Evolvable Hardware in Evolutionary Robotics

In recent decades the research on Evolutionary Robotics (ER) has developed rapidly. This direction is primarily concerned with the use of evolutionary computing techniques in the design of intelligent and adaptive controllers for robots. Meanwhile, much attention has been paid to a new set of integrated circuits named Evolvable Hardware (EHW), which is capable of reconfiguring its architectures unlimited time based on artificial evolution techniques. This paper surveys the application of evolvable hardware in evolutionary robotics. The evolvable hardware is an emerging research field concerning the development of evolvable robot controllers at the hardware level to adapt to dynamic changes in environments. The context of evolvable hardware and evolutionary robotics is reviewed, and a few representative experiments in the field of robotic hardware evolution are presented. As an alternative to conventional robotic controller designs, the potentialities and limitations of the EHW-based robotic system are discussed and summarized.     

Evolutionary learning of a fuzzy controller for wall-following behavior in mobile robotics

The design of fuzzy controllers for the implementation of behaviors in mobile robotics is a complex and highly time-consuming task. The use of machine learning techniques such as evolutionary algorithms or artificial neural networks for the learning of these controllers allows to automate the design process. In this paper, the automated design of a fuzzy controller using genetic algorithms for the implementation of the wall-following behavior in a mobile robot is described. The algorithm is based on the iterative rule learning approach, and is characterized by three main points. First, learning has no restrictions neither in the number of membership functions, nor in their values. In the second place, the training set is composed of a set of examples uniformly distributed along the universe of discourse of the variables. This warrantees that the quality of the learned behavior does not depend on the environment, and also that the robot will be capable to face different situations. Finally, the trade off between the number of rules and the quality/accuracy of the controller can be adjusted selecting the value of a parameter. Once the knowledge base has been learned, a process for its reduction and tuning is applied, increasing the cooperation between rules and reducing its number.     

Cooperative Mobile Robotics: Antecedents and Directions

There has been increased research interest in systems composed of multiple autonomous mobile robots exhibiting cooperative behavior. Groups of mobile robots are constructed, with an aim to studying such issues as group architecture, resource conflict, origin of cooperation, learning, and geometric problems. As yet, few applications of cooperative robotics have been reported, and supporting theory is still in its formative stages. In this paper, we give a critical survey of existing works and discuss open problems in this field, emphasizing the various theoretical issues that arise in the study of cooperative robotics. We describe the intellectual heritages that have guided early research, as well as possible additions to the set of existing motivations.     

Biologically inspired decision-making in the robot platform MAMoRo

An important step in coming near to building machines with artificial intelligence is by studying and understanding how the human brain works, then applying this knowledge to build machines that “think” using the same concept. MAMoRo (modular autonomous mobile robot) is a general-purpose robot platform targeted at teaching and research in the academia. It consists of three modules: power and motion module, control module, and intelligence module. The decision unit of MAMoRo is distributed into two modules: the control module, which is equipped with a low-cost microcontroller, and handles low-level hardware functions, and the intelligence module, which is equipped with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and handles high-level functions. This model of distribution was inspired by the anatomy of the human brain and brings with it many advantages. To prove the concept, MAMoRo was tested with a practical application. This work was presented in part at the First European Workshop on Artificial Life and Robotics, Vienna, Austria, July 12–13, 2007     

金融生态四元主体的演化博弈与仿真研究

针对自主创新的融资困境及生态体系的缺位与失调,为解决上述问题,提出优化方案。运用演化博弈理论和遗传基因算法,对金融生态的四元主体之间的自适应自学习进行理论分析,利用Repast仿真建模平台对金融生态主体在创新策略上的演变过程进行仿真分析。实验结果表明自主创新内在的风险特性与错位的融资机制使之陷入低水平锁定。最后指出在金融生态四元主体的良性循环与互惠互动过程中稳步提升金融生态促进自主创新的功能具有战略意义,应以各主体的创新策略的演化递进来持续推进企业自主创新的可持续性发展。通过仿真工具提供了解决方案的依据。     

Evolutionary control of bipedal locomotion in a high degree-of-freedom humanoid robot: first steps

