Robotics Commons^™

Curriculum Development For Robotics Technology Program, Sanjeevi Chitikeshi, Shirshak K. Dhali, Betsey Odell, Vukica Jovanovic, Cheng Y. Lin

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

With a growing need for a more skilled workforce, providing industry-driven and employment centric training services is an important national priority. Over 3.4 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled across the United Sates over the next decade. The skills gap is becoming greater based on the statistics provided by the Global Robotics Technology Market: Forecast, 2014-2020 published by Research and Markets, reporting that the worldwide robotics market is forecast to grow from the 2015 level of $26.98B to $82.78B in 2020. This 11 % compounded average growth in the next five years is unprecedented. Given the anticipated growth …

Non-Obstetrical Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery In Pregnancy: A Systematic Literature Review., Courtney Capella, Joseph Godovchik, Thenappan Chandrasekar, Huda B. Al-Kouatly

Department of Urology Faculty Papers

Urologic and gynecologic surgeons are the top utilizers of robotic surgery; however, non-obstetrical robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALS) in pregnant patients is infrequent. A systematic literature review was performed to ascertain the frequency, indication and complications of RALS in pregnancy. Results showed thirty-eight pregnancies from eleven publications between 2008-2020. Five cases were for urologic indication and thirty-three for gynecologic indication. Minimal surgical alterations were required. Although no adverse maternal-fetal outcomes were reported, there are not enough cases published to determine safety. This review demonstrates the feasibility of RALS for the pregnant population in the hands of competent robotic surgeons.

Using Taint Analysis And Reinforcement Learning (Tarl) To Repair Autonomous Robot Software, Damian Lyons, Saba Zahra

Faculty Publications

It is important to be able to establish formal performance bounds for autonomous systems. However, formal verification techniques require a model of the environment in which the system operates; a challenge for autonomous systems, especially those expected to operate over longer timescales. This paper describes work in progress to automate the monitor and repair of ROS-based autonomous robot software written for an a-priori partially known and possibly incorrect environment model. A taint analysis method is used to automatically extract the data-flow sequence from input topic to publish topic, and instrument that code. A unique reinforcement learning approximation of MDP utility …

Using Robotics And Engineering Design Inquiries To Optimize Learning For Middle Level Teachers: A Case Study, Iman Chafik Chahine, Norman Robinson Iii, Kimbeni Mansion

Publications & Research

This exploratory case study reports findings on 20 middle-level science and mathematics teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a one-year project in which teachers engaged in using robotics and engineering design inquiries in their classrooms. Principled by Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) and using mixed methods approaches, the study measured teachers' efficacy through the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) and observation logs before and after the program. The results of this study showed statistically significant differences between PRE MTEBI and POST MTEBI scores. Furthermore, five themes emerged that illuminated potential affordances and constraints that teachers perceive as opportunities and …

Coordinated Autonomy Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uavs), Paribartan Dhakal

Honors Theses

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being extensively used in diverse sectors of the society for various tasks ranging from videography to an extremely sensitive situation such as first responders helping during a disaster. It has been seen that if a fleet of UAVs is deployed, they can perform a task quicker and more efficiently than a single UAV. With an increase in the number of UAVs, a problem arises of handling them with proper control structures. It has been studied that the Behavior Trees (BT) can be a better control architecture to handle the autonomous vehicles, as BTs are more …

Qlime-A Quadratic Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanation Approach, Steven Bramhall, Hayley Horn, Michael Tieu, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we introduce a proof of concept that addresses the assumption and limitation of linear local boundaries by Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), a popular technique used to add interpretability and explainability to black box models. LIME is a versatile explainer capable of handling different types of data and models. At the local level, LIME creates a linear relationship for a given prediction through generated sample points to present feature importance. We redefine the linear relationships presented by LIME as quadratic relationships and expand its flexibility in non-linear cases and improve the accuracy of feature interpretations. We coin …

