Reducing position error of cantilevered loads in motion systems

The positioning error of a large cantilevered mass that is actuated at its supported end is minimized as this mass travels at challenging high speeds and accelerations. An integrated approach is adopted to realize the task. After selecting the appropriate actuator that would provide higher rigidity, the system is viewed as a multi-degree of freedom system, and hence the concept of system-generated disturbance is introduced. This allows the use of appropriate mechanical design considerations and a proper generation of the kinematics commands to minimize such disturbance. A disturbance observer is then designed to detect and compensate the remaining disturbance, hence minimizing the positioning error.

Stair climber smart mobile robot (MSRox)

MSRox is a wheeled mobile robot with two actuated degrees of freedom which enables it to have smooth motion on flat surfaces. It has the capability of climbing stairs and traversing obstacles, and adaptability toward uphill, downhill and slope surfaces. MSRox with 82 cm in length, 54 cm in width and 29 cm in height has been designed to climb stairs of 10 cm in height and 15 cm in width; nevertheless, it has the capability of climbing stairs up to about 17 cm in height and unlimited widt. In this paper, the motion systems and the capabilities of MSRox are described. Furthermore, experimental results of stair climbing and a comparison of the results with others are presented.

Adaptive translational cueing motion algorithm using fuzzy based tilt coordination

Driving simulators have become useful research tools for the institution and laboratories which are studying in different fields of vehicular and transport design to increase road safety. Although classical washout filters are broadly used because of their short processing time, simplicity and ease of adjust, they have some disadvantages such as generation of wrong sensation of motions, false cue motions, and also their tuning process which is focused on the worst case situations leading to a poor usage of the workspace. The aim of this study is to propose a new motion cueing algorithm that can accurately transform vehicle specific force into simulator platform motions at high fidelity within the simulator’s physical limitations. This method is proposed to compensate wrong cueing motion caused by saturation of tilt coordination rate limit using an adaptive correcting signal based on added fuzzy logic into translational channel to minimize the human sensation error and exploit the platform more efficiently.

Vehicle motion simulators, a key step towards road vehicle dynamics improvement

Real road vehicle tests are time consuming, laborious, and costly, and involve several safety concerns. Road vehicle motion simulators (RVMS) could assist with vehicle testing, and eliminate or reduce the difficulties traditionally associated with conducting vehicle tests. However, such simulators must exhibit a high level of fidelity and accuracy in order to provide realistic and reliable outcomes. In this paper, we review existing RVMS and discuss each of the major RVMS subsystems related to the research and development of vehicle dynamics. The possibility of utilising motion simulators to conduct ride and handling test scenarios is also investigated.

The long and winding road : the development of a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of highly protected marine protected areas in Victoria, Australia

In 2002, the state of Victoria, Australia increased its “no-take” marine protected areas (MPAs) 100 fold to cover over 5% of its coastal waters in a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine national parks and sanctuaries. Given the ambitious targets set for MPA establishment globally in 2003 at the World Summit for Sustainable Development this apparently remarkable achievement could be an example to other nations and states attempting to establish substantial MPA systems.

This paper describes and discusses the factors that contributed to the establishment of the Victorian system and the relevance of these factors to other jurisdictions.

Silk Road project

Choreographer Kim Vincs and Scenographer Matthew Delbridge worked with dancer, Carlee Mellow, musicians Rob Vincs, Scott Dunbabin and Eugene Ughetti to create a virtual visual performance where performer's movement was rendered using a motion capture system and projected onto translucent screens.

Duplicating road patterns in South African informal settlements using procedural techniques

The formation of informal settlements in and around urban complexes has largely been ignored in the context of procedural city modeling. However, many cities in South Africa and globally can attest to the presence of such settlements. This paper analyses the phenomenon of informal settlements from a procedural modeling perspective. Aerial photography from two South African urban complexes, namely Johannesburg and Cape Town is used as a basis for the extraction of various features that distinguish different types of settlements. In particular, the road patterns which have formed within such settlements are analysed, and various procedural techniques proposed (including Voronoi diagrams, subdivision and L-systems) to replicate the identified features. A qualitative assessment of the procedural techniques is provided, and the most suitable combination of techniques identified for unstructured and structured settlements. In particular it is found that a combination of Voronoi diagrams and subdivision provides the closest match to unstructured informal settlements. A combination of L-systems, Voronoi diagrams and subdivision is found to produce the closest pattern to a structured informal settlement.

