Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology provides a means of communication that allows individuals with severely impaired movement to communicate with assistive devices using the electroencephalogram (EEG) or other brain signals. The practicality of a BCI has been possible due to advances in multi-disciplinary areas of research related to cognitive neuroscience, brain-imaging techniques and human-computer interfaces. However, two major challenges remain in making BCI for assistive robotics practical for day-to-day use: the inherent lower bandwidth of BCI, and how to best handle the unknown embedded noise within the raw EEG. Brain-Computer Interfacing for Assistive Robotics is a result of research focusing on these important aspects of BCI for real-time assistive robotic application. It details the fundamental issues related to non-stationary EEG signal processing (filtering) and the need of an alternative approach for the same. Additionally, the book also discusses techniques for overcoming lower bandwidth of BCIs by designing novel use-centric graphical user interfaces. A detailed investigation into both these approaches is discussed.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are characterized as a combination of physical (physical plant, process, network) and cyber (software, algorithm, computation) components whose operations are monitored, controlled, coordinated, and integrated by a computing and communicating core. The interaction between both physical and cyber components requires tools allowing analyzing and modeling both the discrete and continuous dynamics. Therefore, many CPS can be modeled as hybrid dynamic systems in order to take into account both discrete and continuous behaviors as well as the interactions between them. Guaranteeing the security and safety of CPS is a challenging task because of the inherent interconnected and heterogeneous combination of behaviors (cyber/physical, discrete/continuous) in these systems. This book presents recent and advanced approaches and tech-niques that address the complex problem of analyzing the diagnosability property of cyber physical systems and ensuring their security and safety against faults and attacks. The CPS are modeled as hybrid dynamic systems using different model-based and data-driven approaches in different application domains (electric transmission networks, wireless communication networks, intrusions in industrial control systems, intrusions in production systems, wind farms etc.). These approaches handle the problem of ensuring the security of CPS in presence of attacks and verifying their diagnosability in presence of different kinds of uncertainty (uncertainty related to the event occurrences, to their order of occurrence, to their value etc.).

This book introduces state-of-the-art verification techniques for real-time embedded systems, based on the inverse method for parametric timed automata. It reviews popular formalisms for the specification and verification of timed concurrent systems and, in particular, timed automata as well as several extensions such as timed automata equipped with stopwatches, linear hybrid automata and affine hybrid automata.The inverse method is introduced, and its benefits for guaranteeing robustness in real-time systems are shown. Then, it is shown how an iteration of the inverse method can solve the good parameters problem for parametric timed automata by computing a behavioral cartography of the system. Different extensions are proposed particularly for hybrid systems and applications to scheduling problems using timed automata with stopwatches. Various examples, both from the literature and industry, illustrate the techniques throughout the book.Various parametric verifications are performed, in particular of abstractions of a memory circuit sold by the chipset manufacturer ST-Microelectronics, as well as of the prospective flight control system of the next generation of spacecraft designed by ASTRIUM Space Transportation.

Contents:

1. Parametric Timed Automata.2. The Inverse Method for Parametric Timed Automata.3. The Inverse Method in Practice: Application to Case Studies.4. Behavioral Cartography of Timed Automata.5. Parameter Synthesis for Hybrid Automata.6. Application to the Robustness Analysis of Scheduling Problems.7. Conclusion and Perspectives.

About the Authors

etienne Andre is Associate Professor in the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris Nord, in the University of Paris 13 (Sorbonne Paris Cite) in France. His current research interests focus on the verification of real-time systems.Romain Soulat is currently completing his PhD at the LSV laboratory at ENS-Cachan in France, focusing on the modeling and verification of hybrid temporal systems.

"Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce" offers strategies and proven recommendations to accommodate work/life satisfaction for those in the STEM fields. Using real-life case studies, this book discusses universal issues such as dual careers and strategic decision making, childcare/dependent care in professional contexts, promoting family-friendly policies, as well as mentoring and networking.

"Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce" provides data and tools to drive successful programs relaying proactive solutions that STEM employers, academic institutions, policy-makers, and individuals can utilize.
Distills and leverages best practices and internationally transportable policies to support and accommodate STEM work/life satisfactionServes as an action plan to help STEM employers, policy makers and academic institutions identify and create systemic changeIncludes case studies and practical tools sections to highlight effective integration strategiesAddresses a variety of work/life challenges, including supporting travel for dual-career couples, making strategic choices around work/life issues, and overcoming implicit bias
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This book presents a number of aspects to be considered in the development of disassembly automation, including the mechanical system, vision system and intelligent planner. The implementation of cognitive robotics increases the flexibility and degree of autonomy of the disassembly system. Disassembly, as a step in the treatment of end-of-life products, can allow the recovery of embodied value left within disposed products, as well as the appropriate separation of potentially-hazardous components. In the end-of-life treatment industry, disassembly has largely been limited to manual labor, which is expensive in developed countries. Automation is one possible solution for economic feasibility. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

