Game Theory Models for Multi-Robot Patrolling of Infraestructures

Abstract This work is focused on the problem of performing multi‐robot patrolling for infrastructure security applications in order to protect a known environment at critical facilities. Thus, given a set of robots and a set of points of interest, the patrolling task consists of constantly visiting these points at irregular time intervals for security purposes. Current existing solutions for these types of applications are predictable and inflexible. Moreover, most of the previous centralized and deterministic solutions and only few efforts have been made to integrate dynamic methods. Therefore, the development of new dynamic and decentralized collaborative approaches in order to solve the aforementioned problem by implementing learning models from Game Theory. The model selected in this work that includes belief‐based and reinforcement models as special cases is called Experience‐Weighted Attraction. The problem has been defined using concepts of Graph Theory to represent the environment in order to work with such Game Theory techniques. Finally, the proposed methods have been evaluated experimentally by using a patrolling simulator. The results obtained have been compared with previous available

Functional modeling applied to HAZOP automation

In this paper we present a new tool to perform guided HAZOP analyses. This tool uses a functional model of the process that merges its functional and its structural information in a natural way. The functional modeling technique used is called D-higraphs. This tool solves some of the problems and drawbacks of other existing methodologies for the automation of HAZOPs. The applicability and easy understanding of the proposed methodology is shown in an industrial case.

Risk analysis for UAV safe operations: a rationalization for an agricultural environment

The road to the automation of the agricultural processes passes through the safe operation of the autonomous vehicles. This requirement is a fact in ground mobile units, but it still has not well defined for the aerial robots (UAVs) mainly because the normative and legislation are quite diffuse or even inexistent. Therefore, to define a common and global policy is the challenge to tackle. This characterization has to be addressed from the field experience. Accordingly, this paper presents the work done in this direction, based on the analysis of the most common sources of hazards when using UAV's for agricultural tasks. The work, based on the ISO 31000 normative, has been carried out by applying a three-step structure that integrates the identification, assessment and reduction procedures. The present paper exposes how this method has been applied to analyze previous accidents and malfunctions during UAV operations in order to obtain real failure causes. It has allowed highlighting common risks and hazardous sources and proposing specific guards and safety measures for the agricultural context.

Distributes award protocol: A cooperation and communication method for robots.

In this Master’s Thesis a new Distributed Award Protocol (DAP) for robot communication and cooperation is presented. Task assignment (contract awarding) is done dynamically with contracts assigned to robots based upon the best bid received. Instead of having a manager and a contractor it is proposed a fully distributed bidding/awarding mechanism without a distinguished master. The best bidding robots are awarded with contract for execution. The contractors make decisions locally. This brings the following benefits: no communication bottleneck, low computational power requirement, increased robustness. DAP can handle multitasking. Tasks can be injected into system during the execution of already allocated tasks. As tasks have priorities, in the next cycle after taking into account actual bid parameters of all robots, tasks can be re-allocated. The aim is to minimize a global cost function which is a compromise between cost of task execution and cost of resources usage. Information about tasks and bid values is spread among robots with the use of a Round Robin Route, which is a novel solution proposed in this work. This method allows also identifying failed robots. Such failed robot is eliminated from the list of awarded robots and its replacement is found so the task is still executed by a team. If the failure of a robot was temporary (e.g. communication noise) and the robot can recover, it can again participate in the next bidding/awarding process. Using a bidding/awarding mechanism allows robots to dynamically relocate among tasks. This is also contributes to system robustness. DAP was evaluated through multiple experiments done in the multi-robot simulation system. Various scenarios were tested to check the idea of the main algorithm. Different failures of robots (communication failures, partial hardware malfunctions) were simulated and observations were made regarding how DAP recovers from them. Also the DAP flexibility to environment changes was watched. The experiments in the simulated environment confirmed the above features of DAP.

