关键词： Dialogical philosophy   I-you connectedness   Pronoun I   Buber   Benveniste  

摘要： In this essay, I challenge the egocentric tradition which privileges the standpoint of an isolated individual, and propose a speech-based dialogical approach as an alternative. Considering that the egocentric tradition can be deciphered in part by analyzing the distortions undergone by pronominal discourse in the language of classical philosophy, I reexamine the pragmatics of ordinary language featuring the pronoun I in an effort to recover a more relational understanding of persons. I develop such an analysis of the deep grammar of pronominal discourse under the heading of I-you connectedness'. I-you connectedness emphasizes the communicative structure of experience, in particular the phenomenological importance of the addressee, the inseparability of I' and You', and the nature of the alternation between them. I-you connectedness is the best thematized within living speech, which is invariably oriented towards an interlocutor, and animated by mutual address. Yet, I-you connectedness extends beyond living speech to other modalities of meaning, notably thinking and writing, where one notes a similar orientation to a living, imagined, or virtual addressee. I-you connectedness extends, therefore, beyond discursive experience, and captures the deep dialogic dimension of meaning in pre-linguistic and extra-linguistic life. I briefly consider its implications for theoretical and practical issues within robotics and AI.

关键词： Dual-arm robots   finite-time (FT) convergence   fuzzy logic system (FLS)   uncertain kinematics  

摘要： Due to strongly coupled nonlinearities of the grasped dual-arm robot and the internal forces generated by grasped objects, the dual-arm robot control with uncertain kinematics and dynamics raises a challenging problem. In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy control scheme is developed for a dual-arm robot, where an approximate Jacobian matrix is applied to address the uncertain kinematic control, while a decentralized fuzzy logic controller is constructed to compensate for uncertain dynamics of the robotic arms and the manipulated object. Also, a novel finite-time convergence parameter adaptation technique is developed for the estimation of kinematic parameters and fuzzy logic weights, such that the estimation can be guaranteed to converge to small neighborhoods around their ideal values in a finite time. Moreover, a partial persistent excitation property of the Gaussian-membership-based fuzzy basis function was established to relax the conventional persistent excitation condition. This enables a designer to reuse these learned weight values in the future without relearning. Extensive simulation studies have been carried out using a dual-arm robot to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

关键词： endoscopic submucosal dissection   endoscopy   innovative biotechnology   natural orifices transluminal endoscopic surgery   robotics  

摘要： Many different types of endoscopy robot have been developed or are under development. Some of these innovative biotechnologies are dedicated to complex endoscopic procedures such as endoscopic submucosal dissection whereas others are purely diagnostic. In endoscopy robotics, there are still several problems that need a solution. These problems basically concern robotic locomotion and instrument control, as well as clinical application. In most cases, the technology is still under development. The current fields of investigation are augmented reality, advances in actuation and reduction of hysteresis, optical analysis, wireless movement transmission and many others. Besides endoscopic submucosal dissection, other promising fields of implementation of endoscopy robots are natural orifices transluminal endoscopic surgery and bariatric endoscopy. Obviously, endoscopy robots are expensive, but both doctors and health system providers are becoming more aware of the possibilities that these platforms can offer. Improvement of the performance of endoscopy robots undoubtedly will lead to their widespread use and, therefore, a balance in cost-effectiveness.

关键词： Joint transportation   Autonomous robots   Mobile robots   Obstacle avoidance   Unknown environments   Attractor dynamics  

摘要： This paper shows how non-linear attractor dynamics can be used to control teams of two autonomous mobile robots that coordinate their motion in order to transport large payloads in unknown environments, which might change over time and may include narrow passages, corners and sharp U-turns. Each robot generates its collision-free motion online as the sensed information changes. The control architecture for each robot is formalized as a non-linear dynamical system, where by design attractor states, i.e. asymptotically stable states, dominate and evolve over time. Implementation details are provided, and it is further shown that odometry or calibration errors are of no significance. Results demonstrate flexible and stable behavior in different circumstances: when the payload is of different sizes;when the layout of the environment changes from one run to another;when the environment is dynamice.g. following moving targets and avoiding moving obstacles;and when abrupt disturbances challenge team behavior during the execution of the joint transportation task.

