LinkingPark: An automatic semantic table interpretation system

In this paper, we present LinkingPark, an automatic semantic annotation system for tabular data to knowledge graph matching. LinkingPark is designed as a modular framework which can handle Cell-Entity Annotation (CEA), Column-Type Annotation (CTA), and Columns-Property Annotation (CPA) altogether. It is built upon our previous SemTab 2020 system, which won the 2nd prize among 28 different teams after four rounds of evaluations. Moreover, the system is unsupervised, stand-alone, and flexible for multilingual support. Its backend offers an efficient RESTful API for programmatic access, as well as an Excel Add-in for ease of use. Users can interact with LinkingPark in near real-time, further demonstrating its efficiency.     

Shared human–robot path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle

This paper considers the shared path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle by a single person. A passive measure of human intent is used to blend the human and machine inputs in a mixed initiative approach. The blending law is combined with saturated super-twisting sliding mode speed and heading controllers, so that exogenous disturbances can be counteracted via equivalent control. It is proven that when the proposed blending law is used, the combined control signals from both the human and automatic controller respect the actuator magnitude constraints of the machine. To demonstrate the approach, shared control experiments are performed using an unmanned ground vehicle, which follows a lawn mower pattern shaped path.     

Optimal design of nonlinear model predictive controller based on new modified multitracker optimization algorithm

The controller design for the robotic manipulator faces different challenges such as the system's nonlinearities and the uncertainties of the parameters. Furthermore, the tracking of different linear and nonlinear trajectories represents a vital role by the manipulator. This paper suggests an optimal design for the nonlinear model predictive control (NLMPC) based on a new improved intelligent technique and it is named modified multitracker optimization algorithm (MMTOA). The proposed modification of the MTOA is carried out based on opposition-based learning (OBL) and quasi OBL approaches. This modification improves the exploration behavior of the MTOA to prevent it from becoming trapped in a local optimum. The proposed method is applied on the robotic manipulator to track different linear and nonlinear trajectories. The NLMPC parameters are tuned by the MMTOA rather than the trial and error method of the designer. The proposed NLMPC based on MMTOA is compared with the original MTOA, genetic algorithm, and cuckoo search algorithm in literature. The superiority and effectiveness of the proposed controller are confirmed to track different linear and nonlinear trajectories. Furthermore, the robustness of the proposed method is emphasized against the uncertainties of the parameters.     

Science fiction reduces the eeriness of android robots: A field experiment

As suggested by the uncanny valley hypothesis, robots that resemble humans likely elicit feelings of eeriness. Based on the psychological model of meaning maintenance, we expected that the uncanny valley experience could be mitigated through a fictional story, due to the meaning-generating function of narratives. A field experiment was conducted, in which 75 participants interacted with the humanlike robot Telenoid. Prior to the interaction, they either read a short story, a non-narrative leaflet about the robot, or they received no preliminary information. Eeriness ratings were significantly lower in the science fiction condition than in both other conditions. This effect was mediated by higher perceived human-likeness of the robot. Our findings suggest that science fiction may provide meaning for otherwise unsettling future technologies.     

面向草莓抓取的气动四叶片软体抓手研制

农林业中果蔬的自动化采摘需求日趋强烈,末端抓手是实现无损采摘的关键。传统的末端抓手以刚性结构居多,现有的各种柔性抓手也存在抓取力不足、包覆性不佳等缺点。本文以草莓的无损采摘为研究对象,提出将草莓外部轮廓曲线作为设计曲线,设计了一种新型气动四叶片软体抓手。首先,对软体抓手的结构做仿真优化,提出一种安全地附着在目标物表面的设想。然后,在进行草莓表面的最小破坏应力试验的基础上,测试了软体抓手的末端力,验证了其实现无损抓取的可行性。再次,利用动态捕捉技术,研究了软体抓手叶面的弯曲变形规律。最后,选择使用弧线型气体通道的软体抓手进行了草莓抓取测试,结果证明了气动四叶片软体抓手可以实现草莓的无损抓取,抓取成功率达90%,破损率为2%,表明所研制的四叶片软体抓手用于草莓抓取时具有良好的稳定性和实用性,可用于草莓采摘的末端执行器。本研究也可为其他易损果蔬的采摘技术提供理论基础和技术支撑。     

