Practical robotic self-awareness and self-knowledge

Currently, Energy and Environmental issues are worldwide concerns. Energy savings is also without doubt the most effective strategy for environmental protection. This paper introduces a new general product design method. Our research effort will be directed towards the following three primary objectives: (1) investigating all the aspects related to energy-saving issues throughout the entire product life cycle; (2) developing a mathematical model (called Energy Factor) to calculate the products' energy consumption throughout the entire life cycle; (3) establishing the theoretical frame of the new innovative product design method. In this innovative method, the energy-saving concept will be applied at the first step of product life cycle, i.e. product design. And we believe that it will bring the product design to a new stage, which can design the energy-saving products and manufacturing systems. In order to reduce the energy consumption throughout the entire product life cycle (from cradle to grave), this design method is based on axiomatic design theory, and integrates design unit and energy factor concepts. In this paper, the theory frame will be described in detail, and the new concept called energy factor will be introduced briefly.

One of the challenges of outdoor robots is developing effective portable Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI) frameworks. Hand-held devices offer a practical solution. By equipping these devices with robot software, they can be made to interact with the outdoor robots. Android devices are ideal as they are open source and can be integrated with robots powered by the Robot Operating System (ROS), also open source. However, due to the limits of rosjava, the mechanism that links ROS with android, and the conflicting modes of operation between ROS and android, current implementations of ROS-android offer limited robot applications that do not support advanced operations such as autonomous navigation and others. This paper implements selective compartmentalization to overcome these limitations, by combining ROS with android through a number of ROS and android bridges that would facilitate the development of advanced robot applications. Through the proposed method, authors were able to develop a portable HRI framework that allowed human operators to supervise an outdoor mobile robot while it performed an autonomous task. From their mobile devices, users were able to initialize the robot, configure its motion, and monitor its progress. Also, users were able to reprogram the robot to perform new tasks (not previously planned) through a creative use of features offered in the developed HRI framework. Also, user cognitive effort was reported to be low as evident by the positive score on the NASA-TLX scale test which was corroborated with robot performance data. This paper presents the detailed development and implementation steps.

As an important trend in the automotive industry, electrification of propulsion systems has potential to significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions of the transportation sector. Whereas electric vehicles do not produce exhaust emissions during driving, the impact of electricity provision for charging batteries, as well as the impact of vehicle production play an essential role in a holistic consideration of the carbon footprint. The paper introduces a comprehensive evaluation of greenhouse gas-emission-related factors of cars driven by different propulsion technologies, considering the entire product life cycle. This comprises vehicle production, including battery system, electric powertrain and other relevant components, the car’s use phase under consideration of different electricity mixes and the end-of-life phase. The results of the study give insights of influencing factors on life-cycle-related carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions of cars driven by combustion engines, hybrid powertrains and battery-electric propulsion systems. In addition, a comparison of actual mass-production cars is made and the total life-cycle carbon footprints are discussed under different boundary conditions of electric power supply. In this way, the article comprehensively introduces an automotive life-cycle assessment and provides fundamental information, contributing to an objective discussion of different propulsion technologies.

The rise and implementation of digital manufacturing have led to the widespread use of the industrial internet in workshop equipment management and manufacturing resource tracking. To manage the entire life cycle of products or equipment, it is essential to assign a unique identifier to each item, component, and piece of information. However, the increasing number of equipment and the decentralization of manufacturing workshops make it challenging to record the entire life cycle of products or equipment effectively. The industrial internet identification and resolution system is a crucial hub for the sharing and utilization of multi-source data. The fifth generation (5G) of mobile communication technology, with its inherent characteristics, catalyzes the efficient management of voluminous data. Consequently, a 5G-driven method based on industrial internet identification and resolution technologies will be the optimal solution for digital asset management in the future. This article presents the architecture and implementation of the industrial internet identification and resolution system of a digital learning factory driven by 5G. This article also elaborates on the design of digital asset management training courses in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (AMTC). This study seeks to advance the continuous improvement of digital module platforms within learning factories and foster the development of compound engineering talents through relevant theories and technologies in fully connected digital learning factories. The objective is to establish a benchmark that will stimulate further exploration in the direction of digital-intelligent, environmentally sustainable, and integrated industrial transformation and enhancement.

