Design and evaluation of operator support functions for the CSHIELD platform

In this thesis, we present a dynamical systems approach to adaptive controllers for locomotion control. The approach is based on a rigorous mathematical framework using nonlinear dynamical systems and is inspired by theories of self-organization. Nonlinear dynamical systems such as coupled oscillators are an interesting approach for the on-line generation of trajectories for robots with many degrees of freedom (e.g. legged locomotion). However, designing a nonlinear dynamical system to satisfy a given specification and goal is not an easy task, and, hitherto no methodology exists to approach this problem in a unified way. Nature presents us with satisfactory solutions for the coordination of many degrees of freedom. One central feature observed in biological subjects is the ability of the neural systems to exploit natural dynamics of the body to achieve efficient locomotion. In order to be able to exploit the body properties, adaptive mechanisms must be at work. Recent work has pointed out the importance of the mechanical system for efficient locomotion. Even more interestingly, such well suited mechanical systems do not need complicated control. Yet, in robotics, in most approaches, adaptive mechanisms are either missing or they are not based on a rigorous framework, i.e. they are based on heuristics and ad-hoc approaches. Over the last three decades there has been enormous progress in describing movement coordination with the help of Synergetic approaches. This has led to the formulation of a theoretical framework: the theory of dynamic patterns. This framework is mathematically rigorous and at the same time fully operational. However, it does not provide any guidelines for synthetic approaches as needed for the engineering of robots with many degrees of freedom, nor does it directly help to explain adaptive systems. We will show how we can extend the theoretical framework to build adaptive systems. For this purpose, we propose the use of multi-scale dynamical systems. The basic idea behind multi-scale dynamical systems is that a given dynamical system gets extended by additional slow dynamics of its parameters, i.e. some of the parameters become state variables. The advantages of the framework of multi-scale dynamical systems for adaptive controllers are 1) fully dynamic description, 2) no separation of learning algorithm and learning substrate, 3) no separation of learning trials or time windows, 4) mathematically rigorous, 5) low dimensional systems. However, in order to fully exploit the framework important questions have to be solved. Most importantly, methodologies for designing the feedback loops have to be found and important theoretical questions about stability and convergence properties of the devised systems have to be answered. In order to tackle this challenge, we first introduce an engineering view on designing nonlinear dynamical systems and especially oscillators. We will highlight the important differences and freedom that this engineering view introduces as opposed to a modeling one. We then apply this approach by first proposing a very simple adaptive toy-system, consisting of a dynamical system coupled to a spring-mass system. Due to its spring-mass dynamics, this system contains clear natural dynamics in the form of resonant frequencies. We propose a prototype adaptive multi-scale system, the adaptive frequency oscillator, which is able to adapt its intrinsic frequency to the resonant frequency of the body dynamics. After a small sidetrack to show that we can use adaptive frequency oscillators also for other applications than for adaptive controllers, namely for frequency analysis, we then come back to further investigation of the adaptive controller. We apply the same controller concept to a simple spring-mass hopper system. The spring-mass system consists of a body with two legs attached by rotational joints. The legs contain spring-damper elements. Finally, we present results of the implementation of the controller on a real robot, the experimental robot PUPPY II. This robot is a under-actuated robot with spring dynamics in the knee joints. It will be shown, that due to the appropriate simplification and concentration on relevant features in the toy-system the controller concepts works without a fundamental change on all systems from the toy system up to the real robot.

PurposeIn response to the navigation challenges faced by coal mine tunnel inspection robots in semistructured underground intersection environments, many current studies rely on structured map-based planning algorithms and trajectory tracking techniques. However, this approach is highly dependent on the accuracy of the global map, which can lead to deviations from the predetermined route or collisions with obstacles. To improve the environmental adaptability and navigation precision of the robot, this paper aims to propose an adaptive navigation system based on a two-dimensional (2D) LiDAR.Design/methodology/approachLeveraging the geometric features of coal mine tunnel environments, the clustering and fitting algorithms are used to construct a geometric model within the navigation system. This not only reduces the complexity of the navigation system but also optimizes local positioning. By constructing a local potential field, there is no need for path-fitting planning, thus enhancing the robot’s adaptability in intersection environments. The feasibility of the algorithm principles is validated through MATLAB and robot operating system simulations in this paper.FindingsThe experiments demonstrate that this method enables autonomous driving and optimized positioning capabilities in harsh environments, with high real-time performance and environmental adaptability, achieving a positioning error rate of less than 3%.Originality/valueThis paper presents an adaptive navigation system for a coal mine tunnel inspection robot using a 2D LiDAR sensor. The system improves robot attitude estimation and motion control accuracy to ensure safe and reliable navigation, especially at tunnel intersections.

