Simulated Robot Research Articles

I am frail and my robot is stuck on the corridor: cohabitation of people with frailty and robots

Abstract UK and European policies promote research and innovation for people living with frailty (PLWF), as realistic strategies for independent living. Yet homes are not designed for PLWF or robots, even though robots could support PLWF with activities, i.e., exercise and companionship. Adoption of robots in homes is limited to devices such as automated vacuum cleaners and voice assistants. Robotics aimed at assisting PLWF have been thus far been tested in laboratories and the study of real homes for the co-habitation of robots and older people is often neglected. We draw on expertise from human-robot interaction, built environment, public health and clinical practice to facilitate optimisation of human and robot cohabitation for PLWF. For this, we have reviewed different robots-for-frailty, in terms of, ability to fit and move within homes. We utilised a range of methods and sources of information including meetings with allied health professionals, visited the Robot House and explored the available robots from a fit for purpose perspective, audited five flats for PLWF in Gloucester, England in accordance with the needs of those with frailty, simulated robot’s function within the home environment, using persona’s for different use case scenarios, trial testing of selected robots in the home environment for comparison with simulation, using knowledge gained to extrapolate this data to estimate suitability for frail individuals in their homes. Most robots currently available would not adequately fit in an independent living accommodation or the smaller ones could be a tripping hazard. The communal areas of independent living would be more realistic for such human robot interactions, rather than the actual households. The research informs the process facilitating the adoption of robots to benefit PLWF both feasible and desired. The research produced a framework that can lead to future research exploring robot and PLWF co-habitation in real home settings. Key messages • The cohabitation of humans and robots currently faces barriers relevant to independent living built-environment spatial restrictions. • Technologies that support independent living and frailty must develop in spatially-unobtrusive ways.

A concurrent learning approach to monocular vision range regulation of leader/follower systems

This paper explores range and bearing angle regulation of a leader–follower using monocular vision. The main challenge is that monocular vision does not directly provide a range measurement. The contribution is a novel concurrent learning (CL) approach, called CL Subtended Angle and Bearing Estimator for Relative pose (CL-SABER), which achieves range regulation without communication, persistency of excitation or known geometry and is demonstrated on a physical, robot platform. A history stack estimates target size which augments the Kalman filter (KF) with a range pseudomeasurement. The target is followed to scale without drift, persistency of excitation requirements, prior knowledge, or additional measurements. Finite excitation is required to achieve parameter convergence and perform steady-state regulation using CL-SABER. Evaluation using simulation and mobile robot experiments in special Euclidean planar space (SE(2)) show that the new method provides stable and consistent range regulation, as demonstrated by the inter-rater reliability, including in noisy and high leader acceleration environments.

Video Review Can Measure Surgical Robotic Skill Development in a Resident Robotic Hernia Curriculum: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Hernia repairs are one of the most common general surgery procedures and an essential part of training for general surgery residents. The widespread incorporation of robotic hernia repairs warrants the development of a procedure-specific robotic curriculum to assist novice surgeons in improving technical skills. Objective: To evaluate a robotic hernia simulation-based curriculum for general surgery residents using video review. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of PGY-3 general surgery residents from the University of Chicago from 2019 to 2021. The residents completed inguinal hernia repair (IHR) and ventral hernia repair (VHR) drills as part of a robotic simulation curriculum. The drills were recorded and graded according to the modified objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) and time to completion. The drills were completed by 3 attending surgeons to establish gold-standard benchmarks. Results: In total, 20 residents started the curriculum, 19 completed all IHR drills and 17 completed all VHR drills. Attending surgeon total OSATS scores and time to completion were significantly better than the trainees on the first attempt (P < 0.05). When comparing 1st to 4th attempt, resident OSATS scores improved significantly for IHR (15.5 vs 23.3; P < 0.001) and VHR (16.8 vs 23.3; P < 0.001). Time also improved over 4 attempts (IHR: 28.5 vs 20.5 minutes; P < 0.001 and VHR: 29.6 vs 21.2 minutes; P < 0.001). Residents achieved attending-level OSATS scores by their fourth attempt for VHR, but not for IHR. Residents did not achieve attending-level times for either hernia drills. Conclusions: The robotic hernia curriculum improved resident performance on hernia repair drills and was well-received by the residents.