This article describes a methodology, together with an associated series of experiments employing this methodology, for the evolution of walking behavior in a simulated humanoid robot with up to 20 degrees of freedom. The robots evolved in this study learn to walk smoothly in an upright or near-upright position and demonstrate a variety of different locomotive behaviors, including “skating,” “limping,” and walking in a manner curiously reminiscent of a mildly or heavily intoxicated person. A previous study demonstrated the possible potential utility of this approach while evolving controllers based on simulated humanoid robots with a restricted range of movements. Although walking behaviors were developed, these were slow and relied on the robot walking in an excessively stooped position, similar to the gait of an infirm elderly person. This article extends the previous work to a robot with many degrees of freedom, up to 20 in total (arms, elbows, legs, hips, knees, etc.), and demonstrates the automatic evolution of fully upright bipedal locomotion in a humanoid robot using an accurate physics simulator. This work was presented in part at the 11th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 23–25, 2006     

Simulation and control of distributed robot search teams

This article describes the simulation of distributed autonomous robots for search and rescue operations. The simulation system is utilized to perform experiments with various control strategies for the robot team and team organizations, evaluating the comparative performance of the strategies and organizations. The objective of the robot team is to, once deployed in an environment (floor-plan) with multiple rooms, cover as many rooms as possible. The simulated robots are capable of navigation through the environment, and can communicate using simple messages. The simulator maintains the world, provides each robot with sensory information, and carries out the actions of the robots. The simulator keeps track of the rooms visited by robots and the elapsed time, in order to evaluate the performance of the robot teams. The robot teams are composed of homogenous robots, i.e., identical control strategies are used to generate the behavior of each robot in the team. The ability to deploy autonomous robots, as opposed to humans, in hazardous search and rescue missions could provide immeasurable benefits.     

情景教学法在平面设计中的应用

本文应用情景教学法,提高学生平面设计能力。     

虚拟现实与系统仿真

详细讨论了系统仿真、多媒体与虚拟现实的基本概念及它们之间的关系,指出在仿真中如何及何时应用这些技术,并提出了狭义多媒体仿真、ＶＲ仿真系统的概念,对仿真实践具有一定的参考价值。     

Review of the International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics (AROB)

In this article, we review the growth of AROB conferences, and assess the various contributions, which have covered digital life, the artificial brain, artificial society, and evolutionary robots, etc. We analyze the relations between artificial life, complexity, and intelligent robots, and finally give our view of the expected future of AROB. This work was presented in part at the 5th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 26–28, 2000     

装备作战仿真中的虚拟现实及可视化研究

该文分析了装备作战研究的现状,重点提出了装备作战仿真的定义,及其用装备作战仿真方法通过研究作战过程、作战结果,进行装备作战、装备使用及相关问题研究,本文结合实际工作经验,从虚拟战场环境、实体建模、分布式网络等方面研究分析了装备作战仿真中虚拟现实及可视化技术有待研究、发展和解决的一些关键技术问题。     

无人机虚拟现实仿真的设计与实现

讨论了在PC机上实现无人机虚拟现实仿真的系统结构、实现平台、模型和仿真数据库的组织实现方法。讨论了图形仿真各个子模块的实现方法,交解决了无人机模型的位姿自动校准问题。     

日本高校机器人学科建设经验

在机器人学科建设方面,日本高校较早建立了成熟的培养理念,并制定了合理完善的课程体系。比较分析了日本多所高校机器人专业的课程设置内容及特点,并总结了课程设置和相关应用领域的关系,可供我们在学科建设中借鉴。     

分布式虚拟现实及其在仿真中的应用

分布式虚拟现实技术是虚拟现实和计算机网络技术相结合的产物,其可以突破时空限制的显著特点,为人们分析问题、解决问题,以及协同工作提供了崭新的手段,是目前倍受国际科学界和工程界关注的前沿技术,它已非常成功地应用于军事、航天、医疗和娱乐领域,并在教育培训,工程设计与制造,电子商务等方面显示出了良好的应用前景,该文介绍了分布式虚拟现实的概念、特征、涉及的关键技术和应用领域,综述了它的产生,发展及存在的问题,最后对其进一步发展提出了几点思考。     

