Team THOR's Entry in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals 2015

This paper describes Team THOR's approach to human‐in‐the‐loop disaster response robotics for the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. Under the duress of unpredictable networking and terrain, fluid operator interactions and dynamic disturbance rejection become major concerns for effective teleoperation. We present a humanoid robot designed to effectively traverse a disaster environment while allowing for a wide range of manipulation abilities. To complement the robot hardware, a hierarchical software foundation implements network strategies that provide real‐time feedback to an operator under restricted bandwidth using layered user interfaces. Our strategy for humanoid locomotion includes a backward‐facing knee configuration paired with specialized toe and heel lifting strategies that allow the robot to traverse difficult surfaces while rejecting external perturbations. With an upper body planner that encodes operator preferences, predictable motion plans are executed in unforeseen circumstances. These plans are critical for manipulation in unknown environments. Our approach was validated during the DRC Finals competition, where Team THOR scored three points in 18 min of operation time, and the results are presented along with an analysis of each task.     

Robust stability analysis and design method for the fuzzy feedbacklinearization regulator

A robust stability analysis and design method for a fuzzy feedback linearization regulator is presented. The well-known Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is used as the nonlinear plant model. Uncertainties and disturbance are assumed to be included in the model structure with known bounds. For these structured uncertainties, stability robustness of the closed system is analyzed in both input-output sense and Lyapunov sense. The robust stability conditions are proposed using multivariable circle criterion and the relationship between input-output stability and Lyapunov stability. Also, based on the stability analysis, a systematic design procedure for the fuzzy feedback linearization regulator is provided. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis and design method is illustrated by a simple example     

The effect of touch-key size on the usability of In-Vehicle Information Systems and driving safety during simulated driving

Investigating the effect of touch-key size on usability of In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVISs) is one of the most important research issues since it is closely related to safety issues besides its usability. This study investigated the effects of the touch-key size of IVISs with respect to safety issues (the standard deviation of lane position, the speed variation, the total glance time, the mean glance time, the mean time between glances, and the mean number of glances) and the usability of IVISs (the task completion time, error rate, subjective preference, and NASA-TLX) through a driving simulation. A total of 30 drivers participated in the task of entering 5-digit numbers with various touch-key sizes while performing simulated driving. The size of the touch-key was 7.5 mm, 12.5 mm, 17.5 mm, 22.5 mm and 27.5 mm, and the speed of driving was set to 0 km/h (stationary state), 50 km/h and 100 km/h. As a result, both the driving safety and the usability of the IVISs increased as the touch-key size increased up to a certain size (17.5 mm in this study), at which they reached asymptotes. We performed Fitts' law analysis of our data, and this revealed that the data from the dual task experiment did not follow Fitts' law.     

Thermosensitivity control of polyethlyenimine by simple acylation

Branched polyethylenimine (b-PEI), an amine-rich polymer, can obtain thermosensitivity by a simple acylation reaction. The resulting N-acylated b-PEI derivatives showed a similar lower critical solution temperature (LCST) transition as their linear correspondent, poly(N-alkyloxazoline). Three acyl groups (propionyl, and isobutyryl, and n-butyryl) were introduced and resulted in LCSTs ranging from 10 °C to 90 °C depending on the structure and environment. The hydrophobicity of N-acylated b-PEI can be controlled by varying the acyl group and degree of acylation. Because the LCST transition is determined by the delicate balance between the hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity of the polymers, an increase of the hydrophobicity in N-acylated b-PEI lowers the transition temperature. Also, N-acylated b-PEI contains tertiary amines as well as unacylated primary or secondary amines which can be protonated during acidification from a pH of 7.4 to a pH of 5.5. The LCST transition was observed at elevated temperatures due to the increase of hydrophilicity by the protonation in the acidic environment. The LCST was also influenced by the salt concentration. A decrease of the LCST was observed as the NaCl concentration increased, probably due to the dominance of the salting-out effect. The very simple introduction of thermosensitivity into pre-existing polymers can be easily applied for the development of various dual or multiple signal-sensitive polymer systems.     

Hydrogen storage in Co-and Zn-based metal-organic frameworks at ambient temperature

Hydrogen adsorption properties of some Co-and Zn-based Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) materials were studied at near ambient temperatures. Maximal hydrogen storage capacity of 0.75 wt% was found for a Zn-based material at 175 Bar hydrogen pressure and T = −4 °C. Hydrogen adsorption correlated linearly with BET surface area and strongly depends on temperature. Relatively low structural stability of some MOF's results in framework collapse during degassing and hydrogen adsorption measurements.     