Vex U Robotics, Kyle Lutterman, Jeffrey Ryan, Sierra Wong, Elizabeth Geiger

Discovery Day - Prescott

VEX U is a competition hosted by the REC Foundation for university students to get engaged in hands-on engineering. Each team produces two robots using the VEX provided parts to compete in the VEX U competition. The competition changes every year with the only constants being the size of the field, the tools and parts teams are able to use, and the size constraints of the robots. The teams compete in regional competitions in order to qualify for the World Championship Competition, which is the highest competition a team can compete in for VEX U. The VEX U teams at …

Tech Comm Eagle Eye-Tracking Control System, Gabiella Lail, Robert Shaw, Hunter Smatla, Matthew Gary

Discovery Day - Prescott

Mobile eye-tracking systems provide usability research support as well as access to a wide range of robotics and technical communication research opportunities. Optical tracking systems are often prohibitively expensive and do not provide the mobility or flexibility needed for a variety of research application possibilities. Our team proposes building a simple mobile eye-tracking system to be used in-house at ERAU for heat-mapping, robotics, control systems, and various technical communication applications in a structured research environment. The mobile eyetracking system will become part of a larger research and hands-on technical communication usability lab and research center. The research team intends to …

Drone Proximity Detection Via Air Disturbance Analysis, Qian Zhao, Jason Hughes

Faculty Publications

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) is expanding to commercial, scientific, and agriculture applications, including surveillance, product deliveries and aerial photography. One challenge for applications of drones is detecting obstacles and avoiding collisions. A typical solution to this issue is the use of camera sensors or ultrasonic sensors for obstacle detection or sometimes just manual control (teleoperation). However, these solutions have costs in battery lifetime, payload, operator skill. We note that there will be an air disturbance in the vicinity of the drone when it’s moving close to obstacles or other drones. Our objective is to detect obstacles from …

Functional Object-Oriented Network: A Knowledge Representation For Service Robotics, David Andrés Paulius Ramos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we discuss our work behind the development of the functional object-oriented network (abbreviated as FOON), a graphical knowledge representation for robotic manipulation and understanding of its own actions and (potentially) the intentions of humans in the household. Based on the theory of affordance, this representation captures manipulations and their effects on actions through the coupling of object and motion nodes as fundamental learning units known as functional units. The activities currently represented in FOON are cooking related, but this representation can be extended to other activities that involve manipulation of objects which result in observable changes of …

Design Of Delro Autonomous Delivery Robot And Ai Based Localization, Tolga Karakurt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous robots are employed in numerous areas. In this thesis, it is proposed to design and build a self-controlled wheeled vehicle to deliver food.

As there are many applications of an autonomous agent for indoor and outdoor environments, this study is conducted on indoor settings whereas all the requirements and design processes are achieved for both operational boundaries.

The fundamental approach is to design and implement a Wheeled Mobile Robot (WMR), and to test skid-steering performance on proposed trajectories using a System Engineering approach. From this point of view, system requirements in mechanical, electrical, and software are evaluated, and overall …

The Design And Development Of A Wrist-Hand Orthosis, Amber Gatto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with an incomplete C5-C7 spinal cord injury (SCI) lose grasping abilities but wrist function is almost universally retained. Most rehabilitation techniques apply the tenodesis effect, however, current tenodesis wrist-hand orthoses (WHOs) engage only the thumb and index finger, meaning that only 20% of activities of daily living (ADLs) can be completed.

This study tested the feasibility of a student-designed powered WHO by testing the device on healthy subjects to see if they could complete a variety of ADLs. A simulation software was then used to analyze wrist, thumb, and index finger joint angles. Additionally, an Assistive Technology Survey was …

Using Supercomputers To Control Multiple Robots, Andrew Roberts, Jeremy Evert

Student Research

Supercomputers have been a key enabler to many technological advancements. The pipeline to develop capable supercomputer users is years long. Getting started with a supercomputer can be difficult. As a part of the XSEDE EMPOWER Learner program, this research focuses super-computer user development. SWOSU students do not have working code for many of the training modules available for learning supercomputing. This research details the development of these codes based on materials provided by the Nation-al Science Foundation, Shodor Foundation, and National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The result of this research is a better understand-ing of supercomputing training and more tools …

Validation Framework For Autonomous Aerial Vehicles, Mustafa Akbas Ph.D.