Être soi-même sur le Net : un facteur de risque à l’usage problématique d’Internet chez les personnes insécures

How to develop an ethical design practice and build a better world. The choices made by designers have a significant effect on the world. Yet so much of the discourse on design focuses on aesthetics rather than ethics. In The New Designer, acclaimed author Manuel Lima aims to change this by challenging common myths and preconceptions about what comprises good design. He argues that designers must take responsibility for the personal, societal, cultural, and environmental impact of their work, rather than simply following a standard template. As he covers fields ranging from graphic design to industrial design to user-experience design, Lima identifies the major steps that designers must take to be a force for good in the world. Rather than sticking to outmoded ideas about perfectionism and individual genius, designers must work together to tackle some of the most challenging questions of the twenty-first century. How do you make room for humanity, with all its wondrous variations, in a society increasingly driven by metrics, algorithms, and profit? How can ecologically responsible designers consider a product's entire life cycle and look well into the future? And how can designers better respond to a community's local needs while taking advantage of global networks? Blending approaches derived from ethics, psychology, economics, and ecology, The New Designer is a vital, field-changing treatise that will appeal to any reader who seeks to understand design's massive influence on the contemporary world.

A predictive eco-design method and tool for electric vehicles of Industry 4.0

In the design of service robots, a key research focus has been on Human Robot Interaction (HRI) required in service applications. HRI is one of the critical factors that determines the acceptability of a service robot. The user acceptance of a service robot and its applications is highly related to HRI, as HRI affects the user perception and user experience related to the robot. In this paper, a new design approach is proposed for designing and implementing HRI for service robot applications designed for real scenarios in the real-world environment. The objective of this design approach is to facilitate inter-disciplinary collaborations, which are essential for HRI research and for developing successful products. The proposed design approach was used in the design of the healthcare service robot “Cafero” developed at the University of Auckland in collaboration with the Electronic and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI) and Yujin Robot Company Ltd. of Korea. Vital signs measurement, medication management, entertainment and falls detection were implemented as service applications of Cafero. In the design process, UML and UMLi modelling diagrams were used to model the robot’s multi-modal and interactive behaviour. Interaction design patterns were defined to represent recurring interactions or social cues in HRI using UMLi notations. The proposed design approach emphasises an iterative process to allow discovery of additional HRI requirements in the early design stage and to implement through Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE). The design of communication initiation and user identification by Cafero is presented as a case study, in order to evaluate the proposed design approach. In this case study, enabling a service robot to act proactively to the presence of a potential user and identifying the user prior to providing healthcare services is presented. For the implementation, Open-RTM component-oriented framework was used.

Development of robotics and growing use of robots in many areas of the economy and social life require research which will identify problems related to the use of modern technologies and the development of human-robot interaction (HRI, Human-Robot Interaction). Robotics, autonomous systems and artificial intelligence also create a number of new legal and ethical challenges. Research in this area has been expanding in recent years, but there are still issues that require in-depth scientific exploration. The objective of this paper is to systematize knowledge about interactions between people and robots, with particular emphasis on interactions in the work environment, and to identify research gaps in the analysed problem area. The following research questions were formulated: 1) What determines people's attitudes towards robots? 2) What are the key challenges in human-robot communication? 3) What ethical challenges determine human-robot interaction? In the studies the the method of narrative literature review has been used. The latest scientific publications on the researched issue were analysed. The results of the study indicate that the main factors which determine people's attitudes towards robots are apart from demographic variables and experiences gained by people from contacts with robots, the perceived usefulness of using robots, the image of robots created in the mass media and religiousness. The key challenges in human-robot interaction apart from effective communication is the reflection of emotions. The research results enable the identification of further directions of scientific research on human-robot interaction. They can also enrich practitioner’s perspective in the studied area.

Industry 4.0 is driven by technologies that enable the connection of the digital and physical world throughout the entire value chain and the entire lifecycle of products. While in the past, isolated systems were preferred due to high transaction costs, reduced transaction costs driven by the Internet of Things, allow a holistic view on value chains and lifecycles. Thereby, the framework conditions for the conversion from a linear to a circular economy are created. However, in practice, data continuity across entire supply chains, functional departments, and entire lifecycle of products is not yet established. This can partly be attributed to the insufficient integration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in supply chains. While SMEs have niche-specific know-how that is of high importance for supply chains, they also fear data transparency and have lower digitization levels. To analyze this issue more in depth, this chapter aims to shed light on challenges concerning data transparency for SMEs that hamper Industry 4.0 implementation towards a circular economy.

