关键词： Human-robot interaction   Robot-robot interaction   Ontologies for robotics and automation   Knowledge representation   Ontology engineering   Spatial information  

摘要： Spatial notions play a key role when humans and robots interact. Robotics & Automation (R&A) often involves diverse scenarios where heterogeneous robots must share their spatial knowledge to achieve a given goal. Such scenarios may become more complex when humans are also involved. This means that humans and heterogeneous robots must share their spatial information about the world. For this purpose, the IEEE Ontologies for Robotics and Automation (ORA) Working Group started developing an ontology, called POS, with the purpose of defining the core notions required to share spatial concepts in the R&A domain. This paper evaluates the proposed ontology through a use case scenario involving both heterogeneous robots and human-robot interactions, showing how to define new spatial notions using POS. We discuss the experiment results presenting the ontology strengths as well as the future directions to be taken by the ORA group. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Nano-robotics   Omni-directional cancer treatment program   (OCTP)   Radiation   Breast   Cancer therapy  

摘要： Nano-robotics is introduced for the nuclear industry for radiation treatment as a complete cure of cancer because it leads to the removal of cancerous cells. In order to ensure the reliability of treatment, one needs to control the radiation behavior of the therapy. The omni-directional cancer treatment program (OCTP) is suggested for the therapy planning in which all cancerous cells are killed without damage to normal cells. This is one of the most important issues in the conventional radiation therapy planning. The clinical cancer therapy planning is performed by nanorobots. The tiny machine treats the cancer cells effectively. The collision event occurs approximately over 35 nm. Therefore, if the diameter of tumor is 1 cm, the curable length is about 5 nm. Thus, one movement of nanorobot radiates about 10 nm in two dimensional planning. The example organ in this study is the breast. Nanorobots enter from the upper side of breast and exit from the lower side of the breast in the clinical example. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Intertemporal choice   Evolutionary robotics   Ecological rationality   Delay discounting   Spatial discounting   Preferences  

摘要： In intertemporal choices, subjects face a trade-off between value and delay: achieving the most valuable outcome requires a longer time, whereas the immediately available option is objectively poorer. Intertemporal choices are ubiquitous, and comparative studies reveal commonalities and differences across species: all species devalue future rewards as a function of delay (delay aversion), yet there is a lot of inter-specific variance in how rapidly such devaluation occurs. These differences are often interpreted in terms of ecological rationality, as depending on environmental factors (e.g., feeding ecology) and the physiological and morphological constraints of different species (e.g., metabolic rate). Evolutionary hypotheses, however, are hard to verify in vivo, since it is difficult to observe precisely enough real environments, not to mention ancestral ones. In this paper, we discuss the viability of an approach based on evolutionary robotics: in Study 1, we evolve robots without a metabolism in five different ecologies;in Study 2, we evolve metabolic robots (i.e., robots that consume energy over time) in three different ecologies. The intertemporal choices of the robots are analyzed both in their ecology and under laboratory conditions. Results confirm the generality of delay aversion and the usefulness of studying intertemporal choice through experimental evolutionary robotics. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

关键词： Space robot   Jourdain's velocity variation principle   Active control   Joint friction  

摘要： It is well known that friction is an inevitable phenomenon existing in almost all mechanical systems including robotic systems. It can affect dynamic characteristics of mechanical systems and even harm accuracy of manual control. In this paper, we have conducted comprehensive study in detail on dynamics and control of a space robot with joint friction. Dynamic equation of the system is established based on Jourdain's velocity variation principle and the single direction recursive construction method. The Coulomb friction model, the Stribeck friction model and the LuGre friction model are adopted to describe the joint friction. Meanwhile, the calculation method for joint friction is discussed in detail, and the relationship between ideal constraint force and Lagrange multipliers is derived. Moreover, an active controller is designed by the nonlinear decoupling method for the trajectory tracking for the system. The validity of the proposed dynamic model is verified by comparison of numerical simulation results and results obtained from the software ADAMS. And then we carry out a series of simulations in order to observe the influence of joint friction on operating a space robot with different friction models. We also study the interaction between the low-speed motion and joint friction in the process of trajectory tracking. (C) 2015 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Rehabilitation robotics   Ontologies   Knowledge representation  

摘要： Representing the available information about rehabilitation robots in a structured form, as an ontology, facilitates access to various kinds of information about the existing robots, and thus it is important both from the point of view of rehabilitation robotics and from the point of view of physical medicine. Rehabilitation robotics researchers can learn various properties of the existing robots and access to the related publications to further improve the state-of-the-art. Physical medicine experts can find information about rehabilitation robots and related publications (possibly including results of clinical studies) to better identify the right robot for a particular therapy or patient population. Therefore, considering also the advantages of ontologies and ontological reasoning, such as interoperability of various heterogeneous knowledge resources (e.g., patient databases or disease ontologies), such an ontology provides the underlying mechanisms for translational physical medicine, from bench-to-bed and back, and personalized rehabilitation robotics. With these motivations, the first formal rehabilitation robotics ontology, called REHABROBO-ONTO, is designed and developed, collaborating with experts in robotics and in physical medicine. A web based software (called REHABROBO-QUERY) with an easy-to-use intelligent user-interface is also built. REHABROBO-QUERY allows robot designers to add/modify information about their rehabilitation robots to/from REHABROBO-ONTO. The ontology system consisting of REHABROBO-ONTO and REHABROBO-QUERY is made available on the cloud, utilizing Amazon Web services, to provide a reliable environment for access, development and maintenance of REHABROBO-ONTO by rehabilitation robot designers and physical medicine experts around the world. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Knowledge representation   Robot skill   Industrial robotics ontology   Assembly   Service-oriented architecture  

