Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Solution to Multi-Robot Task Allocation Problem

Multi-robot systems require efficient and accurate planning in order to perform mission-critical tasks. This paper introduces a mixed-integer linear programming solution to coordinate multiple heterogenenous robots for detecting and controlling multiple regions of interest in an unknown environment. The objective function contains four basic requirements of a multi-robot system serving this purpose: control regions of interest, provide communication between robots, control maximum area and detect regions of interest. Our solution defines optimum locations of robots in order to maximize the objective function while efficiently satisfying some constraints such as avoiding obstacles and staying within the speed capabilities of the robots. We implemented and tested our approach under realistic scenarios. We showed various extensions to objective function and constraints to show the flexibility of mixed-integer linear programming formulation

A Motion Planning Processor on Reconfigurable Hardware

Motion planning algorithms enable us to find feasible paths for moving objects. These algorithms utilize feasibility checks to differentiate valid paths from invalid ones. Unfortunately, the computationally expensive nature of such checks reduces the effectiveness of motion planning algorithms. However, by using hardware acceleration to speed up the feasibility checks, we can greatly enhance the performance of the motion planning algorithms. Of course, such acceleration is not limited to feasibility checks; other components of motion planning algorithms can also be accelerated using specially designed hardware. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a great platform to support such an acceleration. An FPGA is a collection of digital gates which can be reprogrammed at run time, i.e., it can be used as a CPU that reconfigures itself for a given task. In this paper, we study the feasibility of an FPGA based motion planning processor and evaluate its performance. In order to leverage its highly parallel nature and its modular structure, our processor utilizes the probabilistic roadmap method at its core. The modularity enables us to replace the feasibility criteria with other ones. The reconfigurability lets us run our processor in different roles, such as a motion planning co-processor, an autonomous motion planning processor or dedicated collision detection chip. Our experiments show that such a processor is not only feasible but also can greatly increase the performance of current algorithms

A look at the Structural Bank Regulation initiatives and a discussion over Turkish banking sector

Following the 2007-8 Global Crisis, a significant shift is observed towards the international regulatory approach about the banks. Apart from reform efforts from international institutions such as the IMF, G20 and BIS, several proposals are set forward in some advanced financial systems. Moreover, it is debated that, these so called structural bank reform efforts, also present a chance to indirectly solve the issue of “To-big-to-fail” problem, the SIFI-“systemically Important Financial Institution” problem by its new title. In this study the fundamental characteristics of globally known structural bank reform initiatives are compared and a panel data analysis conducted for the Turkish commercial banks for the 2002-2012 period to investigate the effect of risk diversification on profitability to test for diversification in bank activities

Combined Controllers that Follow Imperfect Input Motions for Humanoid Robots

Humanoid robots have the potential to become a part of everyday life as their hardware and software challenges are being solved. In this paper we present a system that gets as input a motion trajectory in the form of motion capture data, and produces a controller that controls a humanoid robot in real-time to achieve a motion trajectory that is similar to the input motion data. The controller expects the input motion data not to be dynamically feasible for the robot and employs a combined controller with corrective components to keep the robot balanced while following the motion. Since the system can run in real-time, it can be thought of a candidate for teleoperation of humanoid robots using motion capture hardware

Emergent Task Allocation for Mobile Robots through Intentions and Directives

Multi-robot systems require efficient and accurate planning in order to perform mission-critical tasks. However, algorithms that find the optimal solution are usually computationally expensive and may require a large number of messages between the robots as the robots need to be aware of the global spatiotemporal information. In this paper, we introduce an emergent task allocation approach for mobile robots. Each robot uses only the information obtained from its immediate neighbors in its decision. Our technique is general enough to be applicable to any task allocation scheme as long as a utilization criteria is given. We demonstrate that our approach performs similar to the integer linear programming technique which finds the global optimal solution at the fraction of its cost. The tasks we are interested in are detecting and controlling multiple regions of interest in an unknown environment in the presence of obstacles and intrinsic constraints. The objective function contains four basic requirements of a multi-robot system serving this purpose: control regions of interest, provide communication between robots, control maximum area and detect regions of interest. Our solution determines optimal locations of the robots to maximize the objective function for small problem instances while efficiently satisfying some constraints such as avoiding obstacles and staying within the speed capabilities of the robots, and finds an approximation to global optimal solution by correlating solutions of small problems

Değişen Küresel Finansal Yapı ve 2007 Yılı Dalgalanmaları

Küresel piyasalarda 2006 yılının ikinci yarısından itibaren yeni bir döneme girildiği gözlenmektedir. Bu yeni dönem önceki dönemlere göre belirli açılardan farklılık arz etmektedir. Yeni dönem 1990’ların finansal krizler döneminden farklıdır; çünkü bu dönemde dalgalanmalar, ödemeler dengesi krizleri kadar derin değildir. 2000‐2006 döneminden de farklıdır, çünkü küresel likidite koşulları değişirken temel olarak gelişmiş ekonomilerde yaşanan gelişmeler, finansal küreselleşmenin ulaştığı nokta, karmaşık finansal ürünlerdeki artış ve risk transferi sorunu gibi hususlar neticesinde daha yaygın etkileri olan ve kendini tekrarlayabilen türbülanslar görülmektedir. Bu çerçevede gözetim ve denetim otoritelerinin finansal istikrar açısından izlemek durumunda oldukları alanlarda ve göstergelerde değişimler gözlenmektedir. Bu yeni nesil göstergelerle güçlendirilmiş bir makro gözetim çerçevesiyle küresel konjonktürün izlenmesi ve politika belirlenmesi türbülanslardan etkilenme derecesini de etkileyebilecektir. Global financial markets have experienced several episodes of turbulences since mid‐2006. This marks a new era and this new era displays a number of properties different than its predecessors. In this new period we observe many and wide spread fluctuations, while during 1990s can be described as a period of currency crises. This period is also different from 2000‐2006 timeframe that the abundance of global liquidity is in question. Moreover, the increased financial globalization, rise in the type and number of complex financial instruments where the risks are further decomposed and transferred causes recurrent turbulences. In this framework, the fields and indicators that financial market supervisors follow in the quest of maintaining financial stability evolves. Thus the supervisory activities, enhanced with these indicators may well affect the degree of the effects on a given financial system

Financial Stability of Islamic (Participation) Banks in Turkey

Since Global Financial Crisis the performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks have been an area of interest due to the difference in the principles of financial intermediation. Another area of interest is the financial stability characteristic of Islamic banks stemming from their business model. With the strong growth projection of Islamic banking in global finance, their soundness becomes of an increasing concern. The main goal of the paper is to investigate whether Islamic (participation) banks in Turkey are more stable than conventional banks using a Z-Score values in a panel data framewor

A look at the Structural Bank Regulation initiatives and a discussion over Turkish banking sector

Following the 2007-8 Global Crisis, a significant shift is observed towards the international regulatory approach about the banks. Apart from reform efforts from international institutions such as the IMF, G20 and BIS, several proposals are set forward in some advanced financial systems. Moreover, it is debated that, these so called structural bank reform efforts, also present a chance to indirectly solve the issue of “To-big-to-fail” problem, the SIFI-“systemically Important Financial Institution” problem by its new title. In this study the fundamental characteristics of globally known structural bank reform initiatives are compared and a panel data analysis conducted for the Turkish commercial banks for the 2002-2012 period to investigate the effect of risk diversification on profitability to test for diversification in bank activities