Computer Engineering Commons^™

How Can We Build A Moral Robot?, Kristen E. Clark

Capstones

Artificial intelligence is already starting to drive our cars and make choices that affect the world economy. One day soon, we’ll have robots that can take care of our sick and elderly, and even rescue us in rescue us in emergencies. But as robots start to make decisions that matter—it’s raising questions that go far beyond engineering. We’re stating to think about ethics.

Bertram Malle and Matthias Scheutz are part of a team funded by the department of defense. It's their job to answer a question that seems straight out of a sci-fi novel: How can we build a moral …

Dynamic Modeling, Parameter Estimation And Control Of A Leg Prosthesis Test Robot, Hanz Richter, Daniel Simon, William Smith, Sergey Samorezov

Hanz Richter

Robotic testing can facilitate the development of new concepts, designs and control systems for prosthetic limbs. Human subject test clearances, safety and the lack of repeatability associated with human trials can be reduced or eliminated with automated testing, and test modalities are possible which are dangerous or inconvenient to attempt with patients. This paper describes the development, modeling, parameter estimation and control of a robot capable of reproducing two degree-of-freedom hip motion in the sagittal plane. Hip vertical displacement and thigh angle motion profiles are applied to a transfemoral prosthesis attached to the robot. A treadmill is used as walking …

Data And Network Optimization Effect On Web Performance, Steven Rosenberg, Surbhi Dangi, Isuru Warnakulasooriya

Surbhi Dangi

In this study, we measure the effects of two software approaches to improving data and network performance: 1. Content optimization and compression; and 2. Optimizing network protocols. We achieve content optimization and compression by means of BoostEdge by ActivNetworks and employ the SPDY network protocol by Google to lower the round trip time for HTTP transactions. Since the data and transport layers are separate, we conclude our investigation by studying the combined effect of these two techniques on web performance. Using document mean load time as the measure, we found that with and without packet loss, both BoostEdge and SPDY …

Neuron Clustering For Mitigating Catastrophic Forgetting In Supervised And Reinforcement Learning, Benjamin Frederick Goodrich

Doctoral Dissertations

Neural networks have had many great successes in recent years, particularly with the advent of deep learning and many novel training techniques. One issue that has affected neural networks and prevented them from performing well in more realistic online environments is that of catastrophic forgetting. Catastrophic forgetting affects supervised learning systems when input samples are temporally correlated or are non-stationary. However, most real-world problems are non-stationary in nature, resulting in prolonged periods of time separating inputs drawn from different regions of the input space.

Reinforcement learning represents a worst-case scenario when it comes to precipitating catastrophic forgetting in neural networks. …

A Lidar Based Semi-Autonomous Collision Avoidance System And The Development Of A Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulator To Aid In Algorithm Development And Human Studies, Thomas F. Stevens

Master's Theses

In this paper, the architecture and implementation of an embedded controller for a steering based semi-autonomous collision avoidance system on a 1/10^th scale model is presented. In addition, the development of a 2D hardware-in-the-loop simulator with vehicle dynamics based on the bicycle model is described. The semi-autonomous collision avoidance software is fully contained onboard a single-board computer running embedded GNU/Linux. To eliminate any wired tethers that limit the system’s abilities, the driver operates the vehicle at a user-control-station through a wireless Bluetooth interface. The user-control-station is outfitted with a game-controller that provides standard steering wheel and pedal controls along …

Kinematic Control Of Redundant Mobile Manipulators, Mustafa Mashali

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A mobile manipulator is a robotic arm mounted on a robotic mobile platform. In such a system, the degrees of freedom of the mobile platform are combined with that of the manipulator. As a result, the workspace of the manipulator is substantially extended. A mobile manipulator has two trajectories: the end-effector trajectory and the mobile platform trajectory. Typically, the mobile platform trajectory is not defined and is determined through inverse kinematics. But in some applications it is important to follow a specified mobile platform trajectory. The main focus of this work is to determine the inverse kinematics of a mobile …

Autonomous Cars And Driverless Lethal Autonomy, Nyagudi Musandu Nyagudi

Nyagudi M Nyagudi

“The small picture” - make an advanced autonomous /driverless car. Lots of algorithms, sensors, computers and other gizmos. Now get it to take you to work, park itself and seamlessly run your family errands around the city. Taking grandma to the doctor for the medical check-up, getting the children from school, etc. With Radar, Lidar and other sensors, the car steering with ease through the traffic, no driver to pay, that is another plus, fuel/energy efficiency, yet another plus. It is a bold new world and the sky is the limit. Without the resolution of “small picture” issues there is …

