Robot Users Research Articles

Design and Analysis of All-Terrain Differential-Driven Caterpillar-Wheeled Based Unmanned Fire Extinguisher Robot

The usage of wheeled robots in service robots such as planetary exploration robots, pick-and-place robots, cleaning robots, surveillance robots, etc., is continuously increasing day by day. The primary purpose of these service robots is to reduce human resources and minimize human life risk in a hazardous environment. Therefore, in this article, the authors purpose and design the all-terrain differential-driven caterpillar-wheeled based unmanned Fire Extinguisher Robot (FER), which can detect and monitor the fire by using gas (smoke) sensor and temperature sensor. Also, it can extinguish the fire by spreading the fire extinguisher gas. The proposed unmanned FER has been divided into the two assembled units, one unit drives the FER, and another unit is for spreading the fire extinguisher gas through the nozzle of the cylinder. The driving unit of unmanned FER consists of six DC geared motors, two dual DC motor drivers, caterpillar driving wheels, Arduino MEGA microcontroller, Bluetooth module, gas sensor, temperature sensor, and rechargeable lithium-polymer (LiPo) battery. Next, the one DC motor connected with a motor driver controls the fire extinguisher gas cylinder's open and close valve through a Bluetooth signal from an android phone. The specially designed chassis and caterpillar driving wheel arrangement help the FER to travel in any terrain, including stair climbing. Real-time experimental tests have been carried out on the designed unmanned FER during the fire extinguishing process to prove the effectiveness of the developed FER.

Stereotyping the user: How elders and formal caregivers perceive elder users of companion-type robots

Stereotyping the user: How elders and formal caregivers perceive elder users of companion-type robots

Stakeholder perspectives on care robot users at the intersection of age and gender: Empirical-ethical analysis

Stakeholder perspectives on care robot users at the intersection of age and gender: Empirical-ethical analysis

A novel assessment model for teaching robot-assisted living donor nephrectomy in abdominal transplant surgery fellowship

BackgroundAn increasing number of transplant centers have adopted robot-assisted living donor nephrectomy. Thus, a transplant fellow assessment tool is needed for promoting operative independence in an objective and safe manner. MethodsIn this pilot study, data was prospectively collected on both fellow performance with focus on technique, efficiency, and communication (“overall RO-SCORE”), and operative steps (“operative steps RO-SCORE”). Robotic user performance metrics were analyzed from the da Vinci Xi system, including fellow percent active control time (ACT) and handoff counts. ResultsFrom July 2020 to February 2021, twenty-one robot-assisted donor nephrectomies were performed. In regression analysis, fellow performance (based on both RO-SCOREs and robot % ACT) was significantly associated with both time and case number, with time-to-independence modelled at 8.4–14.2 months, and case number-to-independence estimated at 15–22 cases. Robot user metrics provided valid objective measures alongside RO-SCOREs. ConclusionsThis pilot study provides an effective assessment tool for promoting operative competency in robot-assisted donor nephrectomy among transplant fellows.

Systematic Review of the Early Detection and Classification of Plant Diseases Using Deep Learning

Deep learning (DL) addresses the brilliant period of Artificial intelligence (AI) and is slowly developing into the main technique in numerous fields. Currently it assumes a significant part in the early location and order of plant diseases. Plant diseases have long been one of the main threats to food security, significantly reducing crop yields and quality. Therefore accurate disease diagnosis is the main goal. The utilization of machine learning (ML) innovation in this space is accepted to have prompted a huge expansion in usefulness in the hydroponics area, particularly in the new rise of ML which appears to expand the degree of precision. As the latest modern technology in image processing and successful application in various fields, deep learning has great potential and broad prospects in agriculture. This paper surveys 40 studies using deep learning methods applied to agriculture and food production. In this study, deep learning is compared to other popular image processing techniques. The findings show that deep learning provides better performance. Future directions may additionally consist of the usage of drones and agricultural robots to automate photo seize and then zooming in on plant sickness image datasets, using newly posted fashions that describe more efficient architectures with fewer parameters, as well as the use of new techniques for photograph enlargement inclusive of generative adversarial networks (GANs).