摘要： When robots are working in dynamic environments, close to humans lacking extensive knowledge of robotics, there is a strong need to simplify the user interaction and make the system execute as autonomously as possible, as long as it is feasible. For industrial robots working side-by-side with humans in manufacturing industry, Al systems are necessary to lower the demand on programming time and system integration expertise. Only by building a system with appropriate knowledge and reasoning services can one simplify the robot programming sufficiently to meet those demands while still getting a robust and efficient task execution. In this paper, we present a system we have realized that aims at fulfilling the above demands. The paper focuses on the knowledge put into ontologies created for robotic devices and manufacturing tasks, and presents examples of AI-related services that use the semantic descriptions of skills to help users instruct the robot adequately. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Robotic surgery   microlaryngeal surgery   CO2 laser   laser guidance   learning curve  

摘要： Objectives/HypothesisTo evaluate the performance of human subjects, using a prototype robotic micromanipulator controller in a simulated, microlaryngeal operative setting. Study DesignObservational cross-sectional study. MethodsTwenty-two human subjects with varying degrees of laser experience performed CO2 laser surgical tasks within a simulated microlaryngeal operative setting using an industry standard manual micromanipulator (MMM) and a prototype robotic micromanipulator controller (RMC). Accuracy, repeatability, and ablation consistency measures were obtained for each human subject across both conditions and for the preprogrammed RMC device. ResultsUsing the standard MMM, surgeons with >10 previous laser cases performed superior to subjects with fewer cases on measures of error percentage and cumulative error (P=.045 and .03, respectively). No significant differences in performance were observed between subjects using the RMC device. In the programmed (P/A) mode, the RMC performed equivalently or superiorly to experienced human subjects on accuracy and repeatability measures, and nearly an order of magnitude better on measures of ablation consistency. The programmed RMC performed significantly better for repetition error when compared to human subjects with <100 previous laser cases (P=.04). ConclusionsExperienced laser surgeons perform better than novice surgeons on tasks of accuracy and repeatability using the MMM device but roughly equivalently using the novel RMC. Operated in the P/A mode, the RMC performs equivalently or superior to experienced laser surgeons using the industry standard MMM for all measured parameters, and delivers an ablation consistency nearly an order of magnitude better than human laser operators. Level of EvidenceNA Laryngoscope, 125:1393-1400, 2015

关键词： robotic surgery   robotics   oncology surgery  

摘要： Robotic surgery is an exciting technology that allows the surgeon to sit at a computer console near the operating table, using mechanical arms with surgical instruments attached to them. This type of surgery is minimally invasive, and the procedure is performed through tiny incisions. This technology is widely used in the United States and is expected to evolve over time with an increase in the number and types of procedures. At a Glance Robotic surgery will increasingly play a role in oncology surgery. Benefits include decreases in blood loss and postoperative pain. Barriers include the cost and maintenance of the systems.

关键词： Electric stimulation   FES   Randomized controlled trial, Rehabilitation   Robotics   Stroke   Upper extremity  

摘要： Objective: To compare response to upper-limb treatment using robotics plus motor learning (ML) versus functional electrical stimulation (PES) plus ML versus ML alone, according to a measure of complex functional everyday tasks for chronic, severely impaired stroke survivors. Design: Single-blind, randomized trial. Setting: Medical center. Participants: Enrolled subjects (N=39) were >1 year postsingle stroke (attrition rate=10%;35 completed the study). Interventions: All groups received treatment 5d/wk for 5b/d (60 sessions), with unique treatment as follows: ML alone (n=11) (5h/d partial- and whole-task practice of complex functional tasks), robotics plus ML (n=12) (3.5h/d of ML and 1.5h/d of shoulder/elbow robotics), and FES plus ML (n=12) (3.5h/d of ML and 1.5h/d of FES wrist/hand coordination training). Main Outcome Measures: Primary measure: Arm Motor Ability Test (AMAT), with 13 complex functional tasks;secondary measure: upper-limb Fugl-Meyer coordination scale (FM). Results: There was no significant difference found in treatment response across groups (AMAT: P >=.584;FM coordination: P >=.590). All 3 treatment groups demonstrated clinically and statistically significant improvement in response to treatment (AMAT and FM coordination: P <=.009). A group treatment paradigm of 1:3 (therapist/patient) ratio proved feasible for provision of the intensive treatment. No adverse effects. Conclusions: Severely impaired stroke survivors with persistent (>1y) upper-extremity dysfunction can make clinically and statistically significant gains in coordination and functional task performance in response to robotics plus ML, FES plus ML, and ML alone in an intensive and long-duration intervention;no group differences were found. Additional studies are warranted to determine the effectiveness of these methods in the clinical setting. (C) 2015 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine