关键词： Robot audition   Sound source localization   Direction-of-arrival   Distance estimation   Tracking  

摘要： Sound source localization (SSL) in a robotic platform has been essential in the overall scheme of robot audition. It allows a robot to locate a sound source by sound alone. It has an important impact on other robot audition modules, such as source separation, and it enriches human robot interaction by complementing the robot's perceptual capabilities. The main objective of this review is to thoroughly map the current state of the SSL field for the reader and provide a starting point to SSL in robotics. To this effect, we present: the evolution and historical context of SSL in robotics;an extensive review and classification of SSL techniques and popular tracking methodologies;different facets of SSL as well as its state-of-the-art;evaluation methodologies used for SSL;and a set of challenges and research motivations. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

关键词： PIEZOELECTRIC actuators   PID controllers   MICROELECTROMECHANICAL systems   ROBOTICS   BIMORPHS  

摘要： Piezoelectric actuator is one of the most versatile types of smart material based actuators which can be utilized for different industrial applications like robotics, MEMS, micro assembly, biological cell handling, self-assembly and optical component handling in photonics. By applying a potential to piezoelectric based smart actuator, it can produce micro level deflection with large force generation, very fast response and long term actuation as compared to other actuators. The characterization and performance evaluation of the bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam using novel fuzzy logic controller (FLC) tuned proportional-integral-derivative (PID) system has been carried out where the smart bimorph piezo actuator is used as an active actuator for providing the dexterous behavior during robotic assembly. Fuzzy is introduced for fast tuning of PID and it provides the steady state characteristics. Experimentally, it is verified that the actuator produces steady state behavior of deflection for handling the object. A prototype is developed which shows the potential of handling the light weight objects for assembly.

关键词： Disaster robot   Mobility   Manipulability   Human-robot interface   Autonomy  

摘要： As we witnessed in recent major disasters, the functionalities of robots in disaster environments do not appear to meet the high level of expectation from the public. This paper reviews robotic operations in disaster situations and open issues with the current robotic technologies. We particularly address fundamental problems with teleoperated ground robots for disaster response and recovery: design of robot platforms and balance between human supervisory control and robotic anatomy. In attempt to alleviate the problems, this paper suggests enabling technologies to improve the effectiveness of robotic systems for disaster response and recovery missions.

关键词： Women in engineering   University of Western Australia -- Curricula   STEM education  

摘要： The article discusses the Girls in Engineering Discovery Day, part of the Girls in Engineering program at the University of Western Australia aimed at inspiring young women breaking gender stereotypes and encourage them to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

关键词： Assistive and rehabilitation robotics   Human-oriented approaches   Physical and cognitive capabilities   Assessment   Design methods   Wearable robotics  

关键词： Autonomous Driving Competition   Educational Robotics   Gazebo   Hardware in-the-loop Simulation   Mobile Robotics   ROS - Robotics Operating System   STEM - Science Technology Engineering Mathematics  

摘要： Interest in robotics field as a teaching tool to promote the STEM areas has grown in the past years. The search for solutions to promote robotics is a major challenge and the use of real robots always increases costs. An alternative is the use of a simulator. The construction of a simulator related with the Portuguese Autonomous Driving Competition using Gazebo as 3D simulator and ROS as a middleware connection to promote, attract, and enthusiasm university students to the mobile robotics challenges is presented. It is intended to take advantage of a competitive mindset to overcome some obstacles that appear to students when designing a real system. The proposed simulator focus on the autonomous driving competition task, such as semaphore recognition, localization, and motion control. An evaluation of the simulator is also performed, leading to an absolute error of 5.11% and a relative error of 2.76% on best case scenarios relating to the odometry tests, an accuracy of 99.37% regarding to the semaphore recognition tests, and an average error of 1.8 pixels for the FOV tests performed.

