Engineering Commons^™

Improving 3d Printed Prosthetics With Sensors And Motors, Rachel Zarin

Honors Projects

A 3D printed hand and arm prosthetic was created from the idea of adding bionic elements while keeping the cost low. It was designed based on existing models, desired functions, and materials available. A tilt sensor keeps the hand level, two motors move the wrist in two different directions, a limit switch signals the fingers to open and close, and another motor helps open and close the fingers. All sensors and motors were built on a circuit board, programmed using an Arduino, and powered by a battery. Other supporting materials include metal brackets, screws, guitar strings, elastic bands, small clamps, …

Chatbots: Conversation Killers Or Makers?, Jing Jiang

MITB Thought Leadership Series

Whether you’re aware of it or not, the chances are you’ve been chatting to robots of late. While these bots are faceless and unseen, don’t be fooled into thinking they aren’t there. In fact, chatbots, have been around since the 1960s at least, but with the progress in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and voice recognition, they’ve received both a functionality and a popularity boost. From the cosmetic to the life-changing, nowadays, chatbots can do anything from helping a person lose weight to assisting refugees applying for asylum.

Nonlinear Observer For Visual-Inertial Navigation Using Intermittent Landmark Measurements, Miaomiao Wang

Western Research Forum

The development of reliable orientation, position and linear velocity estimation algorithms for the 3D visual-inertial navigation system (VINS) is instrumental in many applications, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is extremely important when the global position system (GPS) is not available in GPS-denied environments. Recently, observers design for VINS using landmark position measurements from Kinect sensors or stereo cameras has been increasingly investigated in the literature.

The aim of this work is to design a nonlinear observer for VINS under the assumption that landmark position measurements are intermittent. In practice, the landmark measurements are …

A Low-Cost Experimental Testbed For Multi-Agent System Coordination Control, Victor Fernandez-Kim

LSU Master's Theses

A multi-agent system can be defined as a coordinated network of mobile, physical agents that execute complex tasks beyond their individual capabilities. Observations of biological multi-agent systems in nature reveal that these ``super-organisms” accomplish large scale tasks by leveraging the inherent advantages of a coordinated group. With this in mind, such systems have the potential to positively impact a wide variety of engineering applications (e.g. surveillance, self-driving cars, and mobile sensor networks). The current state of research in the area of multi-agent systems is quickly evolving from the theoretical development of coordination control algorithms and their computer simulations to experimental …

Weight Controlled Electric Skateboard, Zachary Barram, Carson Bertozzi, Vishnu Dodballapur

Computer Engineering

Technology and the way that humans interact is becoming more vital and omnipresent with every passing day. However, human interface device designers suffer from the increasingly popular “designed for me or people like me” syndrome. This design philosophy inherently limits accessibility and usability of technology to those like the designer. This places severe limits of usability to those who are not fully able as well as leaves non-traditional human interface devices unexplored. This project set out to explore a previously uncharted human interface device, on an electric skateboard, and compare it send user experience with industry leading human interface devices.

Labeling Paths With Convolutional Neural Networks, Sean Wallace, Kyle Wuerch

Computer Engineering

With the increasing development of autonomous vehicles, being able to detect driveable paths in arbitrary environments has become a prevalent problem in multiple industries. This project explores a technique which utilizes a discretized output map that is used to color an image based on the confidence that each block is a driveable path. This was done using a generalized convolutional neural network that was trained on a set of 3000 images taken from the perspective of a robot along with matching masks marking which portion of the image was a driveable path. The techniques used allowed for a labeling accuracy …

The Soul Annoyed Robot: A Senior Project Report, Dayton Andrew Muxlow, Christian Johansen

Computer Engineering

Our goal for this senior project was to create a competitive robot designed to com- pete in Roborodentia 2019. Our project started during the Winter 2019 quarter, and ended with the competition on May 18, 2019. During that time, we developed an accurate solenoid shooting mechanism, an elevated conveyor belt to carry poker chips, and a servo arm to scoop in stacks of poker chips. These hardware compo- nents were attached to a circular differential-drive wooden base designed to be easy to control. We also planned out our match strategy and implemented this strategy with software written in C/Wiring to …

Planr.: Planar Learning Autonomous Navigation Robot, Gabrielle S. Santamorena, Daniel Kasman, Jesus Mercado, Ben Klave, Andrew Weisman, Anthony Fortner