The article deals with the topical issue of creating the adaptive educational system applied within the process of professional training of Masters specializing in “Educational Institutions Management”. The paper reveals the historical aspect of training Master students specializing in management, defines some features of training Masters in educational institutions management and partially substantiates the adaptive education system with the aim of modernizing the system of training students who are taking their Master’s degree in management. On the basis of an analysis of the educational and vocational training program for Masters specializing in educational institutions management, the author singles out professionally relevant competences, which are integrated taking into account the market requirements and society demand and which must be acquired by students who are taking their Master’s degree. It is determined that the process of training Masters specializing in management of educational institutions requires significant changes based on the adaptive system, which will help provide educational establishments with educational institutions managers, who will be able to reach goals and to make high-quality new decisions in the ever-changing sphere of higher education. The article highlights the need for further development of the adaptive educational system and its implementation into the process of training Masters specializing in management of educational institutions.

Navigating an electrical wheelchair can be very challenging\ndue to its large size and limited maneuverability.\nAdditionally, target users often suffer from cognitive or\nphysical disabilities, which interfere with safe\nnavigation. Therefore, a robotic wheelchair that helps to\ndrive can prove invaluable. Such a wheelchair shares the\ncontrol with its human operator. Typically, robots excel in\nfine-motion control whereas users want to remain in charge.\nHence, the robot should focus its help locally and let the\nuser decide about global behavior. Further, an effective\nrobot should understand the navigation plans of its user.\nIt needs to consider the user's abilities to avoid\nfrustrating the user with wrong assistance. \n\nIn order to address these requirements, we propose a\nprobabilistic framework to recognize local navigation plans\nin a user-specific way. The framework infers navigation\nplans online and provides a method to calibrate all model\nparameters from real driving data. It fuses past local\ninformation with a user-specific model to reason about how\nand where the user intends to navigate. We illustrate the\nvalidity of our approach by recognizing the local\nnavigation plans of a spastic user driving in a daily\nenvironment.

Current approaches to manufacturing must evolve to respond to increasing demands for short product life cycles and customised products. Adaptive manufacturing systems integrate advanced technologies, automation, and data-driven methodologies to develop adaptable, efficient, and responsive production processes. Central to this concept is the emphasis on human involvement and fostering synergy between human operators and the manufacturing system. Significant changes to the system’s controller are required to achieve adaptivity, with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) being a common controller type. After the necessary changes to the configuration of the manufacturing system, the PLC should be reconfigured to orchestrate the new required behaviour. Automated reconfiguration is vital to rapidly responding to change, but some changes cannot be entirely achieved without human input in collaboration with automated methods. Conventional practices in PLC programming include manual, repetitive coding practices subject to errors. As a result, to ensure operational safety, the changes must be tested before being deployed to operations, ensuring it is error-free. This paper presents a methodology to automatically reconfigure the simulation environment and controller in response to a new product request. We automate the PLC code generation and testing practices to support and free up the operators when performing repetitive manufacturing reconfiguration tasks. The methodology is based on human learning, software automation, customised program development, knowledge graphs, and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). The presented solution is a generic, vendor-agnostic, and interoperable solution that facilitates information exchange among multiple heterogeneous environments. Lastly, we have validated the methodology as a proof of concept at an adaptive assembly cell at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system for volt/var control in distribution systems

With the creation of unmanned systems the development of ergonomics has entered a new stage in studying human-machine interaction and exacerbated safety issues. The requirements for safety, resistance to failures and reliability of the systems and their main connection – the human operator, were changed. New challenges – new human problems in digital systems. Digitization has made it possible to create unmanned systems, but it has also created an ergonomic contradiction between intentions and results. Its essence is that, in contrast to the expected increase in efficiency and safety, the increase in unmanned systems automation leads to an increase in the risks associated with human influence. Unmanned aerial systems have unique ergonomic challenges related to the specifics of the UAV operator and the technical features of the UAVs themselves as complex systems. In this regard, it is relevant to analyze the reasons for the continuing manifestations of the human factor phenomenon in the functioning of unmanned systems and the search for ways to reduce them. The purpose is to study the human factor problem in complex systems that use information and communication technologies, using the example of unmanned aircraft systems. The article takes a critical look at the human factor issues in unmanned aviation that are not being addressed by existing approaches. An iceberg model of change management in the safety of complex systems is proposed. It is shown that the human factor in unmanned systems arises and severely decreases because of the nontransdisciplinary nature of the education of modern engineers and operators. And the essential role in overcoming this problem is knowledge aimed at understanding the capabilities and limitations of a person as the main link of the system, which then makes decisions in the management process. It is shown that it is necessary to pay considerable attention to the development of ergonomic thinking among everyone whose activities relate to the life cycle of a complex system. That is, it is the transdisciplinarity of the education of specialists that allows for reducing the specified risks of human-machine interaction.