The rise of vehicle connectivity and autonomy is predicted to amplify the impact of emerging cybersecurity risks during the entire product life cycle in the automotive sector. To address all aspects of vehicle safety, including functional safety, safety of intended functionality (SOTIF), and cybersecurity, efforts must be made to collaborate across these areas during the maintenance period for incidents handling as well. Currently, much emphasis is being placed on the Incident Monitoring Process, which focuses on cybersecurity concerns. To round out the picture, safety incidents should be also considered. As a result, the research intends to examine SOTIF -related incidents in addition to cybersecurity issues. Following that, the paper gives a full model of the CyberSafety Incident Monitoring Process, which includes all industry requirements for cybersecurity monitoring as well as SOTIF-related concerns. The paper presents the proposal of using Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) to create a complete process model. The probable practical implementation of the CyberSafety Incident Monitoring Process Model is evaluated in the last part of the study based on the phantom attack scenario to test the idea with a real-world example. As a consequence, the strategy is accurate and fits the industry goal of merging safety and cybersecurity during the maintenance phase, which reduces the time and effort necessary for faster response to various vehicle risks when time is crucial. In future research, more emphasis should be made on combining numerous incident fields, which may have an impact on vehicle safety.

Development of 1/N Machines for Optimization of life Cycle Cost Responding to Globally Varying Production Environment

Increasing power densities in electronic systems and their operation in harsh environments necessitate the development of packaging materials capable of withstanding extreme thermal conditions. Transient Liquid Phase Sintering (TLPS) has been demonstrated as a packaging technology with the potential to form reliable interconnects for electronic systems for these environments. During processing, the low melting point constituents of the TLPS system melt and diffuse with the higher melting temperature constituents. This mixture then isothermally solidifies into intermetallic compounds (IMCs) with an associated shift in melting point towards higher temperatures. Joints can be formed at low processing temperatures but possess high melting temperatures after process completion. The microstructural evolution during processing and subsequent exposure to high temperature conditions leads to changes in the microstructure of TLPS interconnects. Insight into the microstructural evolution of TLPS joint in high temperature conditions is required to ensure high temperature capability after processing and to guarantee reliable interconnection during the entire product life cycle. In this paper the microstructural evolution of TLPS interconnects based on the Cu-Sn material system during sintering and thermal aging is assessed. Cu-Sn TLPS joints were sintered for 2 and 30 minutes at 300°C and subsequently aged at 250°C for up to 100 hours. The microstructural evolution behavior of this material system is predicted analytically and compared to that of actual interconnects. The time to high temperature operation capability and the time to microstructural convergence are determined. These characteristics enable the future optimization of TLPS interconnect processes and will help to assess TLPS joint reliability.

We examined the existing practices of various media to ascertain the usability of information based on life cycle thinking (LCT) which can be key to changing consciousness and behavior of consumers towards pursuing a sustainable society. Such information has been provided to consumers in various forms in various places at various times. Nevertheless, a number of issues, such as understandability, selectability, reliability, transparency, and costs etc., must still be addressed before consumers will be able to use such information as guidelines for pro-environmental behaviors in their everyday life. Further, it is also of critical importance that the consumers can culture LCT by encouraging themselves to be actively engaged in the design and evaluation processes of the upstream of productions and in the entire product life cycle. Another crucial challenge is finding ways to connect LCT with, not just product selection or designing and manufacturing, but lifestyle transformation. We need to encourage ourselves and others to think about what a sustainable life really means.

A recent issue that has emerged as a major concern in the automobile industry is the eco-friendly design of automobile products. In reality, most automobile products are not recycled and emit a lot of carbon during the automobile operation process, which has a significant negative impact on the environment. To solve this problem, many automobile manufacturers around the world are making great efforts to design eco-friendly products. Although automobile manufacturer research institutes are focusing on developing eco-friendly parts, there is still no methodology that can be usefully used by practitioners. The LCA-based eco-friendly research and development method utilized by many manufacturers requires checking a large amount of data throughout the entire product life cycle, so it takes a lot of time and money to derive results and is difficult for general practitioners in research institutes to use. In this study, we propose an eco-friendly research and development methodology using the QFD methodology and analyze whether the methodology can satisfy practitioners and satisfy the company's eco-friendly goals. The QFD-based eco-friendly development methodology selects key eco-friendly items by utilizing the opinions of internal experts who consider the research and development perspectives such as the research status, patent status, and research-related policies for eco-friendly design target items in order to reflect the megatrends in the research and development perspective of automobile products. In order to improve the selected eco-friendly items, the functional modeling utilized in the TRIZ methodology is utilized to select detailed parts to be improved. In this study, an empirical analysis was conducted to see if the eco-friendly design QFD process that can be utilized by actual practitioners can provide satisfaction to actual research institute members and produce the effect of deriving eco-friendly solutions. The results of the empirical analysis confirmed that when using the QFD-based eco-friendly design methodology, the satisfaction of the methodology linked to the characteristics of the eco-friendly design methodology that practitioners think of was confirmed, and the actual eco-friendly design derivation has an effect linked to satisfaction in terms of being able to satisfy internal and external customer goals and establish procedures.