The impact of single-port robotic surgery: a survey among urology residents and fellows in the United States.

Our aim was to investigate the perception and future expectations of Single-Port (SP) surgery among urology trainees in the United States. A 34-item online survey was distributed to urological residency and fellowship programs across the US, covering demographic profiles, SP training opportunities, perceived educational impact, and future perspectives. Descriptive analysis and multivariable linear regression were used to assess predictors of SP adoption. 201 surveys were completed (28.6% completion rate). Among institutions with an SP platform, about 50% have used it regularly for over 2 years, though often in less than 50% of procedures. While robotic simulators are commonly available, only 17% offer both multi-port and SP simulators, and structured pre-clinical SP training is limited. Approximately 30% of respondents expressed concerns over limited hands-on experience and a steeper learning curve with SP. Around 40% felt that their robotic surgery exposure was negatively impacted by SP's introduction. SP surgery's benefits are seen mostly in the immediate post-operative period and a significant number of respondents foresee a major role for SP in urology. However, proficiency in SP surgery is not seen as crucial for career advancement or job opportunities. Academic job aspirations, SP platform availability, and SP surgery workload are predictors of future SP implementation. Trainees increasingly recognize the clinical benefits of SP procedures but express concerns about the potential negative impact on hands-on experience. Training programs should more systematically integrate SP technology into curricula. There is a correlation between training in high-volume SP centers and future SP adoption.

Humanoid patient robot for diagnostic training in medical and psychiatric education.

Simulation-based learning is an integral part of hands-on learning and is often done through role-playing games or patients simulated by professional actors. In this article, we present the use of a humanoid robot as a simulation patient for the presentation of disease symptoms in the setting of medical education. In a study, 12 participants watched both the patient simulation by the robotic patient and the video with the actor patient. We asked participants about their subjective impressions of the robotic patient simulation compared to the video with the human actor patient using a self-developed questionnaire. In addition, we used the Affinity for Technology Interaction Scale. The evaluation of the questionnaire provided insights into whether the robot was able to realistically represent the patient which features still need to be improved, and whether the robot patient simulation was accepted by the participants as a learning method. Sixty-seven percent of the participants indicated that they would use the robot as a training opportunity in addition to the videos with acting patients. The majority of participants indicated that they found it very beneficial to have the robot repeat the case studies at their own pace.

Learning Curve for Robotic Colorectal Surgery.

With the increasing adoption of robotic surgery in clinical practice, institutions intending to adopt this technology should understand the learning curve in order to develop strategies to help its surgeons and operating theater teams overcome it in a safe manner without compromising on patient care. Various statistical methods exist for the analysis of learning curves, of which a cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis is more commonly described in the literature. Variables used for analysis can be classified into measures of the surgical process (e.g., operative time and pathological quality) and measures of patient outcome (e.g., postoperative complications). Heterogeneity exists in how performance thresholds are defined during the interpretation of learning curves. Factors that influence the learning curve include prior surgical experience in colorectal surgery, being in a mature robotic surgical unit, case mix and case complexity, robotic surgical simulation, spending time as a bedside first assistant, and being in a structured training program with proctorship.

Development of a Mathematical Model of a Highly Maneuverable Robot for Simulation of Robots with Different Types of Designs

The article presents the results of developing a mathematical model and simulation modeling of a three-wheeled highly maneuverable mobile robot. A mathematical model of the robot in the state space has been developed. The possibility of using this robot with rotary modules for analyzing and testing control algorithms for robots of various designs has been considered. The relevance of the study is justified by the high costs of creating physical models of robots for experimental verification of control algorithms. The proposed three-wheeled mobile robot with rotary modules, where each wheel is simultaneously both a driving and a steering wheel, allows reducing these costs, while maintaining the ability to simulate part of the real operating conditions. Simplified diagrams of the robot are given, the main parameters and equations characterizing the change in linear and angular velocity are described. Particular attention is paid to modeling various types of robot drives: automotive type and with a differential drive. In the discrete state space, equations describing the dynamics of the robot were presented, which allows them to be used in software products for modeling. The results of simulation modeling obtained in the SimInTech software environment confirm the effectiveness of the proposed model. The analysis of the obtained results showed that the use of a three-wheeled robot with rotary modules allows successfully simulating the behavior of robots with other types of drives and creating conditions close to real ones for testing control algorithms. The proposed model can be used to improve the quality of design and testing of control algorithms in robotics, while reducing the costs of creating physical models of robots, as well as in the educational process.

