Intersectional Automations explores a range of situations where robotics, biotechnological enhancement, artificial intelligence (AI), and algorithmic culture collide with intersectional social justice issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and citizenship. As robots, machine learning applications, and human augmentics are artifacts of human culture, they sometimes carry stereotypes, biases, exclusions, and other forms of privilege into their computational logics, platforms, and/or embodiments. The essays in this multidisciplinary collection consider how questions of equity and social justice impact our understanding of these developments, analyzing not only the artifacts themselves, but also the discourses and practices surrounding them, including societal understandings, design choices, law and policy approaches, and their uses and abuses.

This book focuses on open issues of new intelligent control paradigms and their usage. Industry 4.0 requires new approaches in the context of secure connection, control, and maintenance of robotic systems, as well as enhancing their interaction with humans. The book presents recent advances in industrial robotics, and robotic design and modeling for various domains, and discusses the methodological foundations of the collaborative robotics concept as a breakthrough in modern industrial technologies. It also describes the implementation of multi-agent models, programs and methods that could be used in future processes for control, condition assessment, diagnostics, prognostication, and proactive maintenance. Further, the book addresses the issue of ensuring the space robotics systems and proposes reliable novel solutions. The authors also illustrate the integration of deep-learning methods and mathematical modeling based on examples of successful robotic systems in various countries, and analyze the connections between robotic modeling and design from the positions of new industrial challenges. The book is intended for practitioners and enterprise representatives, as well as scientists and Ph.D. and Master's students pursuing research in the area of cyber-physical system development and implementation in various domains.

This book explores and analyzes emerging innovations within today's most cutting-edge science and technology (S&T) areas, which are cited as carrying the potential to revolutionize governmental structures, economies, and international security. Some have argued that such technologies will yield doomsday scenarios and that military applications of such technologies have even greater potential than nuclear weapons to radically change the balance of power. As the United States looks to the future - whether dominated by extremist groups co-opting advanced weapons in the world of globalized non-state actors or states engaged in persistent regional conflicts in areas of strategic interest - new adversaries and new science and technology will emerge. Choices made today that affect science and technology will impact how ably the US can and will respond. Chapters within the book look at the changing strategic environment in which security operations are planned and conducted; how these impact science and technology policy choices made today; and predictions of how science and technology may play a beneficial or deleterious role in the future. Some game changing technologies have received global attention, while others may be less well known; the new technologies discussed within this proposal, as well as future discoveries, may significantly alter military capabilities and may generate new threats against military and civilian sectors.

This book gathers the peer-reviewed papers presented at the seventh edition of the international workshop "Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-Agent Manufacturing - SOHOMA'17", held on October 19-20, 2017 and organized by the University of Nantes, France in collaboration with the CIMR Research Centre in Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics at the University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania, the LAMIH Laboratory of Industrial and Human Automation Control, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambresis, France and the CRAN Research Centre for Automatic Control, Nancy at the University of Lorraine, France. The main objective of SOHOMA'17 was to foster innovation in smart and sustainable manufacturing and logistics systems and in this context to promote concepts, methods and solutions addressing trends in service orientation of agent-based control technologies with distributed intelligence. The book is organized in eight parts, each with a number of chapters describing research in current domains of the digital transformation in manufacturing and trends in future service and computing oriented manufacturing control: Part 1: Advanced Manufacturing Control, Part 2: Big Data Management, Part 3: Cyber-Physical Production Systems, Part 4: Cloud- and Cyber-Physical Systems for Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing, Part 5: Simulation for Physical Internet and Intelligent & Sustainable Logistics Systems, Part 6: Formal Methods and Advanced Scheduling for Future Industrial Systems, Part 7: Applications and Demonstrators, Part 8: Production and Logistic Control Systems. The contributions focus on how the digital transformation, such as the one advocated by "Industry 4.0" or "Industry of the future" concepts, can improve the maintainability and the sustainability of manufacturing processes, products, and logistics. Digital transformation relates to the interaction between the physical and informational worlds and is realized by virtualization of products, processes and resources managed as services.

This book comprises the proceedings of the second International Conference, AsiaHaptics 2016, held in Kashiwanoha, Japan. The book treats the state of the art of the diverse haptics (touch)-related research, including scientific research of haptics perception and illusion, development of haptics devices, and applications to a wide variety of fields such as education, medicine, telecommunication, navigation, and entertainment. This work helps not only active haptic researchers, but also general readers to understand what is going on in this interdisciplinary area of science and technology.

