Robot Software Research Articles

The Effects of Educational Robotics Applications on Linear Equations about Algebraic Reasoning

The research aims to investigate the effectiveness of the use of educational robotics applications used in linear equations unit on seventh grade students’ algebraic reasoning. Teaching experiment research design was adopted for the research. In the study, usage of idea o-bot robotics software was taught to six 7th grade students. During the research process, three teaching experiment sessions applied after pretesting. Experiment sessions involved activities such as code writing in the face of problem situations, creating algorithms from the written code, monitoring algorithms in the simulation, and improving the algorithms when the desired result is not achieved. Lastly posttesting was performed. Comparing the pretest and posttest results, the data analyses showed that an observable development has been recorded in the algebraic reasoning skills of students’ due to the fact that there are certain patterns and generalization processes in the developed algorithms. In addition, there has been an improvement in the participants' ability to use, understand and transform multiple representations in scientific process skills and problem solving skills.

EUD-MARS: End-user development of model-driven adaptive robotics software systems

• EUD-MARS supports end-user development of model-driven adaptive robotics software. • EUD-MARS is supported by two tools. • The first tool enables software developers to prepare robot profiles. • The second tool enables end-users to program robots using visual blocks. • Three evaluation studies offered positive indications and insights for future work. Empowering end-users to program robots is becoming more significant. Introducing software engineering principles into end-user programming could improve the quality of the developed software applications. For example, model-driven development improves technology independence and adaptive systems act upon changes in their context of use. However, end-users need to apply such principles in a non-daunting manner and without incurring a steep learning curve. This paper presents EUD-MARS that aims to provide end-users with a simple approach for developing model-driven adaptive robotics software. End-users include people like hobbyists and students who are not professional programmers but are interested in programming robots. EUD-MARS supports robots like hobby drones and educational humanoids that are available for end-users. It offers a tool for software developers and another one for end-users. We evaluated EUD-MARS from three perspectives. First, we used EUD-MARS to program different types of robots and assessed its visual programming language against existing design principles. Second, we asked software developers to use EUD-MARS to configure robots and obtained their feedback on strengths and points for improvement. Third, we observed how end-users explain and develop EUD-MARS programs, and obtained their feedback mainly on understandability, ease of programming, and desirability. These evaluations yielded positive indications of EUD-MARS.

Governance models for robotic process automation: The case of Nordea Bank

The teaching case addresses the governance of robotic process automation at Nordea, a large banking group operating primarily in the Nordic region. Nordea has deployed numerous software robots, for a wide range of business processes, from transaction-processing work and both internal and external reporting all the way to interaction with end users in handling of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-related queries. The scene is set with a meeting where three people discuss the current state of robotic process automation implementation at Nordea: Group Head of Robotics Agnieszka Belowska Gosławska, Head of Robotic Process Automation Operations Piotr Stolarczyk and Acting Head of Robotics Execution Jaroslaw Motylewski. The presentation outlines several governance-related issues and decision points that must be addressed in connection with any deployment of robotic process automation at somewhat large scale within a company. The key issues are related to the software’s development and maintenance, robotic process automation governance and IT infrastructure. Students who have worked through the case should be able to (1) describe archetypal and hybrid governance modes for robotic process automation and (2) evaluate their advantages and disadvantages for solid infrastructure and effective software development and maintenance.

Bioinspired conductive cellulose liquid-crystal hydrogels as multifunctional electrical skins

Bionic electronic skin (E-skin) that could convert external physical or mechanical stimuli into output signals has a wide range of applications including wearable devices, artificial prostheses, software robots, etc. Here, we present a chameleon-inspired multifunctional E-skin based on hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), Poly(Acrylamide-co-Acrylic acid) (PACA), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composited liquid-crystal hydrogel. We found that the HPC could still form cholesteric liquid-crystal photonic structures with the CNTs additive for enhancing their color saturation and PACA polymerization for locating their assembled periodic structures. As the composite hydrogel containing HPC elements and the PACA scaffold responds to different stimuli, such as temperature variations, mechanical pressure, and tension, it could correspondingly change its volume or internal nanostructure and report these as visible color switches. In addition, due to the additive of CNTs, the composite hydrogel could also output these stimuli as electrical resistance signals. Thus, the hydrogel E-skins had the ability of quantitatively feeding back external stimuli through electrical resistance as well as visually mapping the stimulating sites by color variation. This dual-signal sensing provides the ability of visible-user interaction as well as antiinterference, endowing the multifunctional E-skin with great application prospects.

