A New Approach to Humanitarian Demining

Humanitarian demining is an application in which the use of tele-operated machines and mechanisms has been gaining acceptance recently. Actually, demining is just one among many other field applications that require a high degree of mobility, manipulation of loads, robustness and, above all, high efficiency in terms of energy consumption. This paper will present the development and analysis of Field Arm, a pantographic manipulator especially designed for field works, focusing on its kinematic, static and dynamic properties. The novel features of Field Arm will be presented and discussed with results of simulations and experiments.     

Multisensor Demining Robot

The paper describes an advanced multisensor demining robot. The robot transport system is based on a simple structure using pneumatic drive elements. The robot has robust design and can carry demining equipment up to 100 kg over rough terrains. Due to the adaptive possibilities of pedipulators to obstacles, the robot can adjust the working position of the demining sensors while searching for mines. The detection block consists of a metal detector, an infrared detector, and a chemical explosive sensor. The robot is controlled by means of an on-board processor and by an operator remote station in an interactive mode. Experimental results of the transport, control, and detection systems of the robot are presented.Michael Yu. Rachkov is Professor of Automation at the Moscow State Industrial University. He graduated in Automatic Control Systems from Moscow Higher Technical School, 1979. He held academic posts at the Institute for Problems in Mechanics, Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1986 he completed his PhD in industrial robotics and received his DSc in mobile robotics in 1997. Professor Rachkov has been leading in several international projects like EUREKA and REMAPHOS. He has published over 170 papers and several books in the field of automation, robotics and optimal control. He is a member of Russian Cosmonautics Academy and International Informatization Academy.Lino Marques is a research engineer at the Institute of Systems and Robotics of the University of Coimbra. He received the Engineering and MsC. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Science and Technology of this University in 1992 and 1997 respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree and teaching in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His current research interests include sensors, mechatronics, mobile robotics and industrial automation.Anábal T. De Almeida graduated in Electrical Engineering, University of Porto, 1972, and received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, from Imperial College, University of London, 1977. Currently he is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Coimbra, and he is the Director of the Institute of Systems and Robotics since 1993. Professor De Almeida is a consultant of the European Commission Framework Programmes. He is the co-author of five books and more than one hundred papers in international journals, meetings and conferences. He has coordinated several European and national research projects.     

A Modular Concept of the Robotic Vehicle for Demining Operations

Paper analyses some most important characteristics that should be taken into consideration in building the robotic demining vehicle. Based on previous experiences from the development of demining technology the modular concept of the multipurpose vehicle and some its main functional parts are discussed. Such robotic vehicle can be used as general porter of various detection systems, tools for cleaning terrain as well as neutralization equipment. Further development towards partially autonomous system and some principal tasks of positioning in dangerous terrain are analyzed. The real construction of the vehicle equipped by the flailing mechanisms for mechanical activation of explosions is briefly presented.tefan Havlk graduated in Mechanical and in Control engineering and received the (M.S.) degree from Czech Technical University, Liberec (1972). In 1982 he received the Ph.D. degree and the highest scientific degree Dr.Sc. (1994) from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the scientific institution, where he works since 1977.Within years 1991 and 1992 he has been appointed as invited professor at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL-DMT/IMT) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Currently he is head of the research department at the Institute of Informatics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.– His research activities diverge from solving problems of advanced robotics, control to applications. His main contributions are oriented to the following topics:– Mechatronic design and flexible structures– Sensors and sensory equipment– Applications of advanced robotics: precise assembly and welding, service operations– Robotic tools for demining.He is author more then 100 scientific papers in books, international scientific journals and conference proceedings. He was leading several research projects oriented to development advanced sensing and robotic systems for manufacturing (arc welding, assembly) or for humanitarian demining.He is/was member of several professional organizations and committees under IARP, IMECO, IFAC or IFToMM.     

Feasibility Study on an Excavation-Type Demining Robot

In this study, we propose a design of an excavation-type demining robot that rids a farm of mines efficiently and safely. In the dangerous area, the robot automatically takes in soil in which mines are laid. The entire soil surface, including mines, is crushed, separated and discharged. Therefore, the demining ratio is high; also, the soil becomes clean and cultivated. The robot has a large bucket on its front. The robot moves forward, maintaining the height of the bucket from the ground by the vertical motion of the bucket and the forward motion of the body. The possibility of that motion is confirmed through simulations and experiments. The crush process and the proper depth of the excavation are also discussed.Yoshikazu Mori has a Ph.D. degree in information science from Tohoku University (Japan). he is a research associate in the Department of Precision Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University. His research focuses on a welfare robot, and won the 2004 Presentation Award from The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Robotics and Mechatronics Division. He is also interested in an autonomous agent that lives with the human.Kazuhiro Takayama has a Masters Degree from the Department of precision Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. He is an acoustic engineer of Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Tochigi R&D Center.Takeshi Adachi has a Bachelors Degree from the Department of Precision Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Currently he is studying a bipedal robot with jack legs for carrying a heavy load.Shintaro Omote has a Bachelors Degree from the Department of Precision Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. He is currently studying a partner robot and trying to let it recognize human mental characters.Tatsuya Nakamura received the B.E. degree in aeronautics, the M.S. degree in physics and D. E. degree in robotics in 1965, 1967 and 1983, respectively, from Nagoya University. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, AIST, MITI in 1967. He was engaged in advanced robotics project there. In 1992, he became a professor at Mie University. Since 1997, he has been a Professor in the Department of Precision Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University. His research topics include micromanipulation using magnetic technologies and intelligent welfare robots.     