Finding the beat : an analysis of the rhythmic elements of motion pictures

This paper presents a new study on the application of the framework of Computational Media Aesthetics to the problem of automated understanding of film. Leveraging Film Grammar as the means to closing the "semantic gap" in media analysis, we examine film rhythm, a powerful narrative concept used to endow structure and form to the film compositionally and enhance its lyrical quality experientially. The novelty of this paper lies in the specification and investigation of the rhythmic elements that are present in two cinematic devices; namely motion and editing patterns, and their potential usefulness to automated content annotation and management systems. In our rhythm model, motion behavior is classified as being either nonexistent, fluid or staccato for a given shot. Shot neighborhoods in movies are then grouped by proportional makeup of these motion behavioral classes to yield seven high-level rhythmic arrangements that prove to be adept at indicating likely scene content (e.g. dialogue or chase sequence) in our experiments. The second part of our investigation presents a computational model to detect editing patterns as either metric, accelerated, decelerated or free. Details of the algorithm for the extraction of these classes are presented, along with experimental results on real movie data. We show with an investigation of combined rhythmic patterns that, while detailed content identification via rhythm types alone is not possible by virtue of the fact that film is not codified to this level in terms of rhythmic elements, analysis of the combined motion/editing rhythms can allow us to determine that the content has changed and hypothesize as to why this is so. We present three such categories of change and demonstrate their efficacy for capturing useful film elements (e.g. scene change precipitated by plot event), by providing data support from five motion pictures.

Scene extraction in motion pictures

This paper addresses the challenge of bridging the semantic gap between the rich meaning users desire when they query to locate and browse media and the shallowness of media descriptions that can be computed in today's content management systems. To facilitate high-level semantics-based content annotation and interpretation, we tackle the problem of automatic decomposition of motion pictures into meaningful story units, namely scenes. Since a scene is a complicated and subjective concept, we first propose guidelines from fill production to determine when a scene change occurs. We then investigate different rules and conventions followed as part of Fill Grammar that would guide and shape an algorithmic solution for determining a scene. Two different techniques using intershot analysis are proposed as solutions in this paper. In addition, we present different refinement mechanisms, such as film-punctuation detection founded on Film Grammar, to further improve the results. These refinement techniques demonstrate significant improvements in overall performance. Furthermore, we analyze errors in the context of film-production techniques, which offer useful insights into the limitations of our method.

Toward automatic extraction of expressive elements from motion pictures : tempo

This paper addresses the challenge of bridging the semantic gap that exists between the simplicity of features that can be currently computed in automated content indexing systems and the richness of semantics in user queries posed for media search and retrieval. It proposes a unique computational approach to extraction of expressive elements of motion pictures for deriving high-level semantics of stories portrayed, thus enabling rich video annotation and interpretation. This approach, motivated and directed by the existing cinematic conventions known as film grammar, as a first step toward demonstrating its effectiveness, uses the attributes of motion and shot length to define and compute a novel measure of tempo of a movie. Tempo flow plots are defined and derived for a number of full-length movies and edge analysis is performed leading to the extraction of dramatic story sections and events signaled by their unique tempo. The results confirm tempo as a useful high-level semantic construct in its own right and a promising component of others such as rhythm, tone or mood of a film. In addition to the development of this computable tempo measure, a study is conducted as to the usefulness of biasing it toward either of its constituents, namely, motion or shot length. Finally, a refinement is made to the shot length normalizing mechanism, driven by the peculiar characteristics of shot length distribution exhibited by movies. Results of these additional studies, and possible applications and limitations are discussed.