Application of Robotic Software on Effective Diabetes Control (GH-Method: Math-Physical Medicine)

This paper focuses on the author’s invented robotic software technology, the artificial intelligence glucometer (AIG) product, to provide a diagnosis for diabetes disease and glucose control. From 2010–2013, he self-studied internal medicine and food nutrition. In 2014, he further utilized topology concept, partial differential equation, non-linear algebra, and finite element engineering concept to develop a human metabolism’s mathematical model. It consists of 10 categories and ~500 elements with ~1.5 million collected data of his own body health, disease conditions, and lifestyle details. Starting from 2015, he focused on the root cause of diabetes, which is “glucose”. By applying wave theory, signal processing, energy theory, optical physics, structural & fluid dynamics from physics and engineering modeling; pattern and segmentation analysis, time/space/frequency domain analyses, big data analytics, machine learning and self-correction, prediction equations from mathematics and computer science, he decided to utilize his robotic software as the foundation to further build up his needed medical research and clinical tools. By using the artificial intelligence (AI) robotic software, the author’s average glucose decreased from 280 mg/dL to 118 mg/dL and his hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C or A1C) reduced from 10%+ to below 6.5%, without diabetes medications. All his diabetes complications are either under control or have subsided. This innovative technology of his robotic software for glucose prediction and diabetes control has also been proven by many other patients, who have achieved equally remarkable medical results.

Automatic Design of Collective Behaviors for Robots that Can Display and Perceive Colors

Research in swarm robotics has shown that automatic design is an effective approach to realize robot swarms. In automatic design methods, the collective behavior of a swarm is obtained by automatically configuring and fine-tuning the control software of individual robots. In this paper, we present TuttiFrutti: an automatic design method for robot swarms that belongs to AutoMoDe—a family of methods that produce control software by assembling preexisting software modules via optimization. The peculiarity of TuttiFrutti is that it designs control software for e-puck robots that can display and perceive colors using their RGB LEDs and omnidirectional camera. Studies with AutoMoDe have been so far restricted by the limited capabilities of the e-pucks. By enabling the use of colors, we significantly enlarge the variety of collective behaviors they can produce. We assess TuttiFrutti with swarms of e-pucks that perform missions in which they should react to colored light. Results show that TuttiFrutti designs collective behaviors in which the robots identify the colored light displayed in the environment and act accordingly. The control software designed by TuttiFrutti endowed the swarms of e-pucks with the ability to use color-based information for handling events, communicating, and navigating.

Robotic process automation in accounting systems

AbstractRobotic process automation is rapidly transforming the world of work for accounting and other information professionals. Data collection and entry that used to occupy much of the workday is being automated by programmable software robots or bots. Automation using bots should begin with processes that are stable, repetitive, and consume sufficient resources to generate a solid return on investment. As bots are implemented, a number of governance, risk, and compliance issues need to be considered including appropriate controls on bot access to sensitive records and transactions. The bot development process also requires controls so that only tested and authorized bots are deployed. For many companies, RPA is exactly what they have been looking for to drive higher efficiency in information processing.

A review on control systems hardware and software for robots of various scale and purpose. Part 3. Extreme robotics

A review of robotic systems is carried out. The paper analyzes applied hardware and software solutions and summarizes the most common block diagrams of control systems. The analysis of approaches to control systems scaling, the use of intelligent control, achieving of fault tolerance, reducing the weight and size of control system elements belonging to various classes of robotic systems is carried out. The goal of the review is finding common approaches used in various areas of robotics to build on their basis a uniform methodology for designing scalable intelligent control systems for robots with a given level of fault tolerance on a unified component base. This part is dedicated to extreme robotics and the generalization of the conclusions for the whole review. The paper notes the possibility and necessity of developing common approaches to the creation of robots of various sizes and purposes. It is noted that, in contrast to many foreign countries, in the Russian Federation developers must consider the serious limitations on the electronics components, which do not allow for the free conversion of technologies between civilian, military and space robotics. In this regard, it is proposed to analyze the interchangeable Russian and foreign microelectronic components, to find technical solutions in the field of the control systems and communication between them, which could be implemented both in foreign and Russian microelectronics, and to create on their basis a conceptual model of scalable intelligent control system with a required level of fault tolerance. The model should be based on a unified set of components.