This book examines the implications of disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on military innovation and the use of force. It provides an in-depth understanding of how both large and small militaries are seeking to leverage 4IR emerging technologies and the effects such technologies may have on future conflicts. The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), the confluence of disruptive changes brought by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnologies, and autonomous systems, has a profound impact on the direction and character of military innovation and use of force. The core themes in this edited volume reflect on the position of emerging technologies in the context of previous Revolutions in Military Affairs; compare how large resource-rich states (US, China, Russia) and small resource-limited states (Israel, Sweden, Norway) are adopting and integrating novel technologies and explore the difference between various innovation and adaptation models. The book also examines the operational implications of emerging technologies in potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea and the Baltic Sea. Written by a group of international scholars, this book uncovers the varying 4IR defence innovation trajectories, enablers, and constraints in pursuing military-technological advantages that will shape the character of future conflicts. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Strategic Studies.

Robots in groups or colonies can exhibit an enormous variety and richness of behaviors which cannot be observed with singly autonomous systems. Of course, this is analogous to the amazing variety of group animal behaviors which can be observed in nature. In recent years more and more investigators have started to study these behaviors. The studies range from classifications and taxonomies of behaviors, to development of architectures which cause such group activities as flocking or swarming, and from emphasis on the role of intelligent agents in such groups to studies of learning and obstacle avoidance. There used to be a time when many robotics researchers would question those who were interested in working with teams of robots: Why are you worried about robotic teams when it's hard enough to just get one to work?'. This issue responds to that question. Robot Colonies provides a new approach to task problem-solving that is similar in many ways to distributed computing. Multiagent robotic teams offer the possibility of spatially distributed parallel and concurrent perception and action. A paradigm shift results when using multiple robots, providing a different perspective on how to carry out complex tasks. New issues such as interagent communications, spatial task distribution, heterogeneous or homogeneous societies, and interference management are now central to achieving coordinated and productive activity within a colony. Fortunately mobile robot hardware has evolved sufficiently in terms of both cost and robustness to enable these issues to be studied on actual robots and not merely in simulation. Robot Colonies presents a sampling of the research in this field. While capturing a reasonable representation of the most important work within this area, its objective is not to be a comprehensive survey, but rather to stimulate new research by exposing readers to the principles of robot group behaviors, architectures and theories. Robot Colonies is an edited volume of peer-reviewed original research comprising eight invited contributions by leading researchers. This research work has also been published as a special issue of Autonomous Robots (Volume 4, Number 1).

Directs the attention to the smart digital healthcare system in this COVID-19 pandemic. Simulates novel investigations and how they will be beneficial in understanding the pandemic. Presents the latest ideas developed for data scientists, doctors, engineers, and economists. Analyses the various issues related to computing, AI apps, big data analytic techniques, and predictive scientific skill gaps. Explains some interesting and diverse types of challenges and data-driven healthcare applications.

This book is dedicated to user experience design for automated driving to address humane aspects of automated driving, e.g., workload, safety, trust, ethics, and acceptance. Automated driving has experienced a major development boost in recent years. However, most of the research and implementation has been technology-driven, rather than human-centered. The levels of automated driving have been poorly defined and inconsistently used. A variety of application scenarios and restrictions has been ambiguous. Also, it deals with human factors, design practices and methods, as well as applications, such as multimodal infotainment, virtual reality, augmented reality, and interactions in and outside users. This book aims at 1) providing engineers, designers, and practitioners with a broad overview of the state-of-the-art user experience research in automated driving to speed-up the implementation of automated vehicles and 2) helping researchers and students benefit from various perspectives and approaches to generate new research ideas and conduct more integrated research.

This book provides an insight on the importance that Internet of Vehicles (IoV) solutions can have in taking care of vehicular safety through internetworking and automation. Key features of the book are the inclusion and elaboration of recent and emerging developments in various specializations of intelligent transportation systems and their solutions by incorporating IoT (Internet of Things) and IoV. This book presents to its readers useful IoV applications and architectures that cater to their improved driving requirements and lead towards autonomous driving. The application domains have a large range in which vehicular networking, communication technology, sensor devices, computing materials and devices, IoT communication, vehicular and on-road safety, data security and other topics are included.

