Towards intelligent manufacturing

This article describes the application of an Artificial Intelligence Planner in a robotized assembly cell that can be integrated to a Flexible Manufacturing System. The objective is to allow different products to be automatically assembled in a single production line with no pre-established assembly plans. The planner function is to generate action plans to the robot, in real time, from two input information: the initial state (disposition of parts of the product in line) and the final state (configuration of the assembled product). Copyright © 2007 IFAC.

Classification algorithms for Intelligent Transport Systems

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) consists in the application of ICT to transport to offer new and improved services to the mobility of people and freights. While using ITS, travellers produce large quantities of data that can be collected and analysed to study their behaviour and to provide information to decision makers and planners. The thesis proposes innovative deployments of classification algorithms for Intelligent Transport System with the aim to support the decisions on traffic rerouting, bus transport demand and behaviour of two wheelers vehicles. The first part of this work provides an overview and a classification of a selection of clustering algorithms that can be implemented for the analysis of ITS data. The first contribution of this thesis is an innovative use of the agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm to classify similar travels in terms of their origin and destination, together with the proposal for a methodology to analyse drivers’ route choice behaviour using GPS coordinates and optimal alternatives. The clusters of repetitive travels made by a sample of drivers are then analysed to compare observed route choices to the modelled alternatives. The results of the analysis show that drivers select routes that are more reliable but that are more expensive in terms of travel time. Successively, different types of users of a service that provides information on the real time arrivals of bus at stop are classified using Support Vector Machines. The results shows that the results of the classification of different types of bus transport users can be used to update or complement the census on bus transport flows. Finally, the problem of the classification of accidents made by two wheelers vehicles is presented together with possible future application of clustering methodologies aimed at identifying and classifying the different types of accidents.

Vision-based active safety system for automatic stopping

ntelligent systems designed to reduce highway fatalities have been widely applied in the automotive sector in the last decade. Of all users of transport systems, pedestrians are the most vulnerable in crashes as they are unprotected. This paper deals with an autonomous intelligent emergency system designed to avoid collisions with pedestrians. The system consists of a fuzzy controller based on the time-to-collision estimate – obtained via a vision-based system – and the wheel-locking probability – obtained via the vehicle’s CAN bus – that generates a safe braking action. The system has been tested in a real car – a convertible Citroën C3 Pluriel – equipped with an automated electro-hydraulic braking system capable of working in parallel with the vehicle’s original braking circuit. The system is used as a last resort in the case that an unexpected pedestrian is in the lane and all the warnings have failed to produce a response from the driver.

Cooperative Learning Model based on Multi-Agent Architecture for Embedded Intelligent Systems

Cooperative systems are suitable for many types of applications and nowadays these system are vastly used to improve a previously defined system or to coordinate multiple devices working together. This paper provides an alternative to improve the reliability of a previous intelligent identification system. The proposed approach implements a cooperative model based on multi-agent architecture. This new system is composed of several radar-based systems which identify a detected object and transmit its own partial result by implementing several agents and by using a wireless network to transfer data. The proposed topology is a centralized architecture where the coordinator device is in charge of providing the final identification result depending on the group behavior. In order to find the final outcome, three different mechanisms are introduced. The simplest one is based on majority voting whereas the others use two different weighting voting procedures, both providing the system with learning capabilities. Using an appropriate network configuration, the success rate can be improved from the initial 80% up to more than 90%.

Una propuesta de modelado del estudiante basada en ontologías y diagnóstico pedagógico-cognitivo no monótono

