assembly robots
We know from the well established Church-Turing thesis that any computer programming language needs just a limited set of commands in order to perform any computable process. However, programming in these terms is so very inconvenient that a larger set of machine codes need to be introduced and on top of these higher programming languages are erected.In Assembly Robotics we could theoretically formulate any assembly task, in terms of moves. Nevertheless, it is as tedious and error prone to program assemblies at this low level as it would be to program a computer by using just Turing Machine commands.An interesting survey carried out in the beginning of the nineties showed that the most common assembly operations in manufacturing industry cluster in just seven classes. Since the research conducted in this thesis is developed within the behaviour-based assembly paradigm which views every assembly task as the external manifestation of the execution of a behavioural module, we wonder whether there exists a limited and ergonomical set of elementary modules with which to program at least 80% of the most common operations.IIn order to investigate such a problem, we set a project in which, taking into account the statistics of the aforementioned survey, we analyze the experimental behavioural decomposition of three significant assembly tasks (two similar benchmarks, the STRASS assembly, and a family of torches). From these three we establish a basic set of such modules.The three test assemblies with which we ran the experiments can not possibly exhaust ah the manufacturing assembly tasks occurring in industry, nor can the results gathered or the speculations made represent a theoretical proof of the existence of the basic set. They simply show that it is possible to formulate different assembly tasks in terms of a small set of about 10 modules, which may be regarded as an embryo of a basic set of elementary modules.Comparing this set with Kondoleon’s tasks and with Balch’s general-purpose robot routines, we observed that ours was general enough to represent 80% of the most common manufacturing assembly tasks and ergonomical enough to be easily used by human operators or automatic planners. A final discussion shows that it would be possible to base an assembly programming language on this kind of set of basic behavioural modules
Robotics handbook. Version 1: For the interested party and professional
This publication covers several categories of information about robotics. The first section provides a brief overview of the field of Robotics. The next section provides a reasonably detailed look at the NASA Robotics program. The third section features a listing of companies and organization engaging in robotics or robotic-related activities; followed by a listing of associations involved in the field; followed by a listing of publications and periodicals which cover elements of robotics or related fields. The final section is an abbreviated abstract of referred journal material and other reference material relevant to the technology and science of robotics, including such allied fields as vision perception; three-space axis orientation and measurement systems and associated inertial reference technology and algorithms; and physical and mechanical science and technology related to robotics
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