Browsing by Author "Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair"

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An Approach to Develop Knowledge Representation for Expert System to Diagnose Faults in Domestic Systems using Qualitative Modeling.
(2006-06-01) Kotcher, Pratik C; Dr. Wesley Snyder, Committee Member; Dr. Mark White, Committee Member; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair
Faults, if remained undetected lead to huge financial losses. Troubleshooting faults requires analytical skills and knowledge of the system. Elementary skills help in solving common faults but faults that are infrequent or those which cannot be debugged by a consumer or even a field technician due to lack of in-depth knowledge of the system requires an expert's intervention. Experts are not always available in the field and lack of knowledge on the field technician's part may lead to huge financial losses and inconvenience on the part of the consumer. To avoid such situations an approach to make available expert's knowledge and capability to the field technicians is demonstrated through this research. A qualitative modeling approach to develop a knowledge representation is outlined here. A qualitative knowledge of the system from expert's point of view is modeled for a Bosch dishwasher for whom knowledge is extracted to generate a rule base, which reasons the characteristics of the system like an expert. Further it has been explored that using the rule base one can develop a questionnaire using the concept of model based diagnosis for troubleshooting. A qualitative model is useful for this kind of system because it resembles the analytical thinking capability of an expert and in general for any human being making it easier to communicate and interpret. Thus providing such a system to the field technician or even the consumer will simplify the troubleshooting process and will help in reducing downtime and financial losses.
A Conservative Approach to Mounting and Applying an Omni-directional Vision System onto EvBot II Mobile Robot Platforms, for Use in Accurate Formation Control
(2007-04-30) Burke, David Alexander; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. Alex Dean, Committee Member; Dr. Charles Hall, Committee Member; Dr. Mansoor Haider, Committee Member
The research sensing capabilities of the EvBot II mobile robot platforms were increased and enhanced by the addition of the omni-directional camera. This, along with the associated machine vision capabilities maintained the conservative approach of the EvBot II philosophy, fiscal responsibility with computational optimality. The research increased the capabilities of the EvBot II platform by demonstrating that omni-directional vision processing could be performed relatively economically on a PC 104, while leaving as much processor time available as possible for running other programs.
Design of an Intelligent Compression Stocking for Reducing Ulcer Healing Time
(2009-03-03) Hegarty, Meghan Sarah; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. Carol Giuliani, Committee Member; Dr. Brooke Steele, Committee Member
Venous leg ulcers remain a problem in the United States, costing the health care industry nearly $1 billion annually. A major portion of this spending is incurred as a result of prolonged healing time. Compression therapy is known to promote recovery. This technique may be improved by allowing for dynamic customization of treatment parameters. The design of a sensing system for an intelligent compression stocking is described in this thesis. This sensing system will eventually serve as a means by which to quantify the performance of the stocking through the continuous measurement of key physiological variables. Blood flow velocity will be measured using an acoustic array, and leg volume will be quantified using bio-impedance techniques. Preliminary experiments were conducted in order to verify the responsiveness and practicality of using these technologies to monitor ulcer healing. The Edema Monitoring System was capable of resolving small changes in leg volume resulting from artificially-induced swelling. Unfortunately, the Acoustic Blood Flow Measurement System did not perform acceptably in terms of accuracy and robustness. Future directions for this technology include finding a more acceptable means by which to measure blood flow velocity, improving the sensing system by incorporating additional optimization parameters, exploring the use of alternative actuation mechanisms, and expanding its use to encompass all medical-grade compression stockings.
The Development of a Low-Cost and Robust Autonomous Robot Colony Using LEGO Mindstorms
(2003-04-15) Braly, J. Chris; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. John F. Muth, Committee Member; Dr. H. Troy Nagle, Committee Member; Dr. Mark White, Committee Member
The late twentieth century marked the birth of urban search and rescue robots. The act of rescuing victims from collapsed or damaged buildings is extremely dangerous for the humans involved. After the attacks on the World Trade Center, researchers recognized the need for small robots with limited capabilities to be used in conjunction with more advanced robots for urban search and rescue. This research has developed a low-cost, autonomous robot colony with limited sensor capabilities using the LEGO® Mindstorms™ development platform. The study of this colony will provide insight into the group behavior of a marsupial robot colony used for urban search and rescue. A microphone sensor was developed to facilitate communication among the robot agents that comprise the colony. The incoming analog signal was amplified using a standard non-inverting operational amplifier configuration. This amplified signal was input into a tone detection circuit. This circuit was designed to provide a digital output to the LEGO® robot if a single tone of a specific frequency was detected. Other frequency tones have no effect on the circuit. Using this sensor, the robots could be controlled with different frequency tones. The task undertaken by the robots was a shepherding mission. The goal of the sheepdog robot was to herd the sheep robot into a pen located at a fixed location. A helper dog robot was added to assist the sheepdog when needed. The interaction, as well as communication, between the sheepdog and helper dog was studied.