An integrated fuzzy MCDM approach based on Bonferroni functions for selection and evaluation of industrial robots for the automobile manufacturing industry

In recent years, there have been dramatic changes in manufacturing systems in many industries depending on technological developments. Robotics is one of the essential components of these changes. Today, the usage of robotics in manufacturing processes has become widespread in almost all industries. Also, it has become a very strong desire ever-increasing for even small and medium-sized enterprises at present. Almost all the previous studies emphasized that industrial robot selection is a highly complex decision-making problem as there are many conflicting factors and criteria. Besides, different and advanced specifications of these robotics added by robotic manufacturers have caused to increase the complexities much more. Hence, decision-makers encounter more complicated decision-making problems affected by many uncertainties. Because of that, an integrated fuzzy group MCDM framework can help overcome many ambiguities proposed in the current paper. The proposed fuzzy integrated model consists of the fuzzy SWARA (F-SWARA’B) and the fuzzy CoCoSo (F-CoCoSo'B), which are extended with the help of the Bonferroni function. The model selected the appropriate industrial robotics used in the automotive industry by considering 15 criteria and ten alternatives. According to the result of the study, the three most significant criteria have been determined: Working Accuracy, Reaching Distance, and Performance; and the most suitable option is the A8. The obtained results were validated with the help of a comprehensive sensitivity analysis consisting of different 150 scenarios. The results are also compared with some existing techniques. The sensitivity analysis results approve the validity and applicability of the proposed model.

Development of an End-Effector Type Therapeutic Robot with Sliding Mode Control for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation

Geriatric disorders, strokes, spinal cord injuries, trauma, and workplace injuries are all prominent causes of upper limb disability. A two-degrees-of-freedom (DoFs) end-effector type robot, iTbot (intelligent therapeutic robot) was designed to provide upper limb rehabilitation therapy. The non-linear control of iTbot utilizing modified sliding mode control (SMC) is presented in this paper. The chattering produced by a conventional SMC is undesirable for this type of robotic application because it damages the mechanical structure and causes discomfort to the robot user. In contrast to conventional SMC, our proposed method reduces chattering and provides excellent dynamic tracking performance, allowing rapid convergence of the system trajectory to its equilibrium point. The performance of the developed robot and controller was evaluated by tracking trajectories corresponding to conventional passive arm movement exercises, including several joints. According to the results of experiment, the iTbot demonstrated the ability to follow the desired trajectories effectively.

What do Older Adults Want from Social Robots? A Qualitative Research Approach to Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Studies

This study investigates what older adults want from social robots. Older adults are often presented with social robots designed based on developers’ assumptions that only vaguely address their actual needs. By lacking an understanding of older adults’ opinions of what technology should or could do for them–and what it should not do–we risk users of robots not finding them useful. Social and humanistic research on the robotization of care argues that it is important to prioritize user needs in technology design and implementation. Following this urgent call, we investigate older adults’ experiences of and approach to social robots in their everyday lives. This is done empirically through a qualitative analysis of data collected from six group interviews on care robots with health care service users, informal caregivers (relatives), and professional caregivers (healthcare workers). Through this “Need-Driven-Innovation” study we argue that, to secure a functional and valuable technology-fit for the user, it is crucial to take older adults’ wishes, fears, and desires about technology into account when implementing robots. It is also crucial to consider their wider networks of care, as the people in these networks also often interact with the assistive technology service users receive. Our study shows that more qualitative knowledge on the social aspect of human-robot interaction is needed to support future robot development and use in the health and care field and advocates for the crucial importance of strengthening the position of user-centered qualitative research in the field of social robotics.