Computer Engineering

PLANR is a self-contained robot capable of mapping a space and generating 2D floor plans of a building while identifying objects of interest. It runs Robot Operating System (ROS) and houses four main hardware components. An Arduino Mega board handles the navigation, while an NVIDIA Jetson TX2, holds most of the processing power and runs ROS. An Orbbec Astra Pro stereoscopic camera is used for recognition of doors, windows and outlets and the RPLiDAR A3 laser scanner is able to give depth for wall detection and dimension measurements. The robot is intended to operate autonomously and without constant human monitoring …

Impact Of Bioinspired Robots On Veterans Pursuing Stem Degrees, Otilia Popescu, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Krishnanand Kaipa, Karina Arcaute, Anthony W. Dean

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The gap in the area of advanced manufacturing skilled workforce and the efforts in guiding veterans towards STEM careers are merged in the NSF funded project presented in this paper. While most of the products and STEM educational programs focused on a maker concept that are currently available are specifically designed for young population, at various K-12 grade levels, to increase their interest in STEM and engineering careers in particular, there is a limited availability of such programs to address adult population. The study presented in this paper focuses on developing and implementing a series of workshops for veterans, using …

Learning In Informal Environments Through Engineering Activities Through The Partnership With The Girl Scouts, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Otilia Popescu, Carol Considine, Karina Arcaute, Krishnanand Kaipa, Stephanie G. Adams

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

More affordable and portable robots have enabled easier access for outreach activities to happen in different environments. However, exposure to robotics often relies on seeing robots in action, such as industrial robotics and robots that are used for research purposes. Old Dominion University’s College of Engineering and Technology in Norfolk, Virginia recently signed a partnership agreement with the Girl Scouts of Colonial Coast as one of the focused outreach strategies that target the female population. Various events are held on campus in the Hampton Roads residential area located in the southeastern United States, which has a population of around 2 …

Robot Navigation In Cluttered Environments With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Ryan Weideman

Master's Theses

The application of robotics in cluttered and dynamic environments provides a wealth of challenges. This thesis proposes a deep reinforcement learning based system that determines collision free navigation robot velocities directly from a sequence of depth images and a desired direction of travel. The system is designed such that a real robot could be placed in an unmapped, cluttered environment and be able to navigate in a desired direction with no prior knowledge. Deep Q-learning, coupled with the innovations of double Q-learning and dueling Q-networks, is applied. Two modifications of this architecture are presented to incorporate direction heading information that …

Exploring The Behavior Repertoire Of A Wireless Vibrationally Actuated Tensegrity Robot, Zongliang Ji

Honors Theses

Soft robotics is an emerging field of research due to its potential to explore and operate in unstructured, rugged, and dynamic environments. However, the properties that make soft robots compelling also make them difficult to robustly control. Here at Union, we developed the world’s first wireless soft tensegrity robot. The goal of my thesis is to explore effective and efficient methods to explore the diverse behavior our tensegrity robot. We will achieve that by applying state-of-art machine learning technique and a novelty search algorithm.

Surveying Underwater Shipwrecks With Probabilistic Roadmaps, Amy Jeannette Lewis

Master's Theses

Almost two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered in ocean, and yet, only about 5% of it is mapped. There are an unknown amount of sunken ships, planes, and other artifacts hidden below the sea. Extensive search via boat and a sonar tow fish following a standard lawnmower pattern is used to identify sites of interest. Then, if a site has been determined to potentially be historically significant, the most common next step is a survey by either a human dive team or remotely operated vehicle. These are time consuming, error prone, and potentially dangerous options, but autonomous underwater …

Confucian Robot Ethics, Qin Zhu, Tom Williams, Ruchen Wen

Computer Ethics - Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) Proceedings

In the literature of artificial moral agents (AMAs), most work is influenced by either deontological or utilitarian frameworks. It has also been widely acknowledged that these Western “rule-based” ethical theories have encountered both philosophical and computing challenges. To tackle these challenges, this paper explores a non-Western, role-based, Confucian approach to robot ethics. In this paper, we start by providing a short introduction to some theoretical fundamentals of Confucian ethics. Then, we discuss some very preliminary ideas for constructing a Confucian approach to robot ethics. Lastly, we briefly share a couple of empirical studies our research group has recently conducted that …

A Ulysses Pact With Artificial Systems. How To Deliberately Change The Objective Spirit With Cultured Ai, Bruno Gransche

