Millora experimental de les lleis de control predictiu aplicades sobre la plataforma PRIM I, per el seguiment de trajectòries

Aquest projecte s’aplica sobre el robot PRIM (Plataforma Robotitzada d’Informació Multimèdia), un robot autònom no humanoide creat el 2004 per Ateneu Informàtic (AI) que permet realitzar trajectòries 2D gràcies a un sistema de tracció format per dues rodes motrius propulsades independentment. La plataforma PRIM és controlada a partir del control predictiu, aquest control es va implementar en un projecte anterior, creat per l’Alexandre Blasco Gutierrez i titulat “Implementació de tècniques MPC (Model Predictiu Control) sobre la plataforma PRIM I”. El que es pretén en aquest projecte és millorar els resultats obtinguts en el passat projecte reformulant la llei de control i analitzar les discrepàncies obtingudes en les metodologies que s’utilitzen per minimitzar la funció de costos a partir de simulacions de trajectòries

Calcium imaging of odor-evoked responses in the Drosophila antennal lobe.

The antennal lobe is the primary olfactory center in the insect brain and represents the anatomical and functional equivalent of the vertebrate olfactory bulb. Olfactory information in the external world is transmitted to the antennal lobe by olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), which segregate to distinct regions of neuropil called glomeruli according to the specific olfactory receptor they express. Here, OSN axons synapse with both local interneurons (LNs), whose processes can innervate many different glomeruli, and projection neurons (PNs), which convey olfactory information to higher olfactory brain regions. Optical imaging of the activity of OSNs, LNs and PNs in the antennal lobe - traditionally using synthetic calcium indicators (e.g. calcium green, FURA-2) or voltage-sensitive dyes (e.g. RH414) - has long been an important technique to understand how olfactory stimuli are represented as spatial and temporal patterns of glomerular activity in many species of insects. Development of genetically-encoded neural activity reporters, such as the fluorescent calcium indicators G-CaMP and Cameleon, the bioluminescent calcium indicator GFP-aequorin, or a reporter of synaptic transmission, synapto-pHluorin has made the olfactory system of the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, particularly accessible to neurophysiological imaging, complementing its comprehensively-described molecular, electrophysiological and neuroanatomical properties. These reporters can be selectively expressed via binary transcriptional control systems (e.g. GAL4/UAS, LexA/LexAop, Q system) in defined populations of neurons within the olfactory circuitry to dissect with high spatial and temporal resolution how odor-evoked neural activity is represented, modulated and transformed. Here we describe the preparation and analysis methods to measure odor-evoked responses in the Drosophila antennal lobe using G-CaMP. The animal preparation is minimally invasive and can be adapted to imaging using wide-field fluorescence, confocal and two-photon microscopes.

New delay-dependent stability criteria for uncertain neutral systems with mixed time-varying delays and nonlinear perturbations

The problem of stability analysis for a class of neutral systems with mixed time-varying neutral, discrete and distributed delays and nonlinear parameter perturbations is addressed. By introducing a novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and combining the descriptor model transformation, the Leibniz-Newton formula, some free-weighting matrices, and a suitable change of variables, new sufficient conditions are established for the stability of the considered system, which are neutral-delay-dependent, discrete-delay-range dependent, and distributeddelay-dependent. The conditions are presented in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and can be efficiently solved using convex programming techniques. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method

An LMI approach to H∞ synchronization of second-order neutral master-slave systems

The H∞ synchronization problem of the master and slave structure of a second-order neutral master-slave systems with time-varying delays is presented in this paper. Delay-dependent sufficient conditions for the design of a delayed output-feedback control are given by Lyapunov-Krasovskii method in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI). A controller, which guarantees H∞ synchronization of the master and slave structure using some free weighting matrices, is then developed. A numerical example has been given to show the effectiveness of the method

Robust control of structures subject to uncertain disturbances and actuator dynamics