Model Based On-Line Energy Prediction System for Semi-Autonomous Mobile Robots

Maximizing energy autonomy is a consistent challenge when deploying mobile robots in ionizing radiation or other hazardous environments. Having a reliable robot system is essential for successful execution of missions and to avoid manual recovery of the robots in environments that are harmful to human beings. For deployment of robots missions at short notice, the ability to know beforehand the energy required for performing the task is essential. This paper presents a on-line method for predicting energy requirements based on the pre-determined power models for a mobile robot. A small mobile robot, Khepera III is used for the experimental study and the results are promising with high prediction accuracy. The applications of the energy prediction models in energy optimization and simulations are also discussed along with examples of significant energy savings.

Auto-Emergencia de Comunicación Sintáctica en Entornos Estáticos y Dinámicos para Grupos de Robots mediante Evolución Gramatical y Aprendizaje por Refuerzo

La idea de dotar a un grupo de robots o agentes artificiales de un lenguaje ha sido objeto de intenso estudio en las ultimas décadas. Como no podía ser de otra forma los primeros intentos se enfocaron hacia el estudio de la emergencia de vocabularios compartidos convencionalmente por el grupo de robots. Las ventajas que puede ofrecer un léxico común son evidentes, como también lo es que un lenguaje con una estructura más compleja, en la que se pudieran combinar palabras, sería todavía más beneficioso. Surgen así algunas propuestas enfocadas hacia la emergencia de un lenguaje consensuado que muestre una estructura sintáctica similar al lenguaje humano, entre las que se encuentra este trabajo. Tomar el lenguaje humano como modelo supone adoptar algunas de las hipótesis y teorías que disciplinas como la filosofía, la psicología o la lingüística entre otras se han encargado de proponer. Según estas aproximaciones teóricas el lenguaje presenta una doble dimension formal y funcional. En base a su dimensión formal parece claro que el lenguaje sigue unas reglas, por lo que el uso de una gramática se ha considerado esencial para su representación, pero también porque las gramáticas son un dispositivo muy sencillo y potente que permite generar fácilmente estructuras simbólicas. En cuanto a la dimension funcional se ha tenido en cuenta la teoría quizá más influyente de los últimos tiempos, que no es otra que la Teoría de los Actos del Habla. Esta teoría se basa en la idea de Wittgenstein por la que el significado reside en el uso del lenguaje, hasta el punto de que éste se entiende como una manera de actuar y de comportarse, en definitiva como una forma de vida. Teniendo presentes estas premisas en esta tesis se pretende experimentar con modelos computacionales que permitan a un grupo de robots alcanzar un lenguaje común de manera autónoma, simplemente mediante interacciones individuales entre los robots, en forma de juegos de lenguaje. Para ello se proponen tres modelos distintos de lenguaje: • Un modelo basado en gramáticas probabilísticas y aprendizaje por refuerzo en el que las interacciones y el uso del lenguaje son claves para su emergencia y que emplea una gramática generativa estática y diseñada de antemano. Este modelo se aplica a dos grupos distintos: uno formado exclusivamente por robots y otro que combina robots y un humano, de manera que en este segundo caso se plantea un aprendizaje supervisado por humanos. • Un modelo basado en evolución gramatical que permite estudiar no solo el consenso sintáctico, sino también cuestiones relativas a la génesis del lenguaje y que emplea una gramática universal a partir de la cual los robots pueden evolucionar por sí mismos la gramática más apropiada según la situación lingüística que traten en cada momento. • Un modelo basado en evolución gramatical y aprendizaje por refuerzo que toma aspectos de los anteriores y amplia las posibilidades de los robots al permitir