Design of an Anthropomorphic, Compliant, and Lightweight Dual Arm for Aerial Manipulation

This paper presents an anthropomorphic, compliant and lightweight dual arm manipulator designed and developed for aerial manipulation applications with multi-rotor platforms. Each arm provides four degrees of freedom in a human-like kinematic configuration for end effector positioning: shoulder pitch, roll and yaw, and elbow pitch. The dual arm, weighting 1.3 kg in total, employs smart servo actuators and a customized and carefully designed aluminum frame structure manufactured by laser cut. The proposed design reduces the manufacturing cost as no computer numerical control machined part is used. Mechanical joint compliance is provided in all the joints, introducing a compact spring-lever transmission mechanism between the servo shaft and the links, integrating a potentiometer for measuring the deflection of the joints. The servo actuators are partially or fully isolated against impacts and overloads thanks to the ange bearings attached to the frame structure that support the rotation of the links and the deflection of the joints. This simple mechanism increases the robustness of the arms and safety in the physical interactions between the aerial robot and the environment. The developed manipulator has been validated through different experiments in fixed base test-bench and in outdoor flight tests.Unión Europea H2020-ICT-2014- 644271Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2015-71524-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2017-89790-

Cooperative Virtual Sensor for Fault Detection and Identification in Multi-UAV Applications

This paper considers the problem of fault detection and identification (FDI) in applications carried out by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with visual cameras. In many cases, the UAVs have cameras mounted onboard for other applications, and these cameras can be used as bearing-only sensors to estimate the relative orientation of another UAV. The idea is to exploit the redundant information provided by these sensors onboard each of the UAVs to increase safety and reliability, detecting faults on UAV internal sensors that cannot be detected by the UAVs themselves. Fault detection is based on the generation of residuals which compare the expected position of a UAV, considered as target, with the measurements taken by one or more UAVs acting as observers that are tracking the target UAV with their cameras. Depending on the available number of observers and the way they are used, a set of strategies and policies for fault detection are defined. When the target UAV is being visually tracked by two or more observers, it is possible to obtain an estimation of its 3D position that could replace damaged sensors. Accuracy and reliability of this vision-based cooperative virtual sensor (CVS) have been evaluated experimentally in a multivehicle indoor testbed with quadrotors, injecting faults on data to validate the proposed fault detection methods.Comisión Europea H2020 644271Comisión Europea FP7 288082Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad DPI2015-71524-RMinisterio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad DPI2014-5983-C2-1-RMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FP

High-speed autonomous navigation system for heavy vehicles

This paper presents techniques for GPS based autonomous navigation of heavy vehicles at high speed. The control system has two main functions: vehicle position estimation and generation of the steering commands for the vehicle to follow a given path autonomously. Position estimation is based on fusion of measurements from a carrier-phase differential GPS system and odometric sensors using fuzzy logic. A Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy controller is used for steering commands generation, to cope with different road geometry and vehicle velocity. The presented system has been implemented in a 13 tons truck, and fully tested in very demanding conditions, i.e. high velocity and large curvature variations in paved and unpaved roads

Collision Avoidance for Multiple UAVs using Rolling-horizon Policy

This paper addresses the problem of collision avoidance in scenarios with multiple aerial vehicles and proposes a method based on a Legendre pseudospectral collocation in order to compute the solution trajectories and guarantee that the safety distance between them is always maintained. The method uses a rolling horizon policy in which trajectories are planned up to a given time horizon, thus considering a much smaller problem space. Then, the system is applied iteratively. Studies have been performed to set the values of the look-ahead time and the number of collocations points. The computational load and scalability of the method are also studied in randomly generated scenarios to test its application in real time. Experiments have been also carried out in the multivehicle aerial testbed of the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (Seville, Spain)Comisión europea FP7 ICTMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2011-28937-C02-0

Reingeniería del sistema de señalización horizontal y vertical para las parroquias urbanas del cantón Riobamba, provincia de Chimborazo