“New” Subjects In Mechatronics Management Education, Peter Kopacek

UBT International Conference

Process – and manufacturing automation as well as robotics are currently one of the fast growing fields in automation. Advanced process control, cyber-physical systems, industry 4.0 and “advanced robots” are no longer a headline. They are in realization. As a consequence of these developments new social, ethical and human questions appear. Therefore this contribution is a first report about the continuous “modernization” of the Mechatronics Management BSc and MSc programs which are successful running at UBT. Both programs were developed in the framework of two TEMPUS projects from an international consortium from 2006 to 2009. Since that time new “buzzwords” …

Database For Online Accreditation Process In Directorate For Accreditation Of Kosovo (Dak-Mis), Ibush Luzha

UBT International Conference

Directorate for Accreditation of Kosovo (DAK) is only National Accreditation Body in Republic of Kosovo, recognized by Government, which in accordance with international standards, assesses technical competences of the Conformity Assessment Bodies (CAB)s that deal with activities such as: testing, calibration, certification and inspection both in public and private sector. Till now application for accreditation and all other procedures for accreditation of CABs are carried out so that all the documents of the application and the receipt of the certificate of accreditation are conducted in the offices of DAK. By Management Information System (MIS), database of DAK (DAK-MIS), customers will …

Optimal Control Of Dc Motors Using Pso Algorithm For Tuning Pid Controller, Arnisa Myrtellari, Petrika Marango, Margarita Gjonaj

UBT International Conference

The DC motors are widely used in the mechanisms that require control of speed. Different speed can be obtained by changing the field voltage and the armature voltage. The classic PID controllers are widely used in industrial process for speed control. But they aren’t suitable for high performance cases, because of the low robustness of PID controller. So many researchers have been studying various new control techniques in order to improve the system performance and tuning PID controllers. This paper presents particle swarm optimization (PSO) method for determining the optimal PID controller parameters to find the optimal parameters of DC …

Noise Reduction In Quadcopter Accelerometer And Gyroscope Measurements Based On Kalman Filter, Bertan Karahoda, Xhemajl Mehmeti, Uran Cabra

UBT International Conference

The Accelerometer and Gyroscope modules used for measuring the orientation of the quadcopter usually generate noisy signals which directly affect the control strategies. The high speed motors used in quadcopters cause high noise levels which makes the real time control almost impossible. In this work the Kalman filter is applied to the noisy measurements obtained from accelerometer and gyroscope modules. The measurements are conducted for two cases: Motors stopped, and Motors activated at high speed. The Kalman filtering is applied separately for each measurement and the obtained results show noticeable improvement in noise level for two cases. The joint implementation …

Planning, Development And Application Of Mechatronics Systems As Students Work, Muzafer Shala, Valmir Hoxha

UBT International Conference

In Kosovo universities in general there is a lack of students practical work, this fact is one of the reasons why in Kosovo are no sufficient number of professionals to fill the market needs. The aim of this work is to go through the steps of conceptualisation, development and application of a Mechatronics Systems with students. Also in this project students work on all the phases of the work which we consider to be of great benefit. The work was organised as it would be on a real life company, students were split on groups and the groups worked in …

Addressing Food Wastage By Tracking The Expiry Date, Shiva P. Bachu

Electronics Elements

We know trash is an enormous problem in the world since trash does not only affect just humans but it also affects living creatures in general. The biggest contributor of trash in the United States is food waste. Food waste is produced by every human and the amounts of food waste is astonishing. Americans throw away almost half of the food that they buy, which is almost worth $165 billion per year. Food waste which end up in landfills and incinerators produces methane which is a greenhouse gas and can contribute to global warming. Trash in general and food waste …

Using Eye And Head Movements As A Control Mechanism For Tele-Operating A Ground-Based Robot And Its Payload, Kathryn C. Hicks

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

To date, eye and head tracking has been used to indicate users' attention patterns while performing a task or as an aid for disabled persons, to allow hands-free interaction with a computer. The increasing accuracy and the reduced cost of eye- and head-tracking equipment make utilizing this technology feasible for explicit control tasks, especially in cases where there is confluence between the visual task and control.