In-field self-calibration of robotic manipulator using stereo camera: application to Humanitarian Demining Robot

A robotic manipulator using a stereo camera mounted on one of its links requires a precise kinematic transformation calibration between the manipulator and the camera coordinate frames, the so-called hand–eye calibration, to achieve high-accuracy end-effector positioning. This paper introduces a new method that performs simultaneous joint angle and hand–eye calibration, based on a traditional method that uses a sequence of pure rotations of the manipulator links. The new method considers an additional joint angle constraint, which improves the calibration accuracy when the circular arc that can be measured by the stereo camera is very limited. Experimental results using a manipulator developed for humanitarian demining demonstrate that relative errors between the end effector and the external points mapped by the stereo camera are greatly reduced compared to traditional methods.     

一种新的脊波变换方法

小波变换适用于表示具有各向同性奇异性对象的局部特性,脊波变换适用于表示具有各向异性奇异性对象的局部特性,但是各自对于对方所适用的局部特性的应用效果却不明显.提出了一种新的对脊波理论加以改进的多分辨分析方法——拟脊波多分辨分析方法.该方法统一了小波理论和脊波理论,使小波理论和脊波理论成为该方法的两种特殊情形.同时它具有对各向同性和异性的奇异性对象的辨识能力.通过实验比较表明,该方法对小波理论和脊波理论优点的组合、缺点的规避相当明显,在图像去噪应用中具有更强的灵活性.     

一种新的珍珠层厚度测量方法

珍珠层厚度是珍珠价值最主要的衡量指标之一,目前珍珠层厚度的无损测量方法主要采用光学相干层析成像技术和X射线技术;光学相干层析成像技术在实际测量时精度较低;在研究X射线测量原理的基础上,提出了一种新的珠层厚度测量方法;首先介绍了灰度图像的边缘识别算法和珍珠核、珍珠外圆度拟合算法,其次提出了一种引入对照机制的珍珠层测量算法,最后还对算法的误差进行了分析,算法的误差可以控制在0.02％以内;实际的测量也验证了该测量方法具有很高的精度.     

视频增强的新方法

本文使用张量的方法推导了基于仿射空间的免标定增强现实方法,该方法不需要像机的标定参数和环境对象的3D位置信息就可实现视频增强。同时,本文也提出了在仿射空间解决增强现实中遮挡问题的新方法,给出了基于免标定增强现实的视频增强主要想法和应用实例。结果表明,这个方法是可行的。     

A New Approach to Crisis Management

The key to effective crisis management lies not so much with the writing of detailed manuals (that have a low likelihood of being used, and an even lower likelihood of being useful) and practising location evacuations as with structured and continuous learning processes designed to equip key managers with the capabilities, flexibility and confidence to deal with sudden and unexpected problems/events – or shifts in public perception of any such problems/events.     

A New Approach to Primary Decomposition

The first purpose of this paper is to describe a new mathematical approach for the computation of an irredundant primary decomposition of a given polynomial ideal I. This presentation will be formed of three parts: a decomposition of the associated radical ideal I to an intersection of prime ideals P_i, then the determination of ideals I_iwhose radical is prime (equal to P_i), and finally, the extraction of the possible embedded components included in I_i. The second is to give an implementation of this algorithm via a new software component, called The Central Control², in which we implemented distributed algorithms performing the basic operations of algebraic geometry.     

一种新的不确定推理方法

提出了一种基于认知结构的不确定推理方法:采用四值认知结构表达不确定知识,采用定义在认知结构上的双向认知推理结构来处理推理规则的不确定性.介绍的不确定推理方法可以包容精确的概率推理、容忍信息的不确定性、有效地避免推理规则之间的相互关系问题,并且使认知结构最简推理的计算复杂度与推理节点个数成线性关系.     