desarrollar un lenguaje que se adapta a situaciones lingüísticas dinámicas que pueden cambiar en el tiempo y también posibilita la imposición de restricciones de orden muy frecuentes en las estructuras sintácticas complejas. Todos los modelos implican un planteamiento descentralizado y auto-organizado, de manera que ninguno de los robots es el dueño del lenguaje y todos deben cooperar y colaborar de forma coordinada para lograr el consenso sintáctico. En cada caso se plantean experimentos que tienen como objetivo validar los modelos propuestos, tanto en lo relativo al éxito en la emergencia del lenguaje como en lo relacionado con cuestiones paralelas de importancia, como la interacción hombre-máquina o la propia génesis del lenguaje. ABSTRACT The idea of giving a language to a group of robots or artificial agents has been the subject of intense study in recent decades. The first attempts have focused on the development and emergence of a conventionally shared vocabulary. The advantages that can provide a common vocabulary are evident and therefore a more complex language that combines words would be even more beneficial. Thus some proposals are put forward towards the emergence of a consensual language with a sintactical structure in similar terms to the human language. This work follows this trend. Taking the human language as a model means taking some of the assumptions and theories that disciplines such as philosophy, psychology or linguistics among others have provided. According to these theoretical positions language has a double formal and functional dimension. Based on its formal dimension it seems clear that language follows rules, so that the use of a grammar has been considered essential for representation, but also because grammars are a very simple and powerful device that easily generates these symbolic structures. As for the functional dimension perhaps the most influential theory of recent times, the Theory of Speech Acts has been taken into account. This theory is based on the Wittgenstein’s idea about that the meaning lies in the use of language, to the extent that it is understood as a way of acting and behaving. Having into account these issues this work implements some computational models in order to test if they allow a group of robots to reach in an autonomous way a shared language by means of individual interaction among them, that is by means of language games. Specifically, three different models of language for robots are proposed: • A reinforcement learning based model in which interactions and language use are key to its emergence. This model uses a static probabilistic generative grammar which is designed beforehand. The model is applied to two different groups: one formed exclusively by robots and other combining robots and a human. Therefore, in the second case the learning process is supervised by the human. • A model based on grammatical evolution that allows us to study not only the syntactic consensus, but also the very genesis of language. This model uses a universal grammar that allows robots to evolve for themselves the most appropriate grammar according to the current linguistic situation they deal with. • A model based on grammatical evolution and reinforcement learning that takes aspects of the previous models and increases their possibilities. This model allows robots to develop a language in order to adapt to dynamic language situations that can change over time and also allows the imposition of syntactical order restrictions which are very common in complex syntactic structures. All models involve a decentralized and self-organized approach so that none of the robots is the language’s owner and everyone must cooperate and work together in a coordinated manner to achieve syntactic consensus. In each case experiments are presented in order to validate the proposed models, both in terms of success about the emergence of language and it relates to the study of important parallel issues, such as human-computer interaction or the very genesis of language.

