A Model-Free Approach for Accurate Joint Motion Control in Humanoid Locomotion

A new model-free approach to precisely control humanoid robot joints is presented in this article. An input&-output online identification procedure will permit to compensate neglected or uncertain dynamics, such as, on the one hand, transmission and compliance nonlinear effects, and, on the other hand, network transmission delays. Robustness toparameter variations will be analyzed and compared to other advanced PID-based controllers. Simulations will show that not only good tracking quality can be obtained with this novel technique, but also that it provides a very robust behavior to the closed-loop system. Furthermore, a locomotion task will be tested in a complete humanoid simulatorto highlight the suitability of this control approach for such complex systems.This work has been supported by the CAM Project S2009/DPI-1559/ROBOCITY2030 II, developed by the research team RoboticsLab at the University Carlos III of Madrid.Publicad

A Comparison of FPGA and GPGPU Designs for Bayesian Occupancy Filters

Grid-based perception techniques in the automotive sector based on fusing information from different sensors and their robust perceptions of the environment are proliferating in the industry. However, one of the main drawbacks of these techniques is the traditionally prohibitive, high computing performance that is required for embedded automotive systems. In this work, the capabilities of new computing architectures that embed these algorithms are assessed in a real car. The paper compares two ad hoc optimized designs of the Bayesian Occupancy Filter; one for General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) and the other for Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The resulting implementations are compared in terms of development effort, accuracy and performance, using datasets from a realistic simulator and from a real automated vehicle.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with the National Projects TCAP-AUTO (RTC-2015-3942-4) and NAVEGASE (DPI2014-53525-C3-1-R)

White Paper 11: Artificial intelligence, robotics & data science

198 p. : 17 cmSIC white paper on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Data Science sketches a preliminary roadmap for addressing current R&D challenges associated with automated and autonomous machines. More than 50 research challenges investigated all over Spain by more than 150 experts within CSIC are presented in eight chapters. Chapter One introduces key concepts and tackles the issue of the integration of knowledge (representation), reasoning and learning in the design of artificial entities. Chapter Two analyses challenges associated with the development of theories –and supporting technologies– for modelling the behaviour of autonomous agents. Specifically, it pays attention to the interplay between elements at micro level (individual autonomous agent interactions) with the macro world (the properties we seek in large and complex societies). While Chapter Three discusses the variety of data science applications currently used in all fields of science, paying particular attention to Machine Learning (ML) techniques, Chapter Four presents current development in various areas of robotics. Chapter Five explores the challenges associated with computational cognitive models. Chapter Six pays attention to the ethical, legal, economic and social challenges coming alongside the development of smart systems. Chapter Seven engages with the problem of the environmental sustainability of deploying intelligent systems at large scale. Finally, Chapter Eight deals with the complexity of ensuring the security, safety, resilience and privacy-protection of smart systems against cyber threats.18 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ROBOTICS AND DATA SCIENCE Topic Coordinators Sara Degli Esposti ( IPP-CCHS, CSIC ) and Carles Sierra ( IIIA, CSIC ) 18 CHALLENGE 1 INTEGRATING KNOWLEDGE, REASONING AND LEARNING Challenge Coordinators Felip Manyà ( IIIA, CSIC ) and Adrià Colomé ( IRI, CSIC – UPC ) 38 CHALLENGE 2 MULTIAGENT SYSTEMS Challenge Coordinators N. Osman ( IIIA, CSIC ) and D. López ( IFS, CSIC ) 54 CHALLENGE 3 MACHINE LEARNING AND DATA SCIENCE Challenge Coordinators J. J. Ramasco Sukia ( IFISC ) and L. Lloret Iglesias ( IFCA, CSIC ) 80 CHALLENGE 4 INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS Topic Coordinators G. Alenyà ( IRI, CSIC – UPC ) and J. Villagra ( CAR, CSIC ) 100 CHALLENGE 5 COMPUTATIONAL COGNITIVE MODELS Challenge Coordinators M. D. del Castillo ( CAR, CSIC) and M. Schorlemmer ( IIIA, CSIC ) 120 CHALLENGE 6 ETHICAL, LEGAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS Challenge Coordinators P. Noriega ( IIIA, CSIC ) and T. Ausín ( IFS, CSIC ) 142 CHALLENGE 7 LOW-POWER SUSTAINABLE HARDWARE FOR AI Challenge Coordinators T. Serrano ( IMSE-CNM, CSIC – US ) and A. Oyanguren ( IFIC, CSIC - UV ) 160 CHALLENGE 8 SMART CYBERSECURITY Challenge Coordinators D. Arroyo Guardeño ( ITEFI, CSIC ) and P. Brox Jiménez ( IMSE-CNM, CSIC – US )Peer reviewe