Maneuverability modeling and trajectory tracking for fish robot

This study develops a 6-DOF mathematical model for a robotic fish that considers surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch, and yaw. The model considers the conditions of a fish swimming in ocean current perturbations similar to the ocean current perturbations of the slender-body autonomous underwater vehicles. For swimming and turning behaviors, a nonlinear, dynamic, carangiform locomotion model is derived by using a planar four-link model. A 2-DOF barycenter mechanism is proposed to provide body stabilization and to serve as an actuating device for active control design. A barycenter control scheme is developed to change the center of gravity of the robot fish body by moving balancing masses along two axes. The projected torque on x and y axes propel pitch and roll angles to the desired settings. A Stabilizing controller, fish-tail mechanism, rigid body dynamics, and kinematics are incorporated to enable the fish robot to move in three dimensional space. Simulation results have demonstrated maneuverability and control system performance of the developed controller which is proposed to conduct path tracking of the robot fish as it swims under current perturbations.     

Seismic behavior of geosynthetic-reinforced retaining walls backfilled with cohesive soil

This study investigates the seismic performance of geosynthetic-reinforced modular block retaining walls backfilled with cohesive, fine grained clay-sand soil mixture. Shaking table tests were performed for three ½ scaled (wall height 190 cm) and ¼ scaled model walls to investigate the effects of backfill type, the influence of reinforcement length and reinforcement stiffness effects. The El Centro and Kobe earthquake records of varying amplitudes were used as base acceleration. Displacement of the front wall, accelerations at different locations, strains on the reinforcements, and the visual observations of the facing and the backfill surface were used to evaluate the seismic performance of model walls. The model walls were subjected to rigorous shaking and the walls did not exhibit any stability problems or signs of impending failure. The maximum deformations observed on the models with cohesive backfill was less than half of the deformation of the sand model. The load transfers between the geogrid and cohesive soil was comparable to that of sand and hence the needed reinforcement length was similar as well. As a result; the model walls with cohesive backfills performed within acceptable limits under seismic loading conditions when compared with granular backfilled counterparts.     

The World robot summit disaster robotics category – achievements of the 2018 preliminary competition

The World Robot Summit is a robot Olympics and aims to be held in a different country every four years from 2020. The concept of the Plant Disaster Prevention challenge is daily inspections, checks, and emergency response in industrial plants, and in this competition, robots must carry out these types of missions in a mock-up plant. The concept of the Tunnel Disaster Response and Recovery challenge is emergency response to tunnel disasters, and is a simulation competition whereby teams compete to show their ability to deal with disasters, by collecting information and removing debris. The Standard Disaster Robotics challenge assesses, in the form of a contest, the standard performance levels of a robot that are necessary for disaster prevention and emergency response. The World Robot Summit Preliminary Competition was held at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2018, and 36 teams participated in the Disaster Robotics Category. UGVs and UAVs contended the merits of new technology for solving complex problems, using core technologies such as mobility, sensing, recognition, performing operations, human interface, autonomous intelligence etc., as well as system integration and implementation of strategies for completing missions, gaining high-level results.     

Creating the brain and interacting with the brain: an integrated approach to understanding the brain

In the past two decades, brain science and robotics have made gigantic advances in their own fields, and their interactions have generated several interdisciplinary research fields. First, in the ‘understanding the brain by creating the brain’ approach, computational neuroscience models have been applied to many robotics problems. Second, such brain-motivated fields as cognitive robotics and developmental robotics have emerged as interdisciplinary areas among robotics, neuroscience and cognitive science with special emphasis on humanoid robots. Third, in brain–machine interface research, a brain and a robot are mutually connected within a closed loop. In this paper, we review the theoretical backgrounds of these three interdisciplinary fields and their recent progress. Then, we introduce recent efforts to reintegrate these research fields into a coherent perspective and propose a new direction that integrates brain science and robotics where the decoding of information from the brain, robot control based on the decoded information and multimodal feedback to the brain from the robot are carried out in real time and in a closed loop.     

The benefit of being physically present: A survey of experimental works comparing copresent robots,telepresent robots and virtual agents

The effects of physical embodiment and physical presence were explored through a survey of 33 experimental works comparing how people interacted with physical robots and virtual agents. A qualitative assessment of the direction of quantitative effects demonstrated that robots were more persuasive and perceived more positively when physically present in a user׳s environment than when digitally-displayed on a screen either as a video feed of the same robot or as a virtual character analog; robots also led to better user performance when they were collocated as opposed to shown via video on a screen. However, participants did not respond differently to physical robots and virtual agents when both were displayed digitally on a screen – suggesting that physical presence, rather than physical embodiment, characterizes people׳s responses to social robots. Implications for understanding psychological response to physical and virtual agents and for methodological design are discussed.