Cooperative Multi-robot Patrolling: A study of distributed approaches based on mathematical models of game theory to protect infrastructures

El principio de Teoría de Juegos permite desarrollar modelos estocásticos de patrullaje multi-robot para proteger infraestructuras criticas. La protección de infraestructuras criticas representa un gran reto para los países al rededor del mundo, principalmente después de los ataques terroristas llevados a cabo la década pasada. En este documento el termino infraestructura hace referencia a aeropuertos, plantas nucleares u otros instalaciones. El problema de patrullaje se define como la actividad de patrullar un entorno determinado para monitorear cualquier actividad o sensar algunas variables ambientales. En esta actividad, un grupo de robots debe visitar un conjunto de puntos de interés definidos en un entorno en intervalos de tiempo irregulares con propósitos de seguridad. Los modelos de partullaje multi-robot son utilizados para resolver este problema. Hasta el momento existen trabajos que resuelven este problema utilizando diversos principios matemáticos. Los modelos de patrullaje multi-robot desarrollados en esos trabajos representan un gran avance en este campo de investigación. Sin embargo, los modelos con los mejores resultados no son viables para aplicaciones de seguridad debido a su naturaleza centralizada y determinista. Esta tesis presenta cinco modelos de patrullaje multi-robot distribuidos e impredecibles basados en modelos matemáticos de aprendizaje de Teoría de Juegos. El objetivo del desarrollo de estos modelos está en resolver los inconvenientes presentes en trabajos preliminares. Con esta finalidad, el problema de patrullaje multi-robot se formuló utilizando conceptos de Teoría de Grafos, en la cual se definieron varios juegos en cada vértice de un grafo. Los modelos de patrullaje multi-robot desarrollados en este trabajo de investigación se han validado y comparado con los mejores modelos disponibles en la literatura. Para llevar a cabo tanto la validación como la comparación se ha utilizado un simulador de patrullaje y un grupo de robots reales. Los resultados experimentales muestran que los modelos de patrullaje desarrollados en este trabajo de investigación trabajan mejor que modelos de trabajos previos en el 80% de 150 casos de estudio. Además de esto, estos modelos cuentan con varias características importantes tales como distribución, robustez, escalabilidad y dinamismo. Los avances logrados con este trabajo de investigación dan evidencia del potencial de Teoría de Juegos para desarrollar modelos de patrullaje útiles para proteger infraestructuras. ABSTRACT Game theory principle allows to developing stochastic multi-robot patrolling models to protect critical infrastructures. Critical infrastructures protection is a great concern for countries around the world, mainly due to terrorist attacks in the last decade. In this document, the term infrastructures includes airports, nuclear power plants, and many other facilities. The patrolling problem is defined as the activity of traversing a given environment to monitoring any activity or sensing some environmental variables If this activity were performed by a fleet of robots, they would have to visit some places of interest of an environment at irregular intervals of time for security purposes. This problem is solved using multi-robot patrolling models. To date, literature works have been solved this problem applying various mathematical principles.The multi-robot patrolling models developed in those works represent great advances in this field. However, the models that obtain the best results are unfeasible for security applications due to their centralized and predictable nature. This thesis presents five distributed and unpredictable multi-robot patrolling models based on mathematical learning models derived from Game Theory. These multi-robot patrolling models aim at overcoming the disadvantages of previous work. To this end, the multi-robot patrolling problem was formulated using concepts of Graph Theory to represent the environment. Several normal-form games were defined at each vertex of a graph in this formulation. The multi-robot patrolling models developed in this research work have been validated and compared with best ranked multi-robot patrolling models in the literature. Both validation and comparison were preformed by using both a patrolling simulator and real robots. Experimental results show that the multirobot patrolling models developed in this research work improve previous ones in as many as 80% of 150 cases of study. Moreover, these multi-robot patrolling models rely on several features to highlight in security applications such as distribution, robustness, scalability, and dynamism. The achievements obtained in this research work validate the potential of Game Theory to develop patrolling models to protect infrastructures.

Semantic Annotation of RESTful and WFS OGC services

Actualmente, la Web provee un inmenso conjunto de servicios (WS-*, RESTful, OGC WFS), los cuales están normalmente expuestos a través de diferentes estándares que permiten localizar e invocar a estos servicios. Estos servicios están, generalmente, descritos utilizando información textual, sin una descripción formal, es decir, la descripción de los servicios es únicamente sintáctica. Para facilitar el uso y entendimiento de estos servicios, es necesario anotarlos de manera formal a través de la descripción de los metadatos. El objetivo de esta tesis es proponer un enfoque para la anotación semántica de servicios Web en el dominio geoespacial. Este enfoque permite automatizar algunas de las etapas del proceso de anotación, mediante el uso combinado de recursos ontológicos y servicios externos. Este proceso ha sido evaluado satisfactoriamente con un conjunto de servicios en el dominio geoespacial. La contribución principal de este trabajo es la automatización parcial del proceso de anotación semántica de los servicios RESTful y WFS, lo cual mejora el estado del arte en esta área. Una lista detallada de las contribuciones son: • Un modelo para representar servicios Web desde el punto de vista sintáctico y semántico, teniendo en cuenta el esquema y las instancias. • Un método para anotar servicios Web utilizando ontologías y recursos externos. • Un sistema que implementa el proceso de anotación propuesto. • Un banco de pruebas para la anotación semántica de servicios RESTful y OGC WFS. Abstract The Web contains an immense collection of Web services (WS-*, RESTful, OGC WFS), normally exposed through standards that tell us how to locate and invocate them. These services are usually described using mostly textual information and without proper formal descriptions, that is, existing service descriptions mostly stay on a syntactic level. If we want to make such services potentially easier to understand and use, we may want to annotate them formally, by means of descriptive metadata. The objective of this thesis is to propose an approach for the semantic annotation of services in the geospatial domain. Our approach automates some stages of the annotation process, by using a combination of thirdparty resources and services. It has been successfully evaluated with a set of geospatial services. The main contribution of this work is the partial automation of the process of RESTful and WFS semantic annotation services, what improves the current state of the art in this area. The more detailed list of contributions are: • A model for representing Web services. • A method for annotating Web services using ontological and external resources. • A system that implements the proposed annotation process. • A gold standard for the semantic annotation of RESTful and OGC WFS services, and algorithms for evaluating the annotations.