In this monograph the authors solve the modern scientific problems connected with A.C. motors and generators, based first on the detailed consideration of their physical phenomena. The authors describe the theory and investigative methods they developed and applied in practice, which are considered to be of essential interest for specialists in the field of the electrical engineering industry in European countries, the USA, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as in such countries as India, China, and Iran. This book will be of interest to engineers specialized in the field of the manufacture, operation, and repair of A.C. machines (motors and generators) as well as electric drives; to professors, lecturers, and post-graduate students of technical universities, who are specializing in the field of electric machine engineering and electric drives; and to students who are engaged in the field of high current techniques, electric drives, and electric machine engineering.

This book presents approaches to address key challenges based on a vehicle level view and with a special emphasis on Drive-by-Wire systems. The design and testing of modern vehicle electronics are becoming more and more demanding due to increasing interdependencies among components and the safety criticality of tasks. The development towards Drive-by-Wire functionalities in vehicles with multiple actuators for vehicle control further increases the challenge. The book explicitly takes into account the interactions between components and aims at bridging the gap between the need to generate additional customer benefits and the effort to achieve functional safety. The book follows a twofold approach: on the one side, it presents a toolchain to support efficient further development of novel functionalities for Drive-by-Wire vehicles. The toolchain comprises appropriate software tools and scaled and full-scale experimental vehicles. On the other side, development towards functionally safe and flexible Drive-by-Wire vehicles is addressed by proposing a top-down designed architecture for vehicle electronics that is enabled by suitable mechanisms. The resulting goal achievement with regard to functional safety is evaluated based on a novel hierarchical approach.

This volume presents the outcome of the second forum to cable-driven parallel robots, bringing the cable robot community together. It shows the new ideas of the active researchers developing cable-driven robots. The book presents the state of the art, including both summarizing contributions as well as latest research and future options. The book cover all topics which are essential for cable-driven robots: Classification Kinematics, Workspace and Singularity Analysis Statics and Dynamics Cable Modeling Control and Calibration Design Methodology Hardware Development Experimental Evaluation Prototypes, Application Reports and new Application concepts.

The International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER) is a series of bi-annual meetings which are organized in a rotating fashion around North America, Europe and Asia/Oceania. The goal of ISER is to provide a forum for research in robotics that focuses on novelty of theoretical contributions validated by experimental results. The meetings are conceived to bring together, in a small group setting, researchers from around the world who are in the forefront of experimental robotics research. This unique reference presents the latest advances across the various fields of robotics, with ideas that are not only conceived conceptually but also explored experimentally. It collects robotics contributions on the current developments and new directions in the field of experimental robotics, which are based on the papers presented at the 14th ISER held on June 15-18, 2014 in Marrakech and Essaouira, Morocco. This present fourteenth edition of Experimental Robotics edited by M. Ani Hsieh, Oussama Khatib, and Vijay Kumar offers a collection of a broad range of topics in field and human-ce ntered robotics.

This book presents essential studies and applications in the context of sliding mode control, highlighting the latest findings from interdisciplinary theoretical studies, ranging from computational algorithm development to representative applications. Readers will learn how to easily tailor the techniques to accommodate their ad hoc applications. To make the content as accessible as possible, the book employs a clear route in each paper, moving from background to motivation, to quantitative development (equations), and lastly to case studies/illustrations/tutorials (simulations, experiences, curves, tables, etc.). Though primarily intended for graduate students, professors and researchers from related fields, the book will also benefit engineers and scientists from industry.

This book presents the state of the art in reinforcement learning applied to robotics both in terms of novel algorithms and applications. It discusses recent approaches that allow robots to learn motor.

skills and presents tasks that need to take into account the dynamic behavior of the robot and its environment, where a kinematic movement plan is not sufficient. The book illustrates a method that learns to generalize parameterized motor plans which is obtained by imitation or reinforcement learning, by adapting a small set of global parameters and appropriate kernel-based reinforcement learning algorithms. The presented applications explore highly dynamic tasks and exhibit a very efficient learning process. All proposed approaches have been extensively validated with benchmarks tasks, in simulation and on real robots. These tasks correspond to sports and games but the presented techniques are also applicable to more mundane household tasks. The book is based on the first author s doctoral thesis, which won the 2013 EURON Georges Giralt PhD Award."