Computer Ethics - Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) Proceedings

The article introduces a concept of cultured technology, i.e. intelligent systems capable of interacting with humans and showing (or simulating) manners, of following customs and of socio-sensitive considerations. Such technologies might, when deployed on a large scale, influence and change the realm of human customs, traditions, standards of acceptable behavior, etc. This realm is known as the "objective spirit" (Hegel), which usually is thought of as being historically changing but not subject to deliberate human design. The article investigates the question of whether the purposeful design of interactive technologies (as cultured technologies) could enable us to shape modes of …

Spring 2019

In The Loop

Lab Life: New and improved School of Computing labs inspire research in robotics and engineering; A Festival to Remember: Students thrive in film festival environments; Next Gen Data Scientists: Data Science Academy introduces high school students to the big world of data; A Well-Designed Design Colloquium; Game Face: "Sausage Sports Club: creator and CDM alumnus Chris Wade shares the story behind his playful Nintendo Switch game: Connected from Afar: Graduate student Sierra Sellman makes the most of her online degree program; Seen and Heard; Bravo! Bravo!

Quantified Measurement Of The Tilt Effect In A Family Of Café Wall Illusions, Nasim Nematzadeh Dr., David Martin Powers Prof.

MODVIS Workshop

This abstract explores the tilt effect in a family of Café Wall illusions using a Classical Gaussian Receptive Field model (CRF). Our model constructs an intermediate representation called edge map at multiple scales (Fig. 1) that reveals tilt cues and clues involved in the illusory perception of the Café Wall pattern. We investigate a wide range of parameters of the stimulus including mortar width, luminance, tiles contrast, and phase of the tile displacement (the stimuli in Fig. 2). We show that this simple bioplausible model, simulating the contrast sensitivity of the retinal ganglion cells, can not only detect the tilts …

The Future Robo-Advisor, Catalin Burlacu

MITB Thought Leadership Series

The accelerated digitalisation of both people and business around the world today is having a huge impact on the investment management and advisory space. The addition of new and vastly larger data sets, as well as exponentially more sophisticated analytical tools to turn that data into usable information is constantly changing the way investments are decided on, made and managed.

Towards A Prototype Platform For Ros Integrations On A Ground Robot, Taylor Joseph Linville Whitaker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this work was to develop, evaluate, and demonstrate a prototype robot platform on which ROS integrations could be explored. With observations of features and requirements of existing industrial and service mobile ground robots, a platform was designed and outfitted with appropriate components to enable the most common operational-critical functionalities and account for unforeseen components and features. The resulting Arlo Demonstration Robot accommodates basic mapping, localization, and navigation in both two and three-dimensional space as well as additional safety and teleoperation features. The control system is centered around the Zybo Z7 FPGA SoC hosting a custom hardware design. …

Comparison Of Lqr And Lqr-Mrac For Linear Tractor-Trailer Model, Kevin Richard Gasik

Master's Theses

The United States trucking industry is immense. Employing over three million drivers and traveling to every city in the country. Semi-Trucks travel millions of miles each week and encompass roads that civilians travel on. These vehicles should be safe and allow efficient travel for all. Autonomous vehicles have been discussed in controls for many decades. Now fleets of autonomous vehicles are beginning their integration into society. The ability to create an autonomous system requires domain and system specific knowledge. Approaches to implement a fully autonomous vehicle have been developed using different techniques in control systems such as Kalman Filters, Neural …

Modeling Of Complex Parts For Industrial Waterjet Cleaning, Braden James

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Industrial high-pressure waterjet cleaning is common to many industries. The modeling in this paper functions inside a collaborative robotic framework for high mix, low volume processes where human robot collaboration is beneficial. Automation of pressure washing is desirable for economic and ergonomic reasons. An automated cleaning system needs path simulation and analysis to give the operator insight into the predicted cleaning performance of the system. In this paper, ablation, the removal of a substrate coating by waterjet, is modeled for robotic cleaning operations. The model is designed to work with complex parts often found in spray cleaning operations, namely parts …

Design And Creation Of A System Of Machines To Automate Quality Control Processes For Atms, Miguel D. Pedrozo

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

This project is based around the quality control processes used to test ATMs. Currently, a person will manually run through each function of the ATM in order to find modes of failure. As the case with all repetitive jobs, it is an unwanted task and is simple enough to be automated. The new solution I propose allows for a system of devices to operate the functions of the ATM autonomously with little to no human intervention. Additionally, this solution is more reliable when diagnosing a problem as it will eventually communicate with the ATM directly in a closed loop system …

