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Este trabajo de grado consiste en el desarrollo de un robot móvil que tiene como función limpiar las líneas de las canchas de tenis de polvo de ladrillo que tengan una en sus instalaciones y también para los propietarios de canchas de tenis de polvo de ladrillo con el fin de demostrar un proceso de diseño para la creación de un prototipo. Para desarrollar este proyecto se realiza una búsqueda y recolección de información en base a los robots móviles terrestres en donde su funcionalidad sea seguir caminos programados, seguir trayectorias o seguir puntos de interés en el entorno, con lo mencionado anterior, se plantearon diferentes conceptos que suplen dichas necesidades, mediante el diseño concurrente de ingeniería mecatrónica para después seleccionar el más adecuado para el desarrollo del robot móvil. Para la visualización del robot se utilizaron diferentes tipos de herramientas como SolidWorks, Pyvista y Blender. Finalmente se desarrolla la construcción prototipo del robot móvil utilizando herramientas propias y máquinas de la Universidad Autónoma de Occidente que fueron proporcionadas por el taller de manufactura. This degree work consists of the development of a mobile robot whose function is to clean the lines of the brick dust tennis courts that have one in their facilities and for the owners of brick dust tennis courts in order to demonstrate a design process for the creation of a prototype. To develop this project, a search and collection of information based on land mobile robots where its functionality is to follow programmed paths, follow trajectories or follow points of interest in the environment, with the above mentioned, different concepts that meet these needs were raised, through concurrent design of mechatronic engineering to then select the most appropriate for the development of the mobile robot. For the visualization of the robot different types of software were used such as SolidWorks, Pyvista and blender. Finally the construction of the mobile robot is developed using own tools and machines of the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente that were provided by the manufacturing workshop Proyecto de grado (Ingeniero Mecatrónico)-- Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, 2023 Pregrado Ingeniero(a) Mecatrónico(a)

En aquest treball es planteja el disseny d’una cèl·lula robotitzada i la seva posterior implementació en una empresa de mecanitzats. L’objectiu del robot és la manipulació i el transport d’unes peces que surten d’una màquina CNC (Control Numèric per Computació) de torn horitzontal. Les màquines de CNC són màquines controlades de forma automàtica, que mitjançant el fresat i tornejat de peces són capaç d’aconseguir tota mena d’acabats. Posteriorment a aquest mecanitzat han de ser introduïdes en una altra màquina de CNC de torn vertical per finalitzar el seu mecanitzat. De forma posterior a l’acabat de la segona màquina, les peces són novament agafades pel robot i col·locades a una cinta de sortida. En aquest treball es presenten els càlculs de temps de cicle del robot en treball nominal i els càlculs de peces que és capaç de produir la cèl·lula, també en condicions de producció nominal. Per la realització d’aquest projecte s’han tingut en compte el compliment de normatives, directives i reglaments que són concretades en els punts pertinents. El seu compliment és imprescindible per tal de proporcionar la seguretat adequada a tots els operaris i treballadors de planta i per fer un ús responsable dels materials utilitzats, respectant així el medi ambient. Al final del treball es presenta el pressupost i les conclusions extretes del treball amb una breu explicació de la viabilitat del projecte. En este trabajo se plantea el diseño de una célula robotizada y su posterior implementación en una empresa de mecanizados. El objetivo del robot es la manipulación y el transporte de unas piezas que salen de una máquina CNC (Control Numérico por Computación) de torno horizontal. Las máquinas de CNC son máquinas controladas de forma automática, que mediante el fresado y torneado de piezas son capaces de conseguir todo tipo de acabados. Posteriormente a este mecanizado tienen que ser introducidas en otra máquina CNC de torno vertical para finalizar su mecanizado. De forma posterior al acabado de la segunda máquina, las piezas son nuevamente cogidas por el robot y colocadas a una cinta de salida. En este trabajo se presentan los cálculos de tiempos de ciclo del robot en trabajo nominal y los cálculos de piezas que es capaz de producir la célula, también en condiciones de producción nominal. Para la realización de este proyecto se han tenido en cuenta el cumplimiento de normativas, directivas y reglamentos que son concretadas en los puntos pertinentes. Su cumplimiento es imprescindible para proporcionar la seguridad adecuada a todos los operarios y trabajadores de planta y para hacer un uso responsable de los materiales utilizados, respetando así el medio ambiente. Al final del trabajo se presenta el presupuesto y las conclusiones extraídas del trabajo con una breve explicación de la viabilidad del proyecto. In this work is proposed the design of a robotic cell and its subsequent implementation in a real machining company. The goal of the robot is to manipulate and transport parts that exit from a horizontal CNC (Computer Numerical Control) lathe machine. CNC machines are a type of machines that are automatically controlled, which by scrubbing and turning pieces are capable of achieving all sorts of finishes. After this mechanization, the manipulated part has to be introduced into another vertical lathe CNC machine. After the second machine process, the part has to be taken again by the robot and placed on an output tape. This work presents the calculations of the robot's cycle time in nominal work and the calculations of parts that the cell is able to produce under normal production conditions. The implementation of this project has taken account of the compliance of standards, directives and regulations that are specified in this work. Following these regulations is essential in order to provide a safety environment for all workers, but also to make a responsible use of the materials used, in order to respect the environment. At the end of the work, the budget and conclusions from the work are presented with a brief explanation of the project's viability.

L’agricultura urbana i els espais verds privats es presenten com a possible solució per a la mitigació dels efectes del canvi climàtic, així com a mesura defensada per l’OMS per a la millora de la qualitat de vida als centres urbans, entre molts altres avantatges. Davant d’aquest fet, sorgeixen iniciatives com la de FarmBot per a apropar l’agricultura a les llars de les ciutats amb l’ajuda de robots que en faciliten les tasques. Tanmateix, el disseny i funcionalitats d’aquests robots agricultors encara està lluny de la idoneïtat, i per aquest motiu aquest projecte neix amb l’objectiu de millorar-los per a apropar aquestes noves tendències al màxim de cases possibles. Així doncs, en aquest projecte s’ha realitzat end-to-end un hort robotitzat, duent dut a terme tot el procés des del disseny i muntatge de l’estructura de l’hort i del robot, incloent la mecànica i electrònica del segon, i la programació del robot i la del servidor, incloent la interfície d’usuari amb la qual es comuniquen els usuaris finals. Addicionalment, durant tot aquest procés s’han anat proposant millores al projecte en qüestió i s’ha tingut en compte la reducció de costos per a una futura escalació del projecte. Urban agriculture and private green spaces are presented as a possible solution for mitigating the effects of climate change, as well as a measure advocated by the WHO for improving the quality of life in urban centers, among many others advantages. Faced with this, there are initiatives such as FarmBot to bring agriculture to the homes of cities with the help of robots that facilitate their tasks. However, the design and functionality of these farming robots is still far from suitable, and for this reason this project aims to improve them to bring these new trends as close as possible to all homes. Thus, in this project has been done end-to-end a robotic garden, carried out the whole process from the design and assembly of the structure of the garden and the robot, the mechanics and electronics of the second, and the robot and server codes, including the user interface with which end users communicate. In addition, throughout this process, improvements have been proposed to the project and the reduction of costs has been taken into account for a future escalation of the project.

