Neuromuscular Analysis as a Guideline in designing Shared Control

BioMechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

The Force-Feedback Coupling Effect in Bilateral Tele-Impedance

In this paper, we introduce and explore a concept called coupling effect, which pertains to the influence of force feedback on the commanded stiffness that is voluntarily controlled by the operator through the stiffness interface during bilateral tele-impedance. The degree of coupling effect depends on the type of interface used to control the impedance of the remote robot. In case of muscle activity based stiffness command interfaces, the force feedback can invoke involuntary changes in the commanded stiffness due to human reflexes. These involuntary changes can be either beneficial (e.g., during position tracking) or detrimental (e.g., during force tracking) to the task performance on the remote robot side. To investigate the coupling effect in different types of stiffness command interfaces (i.e., coupled and decoupled), we conduct an experimental study in which participants are asked to perform position and force tracking tasks. The results show that in both position and force tracking tasks a lower tracking error of the reference stiffness is obtained with a decoupled interface (p<0.001). However, the unexpected force perturbation yields lower absolute position error when using a coupled interface (p=0.0091), which indicates a specific benefit of the coupling effect. Finally, a lower absolute force error is found in the force tracking task by using the decoupled interface (p<0.001), which indicates a specific downside of the coupling effect. Accepted Author ManuscriptHuman-Robot Interactio

Method of steering a vehicle

Vehicle and method of steering such a vehicle, wherein the vehicle has a steering wheel and steerable driving wheels and a transfer system for converting steering wheel actions to a steering angle of the steerable driving wheels, and wherein the transfer system is provided with a predefined stiffness value that determines said transfer system's transfer characteristic pertaining to a required amount of torque that is required in turning the steering wheel to effect a desired steering angle of the steerable driving wheels. In this vehicle and method of steering this vehicle, an area in front of the vehicle is monitored for detecting objects that the vehicle may hit when it continues its current path of movement. Depending on the detection of any such object the stiffness value of the transfer system is reduced so as to ease turning the steering wheel for effecting the desired steering angle of the steerable driving wheels.Biomechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

The effect of haptic support systems on driver performance: A literature survey

A large number of haptic driver support systems have been described in the scientific literature. However, there is little consensus regarding the design, evaluation methods, and effectiveness of these systems. This literature survey aimed to investigate: (1) what haptic systems (in terms of function, haptic signal, channel, and supported task) have been experimentally tested, (2) how these haptic systems have been evaluated, and (3) their reported effects on driver performance and behaviour. We reviewed empirical research in which participants had to drive a vehicle in a real or simulated environment, were able to control the heading and/or speed of the vehicle, and a haptic signal was provided to them. The results indicated that a clear distinction can be made between warning systems (using vibrations) and guidance systems (using continuous forces). Studies typically used reaction time measures for evaluating warning systems and vehicle-centred performance measures for evaluating guidance systems. In general, haptic warning systems reduced the reaction time of a driver compared to no warnings, although these systems may cause annoyance. Guidance systems generally improved the performance of drivers compared to non-aided driving, but these systems may suffer from after-effects. Longitudinal research is needed to investigate the transfer and retention of effects caused by haptic support systems.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Contro

Joining the blunt and the pointy end of the spear: Towards a common framework of joint action, human–machine cooperation, cooperative guidance and control, shared, traded and supervisory control

To introduce this special issue of shared and cooperative control, we will look into history of tools in cooperation between humans and aim to unify the plethora of related concepts and definitions that have been proposed in recent years, such as shared control, human–machine cooperation and cooperative guidance and control. Concretely, we provide definitions to relate these concepts and sketch a unifying framework of shared and cooperative control that sees the different concepts as different perspectives or foci on a common design space of shared intentionality, control and cooperation between humans and machines. One working hypothesis which the article explores is that shared control can be understood as cooperation at the control layer, while human–machine cooperation can include shared control, but can also extend towards cooperation at higher layers, e.g., of guidance and navigation, of maneuvers and goals. The relationship between shared control and human–machine cooperation is compared to the relationship between the sharp, pointy tip and the (blunt) shaft of a spear. Shared control is where cooperation comes sharply into effect at the control layer, but to be truly effective it should be supported by cooperation on all layers beyond the operational layer, e.g., on the tactical and strategic layer. A fourth layer addresses the meta-communication about the cooperation and supports the other three layers in a traversal way.Human-Robot Interactio

New insights into the Cs-Mo-O system: Experimental studies of the Cs₂MoO₄-MoO₃ pseudo-binary system