The development of a wind tunnel DAQ system by using Labview tools

This paper presents the experimental three-year learning activity developed by a group of teachers in a wind tunnel facility. The authors, leading a team of students, carried out a project consisting of the design, assembly and testing of a wind tunnel. The project included all stages of the process from its initial specifications to its final quality flow assessments, going through the calculation of each element, and the building of the whole wind tunnel. The group of (final year) students was responsible for the whole wind tunnel project as a part of their bachelor degree project. The paper focuses on the development of wind tunnel data acquisition software. This automatic tool is essential to improve the automation of the data acquisition of the wind tunnel facility systems, in particular for a 6DOF multi-axis force/torque sensor. This work can be considered as a typical example of real engineering practice: a set of specifications that has to be modified due to the constraints imposed throughout the project, in order to obtain the final result

Evolution and implementation of CDIO initiatives at ETSII-UPM

The School of Industrial Engineering at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSII-UPM) has been promoting student-centred teaching-learning activities, according to the aims of the Bologna Declaration, well before the official establishment of the European Area of Higher Education. Such student-centred teaching-learning experiences led us to the conviction that project based learning is rewarding, both for students and academics, and should be additionally promoted in our new engineering programmes, adapted to the Grade-Master structure. The level of commitment of our teachers with these activities is noteworthy, as the teaching innovation experiences carried out in the last ten years have led to the foundation of 17 Teaching Innovation Groups at ETSII-UPM, hence leading the ranking of teaching innovation among all UPM centres. Among interesting CDIO activities our students have taken part in especially complex projects, including the Formula Student, linked to the complete development of a competition car, and the Cybertech competition, aimed at the design, construction and operation of robots for different purposes. Additional project-based learning teamwork activities have been linked to toy design, to the development of medical devices, to the implementation of virtual laboratories, to the design of complete industrial installations and factories, among other activities detailed in present study. The implementation of Bologna process will culminate at ETSII-UPM with the beginning of the Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, in academic year 2014-15. The program has been successfully approved by the Spanish Agency for Accreditation (ANECA), with the inclusion of a set of subjects based upon the CDIO methodology denominated generally “INGENIA”, linked to the Spanish “ingeniar” (to provide ingenious solutions), also related etymologically in Spanish with “ingeniero”, engineer. INGENIA students will live through the complete development process of a complex product or system and there will be different kind of projects covering most of the engineering majors at ETSII-UPM.