By the dawn of the new millennium, robotics has undergone a major transformation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about by the maturity of the field and the advances in its related technologies. From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of the human world. The new generation of robots is expected to safely and dependably co-habitat with humans in homes, workplaces, and communities, providing support in services, entertainment, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has produced is revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across diverse research areas and scientific disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, neurosciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are proving an abundant source of stimulation and insights for the field of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of disciplines that the most striking advances happen. The goal of the series of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is to bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on the basis of their significance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing field.

A First Course in Aerial Robots and Drones provides an accessible and student friendly introduction to aerial robots and drones. Drones figure prominently as opportunities for students to learn various aspects of aerospace engineering and design. Drones offer an enticing entry point for STEM studies. As the use of drones in STEM studies grows, there is an emerging generation of drone pilots who are not just good at flying, but experts in specific niches, such as mapping or thermography. Key Features: Focuses on algorithms that are currently used to solve diverse problems. Enables students to solve problems and improve their science skills. Introduces difficult concepts with simple, accessible examples. Suitable for undergraduate students, this textbook provides students and other readers with methods for solving problems and improving their science skills.

The integrated and advanced science research topic man-machine-environment system engineering (MMESE) was first established in China by Professor Shengzhao Long in 1981, with direct support from one of the greatest modern Chinese scientists, Xuesen Qian. In a letter to Shengzhao Long from October 22nd, 1993, Xuesen Qian wrote: "You have created a very important modern science and technology in China!" MMESE primarily focuses on the relationship between man, machines and the environment, studying the optimum combination of man-machine-environment systems. In this system, "man" refers to people in the workplace (e.g. operators, decision-makers); " machine" is the general name for any object controlled by man (including tools, machinery, computers, systems and technologies), and "environment" describes the specific working conditions under which man and machine interact (e.g. temperature, noise, vibration, hazardous gases etc.). The three goals of optimization of man-machine-environment systems are to ensure safety, efficiency and economy. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering are an academic showcase of the best papers selected from more than 400 submissions, introducing readers to the top research topics and the latest developmental trends in the theory and application of MMESE. These proceedings are interdisciplinary studies on the concepts and methods of physiology, psychology, system engineering, computer science, environment science, management, education, and other related disciplines. Researchers and professionals working in these interdisciplinary fields and researchers on MMESE related topics will benefit from these proceedings.

Introducing mobile humanoid robots into human environments requires the systems to physically interact and execute multiple concurrent tasks. The monograph at hand presents a whole-body torque controller for dexterous and safe robotic manipulation. This control approach enables a mobile humanoid robot to simultaneously meet several control objectives with different pre-defined levels of priority, while providing the skills for compliant physical contacts with humans and the environment. After a general introduction into the topic of whole-body control, several essential reactive tasks are developed to extend the repertoire of robotic control objectives. Additionally, the classical Cartesian impedance is extended to the case of mobile robots. All of these tasks are then combined and integrated into an overall, priority-based control law. Besides the experimental validation of the approach, the formal proof of asymptotic stability for this hierarchical controller is presented. By interconnecting the whole-body controller with an artificial intelligence, the immense potential of the integrated approach for complex real-world applications is shown. Several typical household chores, such as autonomously wiping a window or sweeping the floor with a broom, are successfully performed on the mobile humanoid robot Rollin' Justin of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The results suggest the presented controller for a large variety of fields of application such as service robotics, human-robot cooperation in industry, telepresence in medical applications, space robotics scenarios, and the operation of mobile robots in dangerous and hazardous environments.

- Unlike other AI titles, this book takes a step further towards the real applicability and transferability of AI, through detailed examples in a very important region of Spain - Includes chapters on health and social welfare, transportation, digital economy, energy efficiency and sustainability, agro-industry and tourism - Great diversity of authors, expert in the varied sectors and problems addressed, belonging to powerful research groups from the University of Seville with proven experience in the transfer of knowledge to the productive sector and agents attached to the Andalucia TECH Campus

- the book provides a short and accessible introduction to AI for learners - it examines seven different educational roles and settings, from AI as a peer to AI as a tutor and AI as textbook, among others - it considers both opportunities and risks: technological developments as well as ethical considerations