关键词： architectural studio education   building education   kinetic building design   robotics architecture   underrepresented minority students  

摘要： Owing to the widespread distribution of open-source robotic software and cheaper hardware, design education in architecture and engineering is evolving to emphasize interactive and dynamic geometries, using new digital media and technologies. However, ethnic minority groups are still underrepresented in technology-driven changes in architecture, and their career is at risk in the growing tech-related job markets of the architecture, construction, and engineering (ACE) industry. In this context, the paper addresses college-level pedagogical issues and learning performance related to introductory robotics education in architectural design studios for the underrepresented minority (URM) students. This article presents the organization of curriculum activities, technical experiments in learning, and teaching experiences in the largest Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) in the U.S. The academic projects presented exhibit both technical challenges and achievements for URM students to build design competency and tool fluency in a streamlined prototyping of responsive kinetic building fabrication. The effectiveness of computer-aided design (CAD) technologies (3D printing, sensing, microcontrollers, etc.) for the advancement of minority-serving design education is discussed to promote design-learning possibilities and interdisciplinary collaborations associated with science and engineering. Expectations from course objectives are compared with final outcomes to suggest efficient learning strategies and teaching solutions of kinetic architecture.

关键词： Special issues and sections   Mechatronics   Robot sensing systems   Information management   Manufacturing processes   Automation   Information sharing  

摘要： The ten papers in this special section aim gather the latest research and development works on design, sensing, and intelligent control of robotics and mechatronics systems resulting from the emerging information sharing and design technologies.

摘要： The year 2018 was a landmark for software, robotics, and data platforms at Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI). R/V Falkor was constantly on the move, with 11 expeditions that emphasized technology trials and software development. New technologies are changing the way work is conducted at sea, creating efficiencies and permitting greater discoveries in areas that had previously eluded scientists. Robotic systems working together to make critical decisions allow scientists to cover more ocean and make intelligent choices. A vast amount of time and development goes into each and every robot, program, and algorithm, but we know that these long-term investments will provide a better understanding of our dynamic ocean. New knowledge emerging from these investments can, in turn, be used to improve ocean policies and management. We describe here 13 outcomes that had an impact on ocean sciences in 2018.

关键词： Robotics   Polymers   Consumer goods   Manufacturing   Collaboration   Automation   Lasers   Rubber   Robots   Manufacturing engineering   Automotive electronics   Automotive engineering   Industrial robots   Manufacturers   Automobile industry  

摘要： Cheaper robots with more functions, along with more flexible work cells and installations that facilitate robotics, are accelerating the growth of automated manufacturing facilities in the non-automotive sector. Ideas on whether robotics and automation lead to lights-out manufacturing on the shop floor, though, are mixed. While the overall number of units sold and revenue for robotics in 2018 were down, industrial robot orders actually grew 24% over the previous year in the life sciences, food and consumer goods, plastics and rubber and electronics industries, according to the Robotics Industries Association.

关键词： earthmoving equipment   mobile robots   road vehicles  

摘要： Like early mammals scuttering between the legs of tyrannosaurs, a lot of little companies are trying to weave around-and maybe even outlast-the big boys of self-driving technology.

关键词： Dynamics   model-free position control   noncollocated feedback   space robot   flexible manipulators  

摘要： In this paper, both the dynamics and noncollocated model-free position control (NMPC) for a space robot with multi-link flexible manipulators are developed. Using assumed modes approach to describe the flexible deformation, the dynamic model of the flexible space robotic system is derived with Lagrangian method to represent the system dynamic behaviors. Based on Lyapunov's direct method, the robust model-free position control with noncollocated feedback is designed for position regulation of the space robot and vibration suppression of the flexible manipulators. The closed-loop stability of the space robotic system can be guaranteed and the guideline of choosing noncollocated feedback is analyzed. The proposed control is easily implementable for flexible space robot with both uncertain complicated dynamic model and unknown system parameters, and all the control signals can be measured by sensors directly or obtained by a backward difference algorithm. Numerical simulations on a two-link flexible space robot are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control.