Integrating Mathematics And Educational Robotics: Simple Motion Planning, Ronald I. Greenberg, George K. Thiruvathukal, Sara T. Greenberg

George K. Thiruvathukal

This paper shows how students can be guided to integrate elementary mathematical analyses with motion planning for typical educational robots. Rather than using calculus as in comprehensive works on motion planning, we show students can achieve interesting results using just simple linear regression tools and trigonometric analyses. Experiments with one robotics platform show that use of these tools can lead to passable navigation through dead reckoning even if students have limited experience with use of sensors, programming, and mathematics.

A Generative Human-Robot Motion Retargeting Approach Using A Single Rgbd Sensor, Sen Wang, Xinxin Zuo, Runxiao Wang, Ruigang Yang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The goal of human-robot motion retargeting is to let a robot follow the movements performed by a human subject. Typically in previous approaches, the human poses are precomputed from a human pose tracking system, after which the explicit joint mapping strategies are specified to apply the estimated poses to a target robot. However, there is not any generic mapping strategy that we can use to map the human joint to robots with different kinds of configurations. In this paper, we present a novel motion retargeting approach that combines the human pose estimation and the motion retargeting procedure in a unified …

End-To-End Learning: Using Neural Networks For Vehicle Control And Obstacle Avoidance, Keith Russell

Honors College Theses

End to End learning is a method of deep learning which has been used to great effect to solve complex problems which would normally be performed by humans. Within this thesis, a neural network was created to mimic the steering patterns of humans in highway driving situations. A Turtlebot was used in place of a car and was tested within a laboratory on a closed loop track to drive within the lanes created for it. The network architecture was based on that of Nvidia’s model which was used for predicting steering angles of a vehicle. The network was successfully trained …

Consensus-Based Robotic Formation Control, Satish Reddy Modugu

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.

Exoskeleton, Vinu Casper, Liliana Fitzpatrick

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

This is a research about the marketing plan for exoskeleton wearable devices. The objective is to provide a meaningful Customer Value Proposition to the prospective customers.The Samsung company SWOT analysis is the basis for a marketing strategy. The exoskeleton features and market definition is included in the analysis. A competitor analysis of homogeneus exoskeletons providers is included to review the current market. An exhaustive customer analysis was performed to identify the customer needs as the input for the marketing plan development. The potential market was identified to learn about the exoskeleton market share opportunity. The exoskeleton global market is analyzed …

Integrating Mathematics And Educational Robotics: Simple Motion Planning, Ronald I. Greenberg, George K. Thiruvathukal, Sara T. Greenberg

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper shows how students can be guided to integrate elementary mathematical analyses with motion planning for typical educational robots. Rather than using calculus as in comprehensive works on motion planning, we show students can achieve interesting results using just simple linear regression tools and trigonometric analyses. Experiments with one robotics platform show that use of these tools can lead to passable navigation through dead reckoning even if students have limited experience with use of sensors, programming, and mathematics.

Effects Of Control Device And Task Complexity On Performance And Task Shedding During A Robotic Arm Task, Shelby K. Long

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The use of robotic arms across domains is increasing, but the relationship between control features and performance is not fully understood. The goal of this research was to investigate the difference in task performance when using two different control devices at high and low task complexities when participants can shed tasks to automation. In this experiment, 40 undergraduates (24 females) used two control devices, a Leap Motion controller and an Xbox controller, to teleoperate a robotic arm in a high or low complexity peg placement task. Simultaneously, participants were tasked with scanning images for tanks. During the experiment, participants had …

A Framework For Test & Evaluation Of Autonomous Systems Along The Virtuality-Reality Spectrum, Nathan D. Gonda

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Test & Evaluation of autonomous vehicles presents a challenge as the vehicles may have emergent behavior and it is frequently difficult to ascertain the reason for software decisions. Current Test & Evaluation approaches for autonomous systems place the vehicles in various operating scenarios to observe their behavior. However, this introduces dependencies between design and development lifecycle of the autonomous software and physical vehicle hardware. Simulation-based testing can alleviate the necessity to have physical hardware; however, it can be costly when transitioning the autonomous software to and from a simulation testing environment. The objective of this thesis is to develop a …