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the global at a colossal scale. With worldwide reported cases of 5.34 million it has led to severe impact on humanity. Being a highly contagious disease, it has given global health services their most severe challenge. Various countries are fighting to minimize the losses due to the outbreak, however a common trait is enforcing lockdown, which has become the main defence mechanism. Researchers are working around the clock to find a breakthrough in the diagnostics and treatment of the pandemic. AI technology is useful for fast drug development and treatment. In the starting phase of COVID-19 pandemic, the medical fraternity in China diagnosed the virus using computed tomography (CT) and X-ray images due to the limitation of testing kits. Deep learning neural network model have also been used for COVID-19 diagnosis. AI assisted intelligent humanoid robots can be used to reduce the human contact and spread of COVID-19. In Italy robots have been used for measuring blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature of patients. Robots have also found applications in disinfecting and sterilizing of public places, COVID-19 testing, food and medicine delivery as well as entertaining patients in hospitals and quarantine centers, thereby reducing the workload of doctors and nurses. Prediction of the spread of virus and providing the guidelines or prevention measures is another AI application in COVID-19. Kaggle and GitHub are the two websites where the real-time data of COVID-19 is aggregated. This includes confirmed cases, active cases, cured cases and deaths in each country. This data set can be used for predicting the active cases across different regions of the world so that appropriate amount of health infrastructure can be made available to these places.

Proposes to employ robots to improve the treatment of patients and leverage the load of the medical system. Demonstrates the concept of various robotics in healthcare telepresence, rehabilitation, therapy, and delivery robots to provide social distancing. Explores social robot aesthetics and how social interaction and embodied experience could be useful during social isolation. Includes anecdotes from applications used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book presents biologically inspired walking machines interacting with their physical environment, and shows how the morphology and behavior control of machines can benefit from biological studies. The purpose is to develop a modular structure of neural control generating reactive behaviors of the physical walking machines, to analyze the neural mechanisms underlying them, and to demonstrate the sensor fusion technique leading to smooth switching between appropriate behaviors, like obstacle avoidance and sound tropism.

Parallel structures are more effective than serial ones for industrial automation applications that require high precision and stiffness, or a high load capacity relative to robot weight. Although many industrial applications have adopted parallel structures for their design, few textbooks introduce the analysis of such robots in terms of dynamics and control. Filling this gap, Parallel Robots: Mechanics and Control presents a systematic approach to analyze the kinematics, dynamics, and control of parallel robots. It brings together analysis and design tools for engineers and researchers who want to design and implement parallel structures in industry. Covers Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control in One Volume The book begins with the representation of motion of robots and the kinematic analysis of parallel manipulators. Moving beyond static positioning, it then examines a systematic approach to performing Jacobian analysis. A special feature of the book is its detailed coverage of the dynamics and control of parallel manipulators. The text examines dynamic analysis using the Newton-Euler method, the principle of virtual work, and the Lagrange formulations. Finally, the book elaborates on the control of parallel robots, considering both motion and force control. It introduces various model-free and model-based controllers and develops robust and adaptive control schemes. It also addresses redundancy resolution schemes in detail. Analysis and Design Tools to Help You Create Parallel Robots In each chapter, the author revisits the same case studies to show how the techniques may be applied. The case studies include a planar cable-driven parallel robot, part of a promising new generation of parallel structures that will allow for larger workspaces. The MATLAB (R) code used for analysis and simulation is available online. Combining the analysis of kinematics and dynamics with methods of designing controllers, this text offers a holistic introduction for anyone interested in designing and implementing parallel robots.

First book to look at legal and regulatory aspects of personal care robots

Some twenty years have elapsed since the first attempts at planning were made by researchers in artificial intelligence. These early programs concentrated on the development of plans for the solution of puzzles or toy problems, like the rearrangement of stacks of blocks. These early programs provided the foundation for the work described in this book, the automatic generation of plans for industrial assembly. As one reads about the complex and sophisticated planners in the current gen eration, it is important to keep in mind that they are addressing real-world problems. Although these systems may become the "toy" systems of tomor row, they are providing a solid foundation for future, more general and more advanced planning tools. As demonstrated by the papers in this book, the field of computer-aided mechanical assembly planning is maturing. It now may include: * geometric descriptions of parts extracted from or compatible with CAD programs; * constraints related to part interference and the use of tools; * fixtures and jigs required for the assembly; * the nature of connectors, matings and other relations between parts; * number of turnovers required during the assembly; * handling and gripping requirements for various parts; * automatic identification of subassemblies. This is not an exhaustive list, but it serves to illustrate the complexity of some of the issues which are discussed in this book. Such issues must be considered in the design of the modern planners, as they produce desirable assembly sequences and precedence relations for assembly.

Covers deep learning fundamentals; Focuses on applications; Covers human emotion analysis and deep learning; Explains how to use web based techniques for deep learning applications; Includes coverage of autonomous vehicles and deep learning