Virtual Prototype Construction and Motion Simulation of Submarine Cable Outer Wall Inspection Robot Based on CAD and Reinforcement Learning

Virtual Prototype Construction and Motion Simulation of Submarine Cable Outer Wall Inspection Robot Based on CAD and Reinforcement Learning

HoloOcean: A Full-Featured Marine Robotics Simulator for Perception and Autonomy

HoloOcean: A Full-Featured Marine Robotics Simulator for Perception and Autonomy

Bridging the reality gap in drone swarm development through mixed reality

AbstractSwarm algorithms promise to solve certain problems in large multi-robot systems. The evaluation of large swarms is however challenging as simulations alone often lack some properties of real systems whereas real-world experiments are costly and complex. We present a mixed reality (MR) system that connects simulated and physical robots though a 5G network, facilitating MR experiments to evaluate communication-based swarm algorithms. The effectiveness of the system is demonstrated through extensive experiments with unmanned aerial vehicles. Measurements show that the communication requirements of swarm coordination are well met by 5G but the computing power of the simulation server can be a bottleneck. However, even when the simulation slows down, communication and coordination take place in real time. In conclusion, 5G-enabled MR experiments are a feasible tool for bridging the reality gap in the development and evaluation of robot swarms.

Increasing Horizontal Controlled Force Delivery Capabilities of Aerial Manipulators by Leveraging the Environment

Delivering large horizontal controlled forces for long periods with aerial manipulators is not an easy task to accomplish; several factors including disturbances, reaction forces from the on-board arm or actuator’s limitations might diminish their horizontal force delivery capabilities. Aiming to mitigate these drawbacks, this paper presents a comprehensive study of the force delivery capabilities of aerial manipulators leveraging the environment. The methodology to evaluate the aforementioned capabilities is the Generalized-Jacobian-based force ellipsoid, which was applied to different types of both free-flying and attached-to-the-environment aerial manipulators. In addition, large controlled force delivery experiments with the mentioned manipulators were conducted on physics-engine-based robotics simulation software. The obtained results categorically demonstrate that aerial manipulators leveraging the environment are capable of delivering larger forces than their free-flying counterparts, which has not been proved in the literature so far in the field of aerial robotics.

Soft robotic artificial left ventricle simulator capable of reproducing myocardial biomechanics.

The heart's intricate myocardial architecture has been called the Gordian knot of anatomy, an impossible tangle of intricate muscle fibers. This complexity dictates equally complex cardiac motions that are difficult to mimic in physical systems. If these motions could be generated by a robotic system, then cardiac device testing, cardiovascular disease studies, and surgical procedure training could reduce their reliance on animal models, saving time, costs, and lives. This work introduces a bioinspired soft robotic left ventricle simulator capable of reproducing the minutiae of cardiac motion while providing physiological pressures. This device uses thin-filament artificial muscles to mimic the multilayered myocardial architecture. To demonstrate the device's ability to follow the cardiac motions observed in the literature, we used canine myocardial strain data as input signals that were subsequently applied to each artificial myocardial layer. The device's ability to reproduce physiological volume and pressure under healthy and heart failure conditions, as well as effective simulation of a cardiac support device, were experimentally demonstrated in a left-sided mock circulation loop. This work also has the potential to deliver faithful simulated cardiac motion for preclinical device and surgical procedure testing, with the potential to simulate patient-specific myocardial architecture and motion.

Hydrodynamic Simulation and Experiment of a Self-Adaptive Amphibious Robot Driven by Tracks and Bionic Fins.

