Method to Estimate Human Inattention in Teleoperation of Mobile Robots

In teleoperation of mobile robots the operator is remotely located. As a result, generally the human perception of the remote environment is distorted affecting the mission negatively. Visual information can be degraded because of video images bandwith, time lags, frame rates, point of view and motion effects among other reasons. Although many researchers have proposed a variety of methods for measuring perception, just a few can be used in control closed loop systems. This paper aims to provide a novel metric to the human visual inattention upon risk for a remotely navigated mobile robot. We present both qualitative and quantitative guidelines for designing the metric in a teleoperation of a mobile robot. The method allows to incorporate the metric in a control closed loop system, and task consists in guiding the robot from an initial point to a final one as quick as possible, considering the constraint of avoiding collisions. Furthermore, a haptic cue based on the metric is proposed in order to help the human to avoid collisions. A system stability analysis considering time varying delays is proposed. Additionally, we present a human in the loop experiment of a teleoperation of a 3D mobile robot simulator in order to remark the advantages of using human factors in the controller.Fil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Mut, Vicente Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Slawiñski, Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; Argentin

Valuation of defer and relocation options in photovoltaic generation investments by a stochastic simulation-based method

Risk management is crucial when committing investments in electricity markets. Investment projects for the generation of electricity are capital-intensive, in large part irreversible and future performance is subject to high uncertainty. Fortunately, most power generation projects have strategic flexibility for handling uncertainty and for mitigating risks under unfavorable scenarios. Modern corporate finance recognizes Real Option analysis (ROA) as the correct way to value investment projects with these characteristics. Due to both, environmental concerns and escalation of fuel prices, electricity generation from renewable sources has grown dramatically worldwide over the last decade. Renewable investment projects share many of the features mentioned. As such, option valuation methods should be applied to estimate the monetary value of flexibility in renewable energy investments. This work presents an appropriate methodology for assessing the economic value of a photovoltaic power plant under uncertainties. ROA is applied to determine the value of delaying the investment decision while waiting for better market information that would reduce acquisition costs due to progress in solar technology. The flexibility of relocating the solar facility in the future upon the appearance of a more attractive site in terms of cost, network accessibility or regulatory policies is also valued. The problem of option valuation is solved through stochastic simulation combined with recursive approximate dynamic programming techniques. The methodology developed might be used by investors for more efficient decision-making and by regulatory agencies for designing adequate support policies that encourage investment in renewable energy generation.Fil: Pringles, Rolando Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Olsina, Fernando Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; Argentin

Metric to Visual Aspects of the Human in Teleoperation of a Mobile Robot

The purpose of this paper is to define and develop a metric to estimate the selective visual attention (SVA) of an operator that teleoperates a mobile robot. Perception is the first stage of Situation Awareness which is defined as one of the main aspects of Human Factors, and the attention is a resource which strongly affects the Perception of humans. Many researchers have proposed a variety of methods for measuring any stage of the Situation Awareness, but just a few can be used in control close loop systems due to the nature of the methods. A definition of a novel metric is proposed, which quantifies the operator visual knowledge about the surrounding risk, based on visual selective attention and being able to be a used in a control close loop. A teleoperation of a mobile robot navigating in an unknown environment without colliding is suggested as an application for the method. Finally, results of the implementation of the measurement method are presented. Applications of this research include the teleoperation of robots, where the human operator commands have a strong influence in the controller of the main task and when the there exist limitations on the visual feedback.Fil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Slawiñski, Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Mut, Vicente Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; Argentin

Laser Radar Based Autonomous Mobile Robot Guidance System for Olive Groves Navigation

This paper proposes a control strategy for a mobile robot for precision agriculture. The controller allows autonomous navigation through corridors formed by plants or fruit vines and olive trees. Furthermore, a rotation strategy based on odometer is proposed. The controller uses an algorithm for estimating the states of the system based on information from a laser sensor, which is enhanced by an Extended Kalman Filter which considers the model of the robot-environment interaction. The controller also incorporates the use of odometer sensors for automation of rotation between the end and beginning of plant corridors. The method has been tested in a real environment using a Pionner3AT (outdoor) robot navigating over a typical olive grove of the INTA - EEA San Juan (Pocito, San Juan, Argentina).Fil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Slawiñski, Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Mut, Vicente Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; Argentin

Analysis and Experimentation of a Mobile Robot Teleoperation System Over Internet

En este trabajo, se propone un análisis de estabilidad y experimentación entre diferentes países de un esquema de control para teleoperación bilateral de robots móviles, el cual considera una impedancia remota con elasticidad variante en el tiempo. En la demostración de estabilidad se consideran los retardos de tiempo variantes del canal, y la impedancia. Se ejecutó satisfactoriamente una teleoperación de un robot Pioneer 3AT entre la Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina) y la Universidad de Verona (Italia), del cual se exponen gráficas y conclusiones.In this paper, stability analysis and experimentation of a control scheme for bilateral teleoperation of mobile robots, which considers a remote variant-gain impedance is proposed. The analysis considers variant channel time delays and the impedance. For the experiment, an intercontinental teleoperation of a Pioneer 3AT was successfully performed between the National University of San Juan (Argentina) and the University of Verona (Italy), from which results, graphics and conclusions are exposed.Fil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Slawiñski, Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Mut, Vicente Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Juan. Instituto de Automática; Argentin

