A ROS-Based Open Tool for Controlling an Educational Mobile Robot

Commercial educational robots provide an accessible entry point into the world of robotics. However, their programming is often limited to specific platforms, which can make it challenging to acquire the skills necessary for industry and research. In this study, we introduce an open-access tool developed using C++ and Arduino IDE that enables us to manage a commercial mobile robot through the Robot Operating System (ROS) middleware. This provides programmers with the ability to work in a powerful programming environment, such as Python. The robot used is the CrowBot BOLT, a kit based on ESP32 that enables wireless communication and includes various peripherals for application development. The mobile robot topics include robot velocities, RGB LEDs, a buzzer, a programmable button, and proximity, light, and line sensors. The proposal is assessed using two controllers: one for proximity and the other for tracking angular light. Both controllers are developed using Visual Studio Code. The experimental results demonstrated the proper functioning of the tool. Additionally, the response time was evaluated, and it was found that optimal performance is achieved at a frequency of 10 Hz. In summary, this proposal provides an accessible option for students and developers seeking to gain skills in robotics using ROS. The project’s repository is located at https://github.com/joseVarelaAldas/ROS-Crowbot

Tele-Operación Bilateral de un Robot Manipulador Móvil.

Desarrollo de un esquema para la tele-operación bilateral de un robot manipulador móvil. Un manipulador robótico montado sobre una base móvil posee tanto la destreza de los manipuladores robóticos y la movilidad de un vehículo, y es una solución versátil que ofrece un gran potencial en una amplia variedad de aplicaciones. Para la implementación del sistema de tele-operación se realizó la modelación cinemática y dinámica del manipulador móvil mediante expresiones matriciales. Los actuadores inteligentes que conforman el robot se controlaron mediante las librerías de MATLAB de comunicación RS-485. El esquema de tele-operación bilateral propuesto consideró la compensación dinámica del manipulador móvil, además se incluyó la realimentación de fuerzas en el sitio local. Por último, usando el control de redundancia se solucionó la configuración del brazo robótico y la evasión de obstáculos. Partiendo de los resultados obtenidos se concluyó que el sistema permite una combinación de manipulabilidad y locomoción en el sitio de trabajo demostrando un adecuado funcionamiento del sistema. Se recomienda analizar el contenido de este trabajo, para determinar el estado de nuestro país en relación a los avances tecnológicos del campo de la robótica.Development of a scheme for the bilateral tele-operation of a mobile manipulator robot. A robotic manipulator mounted on a mobile base possesses both the dexterity of robotic manipulators and the mobility of a vehicle, and is a versatile solution that offers great potential in a wide variety of applications. For the implementation of the tele-operation system, the kinematic and dynamic modeling of the mobile manipulator was performed using matrix expressions. The intelligent actuators that make up the robot were controlled by the MATLAB libraries of RS-485 communication. The proposed bilateral tele-operation scheme considered the dynamic compensation of the mobile manipulator, and also the force feedback was included at the local site. Finally, using the redundancy control the configuration of the robotic arm and the avoidance of obstacles were solved. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that the system allows a combination of manipulation and locomotion in the workspace demonstrating an adequate functioning of the system. It is recommended to analyze the content of this work, to determine the state of our country in relation to technological advances in the field of robotics

IoT-Based Alternating Current Electrical Parameters Monitoring System

Energy monitors are indispensable for achieving efficient electrical grids and even more so in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT), where electrical system data are monitored from anywhere in the world. This paper presents the development of a two-channel electrical parameter-monitoring system based on the M5 Stack Core2 kit. The acquisition of variables is done through PZEM 004T V3.0 sensors, and the data are sent to the ThingSpeak cloud database. Local readings are done through the LCD, and data re stored on a micro SD card. Remote monitoring is done through two applications, namely a web application and a mobile application, each designed for different purposes. To validate this proposal, a commercial device with IoT features (Gen 2 Vue Energy Monitor) is used, comparing the active power and active energy readings recorded continuously for 7 days. The results indicate an accuracy of up to 1.95% in power and 0.81% in energy, obtaining a low-cost compact product with multiple features