Amphibious robots have broad prospects in the fields of industry, defense, and transportation. To improve the propulsion performance and reduce operation complexity, a novel bionic amphibious robot, namely AmphiFinbot-II, is presented in this paper. The swimming and walking components adopt a compound drive mechanism, enabling simultaneous control for the rotation of the track and the wave-like motion of the undulating fin. The robot employs different propulsion methods but utilizes the same operation strategy, eliminating the need for mode switching. The structure and the locomotion principle are introduced. The performance of the robot in different motion patterns was analyzed via computational fluid dynamics simulation. The simulation results verified the feasibility of the wave-like swimming mechanism. Physical experiments were conducted for both land and underwater motion, and the results were consistent with the simulation regulation. Both the underwater linear and angular velocity were proportional to the undulating frequency. The robot's maximum linear speed and steering speed on land were 2.26 m/s (2.79 BL/s) and 442°/s, respectively, while the maximum speeds underwater were 0.54 m/s (0.67 BL/s) and 84°/s, respectively. The research findings indicate that the robot possesses outstanding amphibious motion capabilities and a simplistic yet unified control approach, thereby validating the feasibility of the robot's design scheme, and offering a novel concept for the development of high-performance and self-contained amphibious robots.

Review and analysis of software simulators for robotic information systems

The rapid development of educational technologies requires the active involvement of new means and effective teaching methods. One of the innovative tools of learning in the field of robotics is the use of robot simulators in the educational process, which open up many opportunities for better assimilation of knowledge and development of practical skills among students. Robot simulators are software complexes that allow you to visualize and simulate the behavior of real robots. With these tools, students can: program robots in a virtual environment, test code and debug without the risk of damaging real equipment; to study robotics and the principles of robot operation, exploring different types of sensors, actuators and algorithms of robot behavior; to solve problems in various fields, such as production automation, logistics, construction, etc.; practices your skills in a safe and controlled environment. Among the benefits of using robotic simulators are next: availability for a large number of students, as simulators are much cheaper than real jobs; safety, as the virtual environment eliminates the risks associated with working with real robots; flexibility that allows students to work at their own pace, explore different scenarios and experiment with different parameters; interactivity with a realistic 3D-environment and visualization. This work presents an overview and analysis of software that allows modeling robot control systems and simulating their operation for various algorithms. A review and analysis of the proposed software tools for simulating robotic systems, which are used to teach bachelor's and master's degree students in the specialties of "Computer Science", "Information Systems", "Industrial Mechanical Engineering" and "Applied Mechanics" and have proven their effectiveness and effectiveness in distance learning at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture.

Hybrid force-position coordinated control of a parallel mechanism with the number of redundant actuators equal to its DOF

To address the demands for precision and load-bearing capacity in the installation of building panels, a hybrid force-position driven robot with redundant actuation has been developed. The mechanical performance of this robot is primarily governed by its central parallel mechanism, which is equipped with redundant actuators matching the degrees of freedom. Non-redundant and redundant actuators are respectively responsible for position and force control. The inclusion of redundant force-driven joints has increased the internal coupling within the mechanism. To enhance the coordination between position and force control, a hybrid synchronized control method based on cross-coupling has been proposed. Initially, kinematic and dynamic models of the parallel structure were established. Under predefined trajectories, the theoretical inputs for each actuator were calculated using inverse kinematics and dynamics. Subsequently, employing the principle of cross-coupling, the torque output from the position actuators was used as feedback. This feedback was processed by a synchronized coordination controller to adjust the output force of the redundant force-driven joints. By adjusting the output force of the redundant actuators, the torque burden on the position actuators was effectively reduced, thereby enhancing the precision of position control. Additionally, under the same load conditions, smaller power actuators could be utilized for position control, reducing the overall weight of the robot and improving its load-to-weight ratio. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, a robotic simulation environment was established. The simulation results demonstrated significant reductions in the average torque required by the position actuators across three different trajectories, with reductions of 91.43%, 54.56%, and 80.6% respectively. Finally, the load-bearing capacity and the load-to-weight ratio of the prototype were assessed. Experimental results confirmed that the prototype achieved a load-to-weight ratio of 15.83%, validating the effectiveness of the hybrid synchronized control method based on cross-coupling.

Training of Skills of Providing Assistance in Emergency Conditions to Dentists Using Anthropomorphic Simulation Robots

In the daily work of a dentist, situations often arise that require emergency care for urgent indications. According to researchers (Al-Turki O, Al-Hussyeen A, Al-Hammad N, Alhowaish L, Almaflehi N. Medical Emergencies In Dental Practice. J Dent Med Sci), emergency medical situations at a dental appointment occur on average once every two years. In addition, in recent years, there have been fatal cases during the provision of dental care, which certainly makes the problem relevant.

