Bilevel shared control for teleoperators

A shared system is disclosed for robot control including integration of the human and autonomous input modalities for an improved control. Autonomously planned motion trajectories are modified by a teleoperator to track unmodelled target motions, while nominal teleoperator motions are modified through compliance to accommodate geometric errors autonomously in the latter. A hierarchical shared system intelligently shares control over a remote robot between the autonomous and teleoperative portions of an overall control system. Architecture is hierarchical, and consists of two levels. The top level represents the task level, while the bottom, the execution level. In space applications, the performance of pure teleoperation systems depend significantly on the communication time delays between the local and the remote sites. Selection/mixing matrices are provided with entries which reflect how each input's signals modality is weighted. The shared control minimizes the detrimental effects caused by these time delays between earth and space

Technology Development for NASA Mars Missions

A viewgraph presentation on technology development for NASA Mars Missions is shown. The topics include: 1) Mars mission roadmaps; 2) Focus and Base Technology programs; 3) Technology Infusion; and 4) Feed Forward to Future Missions

Method and apparatus for hybrid position/force control of multi-arm cooperating robots

Two or more robotic arms having end effectors rigidly attached to an object to be moved are disclosed. A hybrid position/force control system is provided for driving each of the robotic arms. The object to be moved is represented as having a total mass that consists of the actual mass of the object to be moved plus the mass of the moveable arms that are rigidly attached to the moveable object. The arms are driven in a positive way by the hybrid control system to assure that each arm shares in the position/force applied to the object. The burden of actuation is shared by each arm in a non-conflicting way as the arm independently control the position of, and force upon, a designated point on the object

The KALI multi-arm robot programming and control environment

The KALI distributed robot programming and control environment is described within the context of its use in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) telerobot project. The purpose of KALI is to provide a flexible robot programming and control environment for coordinated multi-arm robots. Flexibility, both in hardware configuration and software, is desired so that it can be easily modified to test various concepts in robot programming and control, e.g., multi-arm control, force control, sensor integration, teleoperation, and shared control. In the programming environment, user programs written in the C programming language describe trajectories for multiple coordinated manipulators with the aid of KALI function libraries. A system of multiple coordinated manipulators is considered within the programming environment as one motion system. The user plans the trajectory of one controlled Cartesian frame associated with a motion system and describes the positions of the manipulators with respect to that frame. Smooth Cartesian trajectories are achieved through a blending of successive path segments. The manipulator and load dynamics are considered during trajectory generation so that given interface force limits are not exceeded

Autonomous sensor-based dual-arm satellite grappling

Dual-arm satellite grappling involves the integration of technologies developed in the Sensing and Perception (S&P) Subsystem for object acquisition and tracking, and the Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) Subsystem for dual-arm control. S&P acquires and tracks the position, orientation, velocity, and angular velocity of a slowly spinning satellite, and sends tracking data to the MCM subsystem. MCM grapples the satellite and brings it to rest, controlling the arms so that no excessive forces or torques are exerted on the satellite or arms. A 350-pound satellite mockup which can spin freely on a gimbal for several minutes, closely simulating the dynamics of a real satellite is demonstrated. The satellite mockup is fitted with a panel under which may be mounted various elements such as line replacement modules and electrical connectors that will be used to demonstrate servicing tasks once the satellite is docked. The subsystems are housed in three MicroVAX II microcomputers. The hardware of the S&P Subsystem includes CCD cameras, video digitizers, frame buffers, IMFEX (a custom pipelined video processor), a time-code generator with millisecond precision, and a MicroVAX II computer. Its software is written in Pascal and is based on a locally written vision software library. The hardware of the MCM Subsystem includes PUMA 560 robot arms, Lord force/torque sensors, two MicroVAX II computers, and unimation pneumatic parallel grippers. Its software is written in C, and is based on a robot language called RCCL. The two subsystems are described and test results on the grappling of the satellite mockup with rotational rates of up to 2 rpm are provided

The JPL telerobotic Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) subsystem

The Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) subsystem of the telerobot system provides the real-time control of the robot manipulators in autonomous and teleoperated modes and real time input/output for a variety of sensors and actuators. Substantial hardware and software are included in this subsystem which interfaces in the hierarchy of the telerobot system with the other subsystems. The other subsystems are: run time control, task planning and reasoning, sensing and perception, and operator control subsystem. The architecture of the MCM subsystem, its capabilities, and details of various hardware and software elements are described. Important improvements in the MCM subsystem over the first version are: dual arm coordinated trajectory generation and control, addition of integrated teleoperation, shared control capability, replacement of the ultimate controllers with motor controllers, and substantial increase in real time processing capability

Role of intellectual capital on organisational sustainability / Nur Hayati Ab Samad