Immersive virtual reality app for mild cognitive impairment

A characteristic symptom of neurodegenerative diseases is the deterioration of the memory. These problems usually worsen with the progression of the disease, being the cognitive rehabilitation an important tool in order to slow down the progress of the disease in the patient. This work presents the development of a mobile virtual reality application through a serious game to boost the memory by solving mazes in three levels of difficulty. The application uses the Gear VR glasses to provide the user with an immersive experience. The results present the proposed application, showing the components of the virtual environment

Influence of hand tracking in immersive virtual reality for memory assessment

Few works analyze the parameters inherent to immersive virtual reality (IVR) in applications for memory evaluation. Specifically, hand tracking adds to the immersion of the system, placing the user in the first person with full awareness of the position of their hands. Thus, this work addresses the influence of hand tracking in memory assessment with IVR systems. For this, an application based on activities of daily living was developed, where the user must remember the location of the elements. The data collected by the application are the accuracy of the answers and the response time; the participants are 20 healthy subjects who pass the MoCA test with an age range between 18 to 60 years of age; the application was evaluated with classic controllers and with the hand tracking of the Oculus Quest 2. After the experimentation, the participants carried out presence (PQ), usability (UMUX), and satisfaction (USEQ) tests. The results indicate no difference with statistical significance between both experiments; controller experiments have 7.08% higher accuracy and 0.27 ys. faster response time. Contrary to expectations, presence was 1.3% lower for hand tracking, and usability (0.18%) and satisfaction (1.43%) had similar results. The findings indicate no evidence to determine better conditions in the evaluation of memory in this case of IVR with hand tracking

Anthropization and growth of the electricity grid as variables for the analysis of urban infrastructure

City growth goes together with the development of infrastructure, and the power network is one of the most relevant towards economic development. The study of urban infrastructure through the analysis of anthropization coupled with power network growth can produce a tool that supports sustainable infrastructure planning, both economic and environmental. The case study focuses on Ambato, Ecuador, in the period from 1950 to 2019, and assesses quantitatively the changes in the city layout and the evolution of its power network. The data are adjusted to a sigmoid-type objective function through a non-linear least squares problem, that is solved using the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) method. Anthropization data show how the urban area grew during the study period: 37% (1950–1960), 53% (1960–1970), 80% (1970–1980), 35% (1980–1990), 39% (1990–2000), 38% (2000–2010), and 11% (2010–2019), mostly at the expense of agricultural land. The forecast for new power network users by 2050 yields a result of 203,630 total users with a population density of 4850 people/km2. The conclusion is that this type of analysis can help city planners and decision makers further understand city and infrastructure growth dynamics and produce policies that bolster sustainable city growth.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The cupboard task: An immersive virtual reality-based system for everyday memory assessment

Background and objective Virtual Reality (VR) has the capacity to be used in cognitive rehabilitation interventions for diagnostic and training purposes. This technology allows the development of proposals that traditionally have been only implemented using physical elements that imply greater resources and a lesser degree of automation. This work presents an immersive virtual reality (IVR) application (the Cupboard task) for the evaluation of memory in a more ecological way and based on an activity of daily living (ADL). Methods To appraise its construct validity, we have carried out a comparative study with a traditional method of memory assessment (method of loci). To check for any association between performance and age, performance with years of education, and reaction time with age, the Pearson's correlation was used. One-way ANOVA was used to check for differences in performance by gender. We also performed a reliability analysis with a two way mixed effects model where people effects are random and measures effects are fixed. Therefore, intra-class correlation coefficient with absolute agreement was reckoned to assess the consistency or concordance of the measures made by both the method of loci and the cupboard IVR task. Results Both tasks were evaluated on a sample of 22 healthy participants who voluntarily took part in the experiment. The results obtained showed a high degree of concordance between both memory performance measures, which assumes good clinical relevance. In addition, other age-related effects were found, common to memory assessment tasks. Conclusions This work showed that it is possible to use an IVR application to successfully assess everyday memory. We have also demonstrated the potential of IVR to develop valid tests that assess memory functions reliably and efficiently and within ecologically valid contexts. The results obtained open the door to its use in clinical settings for cognitive training (and promoting cognitive health) of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), severe cognitive impairment (SCI) such as Alzheimer or Dementia, etc., with full guarantees of application, although it must first be validated through a randomized control trial (RCT). The degree of usability of the Cupboard task was very high according to the test carried out by the participants