Los recientes avances tecnológicos han encontrado un potencial campo de explotación en la educación asistida por computador. A finales de los años 90 surgió un nuevo campo de investigación denominado Entornos Virtuales Inteligentes para el Entrenamiento y/o Enseñanza (EVIEs), que combinan dos áreas de gran complejidad: Los Entornos Virtuales (EVs) y los Sistemas de Tutoría Inteligente (STIs). De este modo, los beneficios de los entornos 3D (simulación de entornos de alto riesgo o entornos de difícil uso, etc.) pueden combinarse con aquéllos de un STIs (personalización de materias y presentaciones, adaptación de la estrategia de tutoría a las necesidades del estudiante, etc.) para proporcionar soluciones educativas/de entrenamiento con valores añadidos. El Modelo del Estudiante, núcleo de un SIT, representa el conocimiento y características del estudiante, y refleja el proceso de razonamiento del estudiante. Su complejidad es incluso superior cuando los STIs se aplican a EVs porque las nuevas posibilidades de interacción proporcionadas por estos entornos deben considerarse como nuevos elementos de información clave para el modelado del estudiante, incidiendo en todo el proceso educativo: el camino seguido por el estudiante durante su navegación a través de escenarios 3D; el comportamiento no verbal tal como la dirección de la mirada; nuevos tipos de pistas e instrucciones que el módulo de tutoría puede proporcionar al estudiante; nuevos tipos de preguntas que el estudiante puede formular, etc. Por consiguiente, es necesario que la estructura de los STIs, embebida en el EVIE, se enriquezca con estos aspectos, mientras mantiene una estructura clara, estructurada, y bien definida. La mayoría de las aproximaciones al Modelo del Estudiante en STIs y en IVETs no consideran una taxonomía de posibles conocimientos acerca del estudiante suficientemente completa. Además, la mayoría de ellas sólo tienen validez en ciertos dominios o es difícil su adaptación a diferentes STIs. Para vencer estas limitaciones, hemos propuesto, en el marco de esta tesis doctoral, un nuevo mecanismo de Modelado del Estudiante basado en la Ingeniería Ontológica e inspirado en principios pedagógicos, con un modelo de datos sobre el estudiante amplio y flexible que facilita su adaptación y extensión para diferentes STIs y aplicaciones de aprendizaje, además de un método de diagnóstico con capacidades de razonamiento no monótono. El método de diagnóstico es capaz de inferir el estado de los objetivos de aprendizaje contenidos en el SIT y, a partir de él, el estado de los conocimientos del estudiante durante su proceso de aprendizaje. La aproximación almodelado del estudiante propuesta ha sido implementada e integrada en un agente software (el agente de modelado del estudiante) dentro de una plataforma software existente para el desarrollo de EVIEs denominadaMAEVIF. Esta plataforma ha sido diseñada para ser fácilmente configurable para diferentes aplicaciones de aprendizaje. El modelado del estudiante presentado ha sido implementado e instanciado para dos tipos de entornos de aprendizaje: uno para aprendizaje del uso de interfaces gráficas de usuario en una aplicación software y para un Entorno Virtual para entrenamiento procedimental. Además, se ha desarrollado una metodología para guiar en la aplicación del esta aproximación de modelado del estudiante a cada sistema concreto.---ABSTRACT---Recent technological advances have found a potential field of exploitation in computeraided education. At the end of the 90’s a new research field emerged, the so-called Intelligent Virtual Environments for Training and/or Education (IVETs), which combines two areas of great complexity: Virtual Environments (VE) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). In this way, the benefits of 3D environments (simulation of high risk or difficult-to-use environments, etc.) may be combined with those of an ITS (content and presentation customization, adaptation of the tutoring strategy to the student requirements, etc.) in order to provide added value educational/training solutions. The StudentModel, core of an ITS, represents the student’s knowledge and characteristics, and reflects the student’s reasoning process. Its complexity is even higher when the ITSs are applied on VEs because the new interaction possibilities offered by these environments must be considered as new key information pieces for student modelling, impacting all the educational process: the path followed by the student during their navigation through 3D scenarios; non-verbal behavior such as gaze direction; new types of hints or instructions that the tutoring module can provide to the student; new question types that the student can ask, etc. Thus, it is necessary for the ITS structure, which is embedded in the IVET, to be enriched by these aspects, while keeping a clear, structured and well defined architecture. Most approaches to SM on ITSs and IVETs don’t consider a complete enough taxonomy of possible knowledge about the student. In addition, most of them have validity only in certain domains or they are hard to be adapted for different ITSs. In order to overcome these limitations, we have proposed, in the framework of this doctoral research project, a newStudentModeling mechanism that is based onOntological Engineering and inspired on pedagogical principles, with a wide and flexible data model about the student that facilitates its adaptation and extension to different ITSs and learning applications, as well as a rich diagnosis method with non-monotonic reasoning capacities. The diagnosis method is able to infer the state of the learning objectives encompassed by the ITS and, fromit, the student’s knowledge state during the student’s process of learning. The proposed student modelling approach has been implemented and integrated in a software agent (the student modeling agent) within an existing software platform for the development of IVETs called MAEVIF. This platform was designed to be easily configurable for different learning applications. The proposed student modeling has been implemented and it has been instantiated for two types of learning environments: one for learning to use the graphical user interface of a software application and a Virtual Environment for procedural training. In addition, a methodology to guide on the application of this student modeling approach to each specific system has been developed.