In the paper was made PLC programming, with which an adaptive system was implemented, was used the Simatic Manager Step 7 software, which is specific to the chosen PLC Simatic S7-300. Input data, computation relationships and correlations between the different sizes were retrieved and processed from the database of the two human operators, commanding the opening of the valve automatically. With this software, it was possible to eliminate the human factor in controlling parameters specific to the continuous casting secondary cooling zone.

The robots used in MiroSot (Micro-Robot World Cup Soccer Tournament) are small in size (7.5cm/spl times/75cm/spl times/7.5cm), fully/semi autonomous and without any human operators. MiroSot involves multiple robots that need to collaborate in an adversarial environment to achieve specific objectives. They have dynamic environments as other robots intentionally affect the environment in unpredictable ways. The key aspect being the need for robots not only to control themselves, but also to track and control the ball which is a passive part of the environment. In multi-robot systems the environment's dynamics can be determined by other robots in addition to the uncertainty that may be inherent in the domain. The interesting theoretical issue behind MiroSot experiments is the use of soccer as a prototype example of a complex, adaptive system. And let us inculcate sports robotship in our soccer robots.

Problems with estimating trust in information sources are common in time constraining and ambiguous situations and often lead to a decrease of team performance. Humans lack the resources to track the integrity of information and thus tend to over- or under-rely on advice from support systems. Two types of adaptive team support have been developed and evaluated that are intended to support human-computer teams in estimating trust appropriately and making appropriate reliance decisions thereof. The first adaptive system (graphical support) supports by communicating the estimated degree of over- or under-trust. The second system (adaptive autonomy) takes over a reliance decision when this estimation exceeds a certain threshold. The two types of support were implemented in a multi-agent environment where human operators and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) work together on a target classification task. We evaluated the two support types in terms of team performance, satisfaction and effectiveness and obtained promising results.

This paper addresses a real time human sensitivity estimation technique on GUI for human adaptive teleoperation system. Although human operators have valuable abilities as global recognition, prediction and planning, they also have possibility to make mistakes. Especially, an overlooking among lots of information, is serious. In order to solve this problem, adequate GUI display planning for emphasising important feedback information is required. We therefore attempt to consider human perceptional characteristics. In other words, robustness for human individuality, skills, fatigue an important alert information window is put with perceptive properties consisted of colors, size, frame line width and so on. At the same time, unimportant optional windows put without disturbing the alert notice. However, the sensitivity depends on operator's individuality and GUI circumstances, namely, it is variable. Unfortunately, human operators often make careless mistakes that is not essential for the sensitivity. To evaluate the variable and including unessential mistakes sensitivity, in this paper, a real-time human sensitivity identification technique with statistical method is proposed and experimented.

Measurements on ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse propagation over the ground show the presence of three distinct propagation regimes: (1) in the first regime, the signal power decreases as ~ d <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-2</sup> , where d is the separation distance between the transmitter and the receiver; (2) in the second regime, the signal power decreases on the average as ~ d <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-2</sup> with distance, but exhibits interference maxima and minima; (3) in the third regime, the signal power decreases as ~ d <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-4</sup> . Theoretical analysis indicates two characteristic length scales d <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">i</sub> and d <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> , called first and second breakpoint distances, determine the sizes of the three propagation regimes. These characteristic lengths depend both on the geometrical parameters such as the heights of the transmitter (h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> ) and the receiver (h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> ) over the ground as well as on UWB pulse properties such as pulse duration (t <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p</sub> ) and cycle time (t <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> ). Simple expressions for break points exist when h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">i</sub> , h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> >> ct <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p</sub> and d >> h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> : d <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> ≈ 4h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /cT <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p</sub> ≈ 4h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> B/c, and d <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> ≈ 4h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /cT <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> ≈ 4h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> /c, where B ~ 1/t <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p</sub> is the bandwidth and f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> ~ 1/t <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> is the center frequency of the UWB pulse. For a given transmitter height h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">i</sub> , the loci of first and second breakpoints in the (d, h <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> ) plane are hyperbolas with the transmitter and its image as the foci. Based on the propagation results presented here, we suggest that waveform diversity can effectively be used to improve the performance of a UWB based adaptive communication or navigation system.

With the growing interest of integrating robotics into everyday life and industry, the requirements towards the quality and quantity of applications grows equally hard. This trend is profoundly recognized in applications involving visual perception. Whereas visual sensing in home environments tend to be mainly used for recognition and localization, safety becomes the driving factor for developing intelligent visual control algorithms. More specifically, a robot operating in a human environment should not collide with obstacles and executed motion should be as smooth as possible. Furthermore, as the environment is not known on beforehand, a high demand on the robustness of visual processing is a necessity. On the other hand, in an industrial setting, the environment is known on beforehand and safety is mainly guaranteed by excluding a human operator. Despite these reasons, and the fact that visual servoing has gained much attention from industry to become a standard solution for robotic automation tasks, applications are highly simplified. For example, methods such as visual fault detection are already a mature technique in industrial manufacturing, where a fixed camera observes a product (e.g., on a conveyor belt) and checks whether it meets certain requirements. These operations can be executed at a fairly high rate due to the simplicity of the system (e.g., static camera) and the simplification of the processing task (e.g., binary images). For both areas the identified difficulties are similar. Foremost, this is the slow nature of (robust) visual processing, in respect to the ever growing demand of increasing speed and reducing delay. These two application areas with analogous limitations motivate the design of more direct approaches of vision in visual control systems. Therefore, in order to meet the requirements for next generation visual control systems, this thesis presents approaches which employ visual measurements as a direct feedback to design constrained motion. First, for industrial robotics, in order to obtain the required positioning accuracy, the measurement and fixation system have to be highly rigid and welldesigned, implying high cost and long design time. By measuring the position of objects directly with a camera, instead of indirectly by motor encoders, the requirements of the measurement and fixation system are less demanding. Moreover, this motivates the miniaturization of the complete control system. The approach is validated in experiments on a simplified 2D planar stage (i.e., considerable friction, poor fixation), which attains similar performance compared to encoder-based positioning systems. Secondly, in a human-centred environment, this direct sensing can improve traditional visual control systems, when subject to certain disturbances. More specifically, a method is proposed that uses an image-based feedforward controller on top of traditional position-based visual servo control to overcome disturbances such as friction or poorly designed local motor controllers. This visual feedforward control action is only active when an image-based error is present and vanishes when that error goes to zero. The method is validated on an anthropomorphic robotic manipulator with 7 degrees of freedom, intended for operation in the human care environment. Third, sensing the product directly gives rise to designing motion directly. Whereas in traditional approaches the motion trajectory is designed offline and can not be changed at runtime, direct trajectory generation computes the motion of the next step based on current state and events. This means that at any instance in time, the trajectory of a motion system can be altered with respect to certain desired kinematic or dynamic constraints. For industrial applications this makes manufacturing on near-repetitive or non-rigid structures (e.g. flexible displays) possible. When applied to a robotic manipulator, this enables obstacle avoidance to no longer be on path planning level, but on trajectory planning level, where kinematic or dynamic constraints can be taken into account. This results in a motion that is smoother than when obstacle avoidance with path planning is employed. For both application areas this direct trajectory generation method is implemented and shows high flexibility in constrained motion trajectory design.

Climate change is an act of a significant change in weather behavior that happens in everyday perspective. In the Bicol region, Albay is one of the most common provinces which is greatly affected by climate change in which heavy rains, drought, volcanic and hurricane is an occurring event each year. This province's common problem due to climate changes is the issues on road damages. Road Damage is one of the major problems in which the assessment of the road status needs to be updated to the drivers for safe traveling road experience. The research aims to create a framework design that integrates adaptive systems to Road Damage Awareness. Using the system methodologies for creating architectural frameworks for information systems, the research used interactive architecture and model-view-control design pattern to design the framework with the integration of adaptive systems. The development of the framework allows the identification of the needed processes of the existing information data to be targeted for the integration of the adaptive systems concept. The framework consists of the improved concept that changes depending on current climate changes that can affect the services of Road Damage Awareness. The design integrated with adaptive systems from the concept can reorganize and change tactics on changes to adapt to the current situation on climate change. This concept consists of the integration of Google Mapping API and weather information services that would base the current changes. The designed framework system represents that adaptive system concepts can be implemented to road damage assessment.

In factories of the future, the worker and his or her well-being is regarded a crucial part of manufacturing situations. Human factors are recognized as vital to achieve sustainable organizational success. Advances in the area of wearable sensors proclaim that sensing human properties within manufacturing settings is technically feasible. Thereby, sensing human properties, such as the level of comfort or stress, may be used to adapt system behaviour in manufacturing situations. This chapter revisits related work from adaptive systems design addressing triggers for adaptations and impacted dimensions. The related work can be considered as design space for developers of S-BPM-based adaptive processes. In line with the related work, a laboratory setting at the Johannes Kepler University Linz has been designed and utilized for testing sensor-based process behaviour and control. Essential findings are described with respect to system architectures and S-BPM process design. The chapter concludes with relating modelling adaptive to human-aware S-BPM processes on a concept layer, and future work.