Objective: this article presents two of the most prominent normative problems on damage caused by autonomous robots in healthcare: what is considered autonomy when referring to the action of a robot, and what is considered damage in the activity of an autonomous robot. The aim is to contribute to the philosophical speculative understanding of the concepts of damage and autonomy in the broad critical thought about robots. Methodology: from an analysis of the most relevant literature and a prior conceptual definition, we discussed and defined fundamental notions about the problem of ethical programming in an integrated (ethical and legal) manner. Results: damage and autonomy are concepts frequently and uncritically used in the literature. However, living with autonomous robots requires reflection that considers the ethical agency of robots as opposed to humans. We have identified three principles as essential in the search for a conceptual consensus: respect for the refusal to be treated by a robot; the protection of human freedom in the face of a robot; and the maintenance of the social bond. Conclusion: the ethical programming of autonomous robots, far from being an abstract utilitarian exercise, requires a transdisciplinary, ethical-legal consensus that allows different categories of damage and autonomy to be covered.

La població mundial hi ha estat augmentant quasi de forma exponencial des de la primera revolució industrial. Aquest increment, sumat a la globalització, ha creat una demanda en augment de tota mena d’aliments, la qual cosa ha comportat la necessitat de destinar més terreny a la producció alimentaria. Aquests terrenys són tant per a camps de pastura (ramaderia), com per a camps de cultiu (agricultura), provocant una deforestació massiva arreu del món. A més a més, l’increment de població a les ciutats, de forma lineal, i l’abandonament de les zones rurals (despoblació rural) crea una falta de treballadors agrícoles mentre es necessita una major producció. Aquesta necessitat de treballadors incita a la necessitat d’automatitzar els camps de cultius per a augmentar el seu rendiment així com prescindir de tanta mà d’obra agrícola al mateix temps que obtenim productes frescos. Així doncs, l’automatització ha estat en augment de forma mundial, i encara que al sector agrícola no s’ha desenvolupat tant com a altres, cada vegada s’hi aposta més per aquest sector (sobretot quan es pot observar de primera mà la dependència agrícola que hi ha, per exemple, amb de la guerra d’Ucraïna-Russia, d’uns països respecte d’altres). Generalment, l’automatització agrícola es basa en la realització, sense necessitat d’intervenció humana, de la sembra, reg, collita i fumigació de les plantacions tenint en compte les dades que s’han recopilat prèviament utilitzant diferents tipus de sensors. Al llarg de la història de l’automatització agrícola s’han dut a terme diferents sistemes d’automatització. Progressivament, es van començar a dissenyar diferents robots mòbils per a utilitzar-los en distints treballs agrícoles, ja sigui des de recopilació de dades a la plantació fins tasques on es necessit l’esforç físic per a la seva realització. A més, s’han dissenyat drons per a monitoritzar cultius en temps real, facilitant la detecció de problemes que poden no ser detectats a temps per un humà i mantenint un control més precís de les plantacions amb major facilitat. Gràcies a tota aquesta tecnologia al sector agrícola s’aconsegueixc una major producció i es pot prescindir de la mà d’obra humana per a dur a terme les diferents tasques agrícoles. És evident que amb el progrés tecnològic, aquests sistemes automàtics hi són més accessibles per a tot el món. Sumat a una tendència alcista de l’interès de productes orgànics o ecològics, suposadament de millor qualitat, incita al disseny de sistemes automàtics de cultiu urbà, els quals són fàcilment utilitzables per usuaris amb poc coneixement tecnològic i en són respectuosos amb el medi ambient

Attraverso un esame delle soluzioni giuridiche derivanti, da un lato, dal percorso normativo posto in essere dall’Unione Europea e, dall’altro lato, da quanto emerge dal case law in via di formazione nel mondo, con questo lavoro si vuole dimostrare che l’avvento delle tecnologie robotiche non comporta necessariamente l'individuazione di nuove categorie giuridiche né induce mutamenti radicali nel sistema consolidato dei principi della responsabilità civile. In questa prospettiva si vuole verificare se il ricorso alla categoria della responsabilità oggettiva possa consentire un livello di tutela adeguato del danneggiato senza per ciò stesso limitare o incidere negativamente sulla opera di innovazione e sviluppo scientifico e tecnologico.

Actualmente no existe una metodología precisa y general para el diseño de brazos robóticos, lo que lleva a generar distintos tipos de diseños que pueden llegar a no cumplir satisfactoriamente las necesidades que se requieren, ante esto se plantea el desarrollo de una metodología de diseño de brazos robóticos de tipo pick and place a fin de que esta permita avalar su fabricación, uso e implementación. Para la realización de esta metodología se inició con un marco referencial que permitiera investigar todos los conceptos claves en el desarrollo de una metodología, de igual manera conocer las metodologías de diseño utilizadas actualmente y poder establecer los componentes que conforman un brazo robótico, donde a partir de la información obtenida se crearon los pasos a seguir de la metodología para el diseño de brazos robóticos pick and place. Con el fin de validar la metodología creada se realiza su verificación a través de la solución de tres problemas de diseños de brazos robóticos y la comparación con otros modelos de diseño ya desarrollados. Finalmente, con el desarrollo de la metodología planteada se pudieron identificar todas las variables que afectan el proceso de diseño de un brazo robótico y de esta manera se establecieron las limitaciones que presentan los sistemas pick and place durante su implementación dependiendo de su función a realizar o la necesidad que se desee satisfacer. Currently there is no precise and general methodology for the design of robotic arms, which leads to generate different types of designs that may not satisfactorily meet the needs that are required, so the development of a design methodology for pick and place robotic arms is proposed in order to support their manufacture, use and implementation. For the realization of this methodology we started with a referential framework that allowed to investigate all the key concepts in the development of a methodology, in the same way to know the design methodologies currently used and to establish the components that make up a robotic arm, where from the information obtained the steps to follow the methodology for the design of pick and place robotic arms were created. In order to validate the methodology created, it is verified through the solution of three robotic arm design problems and the comparison with other design models already developed. Finally, with the development of the proposed methodology it was possible to identify all the variables that affect the design process of a robotic arm and in this way the limitations that pick and place systems present during their implementation depending on their function to be performed or the need to be satisfied were established. Ingeniero Mecánico Pregrado

Trabajo de investigación Este proyecto busca realizar un proceso de automatización, en donde se puedan seleccionar información por medio de la herramienta Open Source Intelligence que el diseño de ejecución del robot va a obtener de posibles perfiles fraudulentos por medio de la herramienta de Robot Process Automation y poder realizar un análisis de la información.. (Tomado de la fuente). Pregrado Ingeniero de Sistemas INTRODUCCIÓN 1. JUSTIFICACIÓN 2. PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA 3. OBJETIVOS 4. MARCO DE REFERENCIA 5. ESTADO DEL ARTE 6. METODOLOGÍA 7. CRONOGRAMA 8. PRESUPUESTO DEL TRABAJO 9. PRODUCTOS A ENTREGAR 10. ALCANCES Y LIMITACIONES 11. RESULTADOS 12. ANÁLISIS DE RESULTADOS 13. CONCLUSIONES 14. BIBLIOGRAFÍA ANEXOS

This paper proposes a control scheme for a N-DoF robotic manipulator in a joint-regulation motion problem, dealing with disturbances (as e.g. exogenous forces, unmodelled dynamics) that hinder task fulfilment, and also considering that not all the required states are available online. Existing literature tackles this problem through Disturbance Observer (DO) strategies which imply complex analysis and design methods or introducing strong assumptions. Conversely, we propose to formulate the system as a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) model, which allows a straightforward application of the existing linear control structures but without neglecting its non-linear behaviour. We make use of the Robust Unknown Input Observer (RUIO) to obtain (for not measurable states) a decoupled estimation from the unknown disturbance effects, and improve its noise reduction capabilities through the new optimal RUIO design. The robotic manipulator is controlled with a state-feedback control law that, making use of the LPV paradigm, has been designed to seamlessly avoid torque saturation on manipulator's joints through a gain shifting strategy that modifies its compliant behaviour. Stability and performance requirements are imposed in both RUIO and state-feedback control synthesis problems stated using the LMI framework, applying Polya's theorems on positive forms of the standard simplex to reduce its overall conservatism. Experiments, using a simulated head system of the TIAGo robot as a testbed in various realistic scenarios, show the benefits when compared to the existing joint-independent PD control strategy and state-of-art EKF disturbance estimation., This work is supported by the Spanish State Research Agency through the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence to IRI MDM-2016-0656.

