Discrete Motion Research Articles

StarCraft Unit Motion: Analysis and Search Enhancements

Real-time strategy (RTS) games pose challenges to AI research on many levels, ranging from selecting targets in unit combat situations, over efficient multi-unit pathfinding, to high-level economic decisions. Due to the complexity of RTS games, writing competitive AI systems for these games requires high speed adaptive algorithms and simplified models of the game world. In this paper we focus on motion prediction and motion planning in StarCraft — a popular RTS game for which a C++ API exists that allows us to write AI systems to play the game. We explore our existing unit motion model of StarCraft and find and fix some inconsistencies to improve the model by accounting for systematic command execution delays and unit acceleration. We then investigate ways to improve existing combat motion planning systems that are based on discrete unit motion sets, and show that search-based algorithms and scripts can benefit from using a new direction set that considers moves towards the closest enemy unit, away from it, and perpendicular to both directions.

A Numerical Study of Separation Performance of Vibrating Flip-Flow Screens for Cohesive Particles

Vibrating flip-flow screens (VFFS) are widely used to separate high-viscosity and fine materials. The most remarkable characteristic is that the vibration intensity of the screen frame is only 2–3 g (g represents the gravitational acceleration), while the vibration intensity of the screen surface can reach 30–50 g. This effectively solves the problem of the blocking screen aperture in the screening process of moist particles. In this paper, the approximate state of motion of the sieve mat is realized by setting the discrete rigid motion at multiple points on the elastic sieve mat of the VFFS. The effects of surface energy levels between particles separated via screening performance were compared and analyzed. The results show that the flow characteristics of particles have a great influence on the separation performance. For 8 mm particle screening, the particle’s velocity dominates its movement and screening behavior in the range of 0–8 J/m2 surface energy. In the feeding end region (Sections 1 and 2), with the increase in the surface energy, the particle’s velocity decreases, and the contact time between the particles and the screen surface increases, and so the passage increases. When the surface energy level continues to increase, the particles agglomerate together due to the effect of the cohesive force, and the effect of the particle’s agglomeration is greater than the particle velocity. Due to the agglomeration of particles, the difficulty of particles passing through the screen increases, and the yields of various size fractions in the feeding end decrease to some extent. In the transporting process, the agglomerated particles need to travel a certain distance before depolymerization, and the stronger the adhesive force between particles, the larger the depolymerization distance. Therefore, for the case of higher surface energy, the screening percentage near the discharging end (Sections 3 and 4) is greater. The above research is helpful to better understand and optimize the screening process of VFFS.

Search efficiency of discrete fractional Brownian motion in a random distribution of targets

Efficiency of search for randomly distributed targets is a prominent problem in many branches of the sciences. For the stochastic process of L\'evy walks, a specific range of optimal efficiencies was suggested under variation of search intrinsic and extrinsic environmental parameters. In this article, we study fractional Brownian motion as a search process, which under parameter variation generates all three basic types of diffusion, from sub- to normal to superdiffusion. In contrast to L\'evy walks, fractional Brownian motion defines a Gaussian stochastic process with power law memory yielding anti-persistent, respectively persistent motion. Computer simulations of search by time-discrete fractional Brownian motion in a uniformly random distribution of targets show that maximising search efficiencies sensitively depends on the definition of efficiency, the variation of both intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, the perception of targets, the type of targets, whether to detect only one or many of them, and the choice of boundary conditions. In our simulations we find that different search scenarios favour different modes of motion for optimising search success, defying a universality across all search situations. Some of our numerical results are explained by a simple analytical model. Having demonstrated that search by fractional Brownian motion is a truly complex process, we propose an over-arching conceptual framework based on classifying different search scenarios. This approach incorporates search optimisation by L\'evy walks as a special case.

SEMG-Based Continuous Estimation of Finger Kinematics via Large-Scale Temporal Convolutional Network

Since continuous motion control can provide a more natural, fast and accurate man–machine interface than that of discrete motion control, it has been widely used in human–robot cooperation (HRC). Among various biological signals, the surface electromyogram (sEMG)—the signal of actions potential superimposed on the surface of the skin containing the temporal and spatial information—is one of the best signals with which to extract human motion intentions. However, most of the current sEMG control methods can only perform discrete motion estimation, and thus fail to meet the requirements of continuous motion estimation. In this paper, we propose a novel method that applies a temporal convolutional network (TCN) to sEMG-based continuous estimation. After analyzing the relationship between the convolutional kernel’s size and the lengths of atomic segments (defined in this paper), we propose a large-scale temporal convolutional network (LS-TCN) to overcome the TCN’s problem: that it is difficult to fully extract the sEMG’s temporal features. When applying our proposed LS-TCN with a convolutional kernel size of 1 × 31 to continuously estimate the angles of the 10 main joints of fingers (based on the public dataset Ninapro), it can achieve a precision rate of 71.6%. Compared with TCN (kernel size of 1 × 3), LS-TCN (kernel size of 1 × 31) improves the precision rate by 6.6%.

Nonlinear responses of suspended cable under phase-differed multiple support excitations

Cable structures may be subjected to multiple support excitations and exhibit complex nonlinear dynamic characteristics. To study the influence of phase-differed support excitations on the responses of suspended cable, a model with both ends subjected to 3-D non-uniform excitations is established, and the infinite-dimensional discrete motion equations are obtained. The in-plane primary resonance and out-of-plane primary resonance are studied using the multiple scales method. The general expressions of the equivalent excitation amplitude and the response phase of the multi-excitation system are obtained. The effects of different combinations of horizontal, vertical, and transverse excitations on the response amplitude and phase are analyzed theoretically, and the multi-scale solutions are verified by numerical integration. The results show that the multi-excited cable can be regarded as a nominal single excitation system (NSES). The effect of multiple support excitations on the cable response is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, these excitations make the response phase of the system shift based on the response phase of the NSES; second, these support excitations affect the equivalent excitation amplitude of the NSES. Both the response phase’s shift and the equivalent excitation amplitude depend on the combination of the excitations and the parity of the excited modes. When the phase difference between the two excitations is gradually changed from 0 to $$\pi $$ , the phase–frequency curve is also shifted by $$\pi $$ . However, the shifting process is not necessarily linear. The excitation phase difference does not change the soft and hard properties of the system. However, it can simultaneously change the response amplitude and the resonance region’s width so that the amplitude–frequency curve changes with a period of $$2\pi $$ in a specific region.

Analysis of microparticle deposition in the human lung by taguchi method and response surface methodology

The deposition phenomenon of microparticle and SAR-CoV-2 laced bioaerosol in human airways is studied by Taguchi methods and response surface methodology (RSM). The data used herein is obtained from simulations of airflow dynamics and deposition fractions of drug particle aerosols in the downstream airways of asthma patients using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete particle motion (DPM). Three main parameters, including airflow rate, drug dose, and particle size, affecting aerosol deposition in the lungs of asthma patients are examined. The highest deposition fraction (DF) is obtained at the flow rate of 45 L min−1, the drug dose of 200 μg·puff−1, and the particle diameter of 5 μm. The optimized combination of levels for the three parameters for maximum drug deposition is performed via the Taguchi method. The importance of the influencing factors rank as particle size > drug dose > flow rate. RSM reveals that the combination of 30 L min−1, 5 μm, 200 μg·puff− has the highest deposition fraction. In part, this research also studied the deposition of bioaerosols contaminated with the SAR-CoV-2 virus, and their lowest DF is 1.15%. The low DF of bioaerosols reduces the probability of the SAR-CoV-2 virus transmission.

Automatic Trajectory Synthesis for Real-Time Temporal Logic

Many safety-critical systems, such as autonomous vehicles and service robots, must achieve high-level task specifications with performance guarantees. Much recent progress toward this goal has been made through an automatic controller synthesis from temporal logic specifications. Existing approaches, however, have been limited to relatively short and simple specifications. Furthermore, existing methods either consider some prior discretization of the state space, deal only with a convex fragment of temporal logic, or are not provably complete. We propose a scalable, provably complete algorithm that synthesizes continuous trajectories to satisfy nonconvex temporal logic over reals (RTL) specifications. We separate discrete task planning and continuous motion planning on-the-fly and harness highly efficient Boolean satisfiability and linear programming solvers to find dynamically feasible trajectories that satisfy nonconvex RTL specifications for high-dimensional systems. The proposed design algorithms are proven sound and complete, and simulation results demonstrate our approach's scalability.

Gait emergence by discrete leg motion period control using contact signals and CPGs

Gait emergence by discrete leg motion period control using contact signals and CPGs

Особенности автоволн переключения локализованной пластичности в ГЦК-сплаве

The kinetics of deformation processes at the yield plateau in the aluminum alloy 1550 studied. It is established that in the general case, the motion of the Lüders band fronts occurs discretely and only in the phase of sample unloading. Continuous motion of the deformation fronts is possible if the rate of relaxation of the applied stresses due to the test machine is greater than or equal to the rate of their decline, controlled by internal processes at a lower scale level. The discrete motion of the Lüders fronts in the 1550 alloy suggests that they are not pure autowaves of switching.

Ultra-sensitive and resilient compliant strain gauges for soft machines.

Soft machines are a promising design paradigm for human-centric devices1,2 and systems required to interact gently with their environment3,4. To enable soft machines to respond intelligently to their surroundings, compliant sensory feedback mechanisms are needed. Specifically, soft alternatives to strain gauges-with high resolution at low strain (less than 5 per cent)-could unlock promising new capabilities in soft systems. However, currently available sensing mechanisms typically possess either high strain sensitivity or high mechanical resilience, but not both. The scarcity of resilient andcompliant ultra-sensitive sensing mechanisms has confined their operation to laboratory settings, inhibiting their widespread deployment. Here we present a versatile and compliant transduction mechanism for high-sensitivity strain detection with high mechanical resilience, based on strain-mediated contact in anisotropically resistive structures (SCARS). The mechanism relies upon changes in Ohmic contact between stiff, micro-structured, anisotropically conductive meanders encapsulated by stretchable films. The mechanism achieves high sensitivity, with gauge factors greater than 85,000, while being adaptable for use with high-strength conductors, thus producing sensors resilient to adverse loading conditions. The sensing mechanism also exhibits high linearity, as well as insensitivity to bending and twisting deformations-features that are important for soft device applications. To demonstrate the potential impact of our technology, we construct a sensor-integrated, lightweight, textile-based arm sleeve that can recognize gestures without encumbering the hand. We demonstrate predictive tracking and classification of discrete gestures and continuous hand motions via detection of small muscle movements in the arm. The sleeve demonstration shows the potential of the SCARS technology for the development of unobtrusive, wearable biomechanical feedback systems and human-computer interfaces.

Increasing Efficiency of the Separation of Substance Mixtures by Methods of Liquid–Liquid Chromatography

The article is devoted to a brief review of liquid–liquid chromatography methods, such as cyclic chromatography with a discrete motion of the mobile phase and the recirculating, countercurrent, recirculating countercurrent, eluent extrusion, and stationary versions of chromatography. Methods for the preparative separation and isolation of preconcentrated fractions of target components from mixtures are also considered, as well as issues of instrument design of liquid–liquid chromatography processes. The works in the mathematical simulation of separation processes by liquid–liquid chromatography, carried out at the Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are considered in more detail. Methods of liquid–liquid chromatography can significantly increase the efficiency and productivity of separation processes.

Geometrical design of variable ratio tooth profile based on Boolean subtraction operation and a novel modification method

Variable transmission ratio racks show great potential in rice transplanters as a key component of variable transmission ratio steering to balance steering portability and sensitivity. The objective of this study was to develop a novel geometrical design method to achieve quick, high-quality modeling of the free curvilinear tooth profile of a variable transmission ratio rack. First, a discrete envelope motion 3D model was established between the pinion-sector and the variable transmission ratio rack blank based on the mapping relationship between the rotation angle of the pinion-sector and the displacement of the rack, according to the variable transmission ratio function. Based on the loop Boolean subtraction operation, which removed the pinion-sector from the rack blank during all moments of the discrete motion process, the final complex changing tooth shape of the variable transmission ratio rack was enveloped. Then, since Boolean cutting residues made the variable ratio tooth surface fluctuant and eventually affected the precision of the model, this study proposed a modification method for establishing a smooth and continuous tooth profile. First, a novel fitting algorithm used approximate variable ratio tooth profile points extracted from the Boolean cutting marks and generated a series of variable ratio tooth profiles by utilizing B-spline with different orders. Next, based on a transmission stability simulation, the variable ratio tooth profile with optimal dynamic performance was selected as the final design. Finally, tests contrasting the transmission stability of the machining samples of the initial variable ratio tooth profile and the final variable ratio tooth profile were conducted. The results indicated that the final variable ratio tooth profile is more effective than the initial variable ratio tooth profile. Therefore, the proposed variable ratio tooth profile modeling and modification method for eliminating Boolean cutting residues and improving surface accuracy is proved to be feasible. Keywords: rice transplanter, steering, variable ratio tooth profile, variable ratio curve, Boolean subtraction operation, transmission stability DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20201305.4884 Citation: Niu Z R, Li J L, Xin S, Zou L L, Li Y H, Hou J L, et al. Geometrical design of variable ratio tooth profile based on Boolean subtraction operation and a novel modification method. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2020; 13(5): 125–133.

Jumpy and Jerky: When Peripheral Vision Faces Reverse-Phi.

When an annulus in fast apparent motion reverses its contrast over time, the foveal and peripheral percepts are strikingly different. In central vision, the annulus appears to follow the same path as an annulus without flicker, whereas in the periphery, the stimulus seems to randomly jump across the screen. The illusion strength depends on motion speed and reversal rate. Our observations suggest that it results from a balance between conflicting phi and reverse-phi motion, positional uncertainty, and attention. In addition to illustrating the differences between central and peripheral motion processing, this illusion shows that both discrete positional sampling and motion energy combine to generate motion percepts, although with eccentricity dependent weights that are themselves affected by attention.

The effect of local chemical ordering on Frank-Read source activation in a refractory multi-principal element alloy

In this work, we investigate the operation of Frank-Read (FR) sources in a refractory multi-principal element alloy (MPEA). Simulations of discrete dislocation motion in MPEAs is enabled by the development of a phase field dislocation dynamics model that treats the atomic-scale fluctuations in lattice energies across the glide plane, present due to local ordering in the chemical composition within the nominally random MPEA atomic structure. We consider, through simulation, a range of length scales over which ordering occurs, varying from short-range lengths, a few times dislocation core width, to long-range lengths, an order of magnitude longer than the core. Characteristic of this body-centered cubic MPEA, the simulations also include screw/edge character dependence in glide resistance, as informed by atomic scale simulation. The critical stresses to activate the source for the same source size are found to be statistically distributed, as a direct consequence of the underlying variation in lattice energy. Analysis of critical state for activating edge and screw FR sources in the MPEA reveals that FR source operation occurs via a two-step mechanism, involving athermal kink-pair formation, unlike the conventional FR source operation in a material with no composition fluctuations. This mechanism lowers the average critical stress required to activate the FR source and causes the statistical dispersion in critical stress to depend on the range of composition ordering. More importantly, it leads to a more severe dependence of source strength on FR source length than predicted by line tension alone.

Holistic Approach on the Research of Yielding, Creep and Fatigue Crack Growth Rate of Metals Based on Simplified Model of Dislocation Group Dynamics

The simplified model of numerical analyses of discrete dislocation motion and emission from a stressed source was applied to predict the yield stress, dislocation creep, and fatigue crack growth rate of metals dominated by dislocation motion. The results obtained by these numerical analyses enabled us to link various dynamical effects on the yield stress, dislocation creep, and fatigue crack growth rate with the experimental results of macroscopic phenomena, as well as to link them with theoretical results obtained by the concept of static, continuously distributed infinitesimal dislocations for the equilibrium state under low strain or stress rate conditions. This will be useful to holistic research approaches with concern for time and space scales, that is, in a time scale ranging from results under high strain rate condition to those under static or low strain rate condition, and in a space scale ranging from meso-scale to macro-scale mechanics. The originality of results obtained by these analyses were found by deriving the analytical formulations of number of dislocation emitted from a stressed source and a local dynamic stress intensity factor at the pile-up site of dislocations as a function of applied stress or stress rate and temperature material constants. This enabled us to develop the predictive law of yield stress, creep deformation rate, and fatigue crack growth rate of metals dominated by dislocation motion. Especially, yielding phenomena such as the stress rate and grain size dependence of yield stress and the delayed time of yielding were clarified as a holistic phenomenon composed of sequential processes of dislocation release from a solute atom, dislocation group moving, and stress concentration by pile-up at the grain boundary.

Research of the polymer granules shape and size influence on their tribological properties

The use of a mathematical model of discrete motion of bulk material were justified for movement of polymer granules in the working channel of feeding zone of the screw extruder as a set of particles moving relative to each other based on the Discrete Element Method taking into account the influence of the shape and the size of polymer granules on their tribological properties on the example of the problem of forming the angle of repose. The study of the interaction among the granules of the following four polymers has been conducted: high-density polyeth-ylene of brand Marlex HHM 5502BN (HDPE), copolymer of ethylene with vinyl acetate (sevilene) of brand 11104-030(CEV), polystyrene of brand Denka Styrol MW-1-301 (PS), polyvinyl chloride of brand SorVyl G 2171/9005 11/01 (PVC), which are selected because they are widely used in industry and at the same time differ from each other in shape, size and physical and mechanical characteristics. The Hertz-Mindlin viscoelastic model was used to de-scribe the interaction between granules, which assumes that the sphere-shaped particles do not deform upon con-tact and overlap each other by a predetermined amount, forming a contact patch. The study was carried out in the EDEM software package. The calculation results for the formation of an angle of repose of natural methods and numerical experiment were given with the two approaches to modeling the shape of pellets were analyzed: the consideration in the form of granules in the form of spheres and in the form of multisphere, when the calculated shape of the pellets as close to real. The results of the calculations on the formation of the angle of repose prove that the discrete motion model of bulk material based on the discrete element method when using the form of gran-ules close to real better reproduces the behavior of bulk materials compared to spherical granules.

Marker-free optical stereo motion tracking for in-bore MRI and PET-MRI application.

Prospective motion correction is arguably the "silver bullet" solution for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies impacted by motion, applicable to almost any pulse sequence and immune from the spin history artifacts introduced by a moving object. In prospective motion correction, the magnetic field gradients and radio frequency waveforms are adjusted in real time in response to measured head motion so as to maintain the head in a stationary reference frame relative to the scanner. Vital for this approach are accurate and rapidly sampled head pose measurements, which may be obtained optically using cameras. However, most optical methods are limited by the need to attach physical markers to the skin, which leads to decoupling of head and marker motion and reduces the effectiveness of correction. In this work we investigate the feasibility and initial performance of a stereo-optical motion tracking method which does not require any attached markers. The method relies on detecting distinctive natural features or amplified features (using skin stamps) directly on the forehead in multiple camera views, and then deriving pose estimates via a 3D-2D registration between the skin features and a database of forehead landmarks. To demonstrate the feasibility and potential accuracy of the marker-free method for discrete (step-wise) head motion, we performed out-of-bore and in-bore experiments using robotically and manually controlled phantoms in addition to in-bore testing on human volunteers. We also developed a convenient out-of-bore test bed to benchmark and optimize the motion tracking performance. For out-of-bore phantom tests, the pose estimation accuracy (compared to robotic ground truth) was 0.14mm and 0.23degrees for incremental translation and rotation, respectively. For arbitrary motion, the pose accuracy obtained using the smallest forehead feature patch was equivalent to 0.21±0.11mm positional accuracy in the striatum. For in-bore phantom experiments, the accuracy of rigid-body motion parameters (compared to wireless MR-sensitive markers) was 0.08-0.41±0.18mm/0.05-0.3±0.12deg and 0.14-0.16±0.12mm/0.08-0.17±0.08deg for the small and large feature patches, respectively. In vivo results in human volunteers indicated sub-millimeter and sub-degree pose accuracy for all rotations and translations except the depth direction (max error 1.8mm) when compared to a registration-based approach. In both bench-top and in vivo experiments we demonstrate the feasibility of using very small feature patches directly on the skin to obtain high accuracy head pose measurements needed for motion-correction in MRI brain studies. The optical technique uses in-bore cameras and is consistent with the limited visibility of the forehead afforded by head coils used in brain imaging. Future work will focus on optimization of the technique and demonstration in prospective motion correction.

On primitive formulation in fluid mechanics and fluid–structure interaction with constant piecewise properties in velocity–potentials of acceleration

Discrete mechanics makes it possible to formulate any problem of fluid mechanics or fluid-structure interaction in velocity and potentials of acceleration; the equation system consists of a single vector equation and potentials updates. The scalar potential of the acceleration represents the pressure stress and the vector potential is related to the rotational-shear stress. The formulation of the equation of motion can be expressed in the form of a splitting which leads to an exact projection method; the application of the divergence operator to the discrete motion equation exhibits, without any approximation, a Poisson equation with constant coefficients on the scalar potential whatever the variations of the physical properties of the media. The a posteriori calculation of the pressure is made explicitly by introducing at this stage the local density. Two first examples show the interest of the formulation presented on classical solutions of Navier-Stokes equations; similarly as other results obtained with this formulation, the convergence is of order two in space and time for all the quantities, velocity and potentials. This formulation is then applied to a two-phase flow driven by surface tension and partial wettability. The last case corresponds to a fluid-structure interaction problem for which an analytical solution exists.

On-cell Motion of Single T4 Bacteriophages, a Highly Dynamic Target-finding Process

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and have the potential to be used as a fully programmable alternative to antibiotics. However, insight into the detailed interactions between phages and cells that govern the specificity and dynamics of a phage attack is limited. It has been suggested that phages perform a ‘walk’ on the cell surface prior to infection, but direct evidence of discrete on-cell motion is still lacking. We used HILO microscopy to visualize this interaction between T4 phages and E. coli B cells at the single particle level with high temporal resolution. Our findings show that fluorescently labelled phages perform a discrete diffusive ‘walk' on the cell surface that is consistent with a tail-fiber mediated tethered walk. In addition, I will present data that suggests that the distribution of irreversible binding locations on the cell depends on environmental conditions. Together these findings shed new light on the nanoscopic dynamics of phage adsorption, and provide insights for future engineering of phage-cell interactions.

A frame-independent comparison metric for discrete motion sequences

To evaluate the kinematic performance of designed mechanisms, a statistical-variance-based metric is proposed in this article to measure the “distance” between two discrete motion sequences: the reference motion and the given task motion. It seeks to establish a metric that is independent of the choice of the fixed frame or moving frame. Quaternions are adopted to represent the rotational part of a spatial pose, and the variance of the set of relative displacements is computed to reflect the difference between two sequences. With this variance-based metric formulation, we show that the comparison results of two spatial discrete motions are not affected by the choice of frames. Both theoretical demonstration and computational example are presented to support this conclusion. In addition, since the deviation error between the task motion and the synthesized motion measured with this metric is independent of the location of frames, those corresponding parameters could be excluded from the optimization algorithm formulated with our frame-independent metric in kinematic synthesis of mechanisms, and the complexity of the algorithm are hereby reduced. An application of a four-bar linkage synthesis problem is presented to illustrate the advantage of the proposed metric.