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of cable robots, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 4th International Conference on Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CableCon 2019), held in Krakow, Poland on June 30-July 4, 2019, as part of the 5th IFToMM World Congress. It covers the theory and applications of cable-driven parallel robots, including their classification, kinematics and singularity analysis, workspace, statics and dynamics, cable modeling and technologies, control and calibration, design methodologies, hardware development, experimental evaluation and prototypes, as well as application reports and new application concepts. The contributions, which were selected through a rigorous international peer-review process, share exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book describes how the principle of self-sufficiency can be applied to a reconfigurable modular robotic organism. It shows the design considerations for a novel REPLICATOR robotic platform, both hardware and software, featuring the behavioral characteristics of social insect colonies. Following a comprehensive overview of some of the bio-inspired techniques already available, and of the state-of-the-art in re-configurable modular robotic systems, the book presents a novel power management system with fault-tolerant energy sharing, as well as its implementation in the REPLICATOR robotic modules. In addition, the book discusses, for the first time, the concept of "artificial energy homeostasis" in the context of a modular robotic organism, and shows its verification on a custom-designed simulation framework in different dynamic power distribution and fault tolerance scenarios. This book offers an ideal reference guide for both hardware engineers and software developers involved in the design and implementation of autonomous robotic systems.

This book is the first major work covering applications in thermal engineering and offering a comprehensive introduction to optimal control theory, which has applications in mechanical engineering, particularly aircraft and missile trajectory optimization. The book is organized in three parts: The first part includes a brief presentation of function optimization and variational calculus, while the second part presents a summary of the optimal control theory. Lastly, the third part describes several applications of optimal control theory in solving various thermal engineering problems. These applications are grouped in four sections: heat transfer and thermal energy storage, solar thermal engineering, heat engines and lubrication.Clearly presented and easy-to-use, it is a valuable resource for thermal engineers and thermal-system designers as well as postgraduate students.

This book contains mainly the selected papers of the First International Workshop on Medical and Service Robots, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2012. The high quality of the scientific contributions is the result of a rigorous selection and improvement based on the participants exchange of opinions and extensive peer-review. This process has led to the publishing of the present collection of 16 independent valuable contributions and points of view and not as standard symposium or conference proceedings.

The addressed issues are: Computational Kinematics, Mechanism Design, Linkages and Manipulators, Mechanisms for Biomechanics, Mechanics of Robots, Control Issues for Mechanical Systems, Novel Designs, Teaching Methods, all of these being concentrated around robotic systems for medical and service applications.

The results are of interest to researchers and professional practitioners as well as to Ph.D. students in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering.

This volume marks the start of a subseries entitled New Trends in Medical and Service Robots within the "Machine and Mechanism Science Series," presenting recent trends, research results and new challenges in the field of medical and service robotics.

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Mismatch or best match? This book demonstrates that best matching of individual entities to each other is essential to ensure smooth conduct and successful competitiveness in any distributed system, natural and artificial. Interactions must be optimized through best matching in planning and scheduling, enterprise network design, transportation and construction planning, recruitment, problem solving, selective assembly, team formation, sensor network design, and more. Fundamentals of best matching in distributed and collaborative systems are explained by providing: Methodical analysis of various multidimensional best matching processes Comprehensive taxonomy, comparing different best matching problems and processes Systematic identification of systems' hierarchy, nature of interactions, and distribution of decision-making and control functions Practical formulation of solutions based on a library of best matching algorithms and protocols, ready for direct applications and apps development. Designed for both academics and practitioners, oriented to systems engineers and applied operations researchers, diverse types of best matching processes are explained in production, manufacturing, business and service, based on a new reference model developed at Purdue University PRISM Center: "The PRISM Taxonomy of Best Matching". The book concludes with major challenges and guidelines for future basic and applied research in the area of best matching.

This book presents the latest achievements in the theory and practice of SEMS Group interaction by scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It also discusses the development of methods for the design and simulation of SEMS Group interaction based on the principles of safety, flexibility and adaptability in behavior and intelligence and parallelism in information processing, computation and control. Recently, the task has been to ensure the functioning of robots within the framework of collective collaboration, so that they function efficiently, reliably and safely in real time. The topics covered include, but are not limited to, the following: - the planning behavior of the SEMS group;- methods and principles of designing of automatic control systems;- mathematical and computer modeling group interaction;- safety, flexibility and adaptability of the SEMS Group;- information-measuring soft- and hardware. This book is intended for students, scientists and engineers specializing in the field of smart electromechanical systems and robotics.

This volume is the first of the new series Advances in Dynamics and Delays. It offers the latest advances in the research of analyzing and controlling dynamical systems with delays, which arise in many real-world problems. The contributions in this series are a collection across various disciplines, encompassing engineering, physics, biology, and economics, and some are extensions of those presented at the IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) conferences since 2011. The series is categorized in five parts covering the main themes of the contributions: * Stability Analysis and Control Design * Networks and Graphs * Time Delay and Sampled-Data Systems * Computational and Software Tools * Applications This volume will become a good reference point for researchers and PhD students in the field of delay systems, and for those willing to learn more about the field, and it will also be a resource for control engineers, who will find innovative control methodologies for relevant applications, from both theory and numerical analysis perspectives.

