Digital Commons Network^™

Design And Modeling Of An Automatic Radio Direction Finder, Moshe Acevedo

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

The purpose of this paper is to present the design and modeling of an automatic Radio Direction Finding (RDF) system. The system to be modeled will be a vertically mounted omnidirectional antenna along the axis of a rotating directional antenna. Signal strength detected from the omnidirectional an- tenna will be used as a reference for the directional antenna. A mathematical model of the system will be built using MATLABTM, modeling the antenna output and the motor control system. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller will be used for motor control. The finalized design should be able to rotate and point an antenna …

Thermo-Responsive Hydrogels As Actuators For Biomedical Applications, Marilu Ortiz, Shani Abraham, Romina Zeine, Roscelin Figueroa, Zoltan Varga, Christian Mendoza, Sang-Eun Song

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Extended research is being conducted in developing soft actuators for biomedical applications. Electroactive polymers, shape-memory alloys, shape-memory polymers and hydraulic or pneumatic actuators that will change the volume of a chamber to induce movement are some of the technologies being used.

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels as actuators is a subject of current research. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels are water absorbent polymer networks that change their volume in response to a given stimulus. The stimulus may be physical (temperature variability), biological (DNA molecules), or chemical (pH variability). Their capability to reverse their response when the stimulus is removed make them suitable to be used in …

Fea-Based Determination Of Stiffness Matrices For Compliant Mechanisms, Max Stein, Michael Griffis, Carl Crane

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This study begins to explore the use of 3-D printed compliant mechanisms for the simultaneous control of position and force of a robotic end-effector using kinestatic control. An important step in realizing this goal is developing a methodology to efficiently determine the stiffness and compliance matrices of the target mechanism. In this study, finite element analysis (FEA) was used to determine the stiffness matrices of a 3-D printed beam element and spring-like compliant mechanism. The FEA-based results for the beam matched analytical results from beam-bending theory and literature. The FEA-based results for the spring-like compliant mechanism were consistent with the …

An Automated Toll Collection System For Bangladesh: An Experimental Approach, Saifuddin Mahmud, Hasib Iqbal, Chandra Mondol Tusher, Alfred Shaker

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Automation has a great impact in our everyday life and making our life easy. Day by day the number of vehicles passing over the road is increasing due to which traffic jam; wastage of human effort is taking places. And our existing manual toll collection system of Bangladesh can’t handle this with limited amount of time. So, we propose an experimental approach of running a system 24 hours a day without interruption concerned with fully automated toll collection system using active RFID tags which is able to reduce human effort and time and most importantly traffic jam. In this system …

Design Evaluation Of Self-Learning Line Following Robot, Nadia Camacho, Jared Butcher, Nate Kanyok, Xiangxu Lin, Jong-Hoon Kim

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

The development of a line-following robot is, for many, a building block into further applications of robotics. One of the main focuses is pathfinding without prior knowledge of the route or environment. In the case of a simple line- following robots, the task is limited, allowing for much room in experimenting with different approaches. In this paper, we present our dual-control line following robot - ATR LineBot. The first control mechanism uses two series of line sensors in combination with a custom PID controller for speed optimization. The additional sensors allows for sophisticated planning and correction to be done. Our …

Increasing User Confidence In Privacy-Sensitive Robots, Raniah Bamagain, Marius Silaghi

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

As the deployment and availability of robots grow rapidly, and spreads everywhere to reach places where they can communicate with humans, numerous new beneFlorida Institute of Technologys and services can be provided, but at the same time, various types of privacy issues appear. Indeed, the use of robots that process data remotely causes privacy concerns. There are some main factors that could increase the capability of violating users’ privacy. Here we analyze these factors and propose solutions that assist in mitigating the problem of privacy violation while using social robots. These solutions assist in solving the limitations of current robots …

Design Of A Low-Cost, Open Source, And Open Hardware Educational Drone, Hyunjae Jeong, Xiangxu Lin, Alfred Shaker, Irvin Steve Cardenas, Jong-Hoon Kim, Jeremy Robins, Yong-Seok Chi

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

In today’s technology-driven world, innovation is high-paced and the importance of learning the skills surrounding emerging technologies has become crucial. One of such emerging technologies are drones, and the need for drone education has become apparent. However, current educational drones are inaccessible to many individuals, and instead are aimed at collegiate education. Furthermore, drones are hazardous, difficult to manipulate, and costly. To address these issues, in this paper we present the ATR-Drone Project. We have developed a safe mechanical platform, composed of 3D printed components and a simple round metal rod that serves to adjust the balance of the drone …

Rotational Slip Meter For The Measurement Of Coefficient Of Friction Of Walking Surfaces, Oren Masory

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

The measurement of coefficient of friction is an important issue in different fields: Walkways safety, Vehicle stopping distance, Robot’s Gripper design, Manufacturing, and more. The measurements have to be accurate, repeatable and most of all identical across different measuring devices. Moreover, the measurement devices should read the correct value of under different surface conditions: Dry, Wet or Contaminated.