Human-object interaction is of great relevance for robots to operate in human environments. However, state-of-the-art robotic hands are far from replicating humans skills. It is, therefore, essential to study how humans use their hands to develop similar robotic capabilities. This article presents a deep dive into hand-object interaction and human demonstrations, highlighting the main challenges in this research area and suggesting desirable future developments. To this extent, the article presents a general definition of the hand-object interaction problem together with a concise review for each of the main subproblems involved, namely: sensing, perception, and learning. Furthermore, the article discusses the interplay between these subproblems and describes how their interaction in learning from demonstration contributes to the success of robot manipulation. In this way, the article provides a broad overview of the interdisciplinary approaches necessary for a robotic system to learn new manipulation skills by observing human behavior in the real world., This work is supported by the CHIST-ERA (2014-2020) project InDex and received funding from the Italian Ministry of Education and Research (MIUR), Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under grant agreement No. I3969-N30, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC-UK) with reference EP/S032355/1 and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) under grant agreement No. ANR-18-CHR3-0004. This work is also supported by the ERA-net CHIST-ERA project BURG (PCIN2019-103447).

In the manufacturing sector, industrial robots are being increasingly improved to execute machining tasks as they exhibit significant advantages in terms of flexibility, cost-effectiveness, affordability, and larger work-space when compared to traditional computer numeric control (CNC) machines. However, programming this kind of equipment for robotic machining is complex, due to closed architecture controller and proprietary programming languages limitations. For that reason, this work aims at contributing to the adoption of the STEP-NC standard (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data- Numerical Control (ISO 10303-238 and ISO 14649)), generating programs for robotic machining operations. The STEP-NC data model enables the integration of information from design, process planning, simulation, manufacturing, and even inspection in a single platform, which could create new alternatives for industrial robotic machining programming. In this context, several previous studies are described in this manuscript aiming to highlight the contribution of this work, in addition to the analysis, implementation, and validation of six different STEP-NC architectures describing the advantages that each architecture provides for achieving robotic machining capabilities. Each introduced architecture can successfully generate a STEP-NC robotic machining program, either as ISO 10303-238 or ISO 14649, which are validated in a simulation environment with both a virtual robot model and a real industrial robot equipped with a LinuxCNC controller. This approach can be implemented in different industrial robots.

This research analyzes the influence of robotics on tourism. It is an innovative phenomenon, but one that is expected to be present in most tourism and communication activities. Robotics is beginning to produce results in terms of jobs related to tourism. Robots are incorporated in all types of establishments, especially in hotels, restaurants and museums. The phenomenon is analyzed through a quantitative (implementing data from automatic check-in and check-out machines in Barcelona hotels) and qualitative (in-depth interviews) methodology. The improvements and drawbacks that they can represent are observed, as well as their repercussion on the tourism work environment. It is concluded that the inclusion of robotics in tourism is still in the development phase, but it implies personnel savings and more personalized and interactive attention for the end user. The machines are used more often in hostels and tourist apartments than in hotels.

The concept of inclusion and inclusive education for children and adolescents with disabilities has been a topic of research for many countries over the last decades. Among the different methods and practices that have been implemented for interventions, the use of novel technologies and especially educational robotics has been proven to be a valuable tool. In this study, the authors attempted to define and examine those skills that are acquired through robotic interventions, and also the way they are associated with successful inclusion. The areas of social, cognitive, and functional skills of children and adolescents with disabilities were examined and their enhancement through robotics was assessed. For the purposes of this review, the authors searched Research Gate, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, and Science Direct and identified relevant research papers. After the application of eligibility criteria, 12 research papers were considered suitable for analysis. The analysis of results indicates that most children and adolescents with disabilities that participated in interventions with robots managed to develop their social, cognitive, and functional skills and in some cases, their inclusion in educational settings was facilitated. The findings of this review support the need for implementation of these newly introduced practices and also some implications are discussed. El concepto de inclusión y educación inclusiva para niños y adolescentes con discapacidades ha sido un tema de investigación para muchos países en las últimas décadas. Entre los diferentes métodos y prácticas que se han implementado para las intervenciones, el uso de tecnologías novedosas y especialmente la robótica educativa ha demostrado ser una herramienta valiosa. En este estudio, los autores trataron de definir y examinar las habilidades que se adquieren a través de las intervenciones robóticas, y también la forma en que se asocian con la inclusión exitosa. Se examinaron las áreas de habilidades sociales, cognitivas y funcionales de los niños y adolescentes con discapacidad y se evaluó su mejora a través de la robótica. Para realizar esta revisión, los autores realizaron búsquedas en Research Gate, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed y Science Direct e identificaron los trabajos de investigación pertinentes. Tras la aplicación de los criterios de elegibilidad, se consideraron aptos para el análisis 12 trabajos de investigación. El análisis de los resultados indica que la mayoría de los niños y adolescentes con discapacidad que participaron en intervenciones con robots lograron desarrollar sus habilidades sociales, cognitivas y funcionales y, en algunos casos, se facilitó su inclusión en entornos educativos. Los hallazgos de esta revisión apoyan la necesidad de implementar estas prácticas recientemente introducidas y también se discuten algunas implicaciones. O conceito de inclusão e educação inclusiva para crianças e adolescentes com deficiência tem sido um tema de pesquisa em muitos países nas últimas décadas. Entre os diferentes métodos e práticas que têm sido implementados para intervenções, o uso de novas tecnologias e especialmente a robótica educacional tem sido comprovadamente uma ferramenta valiosa. Neste estudo, os autores tentaram definir e examinar aquelas habilidades que são adquiridas através de intervenções robóticas, e também a forma como elas são associadas à inclusão bem sucedida. As áreas de habilidades sociais, cognitivas e funcionais de crianças e adolescentes com deficiências foram examinadas e seu aprimoramento através da robótica foi avaliado. Para os fins desta revisão, os autores pesquisaram o Research Gate, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed e Science Direct e identificaram trabalhos de pesquisa relevantes. Após a aplicação dos critérios de elegibilidade, 12 artigos de pesquisa foram considerados adequados para análise. A análise dos resultados indica que a maioria das crianças e adolescentes com deficiência que participaram de intervenções com robôs conseguiu desenvolver suas habilidades sociais, cognitivas e funcionais e, em alguns casos, sua inclusão em ambientes educacionais foi facilitada. Os resultados desta análise apóiam a necessidade da implementação destas práticas recentemente introduzidas e também algumas implicações são discutidas.

Trabajo presentado en el 7th IFAC Conference on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control NMPC 2021, celebrado en Bratislava (Eslovaquia), del 11 al 14 de julio de 2021, Mecanum-wheeled robots have been thoroughly used to automate tasks in many different applications. However, they are usually controlled by neglecting their dynamics and relying only on their kinematic model. In this paper, we model the behaviour of such robots by taking into account both their equations of motion and the electrodynamic response of their actuators, including dry and viscous friction at their shafts. This allows us to design a model predictive controller aimed to minimise the energy consumed by the robot. The controller also satisfies a number of non-linear inequalities modelling motor voltage limits and obstacle avoidance constraints. The result is an agile controller that can quickly adapt to changes in the environment, while generating fast and energy-efficient manoeuvres towards the goal., Work partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities under project DPI2017-88282-P.

El mundo de la robótica parecía ser un mundo de ciencia ficción hasta hace pocos años, en las últimas décadas los robots se han incorporado en nuestras vidas apoyando en áreas educativas, medicinales, de transporte y recreación entre muchos escenarios más, donde el objetivo es desarrollar robots útiles y seguros. En este artículo se presenta el desarrollo de algoritmos de procesamiento de imágenes implementados en el robot humanoide InMoov, el primer robot 3D open source del mundo y el primero en ser replicado en Colombia para la detección y tracking de movimiento, reconocimiento facial y control de extremidades robóticas mediante mimesis de manos, se implementó un sistema embebido sintetizador de voz, pregunta y respuesta. Estos algoritmos son elaborados e implementados en el InMoov para fortalecer la interacción humano-robot (HRI) y la autonomía del robot, obteniendo una eficiencia promedio de más del 90% de efectividad en ambientes controlados. The robotics world seemed to be a science fiction world until a few years ago, however, in recent times robots have been incorporated into our lives, as educational assistants, medical assistants, receptionists and in various scenarios more, where the goal is to develop useful and safe robots. This article presents the implementation of image processing algorithms for the detection and motion tracking, facial recognition and robotic limb control by mimesis of the hands, an embedded voice synthesizer system with question and answer was implemented, to this is performed the characterization and control of the actuators. These algorithms are developed to strengthen human-robot interaction (HRI), implemented in the humanoid robot InMoov, the first open-source 3D robot in the world. Obtaining an average system efficiency of 90% in environments with controlled lighting.

The goal of this work is to test the possibility of designing robots and/or robotized system that are specifically dedicated to the field of cultural heritage and particularly to historical architecture. At the moment, our research is in the final stage of design of a robot, with activity that is carried out by the two LARM and RADET laboratories, with a continuous review of the needs that arise from the architectural application and from mechanical and mechatronic design. Preliminary activity in Architecture Survey has been carried out at locale frame in Cassino with a construction of a very preliminary prototype and basic simulation experiences that were directed to the possibility to inspect and study the original cosmatesque Middle Ages pavement of Montecassino cathedral that is beneath the current pavement in a closed space with no air and no light. The mediaeval floor of Montecassino is an emblematic example of the interest and potentialities of using robotic systems in Architecture Survey, since it requires in-depth study to improve knowledge of the pavement that is not yet fully known. It is also necessary to further study the related documentation and analysis techniques for the safeguard and conservation of stone surfaces and ancient basilica of Montecassino, which lies hidden as enigmatic architectonic good beneath the current basilica.

The use of collaborative robots (cobots) in industrial and academic settings facilitates physical and cognitive interaction with operators. This framework is a challenge to determine how measures on concepts, such as usability, can be adapted to these new environments. Usability is a quality attribute prevalent in the field of human-computer interaction concerning the context of use and the measure of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of products and systems. In this work, the importance of the role of benchmarking usability with collaborative robots is discussed. The introduced approach is part of a general methodology for studying people and robots’ performance in collaboration. It is being designed and developed on a concrete experience into a human-robot collaborative workspace. Outcomes from the study include a list of steps, resources, recommen-dations, and some customized questionnaires to obtain cobot-oriented usability analysis and case study results., This work has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union in the framework of the ERDF Operational Program of Catalonia 2014–2020, grant number 001-P-001643. Prof. Cecilio Angulo has been partly supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 825619 (AI4EU). Prof. Pere Ponsa has been partly supported by the Project EXPLainable Artificial INtelligence systems for health and well-beING (EXPLAINING) (PID2019-104829RA-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).

Este artículo se encuentra disponible en la siguiente URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/12/3943 Este artículo de investigación pertenece al número especial "Autonomous Navigation in Robotics: A New Challenge towards Social Robots". This paper presents a real-time global path planning method for mobile robots using harmonic functions, such as the Poisson equation, based on the Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD) of these functions. The main property of the proposed technique is that the computational cost is negligible in real-time, even if the robot is disturbed or the goal is changed. The main idea of the method is the off-line generation, for a given environment, of the whole set of paths from any start and goal configurations of a mobile robot, namely the computational vademecum, derived from a harmonic potential field in order to use it on-line for decision-making purposes. Up until now, the resolution of the Laplace or Poisson equations has been based on traditional numerical techniques unfeasible for real-time calculation. This drawback has prevented the extensive use of harmonic functions in autonomous navigation, despite their powerful properties. The numerical technique that reverses this situation is the Proper Generalized Decomposition. To demonstrate and validate the properties of the PGD-vademecum in a potential-guided path planning framework, both real and simulated implementations have been developed. Simulated scenarios, such as an L-Shaped corridor and a benchmark bug trap, are used, and a real navigation of a LEGO®MINDSTORMS robot running in static environments with variable start and goal configurations is shown. This device has been selected due to its computational and memory-restricted capabilities, and it is a good example of how its properties could help the development of social robots.

La relación entre las herramientas y los sujetos han sido ampliamente estudiadas en educación. Las herramientas son consideradas sistemas de representación que contribuyen en el aprendizaje. Las nuevas posibilidades tecnológicas permiten el desarrollo de herramientas con capacidades para hacer seguimiento del proceso de aprendizaje. Que una herramienta tenga la capacidad de hacer seguimiento, abre posibilidades para que los docentes reconozcan mejor a sus estudiantes y que los estudiantes también tengan un mejor reconocimiento de su proceso de aprendizaje. Este artículo presenta una nueva versión del juego de las Torres de Hanói. La nueva versión permite hacer seguimiento de los movimientos de usuarios y brinda retroalimentación visual, auditiva y háptica. Para lo anterior, el dispositivo utiliza tarjetas Arduino, sensores infrarrojos, comunicación bluetooth, leds y vibradores. El dispositivo fue probado con niños entre cinco y seis años de edad. La retroalimentación ofrecida por el prototipo contribuye en una mejor trayectoria para la solución del problema. La exploración de diseño de herramientas con capacidad de reconocimiento de las acciones del sujeto aporta en la toma de decisiones de los docentes y aprendices durante el proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje. The relationship between tools and subjects has been widely studied in education. The tools are considered systems of representation that contribute to learning. The new technological possibilities allow the development of tools with capacities to monitor the learning process. That a tool has the ability to follow up opens possibilities for teachers to better recognize their students and for students to also have a better recognition of their learning process. This article introduces a new version of the Towers of Hanoi game. The new version allows tracking of user movements and provides visual, auditory and haptic feedback. For the above, the device uses Arduino boards, infrared sensors, bluetooth communication, LEDs and vibrators. The device was tested with children between the ages of five and six. The feedback offered by the prototype contributes in a better trajectory for the solution of the problem. The exploration of the design of tools with the capacity to recognize the actions of the subject contributes to the decision-making of teachers and learners during the teaching-learning process.