关键词： Cable-driven parallel robot   Feedback Linearization   LQR   Kalman filter   LQG  

摘要： Cable robots are a type of parallel robots where the rigid links are replaced by flexible cables. This flexibility produces internal dynamic which challenges the rigid model based controller. In this paper, the dynamic equations of cable robots with viscoelastic cables are obtained. The Feedback Linearization (FL) method is used to provide a linearized dynamic error for the closed loop model of the system with rigid cables. Using the Lyapunov criterion, the stability analysis of the flexible system with the rigid FL control input is performed. It is shown that considering a minimum damping coefficient and employing the rigid FL controller, the system stability can be guaranteed. In order to achieve a trade-off between the control input and the tracking error, the FL gains are obtained using LQR method. In practice, measurement noise usually exists. On the other hand, the end-effector vibration caused by the cables elasticity can be considered as a process noise. Therefore, the LQG approach is used to estimate the states in presence of the process and measurement noise. Using simulation, it is shown that in presence of measurement noise, the LQG method effectively controls the system while the LQR and also the SMC approach, employed in Korayem et al. (Robotica 33(3), 578-598, 2015), lead to the system instability. Another simulation demonstrates that the system with damping less than the specified minimum value can be stable with the LQG approach, in contrary to the LQR controller. Moreover, in order to investigate the vibrational effect of the cable stiffness and damping coefficient, a frequency analysis is performed. Finally, experimental result obtained by implementation on a manufactured cable robot is presented and verified the approach.

关键词： Costs   general surgery   healthcare economics   outcomes   robotics   training  

摘要： The utilisation of robotic-assisted techniques is a novelty in the field of general surgery. Our intention was to examine the up to date available literature on the cost assessment of robotic surgery of diverse operations in general surgery. PubMed and Scopus databases were searched in a systematic way to retrieve the included studies in our review. Thirty-one studies were retrieved, referring on a vast range of surgical operations. The mean cost for robotic, open and laparoscopic ranged from 2539 to 57,002, 7888 to 16,851 and 1799 to 50,408 Euros, respectively. The mean operative charges ranged from 273.74 to 13,670 Euros. More specifically, for the robotic and laparoscopic gastric fundoplication, the cost ranged from 1534 to 2257 and 657 to 763 Euros, respectively. For the robotic and laparoscopic colectomy, it ranged from 3739 to 17,080 and 3109 to 33,865 Euros, respectively. For the robotic and laparoscopic cholecystectomy, ranged from 1163.75 to 1291 and from 273.74 to 1223 Euros, respectively. The mean non-operative costs ranged from 900 to 48,796 from 8347 to 8800 and from 870 to 42,055 Euros, for robotic, open and laparoscopic technique, respectively. Conversions to laparotomy were present in 34/18,620 (0.18%) cases of laparoscopic and in 22/1488 (1.5%) cases of robotic technique. Duration of surgery robotic, open and laparoscopic ranged from 54.6 to 328.7, 129 to 234, and from 50.2 to 260 min, respectively. The present evidence reveals that robotic surgery, under specific conditions, has the potential to become cost-effective. Large number of cases, presence of industry competition and multidisciplinary team utilisation are some of the factors that could make more reasonable and cost-effective the robotic-assisted technique.

关键词： Affordances   computational models   robotics  

摘要： J. J. Gibson's concept of affordance, one of the central pillars of ecological psychology, is a truly remarkable idea that provides a concise theory of animal perception predicated on environmental interaction. It is thus not surprising that this idea has also found its way into robotics research as one of the underlying theories for action perception. The success of the theory in this regard has meant that existing research is both abundant and diffuse by virtue of the pursuit of multiple different paths and techniques with the common goal of enabling robots to learn, perceive, and act upon affordances. Up until now, there has existed no systematic investigation of existing work in this field. Motivated by this circumstance, in this article, we begin by defining a taxonomy for computational models of affordances rooted in a comprehensive analysis of the most prominent theoretical ideas of import in the field. Subsequently, after performing a systematic literature review, we provide a classification of existing research within our proposed taxonomy. Finally, by both quantitatively and qualitatively assessing the data resulting from the classification process, we highlight gaps in the research terrain and outline open questions for the investigation of affordances in robotics that we believe will help inform future work, prioritize research goals, and potentially advance the field toward greater robot autonomy.