This paper describes a rotational slip meter where the pad (or foot) is mounted on a horizontally rotating arm with an axis perpendicular to the tested surface. The pad is installed at a given distance from the arm’s axis of rotation and …

Sharing Tracks With High Speed Trains In Urban Areas – Risk Due To Drivers And Pedestrian, Oren Masory

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Sharing operations of high-speed passenger and heavy freight on the same rail tracks presents additional risks to vehicle and pedestrians who cross the tracks. This is due to increase in rail traffic at crossing; users overestimate the amount of time they have to cross in front of a higher speed train, since they are used to interacting with slower conventional trains; track circuited crossings are not adaptable and might lead to confusion and bad decisions. This paper discusses few issues related to human perception which contribute to accidents in this case.

Train Sideswipe Accidents And Passengers’ Injuries, Oren Masory

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Train sideswipe accidents happen when two trains are traveling next to each other in the same or opposite directions and their sides come into contact. In these accidents, standing passengers might lose their balance, fall and impact with objects in their surroundings. These falls are caused by the acceleration and jerk exerted on the passenger during the impact. Train’s velocity can be extracted from the train Event Data Recorder (EDR) and can be used to estimate the acceleration and the jerk occurred during the accident and used as measures for the severity of the accident. The analysis of data extracted …

Towards Sensor And Motion Measurements Databases For Training Models For The Nao Robot, Kholud Alghamdi, Jesse Torres, Justin Burden, Venkata Maddineni, Roba Alharbi, Tejeswar Neelam, Peter Tarsoly, Abdullah Alhaif, Joseph Nke, Soham Jadhav, Sai Dodle, Marius Silaghi

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

High quality probabilistic models for a complex robot like Alde- baran’s Nao humanoid depend heavily on details from its envi- ronment, involving multiple parameters. Building such models re- quires significant effort with data gathering and data cleaning. We propose to create a public database of NAO sensor data that can be used by researchers and engineers training models for localization, mapping, and planning in controlled environments. Here we report on our release of a database with sensor data, parameterized by en- vironment configuration and nature. The database contains struc- tured folders with documentation, measurements, Nao AI feedback, and data management …

Robotic Nursing Assistants: Human Temperature Measurement Case Study, Ajinkya Mahadeo Ghadge, Ankur Vipulkumar Dalal, Cody Lee Lundberg, Hakki Erhan Sevil, Deborah Behan, Dan O. Popa

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

In this study, we present a human temperature measurement case implementation for hospital patients using a mobile robotic platform (PR2). The main focus of the study is to apply computer vision methods, specifically optical character recognition (OCR) with template matching, in order to read a non-contact thermometer screen while PR2 is measuring patient's temperature. Parameter analysis is done for thermometer digit detection, and parameters with best results are selected for human tests. The tests are designed including human subjects as patients, a tablet for human-robot interaction (HRI), and the PR2 robot. Human subject test are performed with 8 volunteers over …

Implementation Of Customizable Inner Geometries In Soft Robotics Using Additive Manufacturing, Kumar Yogesh Shah, Andrew Martinez, Gonzalo Seisdedos, Juan Salazar, Ibrahim N. Tansel

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Soft Robotics has drawn the attention of the academic community in the last decade. Control of complex soft bodies with electronic components has been a major challenge. Currently, main industrial implementations of Soft Robotics are grippers, in which they are incorporated into industrial robotic arms to grab, lift, or move fragile items such as live animals, produce, or sharp items. Harvard’s Multigait robot was designed to crawl when actuated with air. This robot incorporates a two-part casted design, controlling each of the five parts of the robot by multiple actuation tubes. In this study, a highly customizable soft robot was …

Prosthetic/Exoskeleton Hand, David Sevilla, J. Andrews, R. Cohen Araky, J. Cooper, B. Garcia, L. Miller, K. Racktoo, Leonardo Vargas

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This paper proposes an exoskeleton glove meant to reduce fatigue in the human hand when it grips an object. The mechanism senses when the user’s hand is grasping an object, then locks the positioning of the hand to hold the grip for the user. The hand then waits for the user to release their grip, then allows the hand to move freely.