Contribuciones a la Rehabilitación Cognitiva de Pacientes con Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas por Medio de Realidad Virtual y Dispositivos de Bajo Coste

La realidad virtual es una tecnología que ha estado en constante desarrollo en las últimas décadas, aportando soluciones para complementar a la medicina tradicional. En particular, la salud cognitiva se ha visto beneficiada con entornos virtuales orientados a la evaluación y rehabilitación del paciente. No obstante, son limitadas las investigaciones realizadas para determinar su validez ecológica. En esta tesis doctoral se evalúan aplicaciones de realidad virtual diseñadas para cribado y rehabilitación cognitiva, incluyendo las aplicaciones orientadas a la tele rehabilitación. Con este objetivo se ha diseñado tareas basadas en dispositivos de bajo coste para sistemas inmersivos y no inmersivos, respectivamente. Bajo esta perspectiva se ha creado un marco de desarrollo para aplicaciones de realidad virtual con diferentes niveles de dificultad, que integran la recolección automatizada de resultados y el intercambio de información con servidores remotos mediante el enfoque de computación en la niebla. Las diferentes tareas han sido validadas en una población de sujetos sanos y con referencia a métodos tradicionales de valoración cognitiva. Para ello, además de utilizar las pruebas de contraste de hipótesis tradicionales, se han utilizado cuestionarios estandarizados y validados de usabilidad y satisfacción. Además, se ha optimizado el ancho de banda de red requerido para la ejecución de las tareas de rehabilitación supervisadas en tiempo real. Nuestros resultados confirman algunos de los obtenidos en investigaciones similares y aportan una mayor evidencia sobre los beneficios de la realidad virtual para la rehabilitación cognitiva, suponiendo, por ende, una base para futuros trabajos que utilicen esta tecnología para el tratamiento de enfermedades neurodegenerativas.<br /

System identification and nonlinear model predictive control with collision avoidance applied in Hexacopters UAVs

Accurate trajectory tracking is a critical property of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) due to system nonlinearities, under-actuated properties and constraints. Specifically, the use of unmanned rotorcrafts with accuracy trajectory tracking controllers in dynamic environments has the potential to improve the fields of environment monitoring, safety, search and rescue, border surveillance, geology and mining, agriculture industry, and traffic control. Monitoring operations in dynamic environments produce significant complications with respect to accuracy and obstacles in the surrounding environment and, in many cases, it is difficult to perform even with state-of-the-art controllers. This work presents a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) with collision avoidance for hexacopters’ trajectory tracking in dynamic environments, as well as shows a comparative study between the accuracies of the Euler–Lagrange formulation and the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) models in order to find the precise representation of the system dynamics. The proposed controller includes limits on the maneuverability velocities, system dynamics, obstacles and the tracking error in the optimization control problem (OCP). In order to show the good performance of this control proposal, computational simulations and real experiments were carried out using a six rotary-wind unmanned aerial vehicle (hexacopter—DJI MATRICE 600). The experimental results prove the good performance of the predictive scheme and its ability to regenerate the optimal control policy. Simulation results expand the proposed controller in simulating highly dynamic environments that showing the scalability of the controller

Visual Servoing NMPC Applied to UAVs for Photovoltaic Array Inspection

The photovoltaic (PV) industry is seeing a significant shift toward large-scale solar plants, where traditional inspection methods have proven to be time-consuming and costly. Currently, the predominant approach to PV inspection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is based on photogrammetry. However, the photogrammetry approach presents limitations, such as an increased amount of useless data during flights, potential issues related to image resolution, and the detection process during high-altitude flights. In this work, we develop a visual servoing control system applied to a UAV with dynamic compensation using a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) capable of accurately tracking the middle of the underlying PV array at different frontal velocities and height constraints, ensuring the acquisition of detailed images during low-altitude flights. The visual servoing controller is based on the extraction of features using RGB-D images and the Kalman filter to estimate the edges of the PV arrays. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the proposal in both simulated and real-world environments using the commercial aerial vehicle (DJI Matrice 100), with the purpose of showcasing the results of the architecture. Our approach is available for the scientific community in: https://github.com/EPVelasco/VisualServoing_NMPCComment: This paper is under review at the journal "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters