Master Device Research Articles

Synchronization of Heterogeneous Multi-Robotic Cell with Emphasis on Low Computing Power

This paper presents a time-synchronization solution for operations performed by a heterogeneous set of robotic manipulators grouped into a production cell. The cell control is realized using master–slave architecture without an external control element. Information transmission in a cell is provided by a TCP/IP channel in which communication is ensured via sockets. The proposed problem solution includes an algorithm, which is verified and validated by simulation and tested in real environment. This algorithm requires minimal computational power thanks to an empirically oriented approach, which enables its processing directly by the control unit of each participating element of the robotic cell. The algorithm works on the basis of monitoring and evaluating time differences among sub-operations of master and slave devices. This ensures defined production cycle milestones of each robotic manipulator in the cell at the same time are attained. Dynamic speed adaptation of slave manipulators utilizing standard instructions of their native language is used. The proposed algorithm also includes a feedforward form of operations synchronization which responds to changes in the operating cycle of the master manipulator. The application of the solution proposal is supplemented with a visualization part. This part represents a complementary form of designed solution implementation.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: MANET security routing protocols based on a machine learning technique (Raspberry PIs)

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) are with no framework and comprises just of equivalent companions. This paper shows exact tests for MANET routing the protocols. The testbed dependent on Linux stage introduced in mobile computers. A few parameters are investigated, for example, development speed and the quantity of jumps which sway on routing execution. The testbed comprises of a few Raspberry Pis (RPis) without the requirement for any central master devices. For making the RPis portable and autonomous of any fixed power attachments, every one of them is controlled by a battery. Then again, for the assessment of the testbed, two directing conventions are picked. The main convention is called BABEL, which considered as a separation vector directing calculation. The other one, the optimized link state routing protocol (OLSR) which considered as proactive steering convention. The utilization case was a multi-jump download of documents with various sizes. The point is to assess how different bounces impact the transfer speed and postponement. The outcomes demonstrate that OLSR performs better with respect to the throughput. However, Babel has less deferral and quicker with respect to convergence.

Active Endoscope Preserving Image Orientation for Endonasal Skull Base Surgery.

Endonasal Skull Base Surgery has some advantages over conventional methods; however, some issues such as the need to replace the endoscope due to the fixed view, and possible invasiveness during insertion make the procedure difficult. To solve these problems, this paper proposes an active endoscope mechanism with several benefits. First, its variable direction of view can cover the wide ranges. Second, it provides a forward view, lessening the danger of damaging critical tissues while the endoscope is being inserted. Third, it can change the direction of view within a very small radius of 6.5 mm, so it can be used in a small cavity and work together with other surgical tools. We have designed the endoscope, which has 4 mm diameter. It is a simple tilting and rotation mechanism of 2-degree of freedom (DOF). It implements kinematics control to make it intuitive to operate. The image sensor attached to the distal end is fixed mechanically so that the image orientation is preserved in the direction of gravity. The experiments showed the user could intuitively control the endoscope with the master device and observe the target without swapping the endoscope. Future tests will examine clinical aspects and combination work with surgical instruments.

Water Discharge and River Depth Measurement Using Fuzzy Logic Based on Internet of Things

Based on statistics from Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) there are still many casualties caused by drifting or drowning in rivers every year. This is because most victims do not have sufficient information related to water discharge and river depth. In an effort to reduce the potential victims of these problems, a prototype was designed to provide a warning regarding river status as a display in the detail condition of the river in real-time. In this research, a prototype measuring instrument was produced that could provide information on water discharge and river depth in a sustainable and real-time manner. The prototype device consists of two main sensors as an implementation of internet of things, a water flow sensor and an ultrasonic sensor. Water flow sensor used to calculate the water discharge, and ultrasonic sensor used to measure depth of the river. Fuzzy logic has been used because it can work well for simple classification and work similarly like human reasoning. This information can be monitored through the website and LCD attached on the device. The results of the study with the help of the Linear Congruential Generator (LCG) method indicated that greater input value of the water discharge and the river depth caused more dangerous of the river status. Whereas the prototype produced has an error range of 5-6 cm for depth information generated by the ultrasonic sensor while the accuracy of the water flow sensor on the master device is 79.75% and the slave device is 84%.

Master Device With Bending Safety for Flexible Surgical Robots

Abstract Flexible robots have been widely studied for application to minimally invasive surgery because of their dexterity and miniaturization ability. Conventional master devices developed to manipulate rigid link-type robots are difficult to apply to flexible robots due to structural difference. In addition, the different kinematic structures of the master device and flexible slave robot cause complex mapping issues. Furthermore, most high-redundancy flexible robots inserted through an over-tube have limited bending angles depending on the insertion depth. Conventional master devices were not designed to comply with this limitation of flexible robots. We developed an isosceles master device that provides intuitive and simple mapping factors for controlling and maintaining the wire tension of a flexible robot in a safe range. We applied a variable isosceles triangle mechanism that structurally limits the bending angle according to the insertion depth. Experimental results showed that our master device can control a flexible slave robot with an error of less than 1.5 mm. Because of the limited bending angle, excessive tension and the resulting damage to the wire were prevented. The isosceles master device can also hold its position and orientation with a passive holding mechanism.

Workspace mapping with adaptive fuzzy control for robotic manipulator in teleoperation

This study addresses the adaptive fuzzy control of redundant robotic systems for developing a new approach to workspace mapping in teleoperation. In robot teleoperation, workspace mapping is applied to accomplish various tasks involving both large reachability and accurate control. However, discontinuous trajectories in teleoperation because of mode change of the master device and undesired inputs during user operation make it difficult for the slave robotic system to follow the trajectories of the master device. Therefore, in this study, a new approach to workspace mapping in teleoperation and the application of an adaptive fuzzy controller for tracking the desired trajectory are proposed. The results of simulations and experiments conducted in this study demonstrate that the proposed workspace mapping approach based on an adaptive fuzzy controller effectively improved system performance in terms of tracking for desired trajectories in robot teleoperation.

A Tele-Operated Microsurgical Forceps-Driver With a Variable Stiffness Haptic Feedback Master Device

We develop a surgical forceps-driver and a haptic feedback master device that could be applied to a tele-operated microsurgical robotic system for peripheral nerve surgery. Considering that the neurological damage could occur to the peripheral nerve when an excessive force is applied to the nerve tissue, we aim to implement the forceps-driver with precision gripping-force control and the master device capable of providing haptic feedback. For this aim, a high-precision tiny force sensor is fabricated and embedded into the forceps-driver for gripping-force measurement. And, we develop a novel master device handled by surgeon's thumb and forefinger. As a kind of a variable stiffness module, it functions to generate the forceps-drive operation command according to a surgeon's pinching motion and to display haptic feedback by varying the stiffness based on the gripping-force measured from the slave device. Thus, the surgeon can tele-operate the forceps-driver intuitively as well as feel the gripped-object by proprioceptive haptic feedback. In the performance evaluation experiments for the master-slave system, the gripping-force measurement capacity of the forceps-driver and the stiffness variation range of the master device are investigated as about 4 N with a resolution of 0.03 N and about 3.6 N/mm with a resolution of 0.025 N/mm, respectively.

Design & Verification of Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) Protocol

SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), which was introduced by the company Motorola, and it is a protocol for communication of serial synchronous about the communication among the master and slave device, which is also used to provide communiqué between microcontroller and many devices which are additional and similar to external Analog to the Digital Converters, Digital to Analog Converters, and EEPROMs. Now a days, communication protocols are at low end. There are two different Protocols: 1) Inter-I2C and 2) SPI. Both of these protocols are well designed for the communications between the Integrated Circuits for communication with On-Board Peripherals. SPI is most commonly used protocol for both intra-chip and inter-chip, and is used at low or medium speed of data-stream transfer. This paper introduces about the quality of SPI Interface Protocol with Single Master and Single Slave configuration, which involves 8-bit of the data transfer and all necessary incorporates features that required for modern applications such as ASIC or SOC (System on Chip). The SPI design is verified and implemented by using System Verilog to show their coverage code and their functional correctness, the entire RTL was written using Verilog for Synthesis and then the Verification architecture is written using System Verilog. The implementation is done using Spartan 3E.

Device-assisted pelvic floor muscle postpartum exercise programme for the management of pelvic floor dysfunction after delivery

Background Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) is a multifactorial condition that clinically manifests as the pelvic prolapse, urinary and/or rectal incontinence, and sexual dysfunction. Aim We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of two pelvic floor trainers for the prevention of PFD in women during the postpartum period. Materials and methods This was a prospective, randomized, open-label study in 70 women in the postpartum period. Participants were randomized to complete a daily, 20-min set of pelvic floor muscle exercises using the EmbaGYN (UK; Group 1, n = 40) or the Magic Kegel Master device (China; Group 2, n = 40) for 4 weeks. All participants anonymously completed the PFDI-20 questionnaire and FSFI form at baseline and last visit. Pelvic floor muscle strength was measured using the XFT-0010 device. Results After the completion of the 4-week pelvic floor muscle exercise program, there was a significant decrease in the rates of all PFD symptoms including pelvic organ prolapse and urinary and/or fecal incontinence in both groups. The rates of sexual dysfunction after the exercise program decreased significantly only in Group II (69.4 versus 25.0%; р =.001). After the program, Group I showed a significant reduction in the number of women with symptoms of urgent urinary incontinence versus baseline (35.3 versus 8.8% p = .009). Similarly, the rates of urine loss associated with coughing, sneezing or laughing in Group I decreased from 41.2% at baseline to 11.8% after the program (р =.006) and the rates of urine leakage independent of physical activity from 23.5 to 5.9% (p = .040), respectively. Conclusion The 4-week postpartum pelvic floor muscle exercise program utilizing the EmbaGYN or Magic Kegel Master device has significantly increased the pelvic floor muscle strength and decreased the symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse, urinary and fecal incontinence. The use of the Magic Kegel Master device significantly reduced the symptoms of sexual dysfunction. The use of the EmbaGYN device was effective in addressing the individual symptoms of urinary incontinence.

Intuitive Bilateral Teleoperation of a Cable-driven Parallel Robot Controlled by a Cable-driven Parallel Robot

Intuitive remote multiple degrees of freedom (DOF) robot control has distinct advantages in field robotics applications, especially for a cable-driven parallel robot (CDPR) capable of operating in a wide workspace with a heavy payload. This study proposes a novel intuitive teleoperation method for a CDPR, in which a remote CDPR is teleoperated by a local CDPR driven by a human. The proposed system comprises a master CDPR in the operating room, a slave CDPR in the workplace, wireless communication between the master and slave CDPRs, and an admittance control to realize the haptic force to the master CDPR. The master CDPR transmits the Cartesian posture command, based on an operator???s manipulation, to the slave CDPR, and the slave CDPR???s wrench force obtained through the cable tension measurement is fed back to the master CDPR. For validation, two CDPRs in different locations (approximately 7.46 km apart) are utilized; a mini-size CDPR is used as the master device and a grand-size CDPR is used as the slave robot. The experimental results demonstrate that the operator can fully control the slave robot???s six DOF motions with spatial force feeling in hand, and satisfactory synchronized movements of the two CDPRs at a distance could be performed. Also, a preliminary experimental result of the proposed wrench feedback method is discussed. The proposed method has practical benefits in field robotics applications in unmanned and hazardous workspaces, such as nuclear power plants and space, which require long-distance remote manipulation at different locations.

Pneumatically driven surgical forceps displaying a magnified grasping torque.

Background: Sensing the grasping force and displaying the force for the operator are important for safe operation in robot‐assisted surgery. Although robotic forceps that senses the force by force sensors or driving torque of electric motors is proposed, the force sensors and the motors have some problems such as increase in weight and difficulty of the sterilization. Method: We developed a pneumatically driven robotic forceps that estimates the grasping torque and display the magnified torque for the operator. The robotic forceps has a master device and a slave robot, and they are integrated. In the slave side, the grasping torque is estimated by the pressure change in the pneumatic cylinder. A pneumatic bellows display the torque through a linkage. Results: We confirmed that the slave robot follows the motion of the master, and the grasping torque is estimated in the accuracy of 7 mNm and is magnified and displayed for the operator. Conclusions: The pneumatically driven robotic forceps has the capability in the estimation of the grasping torque and display of the torque. Regarding future work, the usability and fatigues of the surgeons must be evaluated.

Admittance Control of a Teleoperated Motorized Functional Electrical Stimulation Rehabilitation Cycle

Abstract A bilateral teleoperated rehabilitation cycling system is developed for people with movement impairments due to various neurological disorders. A master hand-cycling device is used by the operator to set the desired position and cadence of a lower-body functional electrical stimulation (FES) controlled and motor assisted recumbent cycle. The master device also uses kinematic haptic feedback to reflect the lower-body cycle’s dynamic response to the operator. To accommodate for the unknown nonlinear dynamics inherent to physical human machine interaction (pHMI), admittance controllers were developed to indirectly track desired interaction torques for both the haptic feedback device and the lower-body cycle. A robust position and cadence controller, which is only active within the regions of the crank cycle where FES produces sufficient torque values, was used to determine the FES intensity. A Lyapunov analysis is used to prove the robust FES controller yields global exponential tracking to the desired position and cadence set by the master device within FES stimulation regions. Outside of the FES regions, the admittance controllers at the hands and legs work in conjunction to produce desired performance. Both admittance controllers were analyzed for the entire crank cycle, and found to be input/output strictly passive and globally exponentially stable in the absence of human effort, despite the uncertain nonlinear dynamics.

Haptic-Guided Teleoperation of a 7-DoF Collaborative Robot Arm With an Identical Twin Master.

In this article, we describe two techniques to enable haptic-guided teleoperation using 7-DoF cobot arms as master and slave devices. A shortcoming of using cobots as master-slave systems is the lack of force feedback at the master side. However, recent developments in cobot technologies have brought in affordable, flexible, and safe torque-controlled robot arms, which can be programmed to generate force feedback to mimic the operation of a haptic device. In this article, we use two Franka Emika Panda robot arms as a twin master-slave system to enable haptic-guided teleoperation. We propose a two layer mechanism to implement force feedback due to 1) object interactions in the slave workspace, and 2) virtual forces, e.g. those that can repel from static obstacles in the remote environment or provide task-related guidance forces. We present two different approaches for force rendering and conduct an experimental study to evaluate the performance and usability of these approaches in comparison to teleoperation without haptic guidance. Our results indicate that the proposed joint torque coupling method for rendering task forces improves energy requirements during haptic guided telemanipulation, providing realistic force feedback by accurately matching the slave torque readings at the master side.

On the Security of a Key Agreement and Key Protection Scheme

We point out that the key agreement and key protection scheme (published in IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, doi: 10.1109/TIFS.2018.2850299) fails to achieve the two-factor security. We demonstrate that in the scheme, if an adversary can control the master device of a target user, he can impersonate the user to pass the server’s authentication.

Wireless Communication between two robots using a piconet network

The objective of this work is to develop an investigation related to the configuration of a piconet network. This piconet network consist of two mobile devices based on an architecture of communication master-slave. One of the devices sends orders via wireless and the other performs the instructions as well as it works with the parameters indicated by the master devices, such as: speed, time and direction. An Arduino nano, an engine controller, an aluminum chassis and caterpillar tires which visually resembles mobile devices to small tanks were employed. The physical structure of our approach can be adapted to various applications in the industry, production lines or in the automation of food services for the transfer of plates from one point to another. Its configuration is implemented based on AT commands and, as a result, we obtained a product that does not depend on the mechanical system, since the technology developed can be implemented in any device or mobile mechanism that can be directed by the motor controller. Finally, we procured a documented investigation related to the configuration and programming of the piconet network, as well as the measurements that indicate a speed-distance-voltage relation.

Multiview Summarization and Activity Recognition Meet Edge Computing in IoT Environments

Multiview video summarization (MVS) has not received much attention from the research community due to inter-view correlations and views' overlapping, etc. The majority of previous MVS works are offline, relying on only summary, and require additional communication bandwidth and transmission time, with no focus on foggy environments. We propose an edge intelligence-based MVS and activity recognition framework that combines artificial intelligence with Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In our framework, resource-constrained devices with cameras use a lightweight CNN-based object detection model to segment multiview videos into shots, followed by mutual information computation that helps in a summary generation. Our system does not rely solely on a summary, but encodes and transmits it to a master device using a neural computing stick for inter-view correlations computation and efficient activity recognition, an approach which saves computation resources, communication bandwidth, and transmission time. Experiments show an increase of 0.4 unit in F-measure on an MVS Office dateset and 0.2% and 2% improved accuracy for UCF-50 and YouTube 11 datesets, respectively, with lower storage and transmission times. The processing time is reduced from 1.23 to 0.45 s for a single frame and optimally 0.75 seconds faster MVS. A new dateset is constructed by synthetically adding fog to an MVS dateset to show the adaptability of our system for both certain and uncertain IoT surveillance environments.

A Low-Cost EMG-Controlled Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand for Power and Precision Grasp

In this paper the use of a commercial EMG armband for the motion control of a prototype hand prosthesis is proposed. The mechanical design is based on an open source six degree-of-freedom hand. Some modifications from the original design are proposed, mainly in the actuation and power transmission devices to reduce the prototype's costs and to provide a major mobility to the thumb to adapt the motion to the shape of the grasped object. Unlike some similar prototypes previously reported and considering that the proposed application requires portability, the use of a PC for the acquisition and processing of the EMG data has been replaced by a portable hardware system based on the master/slave architecture. The master device is a Raspberry Pi-based subsystem interfaced with the EMG armlet for gathering and classifying information from the user's muscular activity. The slave device is an ATmega328 microcontroller-based subsystem that defines the movements of the robotic hand from the information collected and processed by the master device. Experimental results are presented to evaluate the performance of the EMG-controlled hand prosthesis carrying out different types of grasping tasks.

Low cost intelligent household design based on Modbus/RTU protocol

Concerning about the fact that the quality of citizen’s daily life is improving in recent time, the construction of smart home has become as mainstream. We designed the intelligent household control system which achieved the muti-device communication through Modbus/RTU protocol, including the master device (AT89C51 singlechip), and the slave device. The master device took interrupt mode to send and receive data and realized the function that the slave device could receive, process, framing and send out the messages by adopting modular programming. The conflict of electrical level because of muti-device communication was solved effectively by designing the matched communication interface according to the Modbus protocol. This system has been tested to be useful and stable in basic control for intelligent household device. It can be easily achieved, duplicated and transplanted due to its minimal and low cost design.

Flexible Robot With Variable Stiffness in Transoral Surgery

To possess sufficient compliance while keeping an acceptable stiffness level for manipulation with precision, transoral robotic surgery (TORS) demands a flexible robotic system with variable stiffness (VS) as presented in this paper. In our study, a flexible three-prismatic-universal parallel mechanism employs superelastic nickel–titanium rods to achieve compliant movements beyond the conventional rigid-body parallel mechanisms. With a compact structure and flexible-shaft transmission, the adjustable tube-based VS mechanism allows the stiffness of the manipulator to be continuously tuned in real time according to the surgical requirements. A stiffness model is derived to evaluate the stiffness of the manipulator quantitatively. A parallel mechanism with three prismatic-revolute-spherical chains is adopted as the master device, to improve the maneuverability and decrease the learning curve for less experienced surgeons. The TORS manipulators are characterized and verified in the laboratory and cadaveric trials, showing the VS and the execution of the master–slave teleoperated configuration. Furthermore, the cadaveric trials attested the effectiveness of the VS mechanism and the preclinical feasibility of the robotic system.

Low-cost web-based Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system for a microgrid testbed: A case study in design and implementation for academic and research applications

This paper presents the design and implementation of a low-cost Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system based on a Web interface to be applied to a Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) microgrid. This development will provide a reliable and low-cost control and data acquisition systems for the Renewable Energy Laboratory at Universitat Politècnica de València (LabDER-UPV) in Spain, oriented to the research on microgrid stability and energy generation. The developed low-cost SCADA operates on a microgrid that incorporates a photovoltaic array, a wind turbine, a biomass gasification plant and a battery bank as an energy storage system. Sensors and power meters for electrical parameters, such as voltage, current, frequency, power factor, power generation, and energy consumption, were processed digitally and integrated into Arduino-based devices. A master device on a Raspberry-PI board was set up to send all this information to a local database (DB), and a MySQL Web-DB linked to a Web SCADA interface, programmed in HTML5. The communications protocols include TCP/IP, I2C, SPI, and Serial communication; Arduino-based slave devices communicate with the master Raspberry-PI using NRF24L01 wireless radio frequency transceivers. Finally, a comparison between a standard SCADA against the developed Web-based SCADA system is carried out. The results of the operative tests and the cost comparison of the own-designed developed Web-SCADA system prove its reliability and low-cost, on average an 86% cheaper than a standard brandmark solution, for controlling, monitoring and data logging information, as well as for local and remote operation system when applied to the HRES microgrid testbed.