Optimisation of surface coverage paths used by a non-contact robot painting system

This thesis proposes an efficient path planning technique for a non-contact optical “painting” system that produces surface images by moving a robot mounted laser across objects covered in photographic emulsion. In comparison to traditional 3D planning approaches (e.g. laminar slicing) the proposed algorithm dramatically reduces the overall path length by optimizing (i.e. minimizing) the amounts of movement between robot configurations required to position and orientate the laser. To do this the pixels of the image (i.e. points on the surface of the object) are sequenced using configuration space rather than Cartesian space. This technique extracts data from a CAD model and then calculates the configuration that the five degrees of freedom system needs to assume to expose individual pixels on the surface. The system then uses a closest point analysis on all the major joints to sequence the points and create an efficient path plan for the component. The implementation and testing of the algorithm demonstrates that sequencing points using a configuration based method tends to produce significantly shorter paths than other approaches to the sequencing problem. The path planner was tested with components ranging from simple to complex and the paths generated demonstrated both the versatility and feasibility of the approach

Strategic scenography

Diese Dissertation befasst sich mit der Konstruktion von „Kriegsschauplätzen/Bühnen des Krieges“ in den Ziel-Landschaften europäischer und amerikanischer militärischer Konflikte im 20. Jahrhundert. In dieser Studie der Szenografie des Krieges untersuche ich den Begriff der inszenierten Landschaft und die Adaption theatralischer Bildsprachen und Methodologien durch das Militär. Diese multidisziplinäre Betrachtung verwendet ein breites Spektrum an Literatur zu den Themen Wahrnehmung, Perspektive, Camouflage, Gelände und Modell. Die Studie schöpft aus historischen Quellen inklusive jüngst freigegebenen militärischen Dokumenten des 2. Weltkrieges sowie fotografischem Archivmaterial aus Europa und den US. Der Fokus liegt auf der Visualisierung von Landschaft und szenografischen Strategien zur Konstruktion, Visualisierung und Erprobung von Narrativen der Tarnung und Enthüllung. Die Repräsentation von Landschaft wurde durch die Interpretation von Luftaufnahmen und imaginativer Vorstellung konstruiert. Der perspektivische Wechsel in Massstab und stereoskopische Effekten brachte neue optische und räumliche «Wahrheiten» hervor. Zentral in dieser Analyse ist das Modell als strategisches Spektakel, als Probebühne und Werkzeug taktischer Analyse. Die Untersuchung stellt den Kontext für eine Betrachtung von szenografischer Strategien in zeitgenössischer künstlerischer Praxis. Fünf Fallbeispiele zeigen, wie KünstlerInnen als SzenografInnen politische und kulturelle Landschaften repräsentieren.This dissertation is concerned with the construction of ‘theatres of war’ in the target landscapes of 20th century military conflict in Europe and America. In this study of the scenography of war, I examine the notion of the staged landscape and the adoption of theatrical language and methodologies by the military. This is a multi-disciplinary perspective informed by a wide range of literature concerning perception, the aerial view, camouflage and the terrain model. It draws on much original material including declassified military documents and archival photographs. The emphasis is on the visualisation of landscape and the scenographic strategies used to create, visualise and rehearse narratives of disguise and exposure. Landscape representation was constructed through the study of aerial photographs and imaginative projection. The perceptual shifts in scale and stereoscopic effects created new optical and spatial ‘truths’. Central to this analysis is the place of the model as strategic spectacle, as stage for rehearsal and re-enactment through performance and play. This research forms the context for an exploration of the extension and translation of similar scenographic strategies in contemporary visual art practice. Five case studies demonstrate how the artist as scenographer is representing the political and cultural landscape