Stick–slip in hand guidance of palletizing robot as collaborative robot

Stick–slip is a challenging problem in palletizing robots and constitutes one of the main problems in precision positioning control. This study analyzed the stick–slip of a four-degree-of-freedom ceiling-mounted hand-guiding collaborative robot in a working space. A brief perspective on the focus of the experimental design is presented on the stick–slip friction of a palletizing robot’s hand guidance as a collaborative robot. The palletizing robot typically has a simple mechanical structure but possesses over 16 bearings to constrain the motion of the dual-parallelogram linkage mechanism. First, the hand-guiding force was successfully measured. Second, an image model was built based on the obtained measurement results. Third, the stick–slip results for the working space were analyzed using an image model. Finally, related conclusions and recommendations are provided for precision positioning control. A significant aspect of this study is identifying the hand-guiding force in the working space of a ceiling-mounted collaborative robot. Stick–slip in hand guiding is a critical issue and is therefore important for collaborative robot users. The main contribution of this study is developing a feasible method for helping researchers understand where stick–slip occurs.

Flatness tracking control scheme of rehabilitation exoskeleton robot with dynamic uncertainties

Artificial limbs are new robotic devices created to help stroke victims in the rehabilitation process. In this article, we focus our work on applying passive, active or assistive control strategies to provide a physical assistance and rehabilitation by a 7-degree-of-freedom exoskeleton robot with nonlinear uncertain dynamics and unknown bounded external disturbances due to the robot user’s physiological characteristics. The flatness controller combined with time-delay estimation is designed for the 7-degree-of-freedom exoskeleton robot called ETS-MARSE (Ecole de Technologie Supérieure—Motion Assistive Robotic-exoskeleton for Superior Extremity) in order to ensure a passive rehabilitation exercises with a high level of tracking accuracy and robustness against the uncertainty constraints. The stability analysis of such systems is proven using the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional theory. This approach is illustrated by experimental results with healthy human to highlight the efficiency of the suggested controller scheme.

Real-Time Survivor Detection System in SaR Missions Using Robots

This paper considers the issue of the search and rescue operation of humans after natural or man-made disasters. This problem arises after several calamities, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and explosions. It usually takes hours to locate the survivors in the debris. In most cases, it is dangerous for the rescue workers to visit and explore the whole area by themselves. Hence, there is a need for speeding up the whole process of locating survivors accurately and with less damage to human life. To tackle this challenge, we present a scalable solution. We plan to introduce the usage of robots for the initial exploration of the calamity site. The robots will explore the site and identify the location of human survivors by examining the video feed (with audio) captured by them. They will then stream the detected location of the survivor to a centralized cloud server. It will also monitor the associated air quality of the selected area to determine whether it is safe for rescue workers to enter the region or not. The human detection model for images that we have used has a mAP (mean average precision) of 70.2%. The proposed approach uses a speech detection technique which has an F1 score of 0.9186 and the overall accuracy of the architecture is 95.83%. To improve the detection accuracy, we have combined audio detection and image detection techniques.

Multipurpose Security Robot Using Arduino Microcontroller

One of the concerned areas today for the usage of robots is military. It is known that a lot of military organizations are taking the help of robots to perform highly dangerous jobs. They consist of many kinds of sensors and have many other internal applications based on the usage. Some of the most advanced robots are now equipped with cameras that provide live footage, grippers and integrated systems. There are various shapes of the robot based on the application of the robots. To sense the surroundings in a better way, while protecting the lives of humans, this robot would be found useful in defense applications.

A Study on Artificial Kinesthesia Generation by Simultaneous Stimulation of Mechanical Vibration and Mechanical Skin Stretch.

