Despite recent advancements on cloud-enabled and human-in-the-loop cyber-physical systems, there is still a lack of understanding of how infrastructure-related quality of service (QoS) issues affect user-perceived quality of experience (QoE). This work presents a pilot experiment over a cloud-enabled mobility assistive device providing a guidance service and investigates the relationship between QoS and QoE in such a system. In our pilot experiment, we employed the CloudWalker, a system linking smart walkers and cloud platforms, to physically interact with users. Different QoS conditions were emulated to represent an architecture in which control algorithms are performed remotely. Results point out that users report satisfactory interaction with the system even under unfavorable QoS conditions. We also found statistically significant data linking QoE degradation to poor QoS conditions. We finalize discussing the interplay between QoS requirements, the human-in-the-loop effect, and the perceived QoE in healthcare applications.

This paper aims to provide an optimal design of geometric parameters of a special architecture of the delta parallel mechanism, in order to improve positioning accuracy, workspace size, and kinematic and dynamic performance characteristics. In the studied 3[P2(US)] robot, the radius of both fixed and moving platforms, length of the connecting rods, and installation angle of the actuators of the manipulator are chosen as the decision variables. These parameters are optimized to maximize the weighted objective function, comprising workspace volume, global dexterity, global mass, global error, and global error sensitivity indices. Optimizations are performed employing two distinct algorithms, Genetic and Harmony Search whose results confirm each other. The optimal design of the robot leads to maximum workspace size, high dexterity, and dynamic performance, with a minimum error of the end-effector position in its reachable workspace.

This paper presents a unified formulation for the kinematics, singularity and workspace analyses of parallel delta robots with prismatic actuation. Unlike the existing studies, the derivations presented in this paper are made by assuming variable angles and variable link lengths. Thus, the presented scheme can be used for all of the possible linear delta robot configurations including the ones with asymmetric kinematic chains. Referring to a geometry-based derivation, the paper first formulates the position and the velocity kinematics of linear delta robots with non-iterative exact solutions. Then, all of the singular configurations are identified assuming a parametric content for the Jacobian matrix derived in the velocity kinematics section. Furthermore, a benchmark study is carried out to determine the linear delta robot configuration with the maximum cubic workspace among symmetric and semi-symmetric kinematic chains. In order to show the validity of the proposed approach, two sets of experiments are made, respectively, on the horizontal and the Keops type of linear delta robots. The experiment results for the confirmation of the presented kinematic analysis and the simulation results for the determination of the maximum cubic workspace illustrate the efficacy and the flexible applicability of the proposed framework.

The fundamental cause for the statically indeterminate problem in the force analysis of overconstrained parallel mechanisms (PMs) is found to be the presence of the linearly dependent overconstrained wrenches. Based on the fundamental cause, a unified expression of the solution for the magnitudes of the constraint wrenches of both the limb stiffness decoupled and limb stiffness coupled overconstrained PMs is derived. When the weight of each link is considered, depending on whether additional component forces are generated along the axes of the overconstrained wrenches, two different situations should be considered. One situation is that no additional component force is generated along the axes of the overconstrained wrenches under the weight of the links in the corresponding limb. In this case, the added constraint wrenches at the limb’s end can be calculated directly, and used as a part of the generalized external wrench. The other situation is that additional component forces are generated. In this case, the elastic deformations in the axes of the overconstrained wrenches generated by those component forces should be considered, and the deformation compatibility equations between the overconstrained wrenches are reformulated.

Recently, autonomous field robots have been investigated as a labor-reducing means to scout through commercial strawberry fields for disease detection or fruit harvesting. To achieve accurate over-bed and cross-bed motions, it is preferred to design the motion controller based on a precise dynamic model. Here, a dynamic model is developed for a custom-designed strawberry field robot considering terramechanic wheel–terrain interaction. Different from existing models, a torus geometry is considered for the wheels. In order to obtain a control affine model, the longitudinal force is curve-fitted using a polynomial function of the slip/skid ratio, while the lateral force is curve-fitted using an exponential function of both the slip/skid ratio and slip angle. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is then developed to estimate the unknown parameters in the approximated model such that the state variables propagated by such a model can match experimental data. The approximated model and the EKF-based parameter estimation method are then validated in a commercial strawberry farm.