In order to successfully accomplish their social and business mission, social entrepreneurial non-profit organisations (NPOs), which are also known as social enterprises, need to identify the appropriate elements of resources that affect their performance, since the management of resources is important to ensure organisational sustainability in the future. Thus, this study aims to examine the role of intellectual capital, in terms of human capital (HC), structural capital (SC) and relational capital (RC) on the sustainability of social enterprise in Malaysia. Content analysis was used as the research instrument in order to measure the sustainability index from information disclosed in the annual reports by 210 organisations registered under the Registry of Societies (ROS) in Malaysia for the year 2010. Various statistical analyses were carried out to examine the relationship between IC and the sustainability of social enterprise. Based on the multivariate analysis, the results have highlighted that SC had significant positive influence on sustainability of social enterprise while HC and RC did not have a significant positive relationship with the sustainability of social enterprise. Overall, this study hopes to contribute to a better understanding on the role' of IC on the sustainability of social enterprise. The findings offered several main implications for academicians, researchers, regulators as well as for the social enterprise itself by highlighted that SC was the most influential factor that was able to increase the sustainability of the social enterprise

Sustainability and accountability of social enterprise / Nur Hayati Ab Samad ... [et al.]

Sustainability and accountability are pervasive issues for social entrepreneurial non-profit organisations (NPOs), which are also known as social enterprises as they seek to balance their social mission with financial responsibility. With the increased in the scope and size of the social enterprise, there is also increased need for accountability and organisational sustainability. Thus, in order to successfully fulfil these needs, social enterprises need to identify the relevant factors of sustainability that relates closely with accountability and organisational performance. This study aims to examine the extent social enterprise’s sustainability based on the factors identified using self-constructed sustainability index. The four main factors are leadership capacity, adaptive capacity, management and technical capacity and financial viability. Content analysis was used to measure the sustainability index from the information disclosed in the annual reports by 210 organisations registered under the Registry of Societies (ROS) in Malaysia for the year 2010. Findings from the study indicates that most of the social enterprises are aware that effective leadership is vital for organisational sustainability. However, management and technical aspects tend to be neglected possibly due to lack of adequate resources and facilities to adapt to current changes. Overall, this study highlights that in order to survive in the future, the social enterprise need to appropriately address relevant factors that influence financial accountability and organisational sustainability especially on management and technical aspect in order to survive in the future

Effectiveness, accountability and understanding board characteristics of non-profit organisations in Malaysia / Norliza Omar … [et al.]

Non-profit organisations (NPOs) exist to fulfil the needs of societies that cannot be reached by the government and profit centres. Their ultimate goal is to create social values by solving social problems. In order to fulfil this social mission, it is vital for the NPOs to be effective. NPOs are associated with effective Board of Directors because they are the backbone for organisational success. Of late, there are growing media reports on mismanagement and diversion of NPOs funds. Despite having Board of Directors as trustees in NPOs, mismanagement is still on the rise. Previous findings suggest that NPOs’ board characteristics can be divided into two groups - (1) board characteristics that enhance NPOs’ effectiveness and (2) board characteristics that reduce NPOs’ effectiveness. Hence, this study aims to examine selected board characteristics of Malaysian NPOs. The selected board characteristics are board size, board engagement, board efficiency, board commitment, board with political connection and board professionalism. Using content analysis of NPOs registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), this study finds that, in general, the number of members on the board is seven. Board efficiency and engagement indicate that less than 50% of the members are committed in generating funds for the NPOs. However, results on board commitment indicate that board members are committed in managing their organisations efficiently. In relation to politically affiliated board members and professional affiliation, the results are 44% and 14% respectively. In summary, the findings provide insights on the characteristics of Malaysian NPOs’ board members in. It also provides a basis for future research in examining the influence of board characteristics on effectiveness as well as other areas of concern in NPOs

Optimization of oil palm empty fruit bunch gasification temperature and steam to biomass ratio using response surface methodology

An experimental work of empty fruit bunch gasification was conducted by using the bubbling fluidized bed to study the effect of the gasification temperature and steam biomass ratio (SBR) on the synthesis gas yield, Lower Heating Value (LHV) and Cold Gas Efficiency (CGE). Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to design the gasification experiment from the temperature range of 800-1000°C and SBR range of 0.5-1.5. Thirteen number of runs were generated based on Central Composite Design (CCD) with five replicated center points. Three regression models for predicting synthesis gas yield, LHV and CGE were developed and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed in this study. From ANOVA, the most influencing factor was gasification temperature which obtained higher F-value compared to SBR. The numerical optimization was also conducted in order to obtain the optimum condition to maximize the synthesis gas yield, LHV and CGE. From numerical optimization, gasification temperature of 800 °C and SBR of 1.14 were determined as the optimum condition which contributes to the maximum synthesis gas yield, LHV and CGE which are 1.25 Nm3/kg, 10.49 MJ/Nm3 and 90.72% respectively. The percentage error between the predicted and actual value of response variables was calculated and the error obtained lesser than 1%. Thus, it confirmed that the models obtained can be used to optimize the gasification of the empty fruit bunch