CoolBOT: a component-oriented programming framework for robotics

[EN] Programming software for controlling robotic systems in order to built working systems that perform adequately according to their design requirements remains being a task that requires an important development effort. Currently, there are no clear programming paradigms for programming robotic systems, and the programming techniques which are of common use today are not adequate to deal with the complexity associated with these systems. The work presented in this document describes a programming tool, concretely a framework, that must be considered as a first step to devise a tool for dealing with the complexity present in robotics systems. In this framework the software that controls a system is viewed as a dynamic network of units of execution inter-connected by means of data paths. Each one of these units of execution, called a component, is a port automaton which provides a given functionality, hidden behind an external interface specifying clearly which data it needs and which data it produces. Components, once defined and built, may be instantiated, integrated and used as many times as needed in other systems. The framework provides the infrastructure necessary to support this concept for components and the inter communication between them by means of data paths (port connections) which can be established and de-established dynamically. Moreover, and considering that the more robust components that conform a system are, the more robust the system is, the framework provides the necessary infrastructure to control and monitor the components than integrate a system at any given instant of time.

Diseño, implementación y verificación de un controlador para robots educativos

[EN] This project briefly analyzes the scope and applications of Industrial Robotics, as well as the importance that this technical discipline has gained in the past decades. In addition, it proposes a modern platform to assist in teaching this discipline in colleges and universities. This new educational platform for the teaching of Industrial Robotics is based on the robotic systems from Rhino Robotics Ltd., using the existing robotic arms and replacing the control electronics by a newer, modern and yet backwards-compatible controller. In addition to the controller, this platform also provides new, up-to-date software utilities that are more intuitive than those provided with the old system. The work to be done consists essentially in receiving commands from a personal computer which the controller must interpret in order to control the motors of the robotic arm. The controller itself will be implemented as an embedded system based on microcontrollers. This requires the implementation of a communication protocol between the personal computer and the microcontroller, the design of a command interpreter, the design of the electronics for motor control using PWM and H-bridges, and the implementation of control techniques (more precisely, PID control). Hence, this project combines software and hardware design and integration techniques with motor control techniques and feedback control methods from Control Engineering, along with the kinematic analysis of the Rhino XR-4 robotic arm. 

SED Stroop Effect Detector prototype

[ES] El Detector de Efectos Stroop (SED - Stroop Effect Detector), es una herramienta informática de asistencia, desarrollada a través del programa de investigación de Desarrollo Tecnológico Social de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, que ayuda a profesionales del sector neuropsicológico a identificar problemas en la corteza orbitofrontal de un individuo, usándose para ello la técnica ideada por Schenker en 1998. Como base metodológica, se han utilizado los conocimientos adquiridos en las diferentes materias de la adaptación al grado en Ingeniería Informática como Gestión del Software, Arquitectura del Software y Desarrollo de Interfaces de Usuario así como conocimiento adquirido con anterioridad en asignaturas de Programación e Ingeniería del Software I y II. Como para realizar este proyecto sólo el conocimiento informático no era suficiente, he realizado una labor de investigación acerca del problema, teniendo que recopilar información de otros documentos científicos que abordan el tema, consultas a profesionales del sector como son el Doctor Don Ayoze Nauzet González Hernández, neurólogo del hospital Doctor Negrín de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria y el psicólogo Don José Manuel Rodríguez Pellejero que habló de este problema en clase del máster de Formación del Profesorado y que actualmente estoy cursando. Este trabajo presenta el test de Stroop con las dos versiones de Schenker: RCN (Reading Color Names) y NCW (Naming Colored Words). Como norma general, ambas pruebas presentan ante los sujetos estudios palabras (nombres de colores) escritas con la tinta de colores diferentes. De esta forma, el RCN consiste en leer la palabra escrita omitiendo la tonalidad de su fuente e intentando que no nos influya. Por el contrario, el NCW requiere enunciar el nombre del color de la tinta con la que está escrita la palabra sin que nos influya que ésta última sea el nombre de un color.

A-TIRMA: A small autonomous sailboat

Máster Universitario en Sistemas Inteligentes y Aplicaciones Numéricas en Ingeniería (SIANI)