Robotic Process Automation — a driver of digital transformation?

Abstract The paper introduces Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which is an emerging and cutting-edge conception of business processes automation, based on the notion of software robots or artificial intelligence workers. The paper is conceptual as it discusses the fundamentals behind this idea, synthesises the knowledge of technology, and presents it in a new context. It is based on the author's considerations and the literature review, which contributes to the insight into the basic understanding of RPA technology as well as systematises and clarifies RPA definitions, identifies market trends, formulates a set of predictions for further development of this technology, and highlights directions for future inquiry. Additionally, logical arguments are proposed for considering RPA as a technology that enables and advances digital transformation. Moreover, criteria are indicated for business processes suitable for RPA. Nowadays, the robotisation of business processes a s innovative technology is more often practically implemented than it is investigated by research. Published papers outline real examples of implemented cases of RPA technology in organisations that mainly represent service industries. These case studies allow identifying possible advantages and risks derived from RPA implementation. Recent studies also report benefits of the RPA application in terms of productivity, costs, service quality, and error reduction. Some authors propose the criteria for selecting processes suitable for automation and robotisation. This paper constitutes a foundation for new research aimed at filling knowledge gaps in this area. Responding to the call by van der Aalst, academic discourse on RPA must be initiated.

Fabrication of High-Quality Polymer Composite Frame by a New Method of Fiber Winding Process.

Polymer composite frame has been frequently used in the main structural body of vehicles in aerospace, automotive, etc., applications. Manufacturing of complex curved composite frame suffer from the lack of accurate and optimum method of winding process that lead to preparation of uniform fiber arrangement in critical location of the curved frame. This article deals with the fabrication of high-quality polymer composite frame through an optimal winding of textile fibers onto a non-bearing core frame using a fiber-processing head and an industrial robot. The number of winding layers of fibers and their winding angles are determined based on the operational load on the composite structure. Ensuring the correct winding angles and thus also the homogeneity of fibers in each winding layer can be achieved by using an industrial robot and by definition of its suitable off-line trajectory for the production cycle. Determination of an optimal off-line trajectory of the end-effector of a robot (robot-end-effector (REE)) is important especially in the case of complicated 3D shaped frames. The authors developed their own calculation procedure to determine the optimal REE trajectory in the composite manufacturing process. A mathematical model of the winding process, matrix calculus (particularly matrices of rotations and translations) and an optimization differential evolution algorithm are used during calculation of the optimal REE trajectory. Polymer composites with greater resistance to failure damage (especially against physical destruction) can be produced using the above mentioned procedure. The procedure was successfully tested in an experimental composite laboratory. Two practical examples of optimal trajectory calculation are included in the article. The described optimization algorithm of REE trajectory is completely independent of the industrial robot type and robot software tools used and can also be used in other composite manufacturing technologies.

A novel multi-brand robotic software interface for industrial additive manufacturing cells

A novel multi-brand robotic software interface for industrial additive manufacturing cells

Framework for Static and Dynamic Friction Identification for Industrial Manipulators

Even if friction modeling and compensation is a very important issue for manipulators, quite simple models are often adopted in the industrial world to avoid too heavy solutions from the computational point of view, and because of the difficulty of finding and identifying a model applicable in any motion condition. This article proposes a general framework for friction identification for industrial manipulators with the goal of solving the previous problems through: first, a complete procedure managing all the steps from data acquisition and model identification up to the generation of the code for the implementation into the robot software architecture, second, the possibility of adopting static or dynamic models of different complexity, and third, the development of some modifications in the dynamic friction model so to achieve a reliable friction torque estimation at any velocity and acceleration regime, avoiding unfeasible peaks and overestimation. The results of experimental tests carried out for different manipulators prove the validity and generality of the proposed friction model and identification procedure.

Fully Automatic Robot-Assisted Surgery for Mandibular Angle Split Osteotomy.