The goal of this research was to investigate the use of eye-tracking as a more natural interface for the control of a camera-equipped, remotely operated robot in tasks that require the operator to simultaneously …

Real-Time Topic And Sentiment Analysis In Human-Robot Conversation, Elise Russell

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Socially interactive robots, especially those designed for entertainment and companionship, must be able to hold conversations with users that feel natural and engaging for humans. Two important components of such conversations include adherence to the topic of conversation and inclusion of affective expressions. Most previous approaches have concentrated on topic detection or sentiment analysis alone, and approaches that attempt to address both are limited by domain and by type of reply. This thesis presents a new approach, implemented on a humanoid robot interface, that detects the topic and sentiment of a user’s utterances from text-transcribed speech. It also generates domain-independent, …

3d Scene Reconstruction With Micro-Aerial Vehicles And Mobile Devices, Ivan Dryanovski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Scene reconstruction is the process of building an accurate geometric model of one's environment from sensor data. We explore the problem of real-time, large-scale 3D scene reconstruction in indoor environments using small laser range-finders and low-cost RGB-D (color plus depth) cameras. We focus on computationally-constrained platforms such as micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) and mobile devices. These platforms present a set of fundamental challenges - estimating the state and trajectory of the device as it moves within its environment and utilizing lightweight, dynamic data structures to hold the representation of the reconstructed scene. The system needs to be computationally and memory-efficient, so …

Dual 7-Degree-Of-Freedom Robotic Arm Remote Teleoperation Using Haptic Devices, Yu-Cheng Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A teleoperated system of dual redundant manipulator will be controlled in this thesis. The robot used with the dual redundant manipulator in this thesis is Baxter. Baxter’s redundant robot arms are 7-degree-of-freedom arms. The problem that will be solved in this thesis is optimization of the 7-degree-of-freedom robot arms. The control algorithm of the 7-degree-of-freedom robot arms will be discussed and built. A simulation program will be built to test the control algorithm. Based on the control algorithm, a teleoperation system will be created for Baxter. The controller used is Omni, which is a six-joint haptic device. Omni will also …

An Intelligent Attitude Determination And Control System Concept For A Cubesat Class Spacecraft, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

An attitude determination and control system (ADCS) is used to orient a spacecraft for a wide variety of purposes (e.g., to keep a camera facing Earth or orient the spacecraft for propulsion system use). The proposed intelligent ADCS has several key features: first, it can be used in multiple modes, spanning from passive stabilization of two axes and unconstrained spin on a third to three-axis full active stabilization. It also includes electromagnetic components to ‘dump’ spin from the reaction wheels. Second, the ADCS utilizes an incorporated autonomous control algorithm to characterize the effect of actuation of the system components and, …

The Design And Implementation Of An Adaptive Chess Game, Mehdi Peiravi

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In recent years, computer games have become a common form of entertainment. Fast advancement in computer technology and internet speed have helped entertainment software developers to create graphical games that keep a variety of players’ interest. The emergence of artificial intelligence systems has evolved computer gaming technology in new and profound ways. Artificial intelligence provides the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of NPCs (Non-Playable-Characters). NPCs are able to use the increased CPU, GPU, RAM, Storage and other bandwidth related capabilities, resulting in very difficult game play for the end user. In many cases, computer abilities must be toned down …

A Magnetic Actuated Fully Insertable Robotic Camera System For Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery, Xiaolong Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is a common surgical procedure which makes tiny incisions in the patients anatomy, inserting surgical instruments and using laparoscopic cameras to guide the procedure. Compared with traditional open surgery, MIS allows surgeons to perform complex surgeries with reduced trauma to the muscles and soft tissues, less intraoperative hemorrhaging and postoperative pain, and faster recovery time. Surgeons rely heavily on laparoscopic cameras for hand-eye coordination and control during a procedure. However, the use of a standard laparoscopic camera, achieved by pushing long sticks into a dedicated small opening, involves multiple incisions for the surgical instruments. Recently, single …

Assessment Of The Stability Of A Four Legged Robot Manipulator, Dr. Awad Eisa G. Mohamed

Innovative Research Publications IRP India

This paper deals with static stability of a four legged robot manipulator when it moves with trot gait. In this paper, the stability analysis based on dynamics of walking usually proposed for the analysis of walking system studied and identified its limits and ambiguity. After identifying the key issues of stability, it has been identified that moment around the supporting diagonal line of quadruped in trotting gait largely influences walking stability. Therefore Moment around the supporting diagonal line of quadruped in trotting gait is modeled and its effects on body attitude (roll and pitch) are analyzed. The degree of influence …

Novelty Wins, “Straight Toward Objective” Loses! Or Book Review: Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth Of The Objective, By Kenneth O. Stanley And Joel Lehman, Reuben Hersh

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Experiments in evolutionary artificial intelligence demonstrate that progress toward an important, difficult goal is not best achieved by attempting to go directly toward that goal, but rather, by rewarding novelty.