In this paper, a novel robust model reference adaptive impedance control (RMRAIC) scheme is presented for an active transtibial ankle prosthesis. The controller makes the closed loop dynamics of the prosthesis similar to a reference impedance model and provides asymptotic tracking of the response trajectory of this impedance model. The interactions between human and prosthesis are taken into account by designing a second-order reference impedance model. The proposed controller is robust against parametric uncertainties in the nonlinear dynamic model of the prosthesis. Also, the controller has robustness against bounded uncertainties due to unavailable ground reaction forces and unmeasurable feedbacks of accelerations at the socket place. Moreover, an appropriate Series Elastic Actuator (SEA) mechanism for the prosthetic ankle is included in this work and its effects are discussed. Tracking performance and stability of the closed-loop system are proven via the Lyapunov stability analysis. Using simulations on an overall amputee prosthetic foot system, the effectiveness of the proposed RMRAIC controller is investigated for the task of level ground walking.

The potential use of onboard vision sensors (e.g., cameras) has long been recognized for the Sense and Avoid (SAA) of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), especially for micro UAVs with limited payload capacity. However, vision-based SAA for UAVs is extremely challenging because vision sensors usually have limitations on accurate distance information measuring. In this paper, we propose a monocular vision-based UAV SAA approach. Within the approach, the host UAV can accurately and efficiently avoid a noncooperative intruder only through angle measurements and perform maneuvers for optimal tradeoff among target motion estimation, intruder avoidance, and trajectory tracking. We realize this feature by explicitly integrating a target tracking filter into a nonlinear model predictive controller. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified through extensive simulations.

This paper presents a modified genetic algorithm (GA) using a new crossover operator (ADX) and a novel statistic correlation mutation algorithm (CAM). Both ADX and CAM work with population information to improve existing individuals of the GA and increase the exploration potential via the correlation mutation. Solution-based methods offer better local improvement of already known solutions while lacking at exploring the whole search space; in contrast, evolutionary algorithms provide better global search in exchange of exploitation power. Hybrid methods are widely used for constrained optimization problems due to increased global and local search capabilities. The modified GA improves results of constrained problems by balancing the exploitation and exploration potential of the algorithm. The conducted tests present average performance for various CEC’2015 benchmark problems, while offering better reliability and superior results on path planning problem for redundant manipulator and most of the constrained engineering design problems tested compared with current works in the literature and classic optimization algorithms.

It is well known that the sense of presence in a tele-robot system for both home-based tele-rehabilitation and rescue operations is enhanced by haptic feedback. Beyond several advantages, in the presence of communication delay haptic feedback can lead to an unstable teleoperation system. During the last decades, several control techniques have been proposed to ensure a good trade-off between transparency and stability in bilateral teleoperation systems under time delays. These proposed control approaches have been extensively tested with teleoperation systems based on identical master and slave robots having few degrees of freedom (DoF). However, a small number of DoFs cannot ensure both an effective restoration of the multi-joint coordination in tele-rehabilitation and an adequate dexterity during manipulation tasks in rescue scenario. Thus, a deep understanding of the applicability of such control techniques on a real bilateral teleoperation setup is needed. In this work, we investigated the behavior of the time-domain passivity approach (TDPA) applied on an asymmetrical teleoperator system composed by a 5-DoFs impedance designed upper-limb exoskeleton and a 4-DoFs admittance designed anthropomorphic robot. The conceived teleoperation architecture is based on a velocity–force (measured) architecture with position drift compensation and has been tested with a representative set of tasks under communication delay (80 ms round-trip). The results have shown that the TDPA is suitable for a multi-DoFs asymmetrical setup composed by two isomorphic haptic interfaces characterized by different mechanical features. The stability of the teleoperator has been proved during several (1) high-force contacts against stiff wall that involve more Cartesian axes simultaneously, (2) continuous contacts with a stiff edge tests, (3) heavy-load handling tests while following a predefined path and (4) high-force contacts against stiff wall while handling a load. The found results demonstrated that the TDPA could be used in several teleoperation scenarios like home-based tele-rehabilitation and rescue operations.