Vision-Based Guidance And Navigation For Swarm Of Small Satellites In A Formation Flying Mission, Hadi Fekrmandi, Skye Rutan-Bedard, Alexander Frye, Michael Yoon, Randy Hoover

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Small satellites, including the nanosatellite platforms called CubeSats, are suitable for formation flying missions because of their modular nature and low cost. A formation flying mission involves a set of spatially-distributed satellites capable of autonomous interaction and cooperation with one another in order to maintain the desired formation. One of the fundamental drawbacks of current guidance, navigation, and control techniques is that they rely on a centralized process, primarily using a global positioning system (GPS). While real-time positioning computed by standard GPS service is adequate for some disperse applications (i.e., constellation missions), inherent position discontinuities are not acceptable for proximate …

Kinematic Analysis Of Human’S Upper Arm Movement For The Development Of Human-Like Social Motions In Anthropomorphic Robot, Mizanoor Rahman

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

The hand waving motion of a human was considered as a representative social motion because the human can use such motions for social interaction and communication. Twenty healthy human subjects were recruited to participate in the study. A motion capture system was put in operation. Then, each human subject separately showed the hand waving motion in different conditions such as (i) both hands waved, (ii) only left hand waved, and (iii) only right hand waved. The hand waving motion was captured by the motion capture system for each subject in each condition separately. Then, linear displacements, velocities and accelerations along …

Ongoing Efforts In Implementing An Educational Intelligent Robotic Garden System, Elise Araiza, Ryan Integlia

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This project will focus on bringing together interactive education, recreation, and gardening to promote education in gardening through robotic and interactive gaming systems. The system would be beneficial in a community environment and will be used as a community resource. By using recycled materials including robotic vacuums and computers as well as new materials, including microcomputers and game interfaces. This system will combine the complexity of machines and the simplicity of nature’s plants. To gain educational human-machine interaction, an open sourced game involving machines and horticulture will be included that is related to the environment. Learning can also be included …

Additively Manfacturing Molds For Soft Robots With Complex Internal Geometries, Kumar Yogesh Shah, Andrew Martinez, Gonzalo Seisdedos, Juan Salazar, Ibrahim N. Tansel

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Almost all moving creatures have soft bodies in nature. Soft bodies give them flexibility, smooth motions, silent actions, and allow them to travel through small openings. The robotics community turned their attention to the robots with soft bodies with the help of newly available manufacturing methods, actuators, sensors, and electronics. Flexible bodies have been used in many systems from medical to space applications. Soft robots have been implemented as grippers already. These grippers are incorporated into industrial robotic arms to grab, lift, or move fragile items such as live animals, produce, or sharp items. In this study, additive manufacturing technology …

Robots That Successfully Elicit Help From Humans, Layla Alarifi, Marius C. Silaghi, Rajaa Rahil

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Most attention in the development of robots has been focused on the robots’ hardware and software to improve functionality. However, the interaction between humans and robots can be key to enhancing robots’ performance. Autonomous mobile robots can more often complete their tasks if they are enabled to effectively solicit help from humans when robots face limitations. Hence, in this paper, we examine three different manners of addressing humans: friendly, polite, and indirect. These approaches combine different interaction modalities, like speech and gestures. We conducted experiments where the NAO robot addresses bystanders in one of the aforementioned three manners to get …

Human-Robot Plan Communication Strategies, Rahil Rajaa, Layla Alarifi, Walter Bond, Marius Silaghi

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

In this research, the problem we address concerns finding the better mechanisms to communicate to a robot the directions for navigation in indoor environments. We identify which out of a set of combinations of speech, gestures, and drawing mechanisms are the most comfortable, easier to learn, and least error-prone for human users. Three different methods: a Speaking method, a Gesturing and Speaking method, and a Drawing method were tested for guiding the NAO robot to the desired place, assuming that the robot has no prior map of the building and even no information about the involved human faces. Our experiment …