A Continous Rotary Actuation Mechanism For A Powered Hip Exoskeleton, Matthew C. Ryder

Masters Theses

This thesis presents a new mechanical design for an exoskeleton actuator to power the sagittal plane motion in the human hip. The device uses a DC motor to drive a Scotch yoke mechanism and series elasticity to take advantage of the cyclic nature of human gait and to reduce the maximum power and control requirements of the exoskeleton. The Scotch yoke actuator creates a position-dependent transmission that varies between 4:1 and infinity, with the peak transmission ratio aligned to the peak torque periods of the human gait cycle. Simulation results show that both the peak and average motor torque can …

Pl-X (Roborodentia), Kelly Leung, William Luo, Jeffrey Tang

Computer Engineering

Pl-x is the name of the robot that will be competing in Roborodentia, an annual autonomous robot competition. This year the competition involves moving rings from one end of a course to the opposite end of the course.

Roborodentia Robot 2015, Travis Stuever

Computer Engineering

The Roborodentia 2015 competition was a ring based challenge that had participants move PVC rings from one side of a course to another all within 3 minutes. In order to succeed in this competition there needs to be a good robotic design, thought out use cases, and good solid software.

Roborodentia Robot, Jordan Dykstra, Anibal Hernandez, Robert Prosser

Computer Engineering

This report provides details on the design and implementation of a robot for the Spring 2015 Roborodentia competition. The system is described from a software perspective, a hardware perspective, and a mechanical design perspective.

Printed Circuit Board For Introductory Animatronics Course, Preston Brown

Computer Engineering

For many years, freshmen Computer Engineering students at California Polytechnic State University have taken a course that introduces them to the “processes of electronics manufacturing. They are lectured on concepts such as CAD/CAM design, Design for Manufacture (DFM), documentation requirements, prototyping and production planning”. The laboratory portion of the course allows students to “use hands-on techniques to solidify knowledge of project planning, soldering, automation, hand tool usage and production methods” by manufacturing their own power supply, starting with aluminum sheets, a bag of components, and and an unassembled printed circuit board (PCB).

While the project is popular among students, department …

Universal Uav Payload Interface, Nolan Reker, David Troy Jr, Drew Troxell

Computer Engineering

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is becoming increasingly accessible for civilian use. Both open-source and commercial-purpose UAVs can be obtained affordably or even built. However, the platforms available are very segmented in their customization to a specific application (i.e. land surveying, payload delivery). This project aims to create a Universal Payload Interface (UPI) mounted to the underside of multi-rotors or other UAVs to enable the attachment of customizable sensor payloads. These payloads allow a single UAV to be rapidly reconfigured to perform a multitude of tasks.

The Universal Payload Interface facilitates communication between the payload, onboard flight controller, and operator …

Innovative Connectivity Ensuring Education (I.-C.E.E.), Luke Cole, Andrew Ma, Nicholas Ross, Daniel Williams

Electrical Engineering

This is the critical design review for the Telepresence/Telerobotic Technology for Children with Disabilities Project by team I.- C.E.E. (Innovative Connectivity Ensuring Education). This report details our telepresence system design for our client (Nathan Stilts) including design choices/justification, testing verification and procedures, and chosen components for implementation. There are seven chapters in total starting with introductory/background information followed by hardware and software design, verification, and testing and concludes with the current status of the project and what future work may need to be included.

Telepresence: Design, Implementation And Study Of An Hmd-Controlled Avatar With A Mechatronic Approach, Darren Michael Chan

Master's Theses

Telepresence describes technologies that allow users to remotely experience the sensation of being present at an event without being physically present. An avatar exists to represent the user whilst in a remote location and is tasked to collect stimuli from its immediate surroundings to be delivered to the user for consumption. With the advent of recent developments in Virtual Reality technology, viz., head-mounted displays (HMDs), new possibilities have been enabled in the field of Telepresence. The main focus of this thesis is to develop a solution for visual Telepresence, where an HMD is used to control the direction of a …