Educational Systems for Maximizing Learning Online and in the Classroom

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Intelligent Search and Automatic Document Classification and Cataloging Based on Ontology Approach

This paper presents an approach to development of intelligent search system and automatic document classification and cataloging tools for CASE-system based on metadata. The described method uses advantages of ontology approach and traditional approach based on keywords. The method has powerful intelligent means and it can be integrated with existing document search systems.

Sistema Inteligente de Apoio ao Coach

O coaching é um processo que permite ajudar um ou mais indivíduos a definirem e saberem como concretizar os seus objetivos, sejam eles pessoais ou profissionais. Atualmente, existe um interesse e procura crescente de pessoas com experiência nesta área (designados por coaches) por parte de empresas, equipas desportivas, escolas e outras organizações, com a finalidade de obter um maior rendimento. De forma a ajudar os intervenientes no processo, este documento demonstra a necessidade de existir uma ferramenta de apoio que permite aos coaches gerirem melhor a sua atividade profissional. A pesquisa e estudo efetuados procuram responder a este caso, desenvolvendo um sistema informático inteligente de apoio ao coach dotado de uma interface centrada no utilizador. Antes de iniciar o desenvolvimento de um sistema inteligente é necessário realizar e apresentar um levantamento do estado da arte, mais concretamente sobre a interação homem-computador, modelação do perfil de utilizador e processo de coaching, que apresenta os fundamentos teóricos para a escolha da metodologia de desenvolvimento adequado. São apresentadas posteriormente as fases constituintes do modelo de desenvolvimento de interfaces escolhido, a engenharia de usabilidade, que se inicia com uma análise detalhada, permitindo de seguida uma estruturação dos conhecimentos obtidos e a aplicação de linhas de orientação estipuladas, finalizando com testes de utilização e respetivo feedback dos utilizadores. O protótipo desenvolvido distingue utilizadores com diferentes características, através de uma classificação por níveis e permite gerir todo o processo de coaching efetuado a outras pessoas ou ao próprio utilizador. O facto de existir uma classificação dos utilizadores faz com que a interação entre sistema e utilizadores seja diferente e adaptada às necessidades de cada um. O resultado dos testes de utilização com um caso prático e dos questionários efetuados permite detetar se o modelo foi bem-sucedido e funciona corretamente e o que é necessário alterar no futuro para facilitar a interação e satisfazer as necessidades de cada utilizador.

QUALITEL : Qualitat Docent als estudis d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació

L'objectiu del projecte QUALITEL dut a terme durant el curs 2007/2008 fou millorar l'aprenentatge dels estudiants de primer curs (fase selectiva) d'enginyeria de telecomunicació de l'ETSETB, introduint una nova metodologia docent basada en l'EEES. Es a dir, programació del treball de l'estudiant dins i fora de l'aula, increment de la interacció entre el professors i els seus estudiants mitjançant un sistema de tutories i la utilització d'eines de suport a l'aprenentatge com la utilització del Campus Digital ATENEA. La millora de l'aprenentatge s'hauria de traduir en un augment significatiu del percentatge d'aprovats a la fase selectiva que permetés capgirar la dinàmica de l'ETSETB en els darrers anys que ha sofert una davallada molt important d'estudiants matriculats. Aquesta davallada es va originar per una disminució de la demanda dels nostres estudis, la qual va provocar una baixada de la nota de tall que, a la seva vegada, va comportar un elevat fracàs a la fase selectiva.

Disseny i implementació d'un sistema de gestió i intel·ligència per una biblioteca

L'objectiu d'aquest TFC és el disseny i implementació d'un Sistema de gestió i intel·ligència per una biblioteca. A part del que suposa el disseny de la base de dades que contindrà tots els recursos amb els que compte la biblioteca, Aixa com de les dades d'usuaris i administradors i, finalment, de tots els moviments de préstecs dels recursos disponibles.

