Development of robots and application to industrial processes

An algorithm is presented for using a robot system with a single camera to position in three-dimensional space a slender object for insertion into a hole; for example, an electrical pin-type termination into a connector hole. The algorithm relies on a control-configured end effector to achieve the required horizontal translations and rotational motion, and it does not require camera calibration. A force sensor in each fingertip is integrated with the vision system to allow the robot to teach itself new reference points when different connectors and pins are used. Variability in the grasped orientation and position of the pin can be accomodated with the sensor system. Performance tests show that the system is feasible. More work is needed to determine more precisely the effects of lighting levels and lighting direction

GROWTH MINDSET IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

This study investigated the growth mindset of college students in English language learning and the challenges they encounter in an online setting. Using a researcher-made questionnaire about the growth mindset of college students in English language learning and the challenges they encounter in an online setting, data from the 60 respondents in the study coming from the different colleges or departments of the Notre Dame of Midsayap College were analyzed quantitatively. Findings indicated that students have a high growth mindset and that factors such as motivation, criticism, environment, and effort had played a major role in their English language learning. Major challenges of students in an online setting include finding difficulty in accessing online materials due to poor internet connection, experiencing headaches and body pains due to prolonged exposure to gadgets, and getting bored easily when class time is too lengthy. The least challenges encountered by students in an online setting yet also hampered their learning are lacking gadgets such as a cellphone and laptops, feeling disconnected from the instructor, and excessive workloads. Furthermore, there is no significant difference in a growth mindset in terms of sex and college or department. However, it was found out that College of Nursing (CN) got the highest mean when it comes to their growth mindset. Meanwhile, College of Information Technology, and Engineering (CITE) got the lowest mean. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between the growth mindset of English language learning and the challenges they encountered in an online setting.  Article visualizations

A Comparison of Real-Time Obstacle Avoidance Methods for Mobile Robots

NRC publication: Ye

Intelligent Platform for Health Care Applications

NRC publication: Ye

Integrating service discovery protocols with presence-based communications for ad hoc collaborative scenarios

This paper presents an approach for the integration of service discovery protocols with presence-based communication services. The goal is to be able to facilitate communications among 3rdparty services in an ad hoc manner in particular for collaboration scenarios that occur in meeting rooms, face to face, or across enterprises. The presence protocol SIP/SIMPLE is extended to support descriptions of services for existing common service discovery formats like the IETF Service Location Protocol (SLP)

Identification of the Kinematic Parameters of an Industrial Robot

NRC publication: Ye

Using a Blackboard to Integrate Multiple Activities and Achieve Strategic Reasoning for Mobile-Robot Navigation

This article discusses some of the associated difficulties in designing system architecture for the autonomous control of a mobile robot, in particular the problem associated with using strategic reasoning for selecting a set of "activities". An activity is designed as a stand alone sub-system capable of performing a particular focused task. Strategic reasoning is coded as a set of production rules and interaction between the activities and the strategic reasoning knowledgebase occurs through blackboard style architecture. The system architecture described in this article is known as a blackboard activity-based system and came about from a study of desired attributes for mobile robot system architecture. A definition of these attributes is given along with a qualitative comparison of several classical system architectures. The blackboard activity-based system is a hybrid system incorporating advantages of the three classical systems. It is designed with two hierarchical layers for strategic and reactive reasoning, a blackboard database for keeping track of the global state of the world, and a set of reactive behaviour-like activities. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by an actual implementation on a mobile platform which has the ability of real-time reactive navigation, detection of floor anomalies, and dynamic path planning. An example of strategic reasoning is demonstrated when information posted on the blackboard by the passageway activity is used to guide the floor anomaly activity.Cet article aborde quelques-unes des difficult\ue9s associ\ue9es \ue0 la conception d'une architecture de syst\ue8me pour le contr\uf4le autonome d'un robot mobile, en particulier le probl\ue8me li\ue9 \ue0 l'utilisation d'un raisonnement strat\ue9gique pour la s\ue9lection d'un ensemble "d'activit\ue9s". Une activit\ue9 est con\ue7ue comme un sous-syst\ue8me autonome qui peut effectuer une t\ue2che ayant un focus particulier. Le raisonnement strat\ue9gique est cod\ue9 comme un ensemble de r\ue8gles de production et l'interaction entre la base de connaissances du raisonnement strat\ue9gique et les activit\ue9s se produit gr\ue2ce \ue0 une architecture de style tableau noir. L'architecture d\ue9crite dans le pr\ue9sent article est connue comme celle d'un syst\ue8me bas\ue9 sur des activit\ue9s tableau noir et elle d\ue9coule d'une \ue9tude des attributs voulus pour une architecture de syst\ue8me de robots mobiles. On donne une d\ue9finition de ces attributs avec une comparaison qualitative de plusieurs architectures classiques de syst\ue8me. Le syst\ue8me bas\ue9 sur les activit\ue9s tableau noir est un syst\ue8me hybride int\ue9grant les avantages des trois syst\ue8mes classiques. Il est con\ue7u avec deux couches hi\ue9rarchiques pour le raisonnement strat\ue9gique et le raisonnement r\ue9actif, avec une base de donn\ue9es tableau noir qui tient registre de l'\ue9tat global du monde et avec un ensemble d'activit\ue9s de type comportement r\ue9actif. La faisabilit\ue9 de l'approche est d\ue9montr\ue9e par la mise en oeuvre r\ue9elle d'une plate-forme mobile qui a la capacit\ue9 de navigation r\ue9active en temps r\ue9el, de d\ue9tection des anomalies de plancher et de planification de chemin dynamique. On donne un exemple de raisonnement strat\ue9gique o\uf9 l'information affich\ue9e au tableau noir par l'activit\ue9 de la voie de passage sert \ue0 guider l'activit\ue9 de d\ue9tection d'anomalies de plancher.NRC publication: Ye

Service selection in networks based on proximity confirmation using infrared

There are protocols that can be used by mobile clients to discover service providers in foreign networks to which they get attached, e.g. SDP of Bluetooth and SLP of IETF. These protocols do address service discovery, but do not address the selection of a service provider among a set of candidates according to physical proximity of the client and service provider. The goal of the research described in this paper is to integrate proximity-based selection mechanisms to service discovery protocols. We present in this paper protocols that allow nomadic clients to discover and select service providers according to physical proximity