The Third Digital Turn of Non-Standard Architecture

This thesis explores Non-Standard Architecture, a movement in Postmodern architecture on non-Euclidean parametric and algorithmic formalism, and suggests a series of inherent limits prevented its full realisation. The thesis answers how these limits might be overcome by formulating the Third Digital Turn of Non-Standard. The Third Digital Turn emerged from the Second Digital Turn, an architectural movement from 2012 that realised parametric architecture through novel methods of form finding and construction using parametric data models and robotics. Through the Third Digital Turn the thesis formulates the Statutes of Non-Standard Architecture that describe the process of legislation in terms of the invention of new practice for Non-Standard Architecture. The thesis traces the evolution of the Second Digital Turn through novel interpretations of geometric lineage across architectural epochs, and identifies parametrisation with the codified law of architecture beginning in the Renaissance. The thesis identifies a gap between the possibilities of digital technologies in architecture and the current capacities of the building industry to realise them. Persistent challenges to achieving these objectives of automation are the limits of the regulatory environment and conservative construction practices. The thesis argues that such inherent limits can be overcome by reconsidering the existing regulations that frame technology and by implementing a methodology for ecological governance in architecture. The thesis contributes to the field in two key areas. First, it evolves Non-Standard architectural codification and production processes to extend the capacity of existing skills and technologies. Second, it indicates opportunities for environmental sustainability with protocols for Non-Standard design and construction, functional grading of material and automation in architecture

Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations on Air, Sea, Land

Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land is our fourth textbook in a series covering the world of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (CUAS). (Nichols R. K., 2018) (Nichols R. K., et al., 2019) (Nichols R. , et al., 2020)The authors have expanded their purview beyond UAS / CUAS systems. Our title shows our concern for growth and unique cyber security unmanned vehicle technology and operations for unmanned vehicles in all theaters: Air, Sea and Land – especially maritime cybersecurity and China proliferation issues. Topics include: Information Advances, Remote ID, and Extreme Persistence ISR; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles & How They Can Augment Mesonet Weather Tower Data Collection; Tour de Drones for the Discerning Palate; Underwater Autonomous Navigation & other UUV Advances; Autonomous Maritime Asymmetric Systems; UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management; Principles of Naval Architecture Applied to UUV’s; Unmanned Logistics Operating Safely and Efficiently Across Multiple Domains; Chinese Advances in Stealth UAV Penetration Path Planning in Combat Environment; UAS, the Fourth Amendment and Privacy; UV & Disinformation / Misinformation Channels; Chinese UAS Proliferation along New Silk Road Sea / Land Routes; Automaton, AI, Law, Ethics, Crossing the Machine – Human Barrier and Maritime Cybersecurity.Unmanned Vehicle Systems are an integral part of the US national critical infrastructure The authors have endeavored to bring a breadth and quality of information to the reader that is unparalleled in the unclassified sphere. Unmanned Vehicle (UV) Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land discusses state-of-the-art technology / issues facing U.S. UV system researchers / designers / manufacturers / testers. We trust our newest look at Unmanned Vehicles in Air, Sea, and Land will enrich our students and readers understanding of the purview of this wonderful technology we call UV.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1035/thumbnail.jp

KINE[SIS]TEM'17 From Nature to Architectural Matter

Kine[SiS]tem – From Kinesis + System. Kinesis is a non-linear movement or activity of an organism in response to a stimulus. A system is a set of interacting and interdependent agents forming a complex whole, delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, influenced by its environment. How can architectural systems moderate the external environment to enhance comfort conditions in a simple, sustainable and smart way? This is the starting question for the Kine[SiS]tem’17 – From Nature to Architectural Matter International Conference. For decades, architectural design was developed despite (and not with) the climate, based on mechanical heating and cooling. Today, the argument for net zero energy buildings needs very effective strategies to reduce energy requirements. The challenge ahead requires design processes that are built upon consolidated knowledge, make use of advanced technologies and are inspired by nature. These design processes should lead to responsive smart systems that deliver the best performance in each specific design scenario. To control solar radiation is one key factor in low-energy thermal comfort. Computational-controlled sensor-based kinetic surfaces are one of the possible answers to control solar energy in an effective way, within the scope of contradictory objectives throughout the year.FC