This research work presents the biomechanical analysis of the ankle joint, as well as the study of the movements in the rehabilitation task of two basic movements commonly used in this process such as dorsi/plantarflexion and eversion/inversion of this joint, in order to propose an adequate design of a prototype that satisfactorily performs the task of rehabilitation assistant in infants with cerebral palsy. The mechanical design of the robot was performed in the SolidWorks © design program together with the most suitable actuators for the application. Based on the above, the analysis of a parallel coaxial 3-RRR robot for ankle rehabilitation is presented. This way, a mathematical analysis of the robot was made , which consists of inverse and forward kinematic using geometric and numerical methods, respectively using Matlab © environment. In adition eight possible working and assembly modes are presented. To obtain the mathematical model, the velocity state and screw-coordinate Jacobian matrix was developed based on Screw theory for a trajectory obtained through the polynomial result of a system of acquisition in the sagittal and frontal planes using a goniometer. Furthermore, manipulability, dexterity and rotational sensitivity indices are calculated with representation of tilt and torsion angles. Likewise, the workspace and reciprocal index as a measure of the robot’s sensibility, were calculated for the trajectory, by track with the end-effector. In the same way, a dynamical model of one of the legs and the mobile platform was made. This model was obtained by the method of Lagrange and as a result showed the necessary torques from the above mentioned trajectories. The results provides that, for the path planning created, the inverse and forward kinematics are good in agreement. The robot remains in the workspace with high accuracy, with errors not exceeding 10−4 rad. Therefore, the sensibility analysis computed with the reciprocal index shown that this type of parallel robots are efficient inside their workspace, even at points close to the singularity. For future researches the designed robot will develop a control algorithm by combining the fuzzy aproach with PID sliding mode control method. The proposed method combines the adaptive fuzzy algorithm and robust control technique to guarantee a robust tracking performance for robotic system. In addition, motor selection will be carried out according to the torques previously found. Finally the necessary tests will be performed on infants in the age range 8 to 12 years old.

Recent studies have revealed the key importance of modelling personality in robots to improve interaction quality by empowering them with social-intelligence capabilities. Most research relies on verbal and non-verbal features related to personality traits that are highly context-dependent. Hence, analysing how humans behave in a given context is crucial to evaluate which of those social cues are effective. For this purpose, we designed an assistive memory game, in which participants were asked to play the game obtaining support from an introvert or extroverted helper, whether from a human or robot. In this context, we aim to (i) explore whether selective verbal and non-verbal social cues related to personality can be modelled in a robot, (ii) evaluate the efficiency of a statistical decision-making algorithm employed by the robot to provide adaptive assistance, and (iii) assess the validity of the similarity attraction principle. Specifically, we conducted two user studies. In the human–human study (N=31), we explored the effects of helper’s personality on participants’ performance and extracted distinctive verbal and non-verbal social cues from the human helper. In the human–robot study (N=24), we modelled the extracted social cues in the robot and evaluated its effectiveness on participants’ performance. Our findings showed that participants were able to distinguish between robots’ personalities, and not between the level of autonomy of the robot (Wizard-of-Oz vs fully autonomous). Finally, we found that participants achieved better performance with a robot helper that had a similar personality to them, or a human helper that had a different personality., This work is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), under project Transregio Crossmodal Learning (DFG TRR 169/NSFC 61621136008), and a CAS-DAAD joint fellowship. This project has also been partially funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skł, odowska-Curie grant agreement SOCRATES (no. 721619), by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 under grant agreement CLOTHILDE (no. 741930), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation HuMoUR (TIN2017-90086-R), and by the Spanish State Research Agency through the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence to IRI (MDM-2016-0656).

Jupyter notebooks are recently emerging as a valuable pedagogical resource in academy, being adopted in educational institutions worldwide. This is mainly due to their ability to combine the expressiveness of traditional explanations from textbooks, with the interaction capabilities of software applications, which provides numerous benefits for both students and lecturers of different fields. One of the areas that could benefit from their adoption is such of mobile robotics, whose recent popularity has resulted in an increasing demand of trained practitioners with a solid theoretical and practical background. Therefore, there is a need of high quality learning materials adapted to modern tools and methodologies. With that in mind, this work explores how the introduction of Jupyter notebooks in undergraduate mobile robotic courses contributes to improve both teaching and learning experiences. For that, we first present a series of (publicly available) educational notebooks encompassing a variety of topics relevant for robotics, with a particular emphasis in the study of mobile robots and commonly used sensors. Those documents have been built from the ground up to take advantage of the Jupyter Notebook framework, bridging the typical gap between theoretical frame and interactive code. We also present a case study describing the notebooks usage in undergraduate courses at University of M&aacute, laga, including a discussion on the promising results and findings obtained.

Parallel robots with configurable platforms are a class of robots in which the end-effector has an inner mobility, so that its overall shape can be reconfigured: in most cases, the end-effector is thus a closed-loop kinematic chain composed of rigid links. These robots have a greater flexibility in their motion and control with respect to rigid-platform parallel architectures, but their kinematics is more challenging to analyze. In our work, we consider n-RRR planar configurable robots, in which the end-effector is a chain composed of n links and revolute joints, and is controlled by n rotary actuators located on the base of the mechanism. In particular, we study the geometrical design of such robots and their direct and inverse kinematics for n=4, n=5 and n=6, we employ the bilateration method, which can simplify the kinematic analysis and allows us to generalize the approach and the results obtained for the 3-RRR mechanism to n-RRR robots (with n&gt, 3). Then, we study the singularity configurations of these robot architectures. Finally, we present the results from experimental tests that have been performed on a 5&ndash, RRR robot prototype.

El trabajo realizado comprende el desarrollo mediante ROS de una aplicación que permita navegar un robot móvil Pioneer - 3at a través de un determinado entorno, siendo conocido este último por su mapa de ocupación.

The term “robot” was concepted in the beginning of last century, coming originally from the Czech word “robota”, meaning “labor”. More recently, computer assistance and robotics based in the telepresence and virtual reality concept have been applied to surgical procedures. The application of robots in surgery dates approximately 35 years, experiencing significant growth in the last two decades fueled by the advent of advanced technologies. Despite its recent and brief status in surgery history, robotic technology has already proven its enhanced visualization, superior dexterity and precision during minimally invasive procedures. Currently, the worldwide diffused and predominant robot system used in surgery is Da Vinci by Intuitive Surgical, however robotic surgery evolution is far from over, with multiple potential competitors on the horizon pushing forward its paradigms. We aim to describe the history and evolution of robotic surgery in the last years as well as present its future perspectives. RESUMO O termo “robô” foi concebido no início do século passado, derivado originalmente da palavra tcheca “robota”, que significa “trabalho”. Mais recentemente, a tecnologia de computação associada à robótica, baseada no conceito de telepresença e realidade virtual, têm sido aplicadas aos procedimentos cirúrgicos. A aplicação de robôs em cirurgia data de aproximadamente 35 anos, experimentando um crescimento significativo nas últimas duas décadas impulsionado pelo advento de novas tecnologias e seus resultados. Apesar de seu status breve comparado à longevidade da história da cirurgia, a tecnologia robótica já provou seus potenciais benefícios com visualização aprimorada, destreza superior e maior precisão durante procedimentos minimamente invasivos. Atualmente, a plataforma robótica mundialmente difundida e predominantemente usada em cirurgia é o modelo Da Vinci da empresa Intuitive Surgical, e a evolução desse novo conceito de cirurgia está longe de terminar, com inúmeros competidores potenciais no horizonte impulsionando a quebra de paradigmas. Nosso objetivo nesta revisão é descrever a história e evolução da cirurgia robótica nos últimos anos, bem como apresentar suas perspectivas futuras.

This paper focuses on long-term education in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to robotics. Specifically, it presents the Robobo SmartCity educational framework. It is based on two main elements: the smartphone-based robot Robobo and a real model of a smart city. We describe the development of a simulation model of Robobo SmartCity in the CoppeliaSim 3D simulator, implementing both the real mock-up and the model of Robobo. In addition, a set of Python libraries that allow teachers and students to use state-of-the-art algorithms in their education projects is described too. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades of Spain/FEDER; t RTI2018-101114-B-I00 Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union; 2019-1-ES01-KA201-065742, Centro de Investigación de Galicia “CITIC”; ED431G 2019/01.

The effectiveness of social robots such as NAO in pedagogical therapies presents a challenge. There is abundant literature focused on therapies using robots with children with autism, but there is a gap to be filled in other educational different needs. This paper describes an experience of using a NAO as an assistant in a logopedic and pedagogical therapy with children with different needs. Even if the initial robot architecture is based on generic behaviors, the loading and execution time for each specific requirement and the needs of each child in therapy, made it necessary to develop &ldquo, Adaptive Behaviors&rdquo, These evolve into an adaptive architecture, applied to the engineer&ndash, therapist&ndash, child interaction, requiring the engineer-programmer to be always present during the sessions. Benefits from the point of view of the therapist and the children and the acceptance of NAO in therapy are shown. A robot in speech-therapy sessions can play a positive role in several logopedic aspects serving as a motivating factor for the children. Future works should be oriented in developing intelligent algorithms so as to eliminate the presence of the engineer-programmer in the sessions. Additional work proposals should consider deepening the psychological aspects of using humanoid robots in educational therapy.

[ES] El proyecto está basado en la recreación de una planta industrial formada por los siguientes elementos. Cuatro cintas transportadoras encargadas de transportar los diferentes elementos al lugar deseado. Siete sensores de posición encargados de enviar a los demás elementos los distintos valores necesarios para su correcto funcionamiento. Un robot industrial cuya misión es la de seleccionar varios elementos y moverlos de manera precisa a una nueva posición. Mediante estos elementos se ha creado un sistema en el cual el robot industrial es capaz de clasificar a través de la detección de color una serie diferentes de elementos que serán transportados mediante una de las cintas, siendo eliminados los elementos no adecuados., [EN] The project is based on the recreation of an industrial plant formed by the following elements. Four conveyor belts are in charge of transporting different elements to the desired place. Seven position sensors are in charge of sending the different values ​​necessary for their correct operation to the other elements. An industrial robot whose mission is to select various elements and move them precisely to a new position. By means of these elements, a system has been created in which the industrial robot is capable of classifying objects, through color detection, that will be transported by one of the belts and the inappropriate elements being eliminated.

This article presents a numerical method for the inverse kinematics of serial chains by utilizing dual quaternion formulation of the robot kinematics within a converging paths algorithm. The method is inspired by iterative techniques such as FABRIK, however adding information on the kinematics of the chain to be solved. The method has been tested with 2R, planar 3R and spatial 3R robots. Future work includes optimizing the method to compare with other fast numeric algorithms for inverse kinematics.

[ES] El personal de enfermería y otros trabajadores de los centros hospitalarios emplean una considerable cantidad de tiempo buscando equipamiento y material y transportándolo de un lugar a otro. Resulta muy conveniente maximizar el tiempo dedicado al cuidado de pacientes, ya que repercutiría tanto en una reducción de los costes como en un aumento de la calidad de los servicios sanitarios. Se propone una solución basada en el uso de robots colaborativos. Los robots colaborativos están diseñados con el propósito de compartir su espacio de trabajo con humanos, lo que los hace adecuados para ser introducidos en el sector sanitario. Con el adecuado etiquetado y distribución de materiales y equipamiento en el almacén de un hospital, un robot móvil equipado con un brazo de 7 grados de libertad, sensor lidar y cámara estéreo es capaz de navegar por pasillos y habitaciones a la vez que transporta objetos de un punto a otro del hospital. En la programación del robot, se implementan algoritmos para evitar y comprobar colisiones y para planificación de rutas; así como algoritmos de visión artificial para la correcta identificación de los objetos manipulados., [EN] Nursing staff and other hospital workers spend a significant portion of their time looking for equipment and materials and moving them from one place to another. It is highly desirable that the amount of time spent in patient care is maximized, as it would both reduce costs and improve healthcare quality. A solution based on the use of collaborative robots is proposed. Collaborative robots are designed with the intent of sharing their workspace alongside humans, which makes them suitable for being introduced in a healthcare environment. With appropriate labelling and distribution of materials and equipment inside an hospital storage facility, a mobile robot equipped with a 7-DOF robotic arm, lidar sensor and stereo camera can successfully navigate corridors and rooms while transporting items from one point of the hospital to another. Collision avoidance, collision checker and motion planning algorithms are implemented in the robot s programming; as well as machine vision algorithms for identifying the handled objects.