Metrics And Methods Of Evaluating Teaching And Learning Outcomes In Robot-Based Stem Education, S.M. Mizanoor Rahman

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This paper attempts to develop the metrics and methods for evaluating the learning outcomes in robot-based STEM education. A survey was conducted with 20 middle school math and science teachers who received training on how to design, develop and implement robotics-based STEM lessons. Each teacher had also experience of implementing robot-based STEM lessons in actual classroom environment. The participating teachers responded the survey based on their training, classroom experience and observations, and self-brainstorming. The survey responses were then analyzed and the appropriate and comprehensive assessment metrics and methods for the learning outcomes were determined. The results showed that the expected …

Autonomous Inspection And Maintenance (Aim) Crawler For Nondestructive Testing And Evaluation Of Cu-Ni Piping System In Highly Corrosive Environments, Hadi Fekrmandi

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

In this paper, we describe the design, control and experimental validation of a new robotic pipe crawler for autonomous inspection of remote-to-access piping. The majority of current in-pipe inspection robots are primarily designed and suitable for large diameter pipes and unreliable for pipes less than 5 inches (12.70 cm) in diameter. The small size of the robot gives rise to problems with insufficient power, propulsion, structural integrity and difficulty of control, guidance and navigation. To address these challenges, a modular design of the crawler with a hybrid, legged- peristaltic movement has been designed and developed with the capability of navigating, …

Progress In Upcycled & Sustainable Robotics: Developing An Accessible, Flexible, And Environmentally Friendly Robotics Platform, Eric Williams, Michael Swindon, Jenario Johnson, Moshe Acvecedo, Elise Araiza, Bryan Garcia, Kendon Ricketts, Balasubramaniyan Chandrasekaran, Ercan Elibol, Melissa Morris, Ryan Integlia

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

The development of a sustainable, environmentally aware and accessible robotic platform to be used in multiple applications is detailed. The robot utilizes upcycled components and serves as an economical and environmentally friendly robotic platform whose sensor loadout can easily be tailored for mission specific needs. The robot could serve as an intelligent system that might be applied to education, safety, environmental remediation, stewardship, physical impairment services, or in active sanitation applications. Some student projects using the platform are also discussed.

Design And Feasibility Study Of Cost Efficient Robotic Arm For Object Pick-And-Place Application, Wade Earnest, Luke Fina, Kendrick Chau, Max Quaranta, Gabriela Araujo, Hakki Erhan Sevil

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

In this study, our aim is to mimic object picking application with robotic arm from shelves in a warehouse environment, and our goal is to develop a robust, low-cost, and practical robotic arm system for that purpose. The designed robotic arm correctly picks the desired items from shelf locations and place them into desired bins. Fully autonomous robotic arm operation is accomplished using developed algorithms and Arduino microcontroller. The developed system is tested and evaluated in terms of (i) number of items picked-and-placed correctly, and (ii) increase in the number of objects picked-placed under a certain desired time. For performance …

A Computational Approach To Object Classification, Austin Lubetkin

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This paper describes a computational approach to object classification. This paper introduces the reasoning behind pursuing integrals as a mathematical foundation for object detection. In addition this paper outlines the potential steps in an algorithm that can detect objects. The key advantage of this algorithm is its computational complexity. The algorithm can be simplified to a series of subtractions which are O(1) operations versus the much more computationally complex convolutional neural network approach typically applied to classify objects.

Using Artificial Intelligence To Understand Industry Trends In Logo Design, Austin Lubetkin

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Logos are a commonplace element of graphic design employed by most major companies. These companies extensively research the psychological implications of their logos to create a perception of their brand identity. Consumers have been trained to understand or identify relevant information about a company from their logo. A common example is how a consumer can identify a fast food logo by the prevalence of the colors red and yellow. By using a known parameter like the type of industry of a company, this paper explores the possibility of building a computer vision classifier of logos by industry. The source of …

A Multidisciplinary Approach To Ai Generated Architecture, Austin Lubetkin

36th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

In this paper, we hope to demonstrate approaches intended to further direct an implementation of Deep Style AI to create architectural works. We explore several processes through an interdisciplinary lens that are used in tandem to direct the AI to complete a controlled task using a human in the loop scenario. Through an understanding of the mechanics of the Deep Style AI in action, we can interrupt both the AI’s learning and application processes. By interrupting these processes, we can insert intentional data used to direct the work of the AI. By demonstrating the AI’s ability to complete a controlled …