The Development of Textile Based Acoustic Sensing Arrays for Sound Source Acquisition
(2003-07-25) Luthy, Kyle Anthony; Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Committee Member; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. John Muth, Committee Member; Dr. H Troy Nagle, Committee Member
This research project dealt primarily with the production of an electronic textiles (etextiles) demonstrator. The goal of electronic textiles is to integrate textiles technology and electronics to create large area conformal surfaces with embedded electronics. Here, the etextiles demonstrator serves as an acoustic array for sound source localization and tracking. To create portable acoustic arrays on a flexible textile substrate, an understanding of textile designs and textile processes was obtained. This research resulted in the fabrication of woven substrates with conducting lines and embedded microphone windscreens. Similarly, an understanding of the design and manufacture of flexible substrates for electronics had to be gained in order to produce miniature electronic circuits that will flex when embedded in a textile substrate. The acoustic array technology developed includes microphone arrays with their associated software for data capture and analysis, a multiplexer circuit on a flexible Kapton substrate, and a UC-Berkeley mote-based technology for use with a custom miniature microphone amplification system. Ultimately, these arrays are used to demonstrate sound localization by triangulation as well as via the spatial filtering technique of beamforming. Experiments were performed to compare different array sizes and geometries in both simulation and real world practice for a variety of target frequencies. Mote performance in the role of beamforming is compared to simulation as well as a commercially available system. Although not as ideal as in simulation, the results achieved are comparable to those of the professional system tested against.
The EvBot II: An Enhanced Evolutionary Robotics Platform Equipped with Integrated Sensing for Control
(2003-04-09) Mattos, Leonardo Serra; Dr. Troy Nagle, Committee Member; Dr. John Muth, Committee Member; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. Mark White, Committee Member
The research presented in this thesis describes the design and development of the EvBot II, a small, computationally powerful, and robust evolutionary robotics platform equipped with an acoustic array system. The EvBot II represents the next generation of autonomous robots for distributed robot-colony research, and its design has expanded the sensing capabilities and the overall performance of the EvBot robots by the incorporation of two microcontroller units, shaft encoders and a complete acoustic array system for tracking and navigation purposes. The design, development and test of this new robot is described in detail throughout this thesis, including the design of an USB data acquisition system capable of simultaneously sampling eight audio channels as required for the realization of the added acoustic array system. Experiments designed to evaluate the performance of this new robot and its components are also described in this thesis, as well as experimental results showing that it is a well-suited platform for the study of evolutionary robotics, distributed robot-colonies and sensors technologies.
A Linear Base Articulated Robot Arm for Surgical Endoscopy
(2006-05-18) Kracht, Aaron Arthur; Dr. John Muth, Committee Member; Dr. Ola Harrysson, Committee Member; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair
This project involved developing a surgical robot assistant using an articulated robot running on a linear axis. The research concentrated on studying the localization of an endoscopic tool. The kinematics involved in this type situation requires that a constant point in space (trocar point) is maintained along a rigid tool while repositioning the manipulator. Results show that the localization algorithm and interactive interface developed is capable of using this unique robot configuration to perform the desired task. For this system, error was used as the performance metric. Positioning of the endoscopic manipulator relative to the world coordinate frame was possible to within 0.05 inch. Error in maintaining a constant point in space is evident during repositioning however this was caused by limitations in the robot arm.