一种获得应用软件规格说明的新途径

在4GL开发环境下,应用系统的开发都是以界面的设计为导向的。该文介绍了一种在4GL环境下获得应用软件规格说明的新途径,即通过确定界面模型来确定应用软件的规格说明,并详细介绍了确定界面模型的方法———OVID(ObjectViewInteractionDesign,对象视图交互设计)。     

一种新的商务手机结构方式设计

本设计结合TCL的设计理念,通过对概念的局部创新赋予手机产品突出的亮点,使用科技美学化的设计语言赋予产品夺目的外观,达到形式与外观的统一。满足商务人士对手机产品功能、结构、外观等方面的要求。在克服现有的双向开合手机转轴占用机身空间、结构不够坚固、操作模式单一等不足,特提出通过主轴旋转实现手机双向开合的结构设计。     

A New Multiwavelet-Based Approach to Image Fusion

Image fusion refers to the techniques that integrate complementary information from multiple image sensor data such that the new images are more suitable for the purpose of human visual perception and the compute-processing tasks. In this paper, a new image fusion algorithm based on multiwavelet transform to fuse multisensor images is presented. The detailed discussions in the paper are focused on the two-wavelet and two-scaling function multiwavelets. Multiwavelets are extensions from scalar wavelet, and have several unique advantages in comparison with scalar wavelets, so that multiwavelet is employed to decompose and reconstruct images in this algorithm. In this paper, the image fusion is performed at the pixel level, other types of image fusion schemes, such as feature or decision fusion, are not considered. In this fusion algorithm, a feature-based fusion rule is used to combine original subimages and to form a pyramid for the fused image. When images are merged in multiwavelet space, different frequency ranges are processed differently. It can merge information from original images adequately and improve abilities of information analysis and feature extraction. Extensive experiments including the fusion of registered multiband SPOT multispectral XS1\XS3 images, multifocus digital camera images, multisensor of VIS\IR images, and medical CT\MRI images are presented in this paper. In this paper, mutual information is employed as a means of objective assessing image fusion performance. The experiment results show that this fusion algorithm, based on multiwavelet transform, is an effective approach in image fusion area.     

一种复杂模糊系统生成方法

生成模糊系统传统方法的工作量往往随输入变量数的增长而爆炸性也增加，用于抽取模糊规则的神经网络的规模迅速地增加且能量的极小值点也迅速地增多。针对这一问题，本文发展了一种新的模糊系统生成方法，将复杂系统的模糊输入，输出关系分解成简单的模糊输入，输出关系叠加，采用了一种新的网络优化的方法－基于浮点编码的遗传算法来生成该系统。     

A New Combinatorial Approach to Sequence Comparison

In this paper we introduce a new alignment-free method for comparing sequences which is combinatorial by nature and does not use any compressor nor any information-theoretic notion. Such a method is based on an extension of the Burrows-Wheeler Transform, a transformation widely used in the context of Data Compression. The new extended transformation takes as input a multiset of sequences and produces as output a string obtained by a suitable rearrangement of the characters of all the input sequences. By using such a transformation we give a general method for comparing sequences that takes into account how much the characters coming from the different input sequences are mixed in the output string. Such a method is tested on a real data set for the whole mitochondrial genome phylogeny problem. However, the goal of this paper is to introduce a new and general methodology for automatic categorization of sequences. This work was partially supported by the Italian MIUR PRIN project “Automi e Linguaggi Formali: aspetti matematici ed applicativi” and by MIUR FIRB Italy-Israel project “Pattern Matching and Discovery in Discrete Structures, with applications to Bioinformatics”.     

A New Approach to Unit Root Testing

A novel simulation based approach to unit root testing is proposed in this paper. The test is constructed from the distinct orders in probability of the OLS parameter estimates obtained from a spurious and an unbalanced regression, respectively. While the parameter estimate from a regression of two integrated and uncorrelated time series is of order O _p (1), the estimate is of order O _p (T ⁻¹) if the dependent variable is stationary. The test statistic is constructed as an interquantile range from the empirical distribution obtained from regressing the standardized data sufficiently often on controlled random walks. GLS detrending (Elliott et al., Econometrica 64(4):813–836, 1996) and spectral density variance estimators (Perron and Ng, Econom Theory 14(5):560–603, 1998) are applied to account for deterministic terms and residual autocorrelation in the data. A Monte Carlo study confirms that the proposed test has favorable empirical size properties and is powerful in local-to-unity neighborhoods. As an empirical illustration, we test the purchasing power parity hypothesis for a sample of G7 economies.     

一个实现双时态数据库的新方法

在双时态数据模型中,随时间变化的事实是用两个时间维--有效时间维和事务时间维--来描述.在关系数据库中,通常用4个时间字段表示数据的时态性,这种方法使得数据和时间分离.为了描述时变数据的物理意义,定义了时态数据类型,并且定义了时态数据运算和时态关系运算,同时建立了时态索引机制.以时态数据类型为系统的基本数据类型,扩展关系数据库系统为时态关系数据库系统.