This edited monograph includes state-of-the-art contributions on continuous time dynamical networks with delays. The book is divided into four parts. The first part presents tools and methods for the analysis of time-delay systems with a particular attention on control problems of large scale or infinite-dimensional systems with delays. The second part of the book is dedicated to the use of time-delay models for the analysis and design of Networked Control Systems. The third part of the book focuses on the analysis and design of systems with asynchronous sampling intervals which occur in Networked Control Systems. The last part of the book exposes several contributions dealing with the design of cooperative control and observation laws for networked control systems. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field of control theory, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Theory of Electroelasticity analyzes the stress, strain, electric field and electric displacement in electroelastic structures such as sensors, actuators and other smart materials and structures. This book also describes new theories such as the physical variational principle and the inertial entropy theory. It differs from the traditional method by using the physical variational principle to derive the governing equations of the piezoelectric material, whereas the Maxwell stress is obtained automatically. By using the inertial entropy theory, the temperature wave equation is obtained very easily. The book is intended for scientists, researchers and engineers in the areas of mechanics, physics, smart material and control engineering as well as mechanical, aeronautical and civil engineering, etc. Zhen-Bang Kuang is a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

This unique book provides a bridge between digital control theory and vehicle guidance and control practice. It presents practical techniques of digital redesign and direct discrete-time design suitable for a real-time implementation of controllers and guidance laws at multiple rates and with and computational techniques. The theory of digital control is given as theorems, lemmas, and propositions. The design of the digital guidance and control systems is illustrated by means of step-by-step procedures, algorithms, and case studies. The systems proposed are applied to realistic models of unmanned systems and missiles, and digital implementation.

This book introduces readers to the navigation, guidance and control technologies involved in single-spacecraft, double-spacecraft, and multiple-spacecraft tasks in elliptical orbits. It comprehensively covers the key technologies of guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system design for spacecraft in elliptical orbits, including the orbit design, formation configuration design and maintenance, autonomous navigation technology and relative navigation technology, as well as autonomous rendezvous technology. The methods that this book introduces are very close to actual practical engineering applications and presented in an accessible style. The book can serve as reference teaching material for senior undergraduates and postgraduates with space navigation related majors, while also providing essential information and guidance for research personnel and engineering technical personnel engaged in the development of GNC systems for spacecraft.

Motion Coordination for VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicles develops new control design techniques for the distributed coordination of a team of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. In particular, it provides new control design approaches for the attitude synchronization of a formation of rigid body systems. In addition, by integrating new control design techniques with some concepts from nonlinear control theory and multi-agent systems, it presents a new theoretical framework for the formation control of a class of under-actuated aerial vehicles capable of vertical take-off and landing. Several practical problems related to the systems' inputs, states measurements, and restrictions on the interconnection topology between the aerial vehicles in the team are addressed. Worked examples with sufficient details and simulation results are provided to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the theoretical results discussed in the book. The material presented is primarily intended for researchers and industrial engineers from robotics, control engineering and aerospace communities. It also serves as a complementary reading for graduate students involved in research related to flying robotics, aerospace, control of under-actuated systems, and nonlinear control theory

Mechatronics, as the integrating framework of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer technology, control engineering and automation forms a crucial part in the design, manufacture and maintenance of a wide range of engineering products and processes. The mechatronics itself changes rapidly in last decade, from original mixture of subfields into original approach in engineering as a technical discipline. The book you are holding is aimed to help the reader to orient in this evolving field of science and technology.

"Mechatronics 2013: Recent Technological and Scientific Advances" is the fourth volume following the previous editions in 2007, 2009 and 2011, providing the comprehensive and accessible coverage of advances in mechatronics presented on the 10th International Conference Mechatronics 2013, hosted this year at the Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic.

The contributions, that passed the thorough review process, give an insight into current trends in research and development among Mechatronics 2013 contributing countries, with paper topics covering design and modeling of mechatronic systems, control and automation, signal processing, robotics and others, keeping in mind the innovation benefits of mechatronics design approach, leading to the development, production and daily use of machines and devices possessing a certain degree of computer based intelligence.

This book introduces the fundamentals of DCS, and shows how to include wireless technology in their design while guaranteeing the desired operation characteristics. The text also presents insights and results gained from extensive practical experience in implementing and testing systems within a specific industrial setting. Features: examines the operations that the DCS implements, covering human-machine interfaces, diagnostics and maintenance interfaces, and controllers; discusses industrial control system and wireless network protocols; reviews scheduling in wireless sensor networks; describes a latency model for heterogeneous DCS with wired and wireless parts, that predicts monitoring, command, and closed loop latencies; explains how to plan operation timings systematically; introduces measures and metrics for performance monitoring and debugging, and describes how to add these to a system; presents experimental results to validate the planning approach, based on an application test-bed.