Determination of the influence of specific building regulations in smart buildings

The automation of domestic services began to be implemented in buildings since the late nineteenth century, and today we are used to terms like ‘intelligent buildings’, ‘digital home’ or ‘domotic buildings’. These concepts tell us about constructions which integrate new technologies in order to improve comfort, optimize energy consumption or enhance the security of users. In conjunction, building regulations have been updated to suit the needs of society and to regulate these new facilities in such structures. However, we are not always sure about how far, from the quantitative or qualitative point of view, legislation should regulate certain aspects of the building activity. Consequently, content analysis is adopted in this research to determine the influence of building regulations in the implementation of new technologies in the construction process. This study includes the analysis of different European regulations, the collection and documentation of such guidelines that have been established and a study of the impact that all of these have had in the way we start thinking an architectural project. The achievements of the research could be explained in terms of the regulatory requirements that must be taken into account in order to achieve a successful implementation of a home automation system, and the key finding has been the confirmation of how the design of smart buildings may be promoted through specific regulatory requirements while other factors, such as the global economic situation, do not seem to affect directly the rate of penetration of home automation in construction.

Control por modos deslizantes como estrategia de navegación en una flota de robots

En esta tesis se presenta el desarrollo de un esquema de cooperación entre vehículos terrestres (UGV) y aéreos (UAV) no tripulados, que sirve de base para conformar dos flotas de robots autónomos (denominadas FRACTAL y RoMA). Con el fin de comprobar, en diferentes escenarios y con diferente tareas, la validez de las estrategias de coordinación y cooperación propuestas en la tesis se utilizan los robots de la flota FRACTAL, que sirven como plataforma de prueba para tareas como el uso de vehículos aéreos y terrestres para apoyar labores de búsqueda y rescate en zonas de emergencia y la cooperación de una flota de robots para labores agrícolas. Se demuestra además, que el uso de la técnica de control no lineal conocida como Control por Modos Deslizantes puede ser aplicada no solo para conseguir la navegación autónoma individual de un robot aéreo o terrestre, sino también en tareas que requieren la navegación coordinada y sin colisiones de varios robots en un ambiente compartido. Para esto, se conceptualiza teóricamente el uso de la técnica de Control por Modos Deslizantes como estrategia de coordinación entre robots, extendiendo su aplicación a robots no-holonómicos en R2 y a robots aéreos en el espacio tridimensional. Después de dicha contextualización teórica, se analizan las condiciones necesarias para determinar la estabilidad del sistema multi-robot controlado y, finalmente, se comprueban las características de estabilidad y robustez ofrecidas por esta técnica de control. Tales comprobaciones se hacen simulando la navegación segura y eficiente de un grupo de UGVs para la detección de posibles riesgos ambientales, aprovechando la información aportada por un UAV. Para estas simulaciones se utilizan los modelos matemáticos de robots de la flota RoMA. Estas tareas coordinadas entre los robots se hacen posibles gracias a la efectividad, estabilidad y robustez de las estrategias de control que se desarrollan como núcleo fundamental de este trabajo de investigación. ABSTRACT This thesis presents the development of a cooperation scheme between unmanned ground (UGV) and aerial (UAV) vehicles. This scheme is the basis for forming two fleets of autonomous robots (called FRACTAL and RoMA). In order to assess, in different settings and on different tasks, the validity of the coordination and cooperation strategies proposed in the thesis, the FRACTAL fleet robots serves as a test bed for tasks like using coordinated aerial and ground vehicles to support search and rescue work in emergency scenarios or cooperation of a fleet of robots for agriculture. It is also shown that using the technique of nonlinear control known as Sliding Modes Control (SMC) can be applied not only for individual autonomous navigation of an aircraft or land robot, but also in tasks requiring the coordinated navigation of several robots, without collisions, in a shared environment. To this purpose, a strategy of coordination between robots using Sliding Mode Control technique is theoretically conceptualized, extending its application to non-holonomic robots in R2 and aerial robots in three-dimensional space. After this theoretical contextualization, the stability conditions of multi-robot system are analyzed, and finally, the stability and robustness characteristics are validated. Such validations are made with simulated experiments about the safe and efficient navigation of a group of UGV for the detection of possible environmental hazards, taking advantage of the information provided by a UAV. This simulations are made using mathematical models of RoMA fleet robots. These coordinated tasks of robots fleet are made possible thanks to the effectiveness, stability and robustness of the control strategies developed as core of this research.