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Autonomous aerial vehicles (AAV) have the potential to have market disruptions for various industries such as ground delivery and aerial transportation. Hence, the USAF has called for increased level of autonomy and rapid progress is being made in artificial intelligence (AI) engines, complex and non-deterministic system components, which are at the core of the autonomous aerial platforms. Traditional testing and validation methods fall short of satisfying the requirement of testing such complex systems. Therefore, to achieve highly or fully autonomous capabilities, a major leap forward in the validation is required. Otherwise, the full capabilities of autonomy will not be realized. …

A New Ectotherm 3d Tracking And Behavior Analytics System Using A Depth-Based Approach With Color Validation, With Preliminary Data On Kihansi Spray Toad (Nectophrynoides Asperginis) Activity, Philip Bal, Damian Lyons, Avishai Shuter

Faculty Publications

The Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis), classified as Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN, is being bred at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo as part of an effort to successfully reintroduce the species into the wild. Thousands of toads live at the Bronx Zoo presenting an opportunity to learn more about their behaviors for the first time, at scale. It is impractical to perform manual observations for long periods of time. This paper reports on the development of a RGB-D tracking and analytics approach that allows researchers to accurately and efficiently gather information about the toads’ behavior. …

Decentralized, Noncooperative Multirobot Path Planning With Sample-Basedplanners, William Le

Master's Theses

In this thesis, the viability of decentralized, noncooperative multi-robot path planning algorithms is tested. Three algorithms based on the Batch Informed Trees (BIT*) algorithm are presented. The first of these algorithms combines Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance (ORCA) with BIT*. The second of these algorithms uses BIT* to create a path which the robots then follow using an artificial potential field (APF) method. The final algorithm is a version of BIT* that supports replanning. While none of these algorithms take advantage of sharing information between the robots, the algorithms are able to guide the robots to their desired goals, with the …

Design And Development Of A Robotic Platform For General Neurosurgical Procedures, Mehbodniya Amir Hossein

Student Works (2020-2029)

For the first time in 1985, robots were introduced to the neurosurgical operating rooms. Since then this field of robotics have advanced with new technologies with better accuracy and safety. However, developing robots for neurosurgery is a challenging task due to the sensitive nature of these applications and additionally their high cost of development. A typical neurosurgical robot costs millions of dollars in 2018, even though the costs of components and calculations have been lowered tremendously. This is mainly due to focus of current neurosurgical robots on few highly precise and specific surgical tasks which makes their use limited. In …

Techniques To Solve Decision-Making Problems, Dilnoz Tulkunovna Muhamediyeva, Bekmuratov Fayzievich Tulkun

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

Solving decision-making problems in poorly formalized systems only with the help of deterministic and probabilistic methods is insufficient. To do this, it is necessary to widely apply the methods of hybrid intelligent systems and, especially, the methods of “soft” calculations (SoftCalculation, SoftComputing) and the directions of ComputationalIntelligence — intelligent computing technologies that are emerging on this theoretical and methodological base. An immune - fuzzy algorithm for the synthesis of fuzzy inference systems (FIS) is proposed. A two-stage adaptive FIS synthesis algorithm is described. At the first stage, the initial fuzzy parameters are clustered in order to reduce the number of …

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 1

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 1.

Sharing Stress With A Robot: What Would A Robot Say?, Honson Y. Ling, Elin A. Björling

Human-Machine Communication

With the prevalence of mental health problems today, designing human-robot interaction for mental health intervention is not only possible, but critical. The current experiment examined how three types of robot disclosure (emotional, technical, and by-proxy) affect robot perception and human disclosure behavior during a stress-sharing activity. Emotional robot disclosure resulted in the lowest robot perceived safety. Post-hoc analysis revealed that increased perceived stress predicted reduced human disclosure, user satisfaction, robot likability, and future robot use. Negative attitudes toward robots also predicted reduced intention for future robot use. This work informs on the possible design of robot disclosure, as well as …