Dynamic modeling and simulation of a torque-controlled spatial quadruped robot

Dynamic modeling and simulation of a torque-controlled spatial quadruped robot

Refined Prior Guided Category-Level 6D Pose Estimation and Its Application on Robotic Grasping

Estimating the 6D pose and size of objects is crucial in the task of visual grasping for robotic arms. Most current algorithms still require the 3D CAD model of the target object to match with the detected points, and they are unable to predict the object’s size, which significantly limits the generalizability of these methods. In this paper, we introduce category priors and extract high-dimensional abstract features from both the observed point cloud and the prior to predict the deformation matrix of the reconstructed point cloud and the dense correspondence between the reconstructed and observed point clouds. Furthermore, we propose a staged geometric correction and dense correspondence refinement mechanism to enhance the accuracy of regression. In addition, a novel lightweight attention module is introduced to further integrate the extracted features and identify potential correlations between the observed point cloud and the category prior. Ultimately, the object’s translation, rotation, and size are obtained by mapping the reconstructed point cloud to a normalized canonical coordinate system. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms existing methods in terms of performance and accuracy on commonly used benchmarks for this type of problem. Additionally, we implement the algorithm in robotic arm-grasping simulations, further validating its effectiveness.

Biomechanical simulation of segmented intrusion of a mandibular canine using Robot Orthodontic Measurement & Simulation System (ROSS)

ObjectiveAim of this study was to investigate the forces and moments during segmented intrusion of a mandibular canine using Cantilever-Intrusion-Springs (CIS). MethodsThree different CIS modifications were investigated using a robotic biomechanical simulation system: unmodified CIS (#1, control), CIS with a lingual directed 6° toe-in bend (#2), and CIS with an additional 20° twist bend (#3). Tooth movement was simulated by the apparative robotic stand, controlled by a force-control algorithm, recording the acting forces and moments with a force-torque sensor. Statistical analysis was performed using Shapiro-Wilk, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and post hoc tests with Bonferroni correction (α = 0.05). ResultsThe initial intrusive force, which was uniformly generated by a 35° Tip-Back bend, decreased significantly (p < 0.05) from 0.31 N in group (#1) to 0.28 N in group (#3). Vestibular crown tipping reduced significantly (p < 0.05) from 2.11° in group (#1) and 1.72° in group (#2) to 0.05° in group (#3). Matching to that the direction of orovestibular force significantly (p < 0.05) shifted from 0.15 N to vestibular in group (#1) to 0.51 N to oral in group (#3) and the orovestibular tipping moment decreased also significantly (p < 0.05) from 4.63 Nmm to vestibular in group (#1) to 3.56 Nmm in group (#2) and reversed to 1.20 Nmm to oral in group (#3). Apart from that the orovestibular displacement changed significantly (p < 0.05) from 0.66 mm in buccal direction in group (#1) to 0.29 mm orally in group (#2) and 1.49 mm in oral direction as well in group (#3). SignificanceNone of the modifications studied achieved pure mandibular canine intrusion without collateral effects. The significant lingual displacement caused by modification (#3) is, not least from an aesthetic perspective, considered much more severe than a slight tipping of the canine. Consequently, modification (#2) can be recommended for clinical application based on the biomechanical findings.

Toward Impedance Control in Human-Machine Interfaces for Upper-Limb Prostheses.

Adaptation of upper-limb impedance (stiffness, damping, inertia) is crucial for humans to physically interact with the external environment during grasping and manipulation tasks. Here, we present a novel framework for Adaptive Impedance Control of Upper-limb Prosthesis (AIC-UP) based on surface electromyography (sEMG) signals. AIC-UP uses muscle-tendon models driven by sEMG signals from agonist-antagonist muscle groups to estimate the human motor intent as joint kinematics, stiffness and damping. These estimates are used to implement a variable impedance controller on a simulated robot. Designed for use by amputees, joint torque or stiffness measurements are not used for model calibration. AIC-UP was evaluated with eight able-bodied subjects and a transradial amputee performing target-reaching tasks in simulation through wrist flexion-extension. The control performance was tested in free space and in the presence of unexpected perturbations. We show that AIC-UP outperformed a neural network that regresses the desired kinematics from sEMG signals, in terms of robustness to muscle coactivations needed to complete the task. These results were in agreement with the qualitative feedback from the participants. Additionally, we observed that AIC-UP enables the user to adapt the stiffness and damping to the tasks at hand.