The objective the present research is try to find some control design strategies, which must be effective and closed to the real operation conditions. As a novel contribution to structural control strategies, the theories of Interval Modal Arithmetic, Backstepping Control and QFT (Qualitative Feedback Theory) will be studied. The steps to follow are to develop first new controllers based on the above theories and then to implement the proposed control strategies to different kind of structures. The report is organized as follows. The Chapter 2 presents the state-of-the-art on structural control systems. The chapter 3 presents the most important open problems found in field of structural control. The exploratory work made by the author, research proposal and working plan are given in the Chapter 4

Integració de la posició GPS per fer el control del moviment d'un robot

L’objectiu d’aquest treball és fer un estudi dels diferents tipus de sistemes de posicionament global que hi ha en el mercat, elegir un mòdul receptor assequible per poder analitzar-lo i veure si disposa de les característiques adequades per integrar-lo en un robot autònom d’exploració del projecte Sant Bernardo. S’hauran de fer les anàlisis de la precisió del mòdul en les diferents direccions cardinals, es a dir Nord, Sud, Est, Oest i altura i veure la diferència d’error que hi ha en cada una, veure si la precisió varia molt en diferents situacions, com en cel obert, en sotabosc, costat i interior edificis. A més a més s’haurà de mirar la repetibilitat, la diferencia d’error amb diferentnombre de satèl•lits connectats i si disposa de suficient velocitat de processat per a podar corregir la posició del robot en moviment. Un cop analitzades les característiques del mòdul receptor elegit, es decidirà si aquest ésadequat per fer les correccions de posició del robot, o s’haurà d’adquirir un mòdul de característiques superiors i per tant molt més car per a dura a terme adequadament la correcció de la posició

Manipulator control board

The Mechatronics Research Centre (MRC) owns a small scale robot manipulator called aMini-Mover 5. This robot arm is a microprocessor-controlled, six-jointed mechanical armdesigned to provide an unusual combination of dexterity and low cost.The Mini-Mover-5 is operated by a number of stepper motors and is controlled by a PCparallel port via a discrete logic board. The manipulator also has an impoverished array ofsensors.This project requires that a new control board and suitable software be designed to allow themanipulator to be controlled from a PC. The control board will also provide a mechanism forthe values measured using some sensors to be returned to the PC.On this project I will consider: stepper motor control requirements, sensor technologies,power requirements, USB protocols, USB hardware and software development and controlrequirements (e.g. sample rates).In this report we will have a look at robots history and background, as well as we willconcentrate how stepper motors and parallel port work

Control de glicèmia en pacients crítics mitjançant CGMS

L’estudi que es realitza en aquest projecte/treball final de carrera queda englobat dins del grup de recerca MICE (Modal Intervals Control and Engeneering), el qual realitzainvestigacions entorn al control de glucèmia. Aquest grup de recerca vinculat a la Universitat de Girona col•labora amb l’Hospital Universitari Dr. Josep Trueta de Girona. La temàtica principal tractarà de realitzar el control de glucèmia en pacients crítics, que es troben ingressats en la unitat de cures intensives de qualsevol hospital. Com a conseqüència d’aquesta problemàtica, s’ha implementat en un entorn virtual, un pacient el qual simula la situació d’un pacient real en la unitat de cures intensives. El model emprat per a la obtenció del model de pacient virtual és el desenvolupat per Chase et al. (2005), el qual mitjançant variables com l’alimentació enteral i la sensibilitat insulínica, es podien realitzar assajos reals per a validar protocols de control ‘in silico’ per posteriorment realitzar assajos amb població real

Control de posició del robot wifibot

Aquest projecte pretén presentar de forma clara i detallada l’estructura i el funcionament del robot així com dels components que el conformen. Aquesta informació és de vital importància a l’hora de desenvolupar aplicacions per al robot. Un cop descrites les característiques del robot s’analitzaran les eines necessàries i/o disponibles per poder desenvolupar programari per cada nivell de la forma més senzilla i eficient possible. Posteriorment s’analitzaran els diferents nivells de programació i se’n contrastaran els avantatges i els inconvenients de cada un. Aquest anàlisi es començarà fent pel nivell més alt i anirà baixant amb la intenció de no entrar en nivells més baixos del necessari. Baixar un nivell en la programació suposa haver de crear aplicacions sempre compatibles amb els nivells superiors de forma que com més es baixa més augmenta la complexitat. A partir d’aquest anàlisi s’ha arribat a la conclusió que per tal d’aprofitar totes les prestacions del robot és precís arribar a programar en el nivell més baix del robot. Finalment l’objectiu és obtenir una sèrie de programes per cada nivell que permetin controlar el robot i fer-lo seguir senzilles trajectòries