With the development of computer-assisted surgery, preoperational design is detailed in software. However, it is still a challenge for surgeons to realize the surgical plan in the craniofacial surgery. Robot-assisted surgery has advantages of high accuracy and stability. It is suitable for the high-stress procedures like drilling, milling, and cutting. This study aims to verify the feasibility for automatic drilling without soft tissues in model test based on an industrial robot platform.This study chose the data from digital laboratory in Shanghai 9th People's Hospital. The mandibular was reconstructed in software and surgical plan was also designed. Then, the coordinate data was input to the robot's software and matrix conversion was calculated by 4 marked points. The trajectory generation was calculated by inverse kinematics for target coordinates and robot coordinates. The model was fixed and calibrated for automatic drilling. At last, the accuracy was calculated by optic scanning instrument.The installment and preparation cost 10 minutes, the drilling procedure cost 12 minutes. The outside position error was (1.71 ± 0.16) mm, the inside position error was (1.37 ± 0.28) mm, the orientation error was (3.04 ± 1.02)°. Additionally, a total of 5 beagles were tested, with an accuracy error of (2.78 ± 1.52) mm. No postoperative complications occurred.This is the first study reported for robot-assisted automatic surgery in craniofacial surgery. The result shows it is possible to realize the automatic drilling procedure under the condition of no interference like soft tissues. With the development of artificial intelligence and machine vision, robot-assisted surgery may help surgeons to fulfill more automatic procedures for craniofacial surgery.

A development platform for behavioral flexibility in autonomous unmanned aerial systems

Autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could supplement and eventually subsume a substantial portion of the mission set currently executed by remote pilots, making UAS more robust, responsive, and numerous than can be achieved by teleoperation alone. Unfortunately, the development of robust autonomous systems is difficult, costly, and time-consuming. Furthermore, the resulting systems often make little reuse of proven software components and offer limited adaptability for new tasks. This work presents a development platform for UAS which promotes behavioral flexibility. The platform incorporates the unified behavior framework (a modular, extensible autonomy framework), the robotic operating system (a robotic software framework), and PX4 (an open-source flight controller). Simulation of UBF agents identify a combination of reactive robotic control strategies effective for small-scale navigation tasks by a UAS in the presence of obstacles. Finally, flight tests provide a partial validation of the simulated results. The development platform presented in this work offers robust and responsive behavioral flexibility for UAS agents in simulation and reality using a methodology originally proven on ground robots.

Turning robots into teacher's aides: Christian Wanamaker's robotics software helps students on the autism Spectrum - Careers

CHRISTIAN WANAMAKER'S ROBOTICS SOFTWARE HELPS STUDENTS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM WHEN THE SMILEY-FACED RObot tells two boys to pick out the drawing of an ear from three choices, one of the boys, about 5, touches his nose. “No. Ear,” his teacher says, a note of frustration in her voice. The child picks up the drawing of an ear and hands it to the other boy, who shows it to the robot. “Yes, that is the ear,” the ever-patient robot says. “Good job.” The boys smile as the teacher pats the first boy in congratulations.

NSE Stock Monitoring using Robotic Process Automation

The core objective of the project is to automate the backend office work of monitoring stocks daily. The project uses “Robotic Process Automation” to download the daily stock values from NSE website, feed the data into an Excel Sheet and send it to the required recipient through E-mail. Software for robotic process automation (RPA) is designed to perform basic tasks across applications just like human workers. A process with multiple steps and applications is taught to the software robot, such as taking received forms, sending a receipt note, verifying the completeness of the document, uploading the form in a folder, and updating a spreadsheet with the form name, the date submitted, etc. Like deep learning, with some support from programmers, the software robots used in robotic process automation are programmed by the employees to do the tasks in a specific workflow. The software is not learning on its own or trying to adapt new efficiencies or new insights such as tools for enterprise resource management (ERM). RPA acts as a remote worker assistant by clearing up the burdensome, simple tasks that eat up part of the day of each office worker.