An atomization method using an oscillating needle and a micro air jet

A liquid atomization method based on meniscus perturbation and a micro air jet was studied. A meniscus on a thin needle with a diameter was constantly perturbed by the sinusoidal oscillation of the needle, and a liquid film was dispersed by the air jet. This atomization method can spray high viscosity media with its print pattern confined to a narrow band of about 1 mm at the center of the air jet.     

Computational Modeling of Touchscreen Drag Gestures Using a Cognitive Architecture and Motion Tracking

This article presents a computational model that predicts finger-drag gesture performance on touchscreen devices, by integrating the queueing network (QN) cognitive architecture and motion tracking. Specifically, the QN-based model was developed to predict two execution times: the finger movement time of drag-gesture (i.e., only the motion time of the finger touched and dragged on the surface of touchscreen) and the comprehensive process time of drag-gesture (i.e., the entire process time to complete the finger-drag task, including visual attention shift, memory storage and retrieval, and hand-finger movements). To develop predictive models for the finger movement time of drag-gesture, 11 participants’ motion data were collected and a regression analysis with parameters of hand-finger anthropometric data and eight angular directions was conducted. Human subject data from our previous study (Jeong & Liu, 2017a) were used to evaluate the QN-based model, generating similar outputs (R² was more than 80% and root-mean square was less than 300 msec) for both execution times.     

Enhanced Controllability of Fries Rearrangements Using High‐Resolution 3D‐Printed Metal Microreactor with Circular Channel

High‐resolution 3D‐printed stainless steel metal microreactors (3D‐PMRs) with different cross‐sectional geometry are fabricated to control ultrafast intramolecular rearrangement reactions in a comparative manner. The 3D‐PMR with circular channel demonstrates the improved controllability in rapid Fries‐type rearrangement reactions, because of the superior mixing efficiency to rectangular cross‐section channels (250 µm × 125 µm) which is confirmed based on the computational flow dynamics simulation. Even in case of very rapid intramolecular rearrangement of sterically small acetyl group occurring in 333 µs of reaction time, the desired intermolecular reaction can outpace to the undesired intramolecular rearrangement using 3D‐PMR to result in high conversion and yield.     

Driver glance behaviors and scanning patterns: Applying static and dynamic glance measures to the analysis of curve driving with secondary tasks

Performing secondary tasks (or non‐driving‐related tasks) while driving on curved roads may be risky and unsafe. The purpose of this study was to explore whether driving safety in situations involving curved roads and secondary tasks can be evaluated using multiple measures of eye movement. We adopted Markov‐based transition algorithms (i.e., transition/stationary probabilities, entropy) to quantify drivers’ dynamic eye movement patterns, in addition to typical static visual measures, such as frequency and duration of glances. The algorithms were evaluated with data from an experiment (Jeong & Liu, 2019) involving multiple road curvatures and stimulus‐response secondary task types. Drivers were more likely to scan only a few areas of interest with a long duration in sharper curves. Total head‐down glance time was longer in less sharp curves in the experiment, but the probability of head‐down glances was higher in sharper curves over the long run. The number of reliable transitions between areas of interest varied with the secondary task type. The visual scanning patterns for visually undemanding tasks were as random as those for visually demanding tasks. Markov‐based measures of dynamic eye movements provided insights to better understand drivers’ underlying mental processes and scanning strategies, compared with typical static measures. The presented methods and results can be useful for in‐vehicle systems design and for further analysis of visual scanning patterns in the transportation domain.     

Lipase-Mediated Synthesis of Fatty Acid Esters Using a Blending Alcohol Consisting of Methanol and 1-Butanol

Lipase-mediated transesterification of soybean oil with a blending alcohol consisting of methanol and 1-butanol for synthesis of fatty acid esters was carried out. Lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa (Lipozyme TL IM) was used as a biocatalyst. The lipase was purchased from Novozymes (Seoul, Republic of Korea). The effects of the molar proportions of methanol and 1-butanol in the blending alcohol, reaction temperature, enzyme loading and water content were investigated, for reaction optimization. The relative consuming rates of methanol and 1-butanol during the reaction were also explored. Among seven different ratios of alcohol blends employed in this study, that containing 80 mol% methanol gave the highest yield of fatty acid esters. Optimum reaction temperature, enzyme loading, and water content were 30 °C, 15% (based on the substrate weight), and 0.3% (based on the substrate weight), respectively. Water influenced significantly the reaction rate and yield. On the transesterification, the degree of reaction of methanol was higher than that of 1-butanol and the presence of 1-butanol contributed to increase of the reaction rate as well as yield. The maximum yield of ca. 98 wt% was achieved under the optimized condition.