Real options valuation of photovoltaic power investments in existing buildings

Renewable power generation based on solar energy is deemed to be a key instrument to reduce the carbon footprint of modern economies. Collectively, buildings are an energy-intensive consumption sector. Therefore, existing building rooftops are seen as a target for massively deploying photovoltaic (PV) distributed generation. Nevertheless, estimating the benefits and risks of investing in rooftop PV systems is indeed a challenging task due to the large uncertainties that affect tariffs, technology costs, and regulatory policy. After reviewing the literature and identifying the current gaps, this article develops a method based on Real Options theory for appraising investments in PV generation systems to be installed on the rooftop of existing buildings. The option value of differing the investment decision and the problem of the optimal time to invest in irreversible PV assets are addressed by an advanced valuation method based on stochastic simulation, linear regression, and backward dynamic programming. In this work, returns of self-generation PV investments are subjected to uncertainties upon declining investment costs and fluctuating electricity tariffs, which are represented by appropriate exogenous stochastic processes. In order to test the practicability of the proposed decision-making framework, the valuation of an exemplary rooftop PV-system in a government building is considered. Results show that while standard appraisal methods wrongly reject the rooftop PV project now and in the future, the option valuation method finds optimal to hold the opportunity open in order to reconsider to invest later. In addition, the method provides an objective value of the opportunity cost of using the building rooftop for another purpose. The proposed valuation approach would result in better investment allocation and faster development of distributed PV power capacity contributing thereby to enhance the sustainability of current energy systems.Fil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Pringles, Rolando Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Olsina, Fernando Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; Argentin

Collision avoidance method for multi-operator multi-robot teleoperation system

SUMMARY This paper proposes a collision avoidance method for the teleoperation of multiple non-holonomic mobile robots from multiple users. Each human operator drives a mobile robot, where each one performs an independent task in a common workspace. To avoid collisions, the proposed method only acts on the speed of the mobile robots; therefore, the human operator can freely drive the robot over the path he chooses to. The developed analysis allows us to assure that a solution is always achieved. Finally, the results of the experiments are shown, in order to test the performance of the proposed control scheme.Fil: García, Sebastián Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Slawiñski, Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Mut, Vicente Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; ArgentinaFil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; Argentin

Economic analysis of photovoltaic projects: The Argentinian renewable generation policy for residential sectors

The Province of San Juan-Argentina has a considerable amount of solar radiation which encourages taking advantage of a photovoltaic system. In addition, a net billing remuneration mechanism for renewable and distributed energy generation has been established by recent Argentinian Law (Dec- 2017). This work presents a profitability analysis of solar photovoltaic projects connected to the grid in the residential sector, considering the Net Billing structure adopted by the Law, and also the Feed-in-Tariff structure that has been used in other countries in order to make comparisons. The valuations are performed for three different projects, taking into account the measured energy data for a year. The well-known Net Present Value method is used as the valuation index. Results show that renewable distributed generation is not profitable for the residential sector at this time, with the current technology costs, national financial conditions and tariffs, combined with some estimations regarding future electric tariffs. Considering this information, the manuscript details a sensitivity analysis of the capital cost, consumed and injected energy prices. Finally, some discussions on incentive mechanisms are introduced in order to aid national decision-makers in energy policies so as to ensure profitable projects.Fil: Coria Pantano, Gustavo Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Pringles, Rolando Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; Argentin

Probabilistic Analysis of Impacts on Distribution Networks due to the Connection of Diverse Models of Plug-in Electric Vehicles

This work analyzes impacts on distribution networks produced by the connection ofdiverse types of Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs), into a probabilistic framework. Some of the uncertainty sources are related with technical parameters of PEVs. Therefore, a review of PEVs currently available in the market is reported. Other uncertain parameters are related with the behavior of the PEV owners, for instance, the arrival and departure times to home, and the state of charge of the PEV when it is plugged to the grid. These parameters are modeled by using probability density functions, to thengenerate random numbers and perform Monte Carlo simulations. Each Monte Carlo simulation corresponds to the calculation of a power-flow in the analyzed network. The proposed methodology is tested on the IEEE 33-bus test distribution network, with the purpose of quantifying the influence of diversity of PEVs. The analysis is performed, specifically, for identify those transformers and lines that could be overloaded. Two scenarios of PEV penetration by 2025 and 2030 were assessed, i.e., considering that 10% and 30% of the residential customers will have at least one PEV, respectively. Obtained results reveal the importance of considering diversity of PEV model to conduct in a suitable manner this type of studies. The proposed methodology is expected to be useful for network planning expansion and to support the design of time of use tariffs.Fil: Coria Pantano, Gustavo Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Penizzotto Bacha, Franco Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Romero Quete, Andrés Arturo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Energía Eléctrica; Argentin