El trabajo de titulación realizado, tiene como objetivo efectuar una reingeniería al sistema de señalización horizontal y vertical de las parroquias urbanas del cantón Riobamba con la finalidad de mejorar la seguridad vial del cantón, para el desarrollo de la investigación fue necesario identificar las especificaciones técnicas para la señalética en base a la norma técnica INEN 004, para posteriormente realizar un diagnóstico al estado actual de la infraestructura vial; por lo que, se realizó una investigación directa recorriendo las diferentes vías y a su vez observando e identificando las condiciones de funcionalidad y operatividad de la señalización vial. Para la presente investigación se partió de la circulación vial de la ciudad de Riobamba, y los problemas generados por espacios en los que la señalética no corresponde a la normal circulación o la entorpece, se recopilaron los casos y se plantea una solución global atacando cada situación de forma particular. Concluida la investigación se determina que un 76% de las vías analizadas no cuentan con la señalización respectiva y que el 9% de las señales que actualmente están ubicadas requieren ser reemplazadas. Se recomienda al Gobierno Autónomo Descentralizado del cantón Riobamba realizar la implementación de la señalética establecida en el presente trabajo de titulación con el fin de mejorar la movilidad y seguridad vial en el cantón.The purpose of the research work is to reengineer the horizontal and vertical signaling system of the urban “parroquias”, located in the Riobamba County with the aim of improving its road safety. For the development of the research, it was necessary to identify the technical specifications for the signage based on the technical standard INEN 004 to subsequently make a diagnosis of the current state of the road infrastructure, and then it carried out a direct investigation through different routes in order to observe and identify the conditions of functionality and operability of road signs. For the current investigation, it started from the circulation road of the Riobamba city, and the problems generated by spaces in which the signage does not correspond to the normal circulation or interrupts it. At the same time, the cases were collected, and a global solution is proposed to face each situation in a particular way. After finishing the investigation, it was determined that 76% of the analyzed routes do not have the respective signaling, and the 9% of the signals that are currently located need to be replaced. Finally, it recommend to “Gobierno Autónomo Descentralizado del canton Riobamba” to carry out the implementation of the signage established in the current work in order to improve the mobility and road safety of the county

Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE) como programa de prevención de lesiones en la musculatura isquiosural para la temporada de pista cubierta de atletismo 2019.

Las lesiones en la musculatura isquiosural son las más comunes en los deportes donde la carrera a alta velocidad es muy importante, como ocurre en el atletismo. Muchos atletas deben interrumpir su planificación deportiva debido a lesiones de este tipo y en muchas ocasiones no pueden llegar a sus competiciones clave en las mejores condiciones. Hay diferentes factores de riesgo que pueden causar una lesión en la musculatura isquiosural y entre ellos destacamos la falta de flexibilidad en dicha musculatura. La población actual, por las condiciones de vida que tiene, sufre de acortamiento isquiosural y esto es bastante negativo, ya que también puede afectar a deportistas. En este trabajo buscamos aumentar la flexibilidad de la musculatura isquiosural en atletas de categorías Sub18 y Sub20 llevando a cabo un programa de prevención de lesiones de dicha zona realizando el ejercicio nórdico de isquiosurales (NHE) para la temporada de Pista Cubierta de atletismo. El programa lo van a realizar cinco atletas (grupo de intervención), y también seguiremos muy de cerca a otros cinco atletas (grupo de control) que no van a realizar el programa de intervención, para ver las diferencias. El NHE es un ejercicio que produce un fortalecimiento excéntrico de la musculatura isquiosural y además, de una complejidad de ejecución mínima. El programa de prevención de lesiones va a ir de la mano con una planificación de la temporada de Pista Cubierta. El NHE se va a realizar dos días en semana durante 12 semanas, lo que equivale a 24 sesiones. Cada semana aumentará el volumen del ejercicio para que la musculatura isquiosural se adapte a cargas más elevadas. Concretamente, en la sesión, el NHE se va a realizar justo antes de la vuelta a la calma, para conseguir que el músculo se adapte a trabajar con fatiga y para evitar lesiones tras realizarlo, ya que es un ejercicio fatigoso. Tras el programa de prevención se han obtenido muy buenos datos ya que la flexibilidad de la musculatura isquiosural ha aumentado en gran medida tras los tres meses de intervención en el grupo de intervención, mientras que el aumento de la flexibilidad de dicha zona en los atletas del grupo control ha sido mucho más bajo debido a que no han tenido el suplemento del NHE como programa de prevención y han seguido solo la planificación. Podemos decir, por tanto, que el NHE es un ejercicio beneficioso ya que consigue aumentar la flexibilidad de la musculatura isquiosural, lo que produce una reducción de un factor de riesgo de poder sufrir una lesión, e indirectamente está logrando alcanzar otros objetivos como aumentar la fuerza excéntrica de dicha musculatura o mantener esfuerzos elevados durante más tiempo, entre otros

Aplicación de la metodología de caudales básicos de mantenimiento en la Cuenca Media del río Tuluá - Subcuenca del Río Cauca

Mankind has used water in different ways (agriculture, urban consumption, industrial activities, etc), making it an engine of economic development of nations, but ignoring the value of the ecosystems that sustain the aquatic environment. Environmentalflows are part of a sustainable water system management focused on maintaining a good ecological status. The purpose of this work was todevelop and implement a methodology for determining the environmental flow regime (RQA) in the middle of the river basin Tulua, as a pilot basin in the determination of RQA in Colombia. This informationwas collected hydrological, hydraulic, water quality and water intake and referrals, we used the HEC RAS model, in this case to simulatethe hydraulic behavior of the surface current to later verify the information with a model or information associated with ecological and environmental aspects of the proposed RQA and verify the conditionsof habitability, and to assess the RQA with consumptive uses of the basin. The methodology was consistent for the section studied, showing a variable RQA and convenient throughout the year, with living conditions imposed