Artificially controlled kinesthesia can be applied to many situations because kinesthesia is essential to recognizing body movements. It could be used to generate artificial kinesthesia in rehabilitation or daily motion assist to improve self-efficacy of the robot user. Moreover, the controlled artificial kinesthesia could make people feel as if they are performing the actions of the robotic limbs with their own limbs. Mechanical vibration stimulation is one of the candidates to artificially control kinesthesia. It is known that mechanical vibration stimulation on human muscles or tendons from skin surface evokes an illusion of movement as if the stimulated muscles are extended. That effect of artificial kinesthesia is called Kinesthetic Illusion (KI). In this paper, a method to increase the amount of KI without changing the frequency of the vibration stimulation is investigated by applying mechanical skin stretch stimulation at the same time with the mechanical vibration stimulation. The experiment was conducted by generating KI for flexion motion of the elbow joint on a horizontal plane to evaluate the proposed approach. In the experiments, three out of five subjects showed obvious increase in the amount of KI when skin stretch stimulation was applied at the same time with the mechanical vibration stimulation. The results of this study provide a first step toward artificial kinesthesia control using a wearable robotic device using the mechanical vibration stimulation.

Common Educational Teleoperation Platform for Robotics Utilizing Digital Twins

The erratic modern world introduces challenges to all sectors of societies and potentially introduces additional inequality. One possibility to decrease the educational inequality is to provide remote access to facilities that enable learning and training. A similar approach of remote resource usage can be utilized in resource-poor situations where the required equipment is available at other premises. The concept of Industry 5.0 (i5.0) focuses on a human-centric approach, enabling technologies to concentrate on human–machine interaction and emphasizing the importance of societal values. This paper introduces a novel robotics teleoperation platform supported by the i5.0. The platform reduces inequality and allows usage and learning of robotics remotely independently of time and location. The platform is based on digital twins with bi-directional data transmission between the physical and digital counterparts. The proposed system allows teleoperation, remote programming, and near real-time monitoring of controlled robots, robot time scheduling, and social interaction between users. The system design and implementation are described in detail, followed by experimental results.

Sex robots and personality: It is more about sex than robots

Examining the links between personality traits and attitudes toward sex robots can provide insights into who may desire such machines, and why. This online study thus examined the associations between the Big-Five, traits related to sexuality, technology, and (sexual) novelty, and people's willingness to engage with and perceived appropriateness of using sex robots in a convenience sample of 492 adults (≥18 years; 283 ciswomen, 171 cismen, and 37 non-binary and gender nonconforming individuals with access to the recruitment material on social media, the Concordia University participant pool, or flyers/word-of-mouth in the Montreal Community). Correlational analyses showed that willingness to engage with and perceived appropriateness of using sex robots were more closely related to erotophilia and sexual sensation seeking than any other traits. Mixed repeated measures ANOVAs and independent samples t-tests with Bonferroni corrections also showed that cismen and non-binary/gender nonconforming individuals were more willing to engage with sex robots and perceive their use as more appropriate than ciswomen. These findings suggest that erotophilic individuals seeking novel or more intense sexual experiences may be(come) the primary users of sex robots and influence their development. These findings are important given the growing place of technology in our intimate lives and relationships.

Contouring Control of an Innovative Manufacturing System Based on Dual-Arm Robot

In this article, an innovative manufacturing system based on a dual-arm robot, each arm with five degree-of-freedom (DOF), is proposed. Although the proposed system can work in the automation mode or machining mode, only the function of machining is studied here. In this case, the system is equivalent to a five-axis machine tool. The method of equivalent errors is employed to design a robust contouring controller. It is shown that reducing the equivalent contour error in the joint space is equivalent to reducing both position contour error and tool orientation error in the task space. As a comparison, a conventional distributed controller is also designed. Several cases of experiments have been conducted, including a circular path with four different feedrates and an elliptic path. The experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve much better results in all cases, and demonstrate the feasibility of adopting the dual-arm robotic system for machining task. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —This article was motivated by the traditional manufacturing system that is a cooperation between computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine tool(s) and robot arm(s). This article proposes a novel usage of a dual-arm robot with a fixed spindle and cutting tool in order to integrate the main functions of the CNC machine and robot arm together. This system alone can perform machining and automation tasks, which can significantly reduce the overall cost of a manufacturing system. The existing dual-arm robots have seldom been designed to perform machining tasks. For machining, a contouring controller is necessary and is proposed in this article. This model-based contouring controller relies on the accurate system parameters to achieve high precision machining. For example, the mass and inertia changes of a workpiece during machining should be considered. This issue will be addressed in our future research.

