Design, development and control of a soft robot for object manipulation in Amazon factory-like environment.

In last years robotics took advantage of a strong improvement in hardware design which produced a new technology, called soft robotics, based on new actuators that can modulate their own compliance and have a safe interaction with unstructured environments. Soft robots compete in DARPA Robotic challenge where humanoid robots attempted to execute operations, in a simulated and real scenarios, WALK-man by IIT and University of Pisa, but are also used in industry, ABB company introduced a new soft gripper to handle fragile things. The Soft Robotics certainly has potential but also posed new challenges at planning and control level, researchers propose different approaches to solve problem but, at moment, it represent an open issue. In this thesis we investigated one of most interesting rising approach take advantage of softness which regard the exploitation of environment constrain (EC) like an help on performing grasp and/or manipulation tasks. We designed a \textit{Pick 'n Place} manipulator composed of Variable Stiffness Actuators (VSA) and an end-effector call Pisa/IIT SoftHand, an underactuated anthropomorphic hand with 19 DOF but only one motor. Moreover we provide a three-dimensional depth sensor mounted on top of mechanical structure which gives us geometry of actual scene. In the first part of the thesis, we analyzed how Pisa/IIT SoftHand works in specific situations through empirical experiments, we used Handle device to approach objects in a human-like way and gathered informations in a grasp database, in next step we elaborated manipulation strategies based on previous result and a set of objects with various dimensions. After a study on observed strategies we summarize them in subgroup which depends on objects properties. In last stage, we tested new approached in a constrained environment which is represented by the Amazon shelf and present result. As a case of study we participate at \textit{Amazon Picking Challenge}, in this competition the robot challenged other teams in a \textit{Pick 'n Place} task

Planning and control of robotic manipulation actions for extreme environments

A large societal and economic need arises for advanced robotic capabilities, where we need to perform complex human-like tasks such as tool-use, in environments that are hazardous for human workers. This thesis addresses a collection of problems, which arise when robotic manipulators must perform complex tasks in cluttered and constrained environments. The work is illustrated by example scenarios of robotic tool use, grasping and manipulating, motivated by the challenges of dismantling operations in the extreme environments of nuclear decommissioning Contrary to popular assumptions, legacy nuclear facilities (which can date back three-quarters of a century in the UK) can be highly unstructured and uncertain environments, with insufficient a-priori information available for e.g. conventional pre-programming of robot tasks. Meanwhile, situational awareness and direct teleoperation can be extremely difficult for human operators working in a safe zone that is physically remote from the robot. This engenders a need for significant autonomous capabilities. Robots must use vision and sensory systems to perceive their environment, plan and execute complex actions on complex objects in cluttered and constrained environments. Significant radiation, of different types and intensities, provides further challenges in terms of sensor noise. Perception uncertainty can also result from e.g. vision systems observing shiny featureless metal structures. Robotic actions therefore need to be: i) planned in ways that are robust to uncertainties; and ii) controlled in ways which enable the robust reaction to disturbances. In particular, we investigate motion planning and control in tasks where the robot must: maintain contact while moving over arbitrarily shaped surfaces with end-effector tools; exert forces and withstand perturbations during forceful contact actions; while also avoiding collisions with obstacles; avoiding singularity configurations; and increasing robustness by maximising manipulability during task execution. Furthermore, we consider the issues of robust planning and control with respect to uncertain information, derived from noisy sensors in challenging environments. We explore the Riemannian geometry and robot's manipulability to yield path planners that produce paths for both fixed-based and floating-based robots, whose tools always stay in contact with the object's surface. Our planners overcome disturbances in the perception and account for robot/environment interactions that may demand unexpected forces. The task execution is entrusted to a hybrid force/motion controller whose motion space behaves with compliance to accommodate unexpected stiffness changes throughout the contact. We examine the problem of grasping a tool for performing a task. Firstly, we introduce a method for selecting the grasp candidate onto an object yielding collision-free motion for the robot in the post-grasp movements. Furthermore, we study the case of a dual-arm robot performing full-force tasks on an object and slippage on the grasping is allowed. We account for the slippage throughout the task execution using a novel controller based on the sliding mode controllers

New industrial policies for the automotive industry in Europe

WP 21/13; The aim of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of the Plateforme de la Filière Automobile and The British Automotive Council. The two operating structure were established respectively in France and UK to support the national automotive sectors at the dawn of the ongoing crisis. The Italian government is on the way to set up a similar structure. These operating structures can be defined as two instruments of industrial policy introduced in parallel to the classical industrial policy measures allowed by the European Union and that in some ways represent a turning point of the mode of state intervention in the real economy. The challenge is to force different actors to cooperate, not only central government and industry, but more deeply different local authorities and different automotive tiers. In so far as the roles of the different actors are balanced, dissimilar configurations of Triple Helix can be detected and, as a consequence, different evaluations can be deduce

Object Handovers: a Review for Robotics

This article surveys the literature on human-robot object handovers. A handover is a collaborative joint action where an agent, the giver, gives an object to another agent, the receiver. The physical exchange starts when the receiver first contacts the object held by the giver and ends when the giver fully releases the object to the receiver. However, important cognitive and physical processes begin before the physical exchange, including initiating implicit agreement with respect to the location and timing of the exchange. From this perspective, we structure our review into the two main phases delimited by the aforementioned events: 1) a pre-handover phase, and 2) the physical exchange. We focus our analysis on the two actors (giver and receiver) and report the state of the art of robotic givers (robot-to-human handovers) and the robotic receivers (human-to-robot handovers). We report a comprehensive list of qualitative and quantitative metrics commonly used to assess the interaction. While focusing our review on the cognitive level (e.g., prediction, perception, motion planning, learning) and the physical level (e.g., motion, grasping, grip release) of the handover, we briefly discuss also the concepts of safety, social context, and ergonomics. We compare the behaviours displayed during human-to-human handovers to the state of the art of robotic assistants, and identify the major areas of improvement for robotic assistants to reach performance comparable to human interactions. Finally, we propose a minimal set of metrics that should be used in order to enable a fair comparison among the approaches.Comment: Review paper, 19 page

