关键词： embedded systems   FPGA   LabVIEW   mechatronics   mobile robots   project-based learning  

摘要： This paper discusses our project-based teaching and learning approach to infuse robotics education into our Control and Instrumentation programme at the KFUPM university. In the last two years, various practical projects were assigned to students either as course projects or as capstone design projects in the area of control engineering using the National Instruments (NI) embedded robotic platform. The assigned projects focus on designing and equipping the robotic platform with environment-sensing (light, temperature and sound) capabilities, control operations for path planning and obstacle avoidance. Using the NI platform as a test bed for our teaching approach has resulted in the design and implementation of a successful prototype that enables students to experiment with various sensing, control and communication techniques on this platform, thus turning it into an intelligent mobile robot capable of implementing complex and computationally demanding control and estimation algorithms. Finally, the survey we conducted to assess the educational content, and value to students, of our proposed approach shows that our strategy has been so far fruitful and gives us ample encouragement to pursue it and develop it further.

关键词： 3D printers, Mechanical design   Open hardware   Open source   Software development   Object oriented programming   Open robotics  

摘要： For many years robotics has been benefited from the open source community. Software community projects like Player, Stage, Gazebo, ROS, or OpenCV are present in most robotic applications. In recent years this trend has also been initiated among electronic and mechanical developments (open hardware). The Arduino development platform is a good example of a successful hardware project with a great community of developers and users around it. The apparition of personal 3D printers is bringing the open source philosophy to the fabrication of physical things as well. This new technology is in need of new designing tools to take advantage of it. In this paper we are presenting the C++ Object Oriented Mechanics Library (OOML), a tool to design mechanical components, taking into account the needs and requirements of these emerging technologies. These designs can be easily shared, reused, and modified. The OOML brings together the advantages of (1) modelling things through code, (2) the object oriented programming paradigm, and (3) the power of C++. In the OOML, mechanical parts are described as geometrical combinations of basic primitives. Once a part is defined, fabrication files can be generated in order to print, or mechanize it. Models could also be used for simulation, visualization, structural analysis, etc.

关键词： Image-Guided Surgery   Medical Robotics   Robotic Rehabilitation   Robotic Surgery   Virtual Reality in Medicine  

摘要： Many research and development projects are being performed worldwide to develop new products and applications for computer-assisted and medical robotic systems. In this paper, an overview of selected state-ofthe-art applications of robotic technology in medicine is presented. Four key areas of image-guided surgery, virtual reality in medicine, surgical robots, and robotic rehabilitation systems, are studied. As well, current challenges in research and development are discussed.

关键词： ROBOTICS research  

摘要： The article presents information on the International Symposium on Robotics Research to be held from December 16 to 19, 2013 in Singapore.

关键词： Computer-assisted surgery   robotic endoscope   surgical robots   navigation   surgical planning  

摘要： Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is the latest surgery paradigm in which the abdominal cavity is accessed via the body's natural orifice, e.g., vagina, mouth, etc. Compared with traditional laparoscopic surgery, NOTES completely eliminates the skin incision and therefore benefits the patients in several aspects such as less post-operative pain, shorter recovery period, fewer complications, etc. Due to the unique characteristics of NOTES, instruments for traditional laparoscopic surgery are not suitable for NOTES and hence novel hardware design is necessary for facilitating system development. This paper gives an overview of the state of the arts in the development of surgical instruments for NOTES, particularly with a focus on the promising robotic endoscopes.

关键词： learning and adaptive systems   cognitive robotics   autonomous agents   cognitive robotics   AI reasoning methods  

摘要： We develop a technique to automatically generate a control policy for a robot moving in an environment that includes elements with unknown, randomly changing behavior. The robot is required to achieve a surveillance mission, in which a certain request needs to be serviced repeatedly, while the expected time inbetween consecutive services is minimized and additional temporal logic constraints are satisfied. We define a fragment of linear temporal logic to describe such a mission and formulate the problem as a temporal logic game. Our approach is based on two main ideas. First, we extend results in automata learning to detect patterns of the unknown behavior of the elements in the environment. Second, we employ an automata-theoretic method to generate the control policy. We show that the obtained control policy converges to an optimal one when the partially unknown behavior patterns are fully learned. In addition, we illustrate the method in an experimental setup, in which an unmanned ground vehicle, with the help of a cooperating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), satisfies a temporal logic requirement in a partitioned environment whose regions are controlled by barriers with unknown behavior.

关键词： Robotics   Motor adaptation   Impedance   Upper extremity   Robot-mediated rehabilitation   Upper limb rehabilitation  

摘要： The InMotion2 and other similarly designed robots, are commonly used for rehabilitation of neurological injuries and motor adaptation studies. These robots are used to simulate haptic environments;however, anisotropy in end-point impedance due to the intrinsic robot dynamics can compromise these experiments. The goal was to decrease the magnitude and anisotropy of the robot impedance using a dynamic compensation algorithm that reduces the forces normally felt by the user during rapid movements. We tested this algorithm with two different methods for real-time calculation of derivatives, a novel quadratic fit method (CQF) and the commonly used backward derivative method (CBD). Six subjects performed a series of point-to-point movements under three conditions (no compensation, CQF, CBD), in different directions at peak speeds of 50, 100 and 150 cm/s. Without compensation, tangential peak-to-peak forces were as large as 69 N in certain directions at the 150 cm/s speed. Both CQF and CBD significantly reduced tangential forces in all directions and speeds. CQF outperformed CBD in the directions with highest intrinsic impedance, reducing tangential forces by 64% in these directions. Compensation also significantly reduced forces normal to the movement direction, with CQF again outperforming CBD in several cases. Anisotropy was assessed by the range of tangential peak-to-peak forces across movement directions. In the no compensation condition, anisotropy was as high as 52.7 N at the 150 cm/s speed, but an average anisotropy reduction of 74% was achieved with CQF. The CQF method can significantly reduce impedance and anisotropy in this class of robot. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

关键词： OPERATING systems (Computers)   ROBOTICS   COMPUTER multitasking  

摘要： The article focuses on the increasing trend of using the robot operating system (ROS) software to emerging breeds of quasi-commercial, industrial, and prosthetic robots. The expansion of using ROS to handle multiple controllers, multiplexing information, and feedback data is stated. According to Erik Nieves, technology director of Yaskawa America Inc., ROS is a growing library of developer and functions tools. The limitations and strengths of ROS is also explored.

关键词： 工程训练   自主学习性   应用创新型人才  

摘要： 根据国家、社会、企业对人才的要求,结合应用创新型人才培养模式,工程训练指导教师应通过不断完善工程训练教学内容和方法,提高学生的自主学习性,为培养应用创新型人才打下良好的基础。