Model‐Based Systems Engineering Simulation Framework for Robot Grasping

AbstractConstant rise in industrial usage of robots for commercial applications has led to the need for rapid, efficient, and reliable robotic system development processes. The idea of collaborative modeling and simulation provides different views to the stakeholders, enhancing the decision‐making process towards design, development, and deployment. This paper 1) applies Model‐Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) principles to a robot grasping system performing a simple pick and place task, 2) integrates Cameo Systems Modeler (CSM), CoppeliaSim robot simulator, and Gurobi Optimizer to facilitate and accelerate the system design process, and 3) describes a simulation‐based Verification &amp; Validation (V&amp;V) framework and performs design space exploration. This is an effort to integrate tools to reduce the burden on system design, integration, and deployment of dexterous grasping and manipulation systems.

Surgeon Variation in the Application of Robotic Technique for Abdominal Hernia Repair: A Mixed-Methods Study

IntroductionAlthough the utilization of robotic technique for abdominal hernia repair has increased rapidly, there is no consensus as to when it should be applied for optimal outcomes. High variability exists within surgeon practices regarding how they use this technology, and the factors that drive robotic utilization remain largely unknown. This study aims to explore the motivating factors associated with surgeons’ decisions to utilize a robotic approach for abdominal hernia repair. MethodsAn exploratory mixed-methods approach was utilized. Surgeons who performed abdominal hernia repairs were interviewed to identify impactful themes motivating surgical approach. This informed a retrospective analysis of ventral hernia repairs performed in 2020 within the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative. Surgeon robotic utilization rates were calculated. Among selective robotic users, multivariable regression evaluated the patient and hernia factors associated with robotic utilization. ResultsQualitative analysis of 21 interviews revealed three dominant themes in the decision to utilize robotic technology: access and resources, surgeon comfort, and market factors. Among 71 surgeons caring for 1174 hernia patients, robotic utilization rates ranged from 0% to 98% of cases. There were 27 surgeons identified as selective robotic users, who cared for 423 patients. Multivariable regression revealed that hernia location was the only factor associated with robotic technique, with non–midline hernias associated with a 4.47 (95% confidence interval 1.34-14.88) higher odds of robotic repair than epigastric hernias. ConclusionsMajor drivers of robotic technique for hernia repair were found to be perceived benefits and availability, rather than patient or hernia characteristics. These data will contribute to an understanding of surgeon decision-making and help develop improvements to patient care.

A Study on Automation and Robotics in Construction Industry

In this paper an attempt is made to do an in-depth study about the factors influencing automation and robotics in construction industry and what best strategy can be developed to overcome it So, in this research work the progress is going to be Identify the factors influencing automation and robotics in construction industry by literature review study so the different type of factors has been identified for automation and robotics &amp; identify reason for the effective usage of automation and robotics in construction field and conceptual framework will be developed. The conceptual framework can be developed after analysing the survey responses. Automation and robotics technology is expected to improve the productivity of the construction industry as well as to solve problems such as labour shortage and safety risks.

Will the use of industrial robots promote transformation of export trade modes? Empirical evidence from China.

Based on China’s Industrial Robot and Customs data from 2006 to 2019, this paper conducts an empirical investigation into the impact of industrial robot usage on export trade structures and its working mechanism with the popularization of industrial robots and the expansion of export trade in China. It finds that the use of industrial robots has significantly increased the proportion of general trade, reduced that of processing trade and promoted the transformation from processing-trade into general-trade, or the impact mechanism of industrial robots on export trade structure. After adopting such two methods as lag phase and tool variables to address potential endogenous problems, the results continue to be valid. In addition, the paper also discussed the regional heterogeneity effect of industrial robot trade transformation. Such evidence provides a new perspective for developing countries to explain the transformation of their export trade and are of high significance in optimizing the structure of trade patterns and promoting the transformation of export trade.