A Classification of Tools for Learning Logic

A table showing a comparison and classification of tools (intelligent tutoring systems) for e-learning of Logic at a college level.

A Classification of Tools for Learning Logic

A table showing a comparison and classification of tools (intelligent tutoring systems) for e-learning of Logic at a college level.

Kiinteistön ohjaus- ja valvontajärjestelmän toteutus mobiiliympäristöön

Ohjelmistoprojektin läpivienti vaatii suunnittelua ja yhteisiä tapaamisia toimittajan ja asiakkaan kesken. Ohjelmistotuotannon prosessit ovat määrittely, suunnittelu, toteutus, testaus ja käyttöönotto. Tärkeimmät dokumentit ovat projektisuunnitelma, toiminnallinen määrittely ja tekninen määrittely. Ongelmia projektin läpiviennissä voi tulla silloin, jos toimittaja ja asiakas eivät ymmärrä toisiaan. Tässä työssä tehdään SMSviestejä käsittelevä mobiilisovellus ja siihen liittyvät projektisuunnitelma sekä määrittelydokumentit. Mobiilisovellus ohjelmoidaan J2ME:llä, joka on sulautettujen järjestelmien ohjelmointiin suunniteltu Java-kieli. Sovellus tukee toisen asteen opiskelijoille suunnattuja mobiiliohjelmointi opintoja. Opintojakso kuuluu Pohjois- Karjalan ammattiopiston järjestämään turvallisuusalan koulutukseen. Sovelluksella voidaan lähettää ohjausviestejä OUMAN EH-60 -ohjaus- ja valvontayksikköön. Yksikön avulla voi ohjata ja valvoa esimerkiksi kiinteistön lämmönsäätöä, vesivahinkoja, oven lukitusta jne. Tässä työssä tehtävällä sovelluksella demonstroidaan kesämökin ohjausta. Langaton tiedonsiirto tulee tulevaisuudessa lisääntymään kiinteistöjen ohjaus- ja valvontajärjestelmänä. Hätä- ja valvontaviestit lähetetään automaattisesti kiinteistön omistajalle, hoivapalveluyrittäjälle, talohuoltoon tai hätäkeskukseen. Kiinteistön omistaja voi omalla matkapuhelimellaan ajasta ja paikasta riippumattavalvoa ja ohjata kiinteistöään reaaliaikaisesti. Pohjois-Karjalan ammattiopisto haluaa olla kehittämässä ja toteuttamassa turvallisuusalan koulutusta nyt ja tulevaisuudessa.

Time-series forecasting of pollutant concentration levels using particle swarm optimization and artificial neural networks

This study evaluates the application of an intelligent hybrid system for time-series forecasting of atmospheric pollutant concentration levels. The proposed method consists of an artificial neural network combined with a particle swarm optimization algorithm. The method not only searches relevant time lags for the correct characterization of the time series, but also determines the best neural network architecture. An experimental analysis is performed using four real time series and the results are shown in terms of six performance measures. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed methodology achieves a fair prediction of the presented pollutant time series by using compact networks.

Modelling Cutting States in Rough Turning of 34CrNiMo6 Steel

Rough turning is an important form of manufacturing cylinder-symmetric parts. Thus far, increasing the level of automation in rough turning has included process monitoring methods or adaptive turning control methods that aim to keep the process conditions constant. However, in order to improve process safety, quality and efficiency, an adaptive turning control should be transformed into an intelligent machining system optimizing cutting values to match process conditions or to actively seek to improve process conditions. In this study, primary and secondary chatter and chip formation are studied to understand how to measure the effect of these phenomena to the process conditions and how to avoid undesired cutting conditions. The concept of cutting state is used to address the combination of these phenomena and the current use of the power capacity of the lathe. The measures to the phenomena are not developed based on physical measures, but instead, the severity of the measures is modelled against expert opinion. Based on the concept of cutting state, an expert system style fuzzy control system capable of optimizing the cutting process was created. Important aspects of the system include the capability to adapt to several cutting phenomena appearing at once, even if the said phenomena would potentially require conflicting control action.