Towards a Low-Cost Solution to Learn Robot Manipulator Control

Learn a robot manipulator in university requires a physical robot so students can learn to program it straight away. However, it is expensive and not affordable by most universities in Indonesia. We turn to a ROS-based solution for an open source, free and advanced robotic software system. Using ROS and Gazebo simulator, we develop a low-cost solution where students can learn an advanced robot manipulator such as Baxter. We divide our labwork into five sections: controlling the arm w.r.t. joints position, controlling the arm based on its inverse kinematics, object detection by a camera attached in robot’s wrist, executing a simple plan: pick and place task, and enabling a robot to perform a tool-use task. By gradually increasing the complexities of the labwork material we expect students get a better understanding in controlling a robot manipulator. We provide an affordable solution for students to learn robot manipulator control.

Trend and prospect of the magnetic surgery

Reviewing the development history of magnetic surgery in the past 40 years, it has obtained plentiful achievements. By means of the magnetic surgery, a number of sophisticated clinical problems are solved, and some basic surgical operations are optimized, showing good development prospect. The theoretical knowledge system of magnetic surgery has been established, and it enriches the surgical system, and cultivates a group of medical-engineering professionals. The representative achievements of the magnetic surgery are as below. The related basic researches and clinical researches are becoming more comprehensive in breadth and depth, and the rate of transformation of the research achievements is gradually increasing. Additionally, the magnetic surgery practically serves the clinic and benefits the patients. With the deepening of the basic research and the expansion of medical-engineering cross, magnetic surgery has shown huge development space and has accumulated the potential to lead several surgical techniques to change. At present, global scientific and technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity, and a new round of technological revolution and industrial change is restructuring the global innovation landscape and reshaping the global economic structure. Today, the concept of precision surgery, that safe, efficient, minimally invasive, and maximum benefits for patients, has put forward higher requirements for surgical instruments and equipment. Although the surgical energy equipment and instruments, especially original instruments and equipment, has not achieved tremendous development yet, magnetic surgery pays more attention to original innovation and integrated innovation. It is expected to follow the trend driven by innovation and become an emerging branch of surgery. Therefore, this article aims to briefly review the history of the development of magnetic surgery, focusing on the future development trends and directions of magnetic surgery. In the history of the development of magnetic surgery for more than 40 years, the achievements of magnetic surgery research was observed chronologically. We have concluded that the current development of magnetic surgery has the following four trends. Firstly, the basic research on magnetic surgery and research on magnetic materials are getting more thorough. Secondly, the applied research on magnetic surgery is getting deeper. Thirdly, the cross of science and technology related to magnetic medicine is getting closer. Fourthly, the transformation of achievement of magnetic surgery research is getting faster and faster. In addition, we discusse and summarize three potential development directions of magnetic surgery in the next few years. Firstly, new magnetic materials lead to new applications on surgery, such as magnetic hydrogel software robot used in interventional operation and the application of light-curable magnetic materials used in the endoscopic surgery. Secondly, magnetic materials can be combined with other elements to solve complex surgical problems. For instance, magnet and gel will be combined to achieve rapid liver transplantation, and hard magnet combined with soft magnetic solution for treating the refractory constipation. Thirdly, the new application scenarios of magnetic surgery will be discovered and expanded. For example, the magnetic damping technique used to treat nystagmus. In summary, magnetic surgery shows a good development trend, and there are still huge development prospects and directions in the future. We hope that the magnetic surgery will continue to develop and achieve great achievements in the future.

Collaborative Pick and Place using industrial robots, simulation and deployment

In recent times, a fraction of industrial robotics has been oriented to a collaborative approach between different devices to achieve a specific task. This paper describes the simulation and deployment of a metallic beam pick a place process using tow industrial robots. At first, the tool design is presented; it used an electromagnet attached to the robot end effector to lift the load correctly. The communication sequence between the robot's controllers using the digital I/O modules is discussed. The software Robot Studio allowed the process simulation, in which the performance was validated. All the tasks were tested in two ABB IRB 140 industrial robots.

Towards a Framework of Implementing Software Robots

Software robots tend to increasingly take over organizational processes. However, little is known about principles of building and implementing as opposed to using robotic systems, such as bots for process automation (RPA) and chatbots. Therefore, based on an empirically illustrated theoretical conceptualization of routine automation and affordance actualization, this paper develops a framework that guides how different types of software robots can be built and implemented through transforming a human-executed routine into a robot-automated routine by applying specific implementation guidelines.