Rational Generalized Offsets of Rational Surfaces

The rational surfaces and their offsets are commonly used in modeling and manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to present relationships between rational surfaces and orientation-preserving similarities of the Euclidean 3-space. A notion of a similarity surface offset is introduced and applied to different constructions of rational generalized offsets of a rational surface. It is shown that every rational surface possesses a rational generalized offset. Rational generalized focal surfaces are also studied

Innovative development of a flying robot with a flexible manipulator for aerial manipulations

This paper presents an innovative development of a flying robot or an aerial robot, with a flexible manipulator, called the Dexterous Aerial Robotic System (DFTS), for aerial manipulations, especially for inspections and reparations of various structures such as wind turbines, power lines and open gas pipelines, decorations and painting of high industrial chimneys and walls of high buildings, as well as transport and delivery of courier shipments, relocation and manipulation of assemblies and units in inaccessible or dangerous environments. The proposed DFTS consists of two independent but interconnected systems or functional units, which have two main separate functions respectively, including a basic carrying function, and a precise positioning and stabilization function. The system with a basic carrying function is actually the main flying system, the un-manned aerial vehicle (UAV); it is remotely controlled and piloted. Meanwhile, the aerial manipulation platform, called the vertical take-off and landing platform VTOL, which is an active flying platform with 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) is used for positioning and stabilization; and it is attached to the UAV via the soft link. With the use of a long soft link, the problems which are caused by the air turbulent flows generated by the UAV are minimized, and the aerial manipulations of objects are safely controlled and operated. The VTOL which is equipped with a grasping mechanism was successfully developed, prototyped and tested. The experimental results showed that, the developed VTOL can self-stabilize with the inclination angle of being up to 8 degrees

Development of a smart system for early detection of forest fires based on unmanned aerial vehicles

The naturally occurring wildfires and the people-related forest fires are events, which in many cases have significant impact on the environment, the wildlife and the human population. The most devastating among these events usually start in unpopulated remote areas, which are difficult to inspect or are not constantly being monitored or observed. This gives the local small-sized fires enough time to evolve into full-scale wide-area disasters, which in turn makes their suppression and extinguishing very difficult. In this paper, we present an autonomous system for early detection of forest fires, named THEASIS-M. The presented system represents a solution that is based on a combination of innovative technologies, including computer vision algorithms, artificial intelligence and unmanned aerial vehicles. In the first part of the study, we provide an overview on the present applications of the UAVs in the forestry domain. The paper then introduces the general architecture of the THEASIS-M system and its components. The system itself is fully autonomous and is based on several different types of UAVs, including a fixed-wing drone, which provides the overall forest monitoring capabilities of the proposed solution, and a rotary-wing UAV that is used for confirmation and monitoring of the detected fire event. The widely used technologies for computer vision and image processing, which are used for the detection of fire and smoke in the real-time video streams sent from the UAVs to the ground control station, are highlighted in the next section of this study. Finally, the experimental tests and demonstrations of the proposed THEASIS-M system are presented and briefly discussed

Artificial Intelligence-Driven Autonomous Robot for Precision Agriculture

In the recent years, robotic systems became more advanced and more accessible. This has led to their slow, but stable integration and use in different processes and applications, including in the agricultural domain. Nowadays, agricultural robots are developed with the aim to replace the human labour in the otherwise exhausting, time-consuming or dangerous activities. Agricultural robotic systems provide many advantages, which can differ based on the type of the robot and its sensors, actuators and communication systems. This paper presents the design, the construction process, the main characteristics and the evaluation of a prototype of a small-scale agricultural robot that can be used for some of the simplest activities in agricultural enterprises. The robot is designed as an end-user autonomous mobile system, which is capable of self-localization and can map or inspect a specific farming area. The decision-making capabilities of the robot are based on artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, which allow it to perform specific actions in accordance to the situation and the surrounding environment. The presented prototype is in its early development and evaluation stages and the paper concludes with discussions on the possible further improvements of the platform

Abstracts Of The Proceedings And The Posters From The Third Scientific Session Of The Medical College Of Varna

October 2-3, 201