Cooperative Sensor Fault Recovery in Multi-UAV Systems

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 16-21 May 2016 Stockholm, SwedenThis paper presents the design and experimental validation of a Fault Detection, Identification and Recovery (FDIR) system intended for multi-UAV applications. The system exploits the information provided by internal position, attitude and visual sensors onboard the UAVs of the fleet for detecting faults in the measurements of the position and attitude sensors of any of the member vehicles. Considering the observations provided by two or more UAVs in a cooperative way, it is possible to identify the source of the fault, but also implement a Cooperative Virtual Sensor (CVS) which provides a redundant position and velocity estimation of the faulty UAV that can be used for replacing its internal sensor. The vision-based FDIR system has been validated experimentally with quadrotors in an indoor testbed. In particular, fault detection and identification has been evaluated injecting a fault pattern offline on the position measurements, while the CVS has been applied in real time for the recovery phase.Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte ICT-2011-28808

Interactions between wood-rotting fungi (Agaricomycetes) and native and exotic trees from an urban ecosystem (Córdoba, Argentina)

El reemplazo de áreas naturales por zonas urbanizadas afecta la composición de las comunidades arbóreas, generalmente favoreciendo la ocurrencia de especies vegetales exóticas. Esto tendría implicancias directas en la estructuración de las comunidades de hongos patógenos que hospedan estas especies arbóreas. En este trabajo se propuso examinar: a) la estructura de la red de interacciones entre especies del arbolado urbano y los hongos patógenos degradadores de la madera, b) la composición de hongos patógenos en especies nativas y exóticas. Se observó que la red de interacciones mostró un patrón de anidamiento en donde varias especies de hongos patógenos establecen múltiples interacciones con diversas especies arbóreas, tanto nativas como exóticas, mientras que otras establecieron interacciones más específicas. Se observó mayor riqueza de hongos en árboles exóticos en comparación a sus pares nativos. Trece de las especies fúngicas se registraron exclusivamente en árboles exóticos, una exclusivamente en sustrato nativo y las nueve restantes compartieron tanto árboles exóticos como nativos.The replacement of natural areas by urban areas promotes changes in the composition of tree communities, frequently favoring the occurrence of exotic species. This may have direct implications in the structure of pathogenic fungal communities which grow in these hosts. Here we examine: a) the structure of the interaction networks between urban tree species and their pathogenic wood-decay fungi, b) the composition of pathogenic fungi in native and exotic hosts. The interactions network shows a nested pattern where several species of pathogenic fungi establish multiple interactions with various tree species, both native and exotic; while others establish more specific interactions. Richness of pathogenic fungi was higher in exotic trees than in natives. Thirteen fungal species occurred exclusively in exotic hosts, one in natives and the remaining nine species shared both exotic and native hosts.Fil: Cagnolo, Luciano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); ArgentinaFil: Heredia, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); ArgentinaFil: Morera, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); ArgentinaFil: Robledo, Gerardo Lucio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); ArgentinaFil: Urcelay, Roberto Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentin

Cartesian Aerial Manipulator with Compliant Arm

Nº ArtÍculo: 1001This paper presents an aerial manipulation robot consisting of a hexa-rotor equipped with a 2-DOF (degree of freedom) Cartesian base (XY–axes) that supports a 1-DOF compliant joint arm that integrates a gripper and an elastic linear force sensor. The proposed kinematic configuration improves the positioning accuracy of the end effector with respect to robotic arms with revolute joints, where each coordinate of the Cartesian position depends on all the joint angles. The Cartesian base reduces the inertia of the manipulator and the energy consumption since it does not need to lift its own weight. Consequently, the required torque is lower and, thus, the weight of the actuators. The linear and angular deflection sensors of the arm allow the estimation, monitoring and control of the interaction wrenches exerted in two axes (XZ) at the end effector. The kinematic and dynamic models are derived and compared with respect to a revolute-joint arm, proposing a force-position control scheme for the aerial robot. A battery counterweight mechanism is also incorporated in the X–axis linear guide to partially compensate for the motion of the manipulator. Experimental results indoors and outdoors show the performance of the robot, including object grasping and retrieval, contact force control, and force monitoring in grabbing situations.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad Proyecto ARTIC RTI2018-102224- B-I00Comisión Europea Proyecto AERIAL-CORE H2020-2019-871479Comisión Europea Proyecto HYFLIERS H2020- ICT-25-2017-77941