Local model predictive control experiences with differential driven wheeled mobile robots

This work extends a previously developed research concerning about the use of local model predictive control in differential driven mobile robots. Hence, experimental results are presented as a way to improve the methodology by considering aspects as trajectory accuracy and time performance. In this sense, the cost function and the prediction horizon are important aspects to be considered. The aim of the present work is to test the control method by measuring trajectory tracking accuracy and time performance. Moreover, strategies for the integration with perception system and path planning are briefly introduced. In this sense, monocular image data can be used to plan safety trajectories by using goal attraction potential fields

Mobile Robot Local Predictive Control under Perception Constraints

This research extends a previously developed work concerning about the use of local model predictive control in mobile robots. Hence, experimental results are presented as a way to improve the methodology by considering aspects as trajectory accuracy and time performance. In this sense, the cost function and the prediction horizon are important aspects to be considered. The platformused is a differential driven robot with a free rotating wheel. The aim of the present work is to test the control method by measuring trajectory tracking accuracy and time performance. Moreover, strategies for the integration with perception system and path planning are also introduced. In this sense, monocular image data provide an occupancy grid where safety trajectories are computed by using goal attraction potential fields

Mobile robot experimental modeling and control strategies using sensor fusion

This research work deals with the problem of modeling and design of low level speed controller for the mobile robot PRIM. The main objective is to develop an effective educational, and research tool. On one hand, the interests in using the open mobile platform PRIM consist in integrating several highly related subjects to the automatic control theory in an educational context, by embracing the subjects of communications, signal processing, sensor fusion and hardware design, amongst others. On the other hand, the idea is to implement useful navigation strategies such that the robot can be served as a mobile multimedia information point. It is in this context, when navigation strategies are oriented to goal achievement, that a local model predictive control is attained. Hence, such studies are presented as a very interesting control strategy in order to develop the future capabilities of the system. In this context the research developed includes the visual information as a meaningful source that allows detecting the obstacle position coordinates as well as planning the free obstacle trajectory that should be reached by the robot

Remote Control of Mobile Devices in Android Platform

Remote control systems are a very useful element to control and monitor devices quickly and easily. This paper proposes a new architecture for remote control of Android mobile devices, analyzing the different alternatives and seeking the optimal solution in each case. Although the area of remote control, in case of mobile devices, has been little explored, it may provide important advantages for testing software and hardware developments in several real devices. It can also allow an efficient management of various devices of different types, perform forensic security tasks, etc ... The main idea behind the proposed architecture was the design of a system to be used as a platform which provides the services needed to perform remote control of mobile devices. As a result of this research, a proof of concept was implemented. An Android application running a group of server programs on the device, connected to the network or USB interface, depending on availability. This servers can be controlled through a small client written in Java and runnable both on desktop and web systems.

Predicting chick body mass by artificial intelligence-based models

The objective of this work was to develop, validate, and compare 190 artificial intelligence-based models for predicting the body mass of chicks from 2 to 21 days of age subjected to different duration and intensities of thermal challenge. The experiment was conducted inside four climate-controlled wind tunnels using 210 chicks. A database containing 840 datasets (from 2 to 21-day-old chicks) - with the variables dry-bulb air temperature, duration of thermal stress (days), chick age (days), and the daily body mass of chicks - was used for network training, validation, and tests of models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) and neuro-fuzzy networks (NFNs). The ANNs were most accurate in predicting the body mass of chicks from 2 to 21 days of age after they were subjected to the input variables, and they showed an R² of 0.9993 and a standard error of 4.62 g. The ANNs enable the simulation of different scenarios, which can assist in managerial decision-making, and they can be embedded in the heating control systems.