Improved control and simulation models of a tricycle collaborative robot

The objective of collaborative manufacturing is to create the synergism from the collaboration of manufacturing resources. Most of the studied collaborations are made among intelligent machines; however, the collaboration can be realized even between machines and human being, and a collaborative robot (Cobot) belongs to the latter. A cobot is a robot designed to assist human beings as a guide or assistor in a constrained motion. Various prototypes have been developed and the potentials of these robots have been demonstrated. The research presented in this paper focuses on the control and simulation models of a tricycle cobot with three steered wheels, with the following two contributions: (i) A concise model for the closed-loop control is developed. Existing closed-loop control has been implemented in an intuitive way, and some control parameters have to be determined by a trial-and-error method. (ii) A simulation model is proposed to validate the control algorithms. No simulation model is available and the control models of other existing systems have to be validated experimentally. The developed control and simulation models have been implemented. Graphic simulation is also developed. Case studies are provided and the simulation results are analyzed.     

基于增扩虚拟现实的空间机器人遥控系统及其仿真􀀁

虚拟现实技术作为一种全新的人机接口技术,它在空间机器人中的应用日益受到人们的普遍关注．本文研究了一种基于增扩虚拟现实的空间机器人遥控及其仿真,首先讨论了该系统的构成,其次重点介绍了它所涉及的关键技术及其主要研究内容,最后进行了仿真研究．     

Combining series elastic actuation and magneto-rheological damping for the control of agile locomotion

All-terrain robot locomotion is an active topic of research. Search and rescue maneuvers and exploratory missions could benefit from robots with the abilities of real animals. However, technological barriers exist to ultimately achieving the actuation system, which is able to meet the exigent requirements of these robots. This paper describes the locomotion control of a leg prototype, designed and developed to make a quadruped walk dynamically while exhibiting compliant interaction with the environment. The actuation system of the leg is based on the hybrid use of series elasticity and magneto-rheological dampers, which provide variable compliance for natural-looking motion and improved interaction with the ground. The locomotion control architecture has been proposed to exploit natural leg dynamics in order to improve energy efficiency. Results show that the controller achieves a significant reduction in energy consumption during the leg swing phase thanks to the exploitation of inherent leg dynamics. Added to this, experiments with the real leg prototype show that the combined use of series elasticity and magneto-rheological damping at the knee provide a 20 % reduction in the energy wasted in braking the knee during its extension in the leg stance phase.     

用MATLAB的虚拟现实工具箱进行飞机起飞模拟

该文提出一种新的方案：运用MATLAB的虚拟现实工具箱提供逼真的可视化和交互性进行模拟仿真,针对飞机在跑道上起飞作为实例进行应用。     

RoboCup小型足球机器人建模及仿真平台研究

在机器人运动规划和运动控制的研究中,直接以实物机器人做实验不仅代价昂贵,而且所需时间长,风险大.在考虑了驱动电机动态特性的基础上,以机器人的朝向为坐标轴正方向建立坐标系,分析三轮全向移动机器人运动学模型和动力学模型;然后对比赛过程中的碰撞模型进行研究,推导出发生碰撞后机器人的速度公式;最后以Robocup小型足球机器人比赛系统为背景,采用VisualC 多线程技术构建小型组足球机器人仿真平台,并给出了系统结构框图.在小型组足球机器人的运动规划,运动控制等方面具有直接的现实意义.     

自助学习路由协议(SL-AODV)及GloMoSim仿真

一个移动Ad Hoc网络是由一群无线移动主机组成的自治网络,不需要固定的基础设施和集中管理,针对这种网络人们提出了许多路由算法.自助学习路由协议(SL-AODV)是在AODV基础上的改进,通过修改控制报文的结构,节点能在转发报文和路由发现同时进行路由学习,减少了路由开销和延时.对协议的有效仿真和验证是必要的,全球移动信息系统仿真库在移动自组网的仿真研究中得到广泛应用,尤其是对大规模网络的仿真支持.充分应用GloMoSim仿真工具对该协议在不同场景参数下的数据传输率、平均端到端延时、路由开销性能进行测试,得出了对路由改进的最好方案,并和AODV作比较,仿真结果表明SL-AODV的路由性能相对于AODV有明显提高.