Análisis de las tecnologías de comunicación entre robots y humanos para su aplicación en grupos de robots

En los últimos tiempos los esfuerzos se están centrando en mejorar los métodos de interacción entre el humano y el robot. El objetivo es conseguir que esa relación parezca simple y que se produzca de la manera más natural posible entre el humano y el robot. Para ese fin se está investigando en métodos de reconocimiento e interpretación del lenguaje corporal, gestos, expresiones de la cara y de sonidos que emite el humano para que la máquina se de cuenta de las intenciones y deseos de los humanos sin recibir órdenes muy específicas. Por otro lado interesa saber cómo se podría aplicar estas técnicas a la comunicación entre robots, pensando aquí en grupos de robots que trabajan en equipos realizando tareas ya asignadas. Estas máquinas se tienen que comunicar para entender las situaciones, detectar necesidades puntuales (si una máquina falla y necesita refuerzo, si pasan acontecimientos inesperados) y reaccionar a ello. Ejecutar estas tareas y realizar las comunicaciones para desarrollar las tareas entre las máquinas resultan especialmente difíciles en entornos hostiles, p.ej. debajo del agua, por lo que el objetivo de este proyecto fin de carrera es investigar las posibles aplicaciones de las técnicas de comunicación entre humanos y máquinas a grupos de robots, como refuerzo o sustitución de los métodos de comunicación clásicos. ABSTRACT. During the last years, many efforts are made to improve the interaction between humans and robots. The aim is to make this relationship simpler and the most natural as possible. For these purpose investigations on the recognition and interpretation of body language, gestures, facial expressions etc are carried out, in order to understand human intentions and desires without receiving specific orders. On the other hand, it is of interest investigate how these techniques could be applied to the communication among robots themselves, e.g. groups of robots which are working in teams resolving certain tasks. These machines have to communicate in order to understand the situations, detect punctual necessities and react to them (e.g. if a machines fails and needs some support, or when some unexpected event happens). The execution of certain tasks and the involved communication, happen to be especially hard in hostile environments, i.e. under water. The objective of this final thesis is to investigate the possible applications of the communication techniques between human and machines to groups of robots, as reinforcement or substitution for the classical communication methods.

An experience on mechatronics teaching on undergraduate students by means of the Skybot platform: from classroom to robot competition

This paper analyzes the learning experiences and opinions from a group of undergraduate students in a course about Robotics. The contents of this course were taught as a set of seminars. In each seminar, the student learned interdisciplinary knowledge of computer science, control engineering, electronics and other fields related to Robotics. The aim of this course is that the students are able to design and implement their own and custom robotic solution for a series of tests planned by the teachers. These tests measure the behavior and mechatronic features of the students' robots. Finally, the students' robots are confronted with some competitions. In this paper, the low-cost robotic architecture used by the students, the contents of the course, the tests to compare the solutions of students and the opinion of them are amply discussed.

Decomposition of human behavior using model of competencies: application to robotic control system

For many years, humans and machines have shared the same physical space. To facilitate their interaction with humans, their social integration and for more rational behavior has been sought that the robots demonstrate human-like behavior. For this it is necessary to understand how human behavior is generated, discuss what tasks are performed and how relate to themselves, for subsequent implementation in robots. In this paper, we propose a model of competencies based on human neuroregulator system for analysis and decomposition of behavior into functional modules. Using this model allow separate and locate the tasks to be implemented in a robot that displays human-like behavior. As an example, we show the application of model to the autonomous movement behavior on unfamiliar environments and its implementation in various simulated and real robots with different physical configurations and physical devices of different nature. The main result of this work has been to build a model of competencies that is being used to build robotic systems capable of displaying behaviors similar to humans and consider the specific characteristics of robots.