The ternary cesium molybdates Cs2Mo2O7, Cs2Mo3O10, Cs2Mo5O16 and Cs2Mo7O22 have been synthesized in this work using a solid state route and their structures have been characterized using X-ray diffraction. The enthalpies of formation of Cs2Mo2O7 and Cs2Mo3O10 have been measured using solution calorimetry, yielding ΔfHmo(Cs2Mo2O7, cr, 298.15 K) = −(2301.6 ± 4.7) kJ · mol−1 and ΔfHmo(Cs2Mo3O10, cr, 298.15 K) = −(3075.6 ± 6.5) kJ · mol−1, respectively. In addition, the transition temperatures and transition enthalpies of Cs2Mo2O7, Cs2Mo3O10, Cs2Mo5O16 and Cs2Mo7O22 have been determined using differential scanning calorimetry. Finally, phase diagram equilibria measurements in the Cs2MoO4-MoO3 pseudo-binary section have been performed, that have yielded generally slightly lower transition temperatures than reported in previous studies. Those data can serve as valuable input for thermodynamic modelling purposes of the fission products chemistry in Light Water Reactors and next generation Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors and Lead-cooled Fast Reactors.RST/Reactor Physics and Nuclear MaterialsRST/Technici Poo

Drivers of partially automated vehicles are blamed for crashes that they cannot reasonably avoid

People seem to hold the human driver to be primarily responsible when their partially automated vehicle crashes, yet is this reasonable? While the driver is often required to immediately take over from the automation when it fails, placing such high expectations on the driver to remain vigilant in partially automated driving is unreasonable. Drivers show difficulties in taking over control when needed immediately, potentially resulting in dangerous situations. From a normative perspective, it would be reasonable to consider the impact of automation on the driver’s ability to take over control when attributing responsibility for a crash. We, therefore, analyzed whether the public indeed considers driver ability when attributing responsibility to the driver, the vehicle, and its manufacturer. Participants blamed the driver primarily, even though they recognized the driver’s decreased ability to avoid the crash. These results portend undesirable situations in which users of partially driving automation are the ones held responsible, which may be unreasonable due to the detrimental impact of driving automation on human drivers. Lastly, the outcome signals that public awareness of such human-factors issues with automated driving should be improved.Human-Robot InteractionInteractive Intelligenc

A Two-Dimensional Weighting Function for a Driver Assistance System

Driver assistance systems that supply force feedback (FF) on the accelerator commonly use relative distance and velocity with respect to the closest lead vehicle in front of the own vehicle. This 1-D feedback might not accurately represent the situation and can cause unwanted step-shaped changes in the FFs during lateral maneuvers. To address these shortcomings, a 2-D system is proposed that calculates FF using a weighted average of the influences of lead vehicles. Offline simulations and an experiment in a driving simulator were performed to compare no feedback, 1-D systems, and the novel 2-D system during a car-following task with cut-in maneuvers. Results show that the 2-D feedback resulted in lower mean forces, lower response times to cut-in vehicles, and favorable subjective experiences as compared to the 1-D systems.Biomechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

System provided with an assistance-controller for assisting an operator of the system, control-operation assisting device, control-operation assisting method, driving-operation assisting device, and driving-operation assisting method

A target-travel-path generating circuit calculates a target travel path along which the controlled object can travel in the future from the current controlled object position, an ideal-control-signal calculating circuit calculates a control profile S to travel along the target travel path P, and a difference calculating circuit calculates a difference d between the ideal control magnitude S and a current control magnitude S. An operation system assistance controller controls the operation system based on the magnitude of the calculated difference d to assist the control operation of the operator, the control-operation-state of the operator, the environment-state, and the required operation-precision. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the operator with control operation assistance that is a function of the magnitude of the difference d from an ideal control state, the control-operation-state of the operator, the environment-state, and the required operation-precision, and thus, a control-operation assistance control can be outputted that is suitable for the conditions that characterize the state of the operator, the environment, and the controlled object.Biomechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

A topology of shared control systems: Finding common ground in diversity

Shared control is an increasingly popular approach to facilitate control and communication between humans and intelligent machines. However, there is little consensus in guidelines for design and evaluation of shared control, or even in a definition of what constitutes shared control. This lack of consensus complicates cross fertilization of shared control research between different application domains. This paper provides a definition for shared control in context with previous definitions, and a set of general axioms for design and evaluation of shared control solutions. The utility of the definition and axioms are demonstrated by applying them to four application domains: automotive, robot-assisted surgery, brain–machine interfaces, and learning. Literature is discussed for each of these four domains in light of the proposed definition and axioms. Finally, to facilitate design choices for other applications, we propose a hierarchical framework for shared control that links the shared control literature with traded control, co-operative control, and other human–automation interaction methods. Future work should reveal the generalizability and utility of the proposed shared control framework in designing useful, safe, and comfortable interaction between humans and intelligent machines.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Human-Robot InteractionBiomechatronics & Human-Machine Contro