Search results for "Robot"
showing 10 items of 1036 documents
Cognitive Mimetics for Designing Intelligent Technologies
2018
Design mimetics is an important method of creation in technology design. Here, we review design mimetics as a plausible approach to address the problem of how to design generally intelligent technology. We argue that design mimetics can be conceptually divided into three levels based on the source of imitation. Biomimetics focuses on the structural similarities between systems in nature and technical solutions for solving design problems. In robotics, the sensory-motor systems of humans and animals are a source of design solutions. At the highest level, we introduce the concept of cognitive mimetics, in which the source for imitation is human information processing. We review and discuss so…
Conceptual representations of actions for autonomous robots
2001
An autonomous robot involved in long and complex missions should be able to generate, update and process its own plans of action. In this perspective, it is not plausible that the meaning of the representations used by the robot is given from outside the system itself. Rather, the meaning of internal symbols must be firmly anchored to the world through the perceptual abilities and the overall activities of the robot. According to these premises, in this paper we present an approach to action representation that is based on a "conceptual" level of representation, acting as an intermediate level between symbols and data coming from sensors. Symbolic representations are interpreted by mapping …
Anchoring symbols to conceptual spaces: the case of dynamic scenarios.
2003
In recent years, there have been several proposals for the realization of models inspired to biological solutions for pattern recognition. In this work we propose a new approach, based on a hierarchical modular structure, to realize a system capable to learn by examples and recognize objects in digital images. The adopted techniques are based on multiresolution image analysis and neural networks. Performance on two different data sets and experimental timings on a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) machine are also reported.
Positional goods and social welfare: a note on George Pendleton Watkins’ neglected contribution
2018
Watkins's analysis of adventitious utility contains many aspects that are connected to the contemporary debate on positional goods. First, Watkins adventitious utility emerges from a process of social exclusion and can create negative externalities, in the sense that positive consumption of one individual implies negative consumption by another individual. Not only it creates negative externalities on other individuals, but it can initiate a race-to-the-bottom, where individuals waste an increasing amount of money on goods which do not possess any real utility.
A conceptual framework for ubiquitous mobile environments.
2008
The aim of this paper is to reflect upon and develop a conceptual framework that addresses the relationship between real and virtual life, with a particular focus on mobile gaming as one potential methodology for learning. The comprehension of the virtual-real life relationship is relevant not only to mobile gaming, but also to the ongoing discussions about and development of ubiquitous computing.
A navigation and control algorithm for the position tracking of underwater vehicles
2014
In this paper we consider position control of underwater vehicles through inversion of differential kinematics based on uncalibrated, relative to the water, velocity sensors and unknown marine current. An estimation algorithm, based on the above measurements, estimates calibration parameters and marine current, assuring convergence of the estimated velocities to the true quantities. A kinematic control algorithm assures convergence to zero of the position tracking error. An extension of the basic estimation algorithm has been considered, in which position measurements are considered sampled at low rate and randomly spaced in time. Computer simulations are given of the proposed position trac…
A Novel Adaptive Sliding Mode Controller for a 2-DOF Elastic Robotic Arm
2022
Collaborative robots (or cobots) are robots that are capable of safely operating in a shared environment or interacting with humans. In recent years, cobots have become increasingly common. Compliant actuators are critical in the design of cobots. In real applications, this type of actuation system may be able to reduce the amount of damage caused by an unanticipated collision. As a result, elastic joints are expected to outperform stiff joints in complex situations. In this work, the control of a 2-DOF robot arm with elastic actuators is addressed by proposing a two-loop adaptive controller. For the outer control loop, an adaptive sliding mode controller (ASMC) is adopted to deal with unce…
Reliable Planar Object Pose Estimation in Light Fields From Best Subaperture Camera Pairs
2018
International audience; A light-field camera can obtain richer information about a scene than a usual camera. This property offers a lot of potential for robot vision. In this paper, we present a method for pose estimation of a planar object with a light-field camera. The light-field camera can be regarded as a set of sub-aperture cameras. Although any combination of them can theoretically be used for the pose estimation, the accuracy depends on the combination. We show that the estimated pose error can be reduced by selecting the best pair of sub-aperture cameras. We have evaluated the accuracy of our approach with real experiments using a light-field camera in front of planar targets held…
Optimal Starting Conditions for the Rendezvous Maneuver, Part 1: Optimal Control Approach
2008
We consider the three-dimensional rendezvous between two spacecraft: a target spacecraft on a circular orbit around the Earth and a chaser spacecraft initially on some elliptical orbit yet to be determined. The chaser spacecraft has variable mass, limited thrust, and its trajectory is governed by three controls, one determining the thrust magnitude and two determining the thrust direction. We seek the time history of the controls in such a way that the propellant mass required to execute the rendezvous maneuver is minimized. Two cases are considered: (i) time-to-rendezvous free and (ii) time-to-rendezvous given, respectively equivalent to (i) free angular travel and (ii) fixed angular trave…
Optimal Trajectories for Spacecraft Rendezvous
2007
The efficient execution of a rendezvous maneuver is an essential component of various types of space missions. This work describes the formulation and numerical investigation of the thrust function required to minimize the time or fuel required for the terminal phase of the rendezvous of two spacecraft. The particular rendezvous studied concerns a target spacecraft in a circular orbit and a chaser spacecraft with an initial separation distance and separation velocity in all three dimensions. First, the time-optimal rendezvous is investigated followed by the fuel-optimal rendezvous for three values of the max-thrust acceleration via the sequential gradient-restoration algorithm. Then, the ti…