Novel approach to determining tempo and dramatic story sections in motion pictures

This paper presents an original computational approach to extraction of movie tempo for deriving story sections and events that convey high level semantics of stories portrayed in motion pictures, thus enabling better video annotation and interpretation systems. This approach, inspired by the existing cinematic conventions known as film grammar, uses the attributes of motion and shot length to define and compute a novel continuous measure of tempo of a movie. Tempo flow plots are derived for several full-length motion pictures and edge detection is performed to extract dramatic story sections and events occurring in the movie, underlined by their unique tempo. The results confirm reliable detection of actual distinct tempo changes and serve as useful index into the dramatic development and narration of the story in motion pictures.

Towards automatic extraction of expressive elements from motion pictures : tempo

This paper proposes a unique computational approach to extraction of expressive elements of motion pictures for deriving high level semantics of stories portrayed, thus enabling better video annotation and interpretation systems. This approach, motivated and directed by the existing cinematic conventions known as film grammar, as a first step towards demonstrating its effectiveness, uses the attributes of motion and shot length to define and compute a novel measure of tempo of a movie. Tempo flow plots are defined and derived for four full-length movies and edge analysis is performed leading to the extraction of dramatic story sections and events signaled by their unique tempo. The results confirm tempo as a useful attribute in its own right and a promising component of semantic constructs such as tone or mood of a film.

Stochastic models of road geometry and wind condition for vehicle energy management and control

Modeling and simulation is commonly used to improve vehicle performance, to optimize vehicle system design, and to reduce vehicle development time. Vehicle performances can be affected by environmental conditions and driver behavior factors, which are often uncertain and immeasurable. To incorporate the role of environmental conditions in the modeling and simulation of vehicle systems, both real and artificial data are used. Often, real data are unavailable or inadequate for extensive investigations. Hence, it is important to be able to construct artificial environmental data whose characteristics resemble those of the real data for modeling and simulation purposes. However, to produce credible vehicle simulation results, the simulated environment must be realistic and validated using accepted practices. This paper proposes a stochastic model that is capable of creating artificial environmental factors such as road geometry and wind conditions. In addition, road geometric design principles are employed to modify the created road data, making it consistent with the real-road geometry. Two sets of real-road geometry and wind condition data are employed to propose probability models. To justify the distribution goodness of fit, Pearson's chi-square and correlation statistics have been used. Finally, the stochastic models of road geometry and wind conditions (SMRWs) are developed to produce realistic road and wind data. SMRW can be used to predict vehicle performance, energy management, and control strategies over multiple driving cycles and to assist in developing fuel-efficient vehicles.

My road ahead study protocol: a randomised controlled trial of an online psychological intervention for men following treatment for localised prostate cancer

There is a need for psychosocial interventions for men with prostate cancer to promote adaptive coping with the challenges and distress associated with diagnosis, treatment and recovery. In addition, interventions are needed that help to overcome barriers to psychosocial treatment such as limited face-to-face psychosocial support services, a shortage of adequately trained professionals, geographical distance, perceived and personal stigma and a preference for consumer-centric and self-directed learning. My Road Ahead is an online cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) intervention for prostate cancer. This protocol describes a randomised controlled trial (RCT) that will evaluate the efficacy of this online intervention alone, the intervention in combination with a moderated online forum, and the moderated online forum alone.

Analysis of the inverse kinematics problem for 3-DOF axis-symmetric parallel manipulators with parasitic motion

 Determining an analytical solution to the inverse kinematics problem for a parallel manipulator is typically a straightforward problem. However, lower mobility parallel manipulators with 2-5 degrees of freedom (DOFs) often suffer from an unwanted parasitic motion in one or more DOFs. For such manipulators, the inverse kinematics problem can be significantly more difficult. This paper contains an analysis of the inverse kinematics problem for a class of 3-DOF parallel manipulators with axis-symmetric arm systems. All manipulators in the studied class exhibit parasitic motion in one DOF. For manipulators in the studied class, the general solution to the inverse kinematics problem is reduced to solving a univariate equation, while analytical solutions are presented for several important special cases.