Planning maximum-manipulability cutting paths

This paper presents a method for constrained motion planning from vision, which enables a robot to move its end-effector over an observed surface, given start and destination points. The robot has no prior knowledge of the surface shape but observes it from a noisy point cloud. We consider the multi-objective optimisation problem of finding robot trajectories which maximise the robot’s manipulability throughout the motion, while also minimising surface-distance travelled between the two points. This work has application in industrial problems of rough robotic cutting, e.g., demolition of the legacy nuclear plant, where the cut path needs not be precise as long as it achieves dismantling. We show how detours in the path can be leveraged to increase the manipulability of the robot at all points along the path. This helps to avoid singularities while maximising the robot’s capability to make small deviations during task execution. We show how a sampling-based planner can be projected onto the Riemannian manifold of a curved surface, and extended to include a term which maximises manipulability. We present the results of empirical experiments, with both simulated and real robots, which are tasked with moving over a variety of different surface shapes. Our planner enables successful task completion while ensuring significantly greater manipulability when compared against a conventional RRT* planner

Human placental oxygenation in late gestation: experimental and theoretical approaches

The placenta is crucial for life. It is an ephemeral but complex organ acting as the barrier interface between maternal and fetal circulations, providing exchange of gases, nutrients, hormones, waste products and immunoglobulins. Many gaps exist in our understanding of the detailed placental structure and function, particularly in relation to oxygen handling and transfer in healthy and pathological states in utero. Measurements to understand oxygen transfer in vivo in the human are limited, with no general agreement on the most appropriate methods. An invasive method for measuring partial pressure of oxygen in the intervillous space through needle electrode insertion at the time of Caesarean sections has been reported. This allows for direct measurements in vivo whilst maintaining near normal placental conditions; however, there are practical and ethical implications in using this method for determination of placental oxygenation. Furthermore, oxygen levels are likely to be highly heterogeneous within the placenta. Emerging non-invasive techniques, such as MRI, and ex vivo research are capable of enhancing and improving current imaging methodology for placental villous structure and increase the precision of oxygen measurement within placental compartments. These techniques, in combination with mathematical modelling, have stimulated novel cross-disciplinary approaches that could advance our understanding of placental oxygenation and its metabolism in normal and pathological pregnancies, improving clinical treatment options and ultimately outcomes for the patient

Crise, effets de trajectoire et dynamiques sociales dans l’évolution de Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK

En 1998, contre toute attente, le premier transplant européen de la firme japonaise Toyota entre dans une crise importante de son modèle productif. Cette crise est surprenante non seulement parce que Toyota apparaît comme de loin le plus performant des constructeurs automobiles mondiaux, mais aussi parce que son modèle productif est considéré tout simplement comme le “one best way” pour le xxie siècle. L’article, en retraçant de façon détaillée la dynamique de la crise, propose une approche théorique alternative pour l’étude des transplants japonais centrée sur l’identification des conditions socio-économique de viabilité de leurs modèles productifs. Notamment en démontrant que la stabilité des compromis sociaux entre les différents acteurs de la firme, en particulier au niveau des ateliers de production, est une variable fondamentale pour la viabilité de long terme de ces systèmes de production.In 1998, contrary to all expectations, the model of production at Toyota’s first European transplant underwent a crisis. This crisis was surprising not only because the Japanese firm apparently outstripped all other major auto-makers but also because its model of production was quite simply deemed to be the “one best way” for the 21st century. This detailed account of this crisis proposes an alternative theoretical approach for studying Japanese transplants by trying to identify the socioeconomic conditions for the viability of the models they convey. The stability of the social compromises among various parties in the firm (notably in the shoop floor) is a fundamental variable for the long-run viability of these systems

Idéologie et rapports de force dans la construction politique des marchés : la transformation de l’industrie automobile sous Margaret Thatcher

International audienceEn proposant une nouvelle analyse du déclin du champion national British Leyland sous le gouvernement de Margaret Thatcher, cet article s’interroge sur la manière dont la nouvelle sociologie économique conçoit et étudie les rapports entre États et grandes entreprises. L’article montre, en s’appuyant sur de nouveaux matériaux d’archives, que ce déclin n’était pas la conséquence d’une politique néolibérale hostile aux intérêts du constructeur en crise, mais le résultat d’un déplacement de soutien politique vers ses équipementiers

Perspectives, contradictions et conséquences de l'électrification de l'industrie automobile européenne

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Prospects and contradictions of the electrification of the European automotive industry: the role of European Union policy

International audienceThe article analyses the role that the EU regulatory framework for the reduction of CO2 emissions in the transport sector has played during the last twenty years in moving the industry away from what it was supposed to do: reduce weight, mass and size of the cars sold to make them less polluting. It shows that the current race towards electrification can be seen as the result of this paradox. It argues that under the ongoing upmarket drift in new car sales the social, economic and political costs of electrification increase, while its environmental benefits decrease