El presente proyecto pretende contribuir a futuro con la disminución de interrupciones que se presentan en el Centro Pediátrico Harker durante las consultas, debido a que algunos pacientes ingresan a consultorios que no les corresponden donde se están atendiendo otros pacientes, lo cual genera molestias a los usuarios y trabajadores; Para ello se dispondrá de un Robot con rutas preestablecidas a los consultorios, el paciente deberá indicar a cual consultorio se dirige y podrá seguir al robot. Estas interrupciones ocurren debido al desconocimiento de la distribución y organización del Centro Pediátrico por parte de los pacientes especialmente cuando son nuevos. También se busca dar un valor agregado al Centro Pediátrico pues pocas instituciones colombianas cuentan con éste tipo de tecnología enfocada a la comodidad de los clientes. De acuerdo a lo anterior se realizará el diseño mecatrónico y construcción de un prototipo de robot que funciona como guía para los pacientes en el Centro Pediátrico Harker. El paciente al ingresar a las instalaciones de la institución debe registrarse en la recepción y dirigirse a la sala de espera donde posteriormente será llamado y podrá seguir al robot de camino al consultorio donde se indica que debe ser atendido. El proyecto se dividió en dos fases: la primera fase es el diseño, y en ella se definió el alcance, el cronograma, los planos (del modelo físico del robot con el circuito implementado) y adicionalmente los materiales necesarios para llevar a cabo la segunda fase. La segunda fase es la construcción del prototipo se divide en cuatro subfases: Desarrollo del software, implementación de los circuitos y programas diseñados previamente, el ensamblaje de todas las partes y finalmente las pruebas de funcionamiento. En el diseño y la construcción del prototipo del robot se implementan los conocimientos adquiridos en las distintas asignaturas cursadas en el programa de ingeniería mecatrónica de la Universidad Santo Tomás, como lo son principalmente: microcontroladores para el uso de Arduino y construcción de la tarjeta electrónica, robótica móvil aportó los conocimientos vistos sobre tipos de Robot en especial robots diferenciales, dibujo de piezas y dibujo de máquinas para el diseño físico del Robot en SolidWorks. The present project wants to contribute to the reduction of interruptions inside the Harker Pediatric center office because patients enter inside the rooms where someone is attending other patients, making users and workers feel annoyed. These interruptions happen because the distribution and organization in the clinic could be hard to understand to the new people. Is also seeks to add value to the Pediatric Center because few colombian institutions have this type of technology focused on well-being of customers. It wants to give value added to the Pediatric Center too, because a few colombian institutions have this kind of technology focused on customer confort. According to the above, the mechatronic design and construction of a robot prototype will be carried out that works as a guide for patients at the Harker Pediatric Center. When the patients go inside the institution, they must register at the reception and go to the waiting room where they will be called and may follow the robot on the way to the room where they will be treated. The project is divided into two phases: the first phase is the design, and it first defined the scope, the schedule, the plans (of the physical model of the robot and the circuit implemented), and additionally the materials necessary to carry out the process. The second phase is the construction of the prototype is divided into four subphases: Software development, implementation of the previously designed circuits and programs, the assembly of all parts and finally the functional test. In the design and construction of the robot prototype, techniques put to the test in different subjects in the mechatronic engineering of the Santo Tomás University are implemented like: Microcontrollers to use Arduino and construction of the electronic card, mobile robotics gave us the knowledge of kinds of robots, in special, differential robots, draw of pieces and draw of machines were important to the physical design. http://www.ustabuca.edu.co/ustabmanga/presentacion Pregrado

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This work addresses the inverse kinematic problem for redundant serial manipulators. Its importance relies on its effect in the programming and control of redundant robots. Besides, no general closed-form techniques have been developed so far. In this paper, redundant manipulators are reduced to non-redundant ones by selecting a set of joints, denoted redundant joints, and parametrizing its joint variables. This selection is made through a workspace analysis which also provides an upper bound for the number of different closed-form solutions for a given pose. Once these joints have been identified several closed-form methods developed for non-redundant manipulators can be applied for obtaining the analytical solutions. Finally, particular instances for the parametrized joints variables are determined depending on the task to be executed. Different criteria and optimization functions can be defined for that purpose.

Pese a la amplia variedad de estudios e investigaciones en realidad aumentada aplicada en sistemas robóticos, en general no se aprecia un análisis del cómo afecta a la detección de los marcadores: la iluminación, las distancias, ni los ángulos de incidencia de la cámara de los robots, menospreciando la importancia de estos parámetros en la representación de objetos aumentados, por lo cual se dificulta hacer una comparación más objetiva del desempeño de las aplicaciones de realidad aumentada en los robots. Este articulo describe un procedimiento para analizar un conjunto de marcadores estándar de realidad aumentada teniendo en cuenta distancias, ángulos de detección e iluminación, al igual que el efecto del tamaño del marcador en la escala de los objetos aumentados, de forma que ayuden al lector a determinar que efecto tienen sobre el desempeño del sistema, y planteando una serie de recomendaciones originadas en los resultados de pruebas técnicas con el fin de mantener una detección óptima de los marcadores en ambientes in-door.

El presente Trabajo de Fin de Grado (TFG) es un acercamiento a la robótica educativa como recurso en educación infantil. Para ello, se intentará responder a preguntas como: ¿Qué es la robótica educativa? ¿Qué es un robot? ¿Cuáles son las aportaciones educativas en educación infantil? ¿Cuáles son las ventajas educativas de la robótica en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas? Para responder a todas las preguntas, se realiza una revisión de diversas fuentes para desarrollar el marco teórico del TFG. Tras la revisión teórica se realiza una propuesta de intervención para el segundo ciclo de educación infantil, utilizando como recurso el robot BeeBot. This Final Degree Project (TFG) is an approach to educational robotics as a resource in early childhood education. To do this, an attempt will be made to answer questions such as: What are educational robotics? What is a robot? What are the educational contributions in early childhood education? What are the educational advantages of robotics when learning mathematics? To answer all the questions, a review of various sources is carried out to develop the theoretical framework of the TFG. After the theoretical review, an intervention proposal is made for the second cycle of early childhood education, using the Bee-Bot robot as a resource.

Robots have been found to be effective tools for programming instruction, although it is not yet clear why students learn more using robots as compared to receiving 'traditional' programming instruction. In this study, 121 nine- to twelve-year-old children received a programming training in pairs, in one of two conditions: using either a robot or a virtual avatar. The training was videotaped to study differences in children's cooperation. Furthermore, children's learning outcomes and motivation were assessed through questionnaires. Children were found to learn more from programming the robot than the avatar, although no differences in their cooperation during the training or self-reported motivation were found between the two conditions. Thus, future research is required to further understand how exactly robots lead to higher learning outcomes than 'traditional' tools.

In domestic robotics, passing through narrow areas becomes critical for safe and effective robot navigation. Due to factors like sensor noise or miscalibration, even if the free space is sufficient for the robot to pass through, it may not see enough clearance to navigate, hence limiting its operational space. An approach to facing this is to insert waypoints strategically placed within the problematic areas in the map, which are considered by the robot planner when generating a trajectory and help to successfully traverse them. This is typically carried out by a human operator either by relying on their experience or by trial-and-error. In this paper, we present an automatic procedure to perform this task that: (i) detects problematic areas in the map and (ii) generates a set of auxiliary navigation waypoints from which more suitable trajectories can be generated by the robot planner. Our proposal, fully compatible with the robotic operating system (ROS), has been successfully applied to robots deployed in different houses within the H2020 MoveCare project. Moreover, we have performed extensive simulations with four state-of-the-art robots operating within real maps. The results reveal significant improvements in the number of successful navigations for the evaluated scenarios, demonstrating its efficacy in realistic situations.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in deploying robotic systems in public environments able to effectively interact with people. To properly work in the wild, such systems should be robust and be able to deal with complex and unpredictable events that seldom happen in controlled laboratory conditions. Moreover, having to deal with untrained users adds further complexity to the problem and makes the task of defining effective interactions especially difficult. In this work, a Cognitive System that relies on planning is extended with adaptive capabilities and embedded in a Tiago robot. The result is a system able to help a person to complete a predefined game by offering various degrees of assistance. The robot may decide to change the level of assistance depending on factors such as the state of the game or the user performance at a given time. We conducted two days of experiments during a public fair. We selected random users to interact with the robot and only for one time. We show that, despite the short-term nature of human–robot interactions, the robot can effectively adapt its way of providing help, leading to better user performances as compared to a robot not providing this degree of flexibility., This project has been partially funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement SOCRATES (No 721619), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation HuMoUR (TIN2017-90086-R), and by the Spanish State Research Agency through the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence to IRI (MDM-2016-0656).