Bio-Inspired Robotics

Modern robotic technologies have enabled robots to operate in a variety of unstructured and dynamically-changing environments, in addition to traditional structured environments. Robots have, thus, become an important element in our everyday lives. One key approach to develop such intelligent and autonomous robots is to draw inspiration from biological systems. Biological structure, mechanisms, and underlying principles have the potential to provide new ideas to support the improvement of conventional robotic designs and control. Such biological principles usually originate from animal or even plant models, for robots, which can sense, think, walk, swim, crawl, jump or even fly. Thus, it is believed that these bio-inspired methods are becoming increasingly important in the face of complex applications. Bio-inspired robotics is leading to the study of innovative structures and computing with sensory–motor coordination and learning to achieve intelligence, flexibility, stability, and adaptation for emergent robotic applications, such as manipulation, learning, and control. This Special Issue invites original papers of innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, and novel applications and business models relevant to the selected topics of ``Bio-Inspired Robotics''. Bio-Inspired Robotics is a broad topic and an ongoing expanding field. This Special Issue collates 30 papers that address some of the important challenges and opportunities in this broad and expanding field

The incredible disappearing soldier and other adventures in British military recruitment: How is masculine identity constructed by British military recruitment films in the decades 2000–2020?

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.The Incredible Disappearing Soldier is a practice-led enquiry which explores the visual and discursive construction of masculinities in British military recruitment and promotional films produced during the first two decades of this century. Its title alludes to the 1957 US film The Incredible Shrinking Man, in which the subject becomes smaller and smaller and eventually disappears from view. The study engages theoretical and practice-led applications to open up aesthetic and conceptual questions surrounding the body, identity and the gendered military subject. It explores a phenomenon where soldiers and enemy targets are often defocused, or they are absented from staged scenes of military action. Attention is often directed away from the heroic individual, away from representations of the sentient body and towards abstract themes of belonging where the self gives way to a collective identity. Heroic endeavour is sometimes visualised through the technologies of war and a destruction of landscapes, often replacing visual representations of the soldier subject. On the surface the films’ direct appeal to women, minority ethnic and sexual minority groups preclude traditional representations of heteronormative male stereotypes associated with a hegemonic military ideal. Yet in many respects such narratives are counter-positional to the realities of a soldier’s life: at the time of writing this study the British military remains an overwhelmingly homosocial institution. This study therefore proposes that beneath the surface of the ambiguous visual language of these promotional films, traditional hegemonic ideals associated with a gendered military identity are still present. The Incredible Disappearing Soldier takes an interdisciplinary approach in the examination of thirty short promotional films made across a twenty-year period. This coincided with the so-called ‘war on terror’, the US and Allied military campaign started after 9/11 in the United States. The study utilises deconstructed filmmaking practice combined with critical approaches including gender studies, post-structuralism and film theory to develop an enquiry into how British military masculinities are constructed, interpreted and understood. It is concerned with ethical and political implications associated with a visual blurring of the gendered subject in the mediated framing of state-controlled violence. It also asks why military recruitment in the UK is increasingly framed through a disavowal of the individual and the vulnerable body. Film analysis and practical responses are facilitated by a methodology which is conceptualised as blur. This concept relates to an undecidability surrounding meaning, the image and subjectivity and builds on work around deconstruction, particularly in respect of the writing by Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault. Deconstruction here includes the material breaking of film texts and establishes a synthesis between making and interpreting, practice and theory. Blur also facilitates discussions around a visual and conceptual blurring of the gendered subject. Centrally, Butler’s considerations of gender construction, a relationship with the body and subjectivity are explored through practice in performance and film. Postproduction methods are also used to engage and examine themes of continuity and discontinuity, coherence and incoherence. A deconstructed methodology is interpreted as a provocation, whose aim is to open up critical and reflective spaces when examining the visual construction of gender subjectivity and the framing of war.University of Wolverhampton

New Trends in 3D Printing

A quarter century period of the 3D printing technology development affords ground for speaking about new realities or the formation of a new technological system of digital manufacture and partnership. The up-to-date 3D printing is at the top of its own overrated expectations. So the development of scalable, high-speed methods of the material 3D printing aimed to increase the productivity and operating volume of the 3D printing machines requires new original decisions. It is necessary to study the 3D printing applicability for manufacturing of the materials with multilevel hierarchical functionality on nano-, micro- and meso-scales that can find applications for medical, aerospace and/or automotive industries. Some of the above-mentioned problems and new trends are considered in this book