Real-Time Motion Planning Approach for Automated Driving in Urban Environments

Autonomous vehicles must be able to react in a timely manner to typical and unpredictable situations in urban scenarios. In this connection, motion planning algorithms play a key role as they are responsible of ensuring driving safety and comfort while producing human-like trajectories in a wide range of driving scenarios. Typical approaches for motion planning focus on trajectory optimization by applying computation-intensive algorithms, rather than finding a balance between optimatily and computing time. However, for on-road automated driving at medium and high speeds, determinism is necessary at high sampling rates. This work presents a trajectory planning algorithm that is able to provide safe, human-like and comfortable trajectories by using cost-effective primitives evaluation based on quintic Bézier curves. The proposed method is able to consider the kinodynamic constrains of the vehicle while reactively handling dynamic real environments in real-time. The proposed motion planning strategy has been implemented in a real experimental platform and validated in different real operating environments, successfully overcoming typical urban traffic scenes where both static and dynamic objects are involved

Challenge 7: low-power sustainable hardware for AI

Coordinators: T. Serrano (IMSE-CNM, CSIC – US ) and A. Oyanguren (IFIC, CSIC - UV).Peer reviewe

Challenge 4: Cyberphysical systems and internet of things

Accés lliure al text del llibre a la web de l'editorCyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT) are complementary paradigms in digitalization. Sensors and actuators, hardware designs and development platforms, architectures and computational frameworks, modeling, control and optimization, and potential applications are analyzed and presented from impact and main challenges up to strategic plan.Postprint (published version

Challenge 4: Intelligent robotics

Accés lliure al text del llibre a la web de l'editorIntelligent robotics are called to be the next revolution by providing AI with the capability of interacting with the physical world. Robots are overpassing their cages in the industry to become intelligent machines that can live among us, helping in the service sector, as tools in rehabilitation and assistive tasks, and also as companions. Robotics poses especial problems and AI research must be reshaped and redefined to meet robotics special needs in areas like perception and scene understanding, decision making and learning, and actuation. Besides these classical robotics areas, modern robots need to take into account the central role of human-robot interaction : unstructured environments, unforeseen situations, user preferences, and safety. The challenges to frame this revolution are multiple. We highlight the seven where we identify CSIC has a strategic advantage and thus can cause a better impact. Modern robotics implies robots in human environments, what we called here robots for everyone : easy reprogramming and continuous learning. Deployment can include big-scale mobile robots and cars for autonomous navigation for cities, or small-scale robots for intelligent manipulation for new applications, possibly making use of effective and adaptive coordination of robot fleets. Robots in human environments require safe and ethical human-robot interaction, that can take advantage of seamless cooperative and everywhere localization solutions and dexterity and efficiency through bio-inspired and parallel mechanisms. Advances on intelligent robotics will have a great impact on science, industry, and society in general. Robots have the potential to change people’s lifestyle and thus, require special attention from rule bodies and policymakers. However, robotics is highly experimental and requires special efforts in physically building the prototypes. To make this possible, we believe a new joint lab or infrastructure must be established to facilitate research and testing, foster collaboration and involve industry and policy-makers.Postprint (published version

White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Data Science

The world we live in is increasingly interconnected and features smooth interactions be-tween human beings and all sorts of systems and devices which are showing increasinglevels of autonomy and intelligence. Thus, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and datascience are already part of people’s everyday life and are changing people’s working struc-tures, relationships, and learning habits. We understand AI as the ability of a computer orrobot to perform tasks usually associated with intelligent beings. In the vision expressedin this book, we include classical and modern approaches to AI, the technologies that comefrom them and, in general, all kinds of artificially intelligent entities and systems.Peer reviewe

Evolution over Time of Ventilatory Management and Outcome of Patients with Neurologic Disease∗

OBJECTIVES: To describe the changes in ventilator management over time in patients with neurologic disease at ICU admission and to estimate factors associated with 28-day hospital mortality. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of three prospective, observational, multicenter studies. SETTING: Cohort studies conducted in 2004, 2010, and 2016. PATIENTS: Adult patients who received mechanical ventilation for more than 12 hours. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among the 20,929 patients enrolled, we included 4,152 (20%) mechanically ventilated patients due to different neurologic diseases. Hemorrhagic stroke and brain trauma were the most common pathologies associated with the need for mechanical ventilation. Although volume-cycled ventilation remained the preferred ventilation mode, there was a significant (p < 0.001) increment in the use of pressure support ventilation. The proportion of patients receiving a protective lung ventilation strategy was increased over time: 47% in 2004, 63% in 2010, and 65% in 2016 (p < 0.001), as well as the duration of protective ventilation strategies: 406 days per 1,000 mechanical ventilation days in 2004, 523 days per 1,000 mechanical ventilation days in 2010, and 585 days per 1,000 mechanical ventilation days in 2016 (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the length of stay in the ICU, mortality in the ICU, and mortality in hospital from 2004 to 2016. Independent risk factors for 28-day mortality were age greater than 75 years, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II greater than 50, the occurrence of organ dysfunction within first 48 hours after brain injury, and specific neurologic diseases such as hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, and brain trauma. CONCLUSIONS: More lung-protective ventilatory strategies have been implemented over years in neurologic patients with no effect on pulmonary complications or on survival. We found several prognostic factors on mortality such as advanced age, the severity of the disease, organ dysfunctions, and the etiology of neurologic disease