For service robots to expand in everyday scenarios they must be able to identify and manage abnormal situations intelligently. In this paper we work at a basic sensor level, by dealing with raw data produced by diverse devices subjected to some negative circumstances such as adverse environmental conditions or difficult to perceive objects. We have implemented a probabilistic Bayesian inference process for deducing whether the sensors are working nominally or not, which abnormal situation occurs, and even to correct their data. Our inference system works by integrating in a rigorous and homogeneous mathematical framework multiple sources and modalities of knowledge: human expert, external information systems, application-specific and temporal. The results on a real service robot navigating in a structured mixed indoor-outdoor environment demonstrate good detection capabilities and set a promising basis for improving robustness and safety in many common service tasks. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.

The manipulation of unknown objects is a problem of special interest in robotics since it is not always possible to have exact models of the objects with which the robot interacts. This paper presents a simple strategy to manipulate unknown objects using a robotic hand equipped with tactile sensors. The hand configurations that allow the rotation of an unknown object are computed using only tactile and kinematic information, obtained during the manipulation process and reasoning about the desired and real positions of the fingertips during the manipulation. This is done taking into account that the desired positions of the fingertips are not physically reachable since they are located in the interior of the manipulated object and therefore they are virtual positions with associated virtual contact points. The proposed approach was satisfactorily validated using three fingers of an anthropomorphic robotic hand (Allegro Hand), with the original fingertips replaced by tactile sensors (WTS-FT). In the experimental validation, several everyday objects with different shapes were successfully manipulated, rotating them without the need of knowing their shape or any other physical property.

Los dispositivos de inspección tradicionales basados en la fuga de flujo magnético para la inspección de tuberías requieren el uso de varios núcleos ferromagnéticos para cubrir toda la circunferencia de la tubería. Estos núcleos están axialmente orientados sobre la tubería, permitiendo detectar grietas con componente circunferencial, pero no aquellas que solo tienen componente axial. Por otro lado, el número de núcleos utilizados hace que el dispositivo sea demasiado pesado. En este trabajo, se presenta un diseño de la estructura mecánica de un robot de inspección externo con un único núcleo ferromagnético. El robot se mueve en dirección circunferencial y axial desplazando el núcleo MFL a lo largo y ancho de toda la pared de la tubería para cubrir toda el área de inspección. En este mecanismo, el núcleo también gira 90° para detectar cualquier posible orientación de grieta. El robot tiene la capacidad de adaptarse a tuberías de entre 6 y 12 pulgadas de diámetro. Se presenta un modelado de las fuerzas que soportan la estructura. Traditional inspection devices based on magnetic flux leakage for pipe inspection require the use of several yokes to cover the whole circumference of the pipe, where axially oriented cracks are usually left uninspected and the number of yokes used, makes the device too heavy. In this work, a design of the mechanical structure of an external inspection robot is presented. The robot moves in circumferential direction coupling a single MFL yoke in the pipe wall and move in the axial direction of the pipe to cover new inspection areas. In this mechanism, the yoke also rotates in order to detect any possible crack orientation. The robot has the ability to adapt to pipes between 6 and 12 inches diameter. A modeling of the forces that supports the structure is presented. Ingeniero Mecatrónico http://www.ustabuca.edu.co/ustabmanga/presentacion Pregrado

Human interactions are affected by society's norms and cultural criteria. Individuals expect certain behaviors from other people, who have an obligation to act according to the expected behavior in the cultural and social context that surrounds them. Giving robots the ability to interact with humans, in human terms, is a great open challenge. People are willing to accept robotic systems in everyday life when robots engage in socially desirable (correct) behaviors with benevolent interaction styles (safe physical interaction). In addition, allowing robots to reason in social situations, involves a set of social norms that generate expectations, which can improve the dynamics of interactions between humans and robots, and the processes of selfassessment of robot behavior. In this article, we present a set of requirements for a more secure and socially correct physical interaction the robot with people, which is dependent on cultural criteria. Universidad de Costa Rica/[834-B7-267]/UCR/Costa Rica UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ingeniería::Facultad de Ingeniería::Escuela de Ciencias de la Computación e Informática UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ingeniería::Centro de Investigaciones en Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación (CITIC)

This article belongs to the Proceedings of XoveTIC Conference Abstract: In this paper, we address the problem of how to bootstrap a cognitive architecture to opportunistically start learning skills in domains where multiple skills can be learned at the same time. To this end, taking inspiration from a series of computational models of the use of motivations in infants, we propose an approach that leverages two types of cognitive motivations: exploratory and proficiency based, the latter modulated by the concept of interestingness as an implementation of attentional mechanisms. This approach is tested in an illustrative experiment with a real robot. Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2017/12 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; TIN2015-63646-C5-1-R

During the 21st-century robotics has been growing exponentially owing to the huge influence that robots have in our lives. Therefore, due to my interest in this field, this thesis is going to deal with the construction of a two-wheeled robot and the study of different control methods to balance the robot. A research about control methods will be exposed to let the reader know which control methods are more suitable for our case. Consequently, a mathematical dynamic model of the robot will be represented, this process will allow us to select the ideal methods to control the balancing process. Once the methods will be selected, simulations will be committed to insure that the methods selected behave as they were predicted. Simulations are based on theory that is quite ideal; therefore, to break the ideality of our models and bring them to reality experiments will be performed to confirm if the models control the desired process. Finally, with the simulations' results and experiments, a comparison between the selected methods will be done to chose the best method to achieve the desired robot's behavior.

Gas source localization is likely the most direct application of a mobile robot endowed with gas sensing capabilities. Multiple algorithms have been proposed to locate the gas source within a known environment, ranging from bio-inspired to probabilistic ones. However, their application to real-world conditions still remains a major issue due to the great difficulties those scenarios bring, among others, the common presence of obstacles which hamper the movement of the robot and notably ncrease the complexity of the gas dispersion. In this work, we consider a plume tracking algorithm based on the well-known silkworm moth strategy and analyze its performance when facing different realistic environments characterized by the presence of obstacles and turbulent wind flows. We rely on computational fluid dynamics and the open source gas dispersion simulator GADEN to generate realistic gas distributions in scenarios where the presence of obstacles breaks down the ideal downwind plume. We first propose some modifications to the original silkworm moth algorithm in order to deal with the presence of obstacles in the environment (avoiding collisions) and then analyze its performance within four challenging environments. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Proyecto de excelencia de la Junata de Andalucia TEP2012-530

This paper presents and discusses a method to calibrate a specially built laser triangulation sensor to scan and map the surface of hydraulic turbine blades and to assign 3D coordinates to a dedicated robot to repair, by welding in layers, the damage on blades eroded by cavitation pitting and/or cracks produced by cyclic loading. Due to the large nonlinearities present in a camera and laser diodes, large range distances become difficult to measure with high precision. Aiming to improve the precision and accuracy of the range measurement sensor based on laser triangulation, a calibration model is proposed that involves the parameters of the camera, lens, laser positions, and sensor position on the robot arm related to the robot base to find the best accuracy in the distance range of the application. The developed sensor is composed of a CMOS camera and two laser diodes that project light lines onto the blade surface and needs image processing to find the 3D coordinates. The distances vary from 250 to 650 mm and the accuracy obtained within the distance range is below 1 mm. The calibration process needs a previous camera calibration and special calibration boards to calculate the correct distance between the laser diodes and the camera. The sensor position fixed on the robot arm is found by moving the robot to selected positions. The experimental procedures show the success of the calibration scheme.