Mobile Robotic Navigation and Control for Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Network Repair
(2009-08-04) Luthy, Kyle Anthony; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. John Muth, Committee Member; Dr. Thomas C. Henderson, Committee Member; Dr. H. Troy Nagle, Committee Member; Dr. Mihail Sichitiu, Committee Member
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have the potential to provide a wealth of high resolution sensory data, both temporally and spatially, over large areas and for long periods of time, but can be limited in effectiveness when a sensor node loses power or becomes damaged. The quality of the sensor network data is also reliant on the underlying network connectivity and can be degraded by imprecise deployments, and unforeseen changes in the network structure over time such as changes in weather conditions. The ability to use autonomous mobile robotic platforms to repair or replace bad sensor nodes, or to map out WSNs to identify weak nodes, has potential to enhance the performance of WSNs and improve their robustness. This dissertation investigates: 1) WSN connectivity issues over the lifetime of a network, and 2) identifying and repairing disconnects within a WSN using an autonomous robot. The effects of asymmetric links between WSN nodes and the best methods to model networks composed of asymmetric nodes were studied in depth. It was found that for networks requiring bidirectional links that the use of a disk model was optimal; however, for networks with asymmetric links, elliptical or irregular models were preferred. Thus in situations where asymmetries are permitted, more efficient network connectivity is obtained using elliptical or irregular models. Modeling, simulation, experimentation, and analysis, show that when a deployed WSN reaches a high nodal density, the network disconnects can be repaired by strategic placement of only a few nodes. The autonomous placement and repair of network disconnects was studied using the received signal strength (RSS) of messages within the WSN to navigate and control a robotic platform. This approach allows the control hardware of the mobile robot to use the same technology as that used by the WSN nodes. It is further shown by physical experiments that when the autonomous mobile robotic platform interacts directly with the RF signal transmitted from a single WSN node, that that mobile robot can carry out collision detection and obstacle avoidance tasks commonly found in mobile robotics research. Lastly, RSS has been shown to be useful for navigating around the perimeter of a deployed WSN. Using RSS for navigation and to provide a mobile node is shown to extend the range of the WSN, and to allow single-hop disconnects to be identified and repaired. Experiments were conducted both in simulation and in the physical world using a six-node WSN to prove that navigation based on RSS could repair a WSN. The speed of RSS based repair of WSNs is improved if the nodes on the perimeter of the WSN are first identified by the WSN and this information is provided to the robot. An algorithm was developed that uses local neighborhood computation, one based on the convex hull, to determine whether or not a node lies on the perimeter of the WSN. The developed algorithm performed equally as well as, or better than, the distributed and centralized detection algorithms of others, and was implemented on a twenty-five node WSN.
A New Operating System and Application Programming Interface for the EvBot Robot Platform
(2010-04-27) Colon, Micah; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. Alexander Dean, Committee Member; Dr. Troy Nagle, Committee Member
The research presented in this thesis describes the development of the Linux distribution and a new control architecture for robots. The reasons Linux was chosen are enumerated and a description of the build system and setup used to generate the distribution, with support for multiple platforms, is discussed. The Evbot Abstraction Layer (EAL), a new robot control architecture and framework is described, and the simple API is detailed.
A Pneumatically Actuated Brace Designed For Upper Extremity Stroke Rehabilitation
(2003-07-07) Merritt, Carey Reid; Dr. Mark White, Committee Member; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair; Dr. Alexander Dean, Committee Member
Nearly 700,000 people suffered from stroke last year and those who survived were left with any number of disabilities. One of the most common disabilities in stroke is paralysis of the upper arm. Since therapy for this disability is expensive, patients are finding rehabilitation difficult to afford and manage. This thesis proposes an inexpensive pneumatic wearable garment for the patient to use for stroke rehabilitation. Unlike most rehabilitation robots, which are large, non-compliant, and expensive, this device will enable the patient to purchase the garment and move freely within their own home while rehabilitating their affected arm. In this thesis, a wearable elbow device similar to the proposed wearable garment was designed using an inexpensive elbow brace. The elbow brace used custom made artificial air muscles also known as McKibben Artificial Muscles to substitute for the biceps and triceps, which are responsible for flexion and extension of the human elbow. These artificial muscles were chosen for their low-cost, compliance, lightweight, and large force capabilities. The air muscles were designed and developed especially for this device and cost less than $3.00 to make and weigh approximately 11 g. This pneumatically actuated elbow brace was controlled using solenoid valves in conjunction with a Mitsubishi M32/83C 16-bit micro controller to achieve flexion and extension of the elbow. Experiments on the pneumatic elbow brace have shown that it is capable of moving a passive patient's arm within a 110° range, which is adequate for rehabilitation of the elbow.
Using Robotic Hand Technology for the Rehabilitation of Recovering Stroke Patients with Loss of Hand Power
(2003-11-05) Li, Zheng; Dr. H. Troy Nagle, Committee Member; Dr. Ola L. A. Harrysson, Committee Member; Dr. John F. Muth, Committee Member; Dr. Edward Grant, Committee Chair
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 700,000 people suffered from stroke last year and two thirds of them survived but were left with any number of disabilities, one such disability is upper extremity hemiplegia. If the hand and arm doesn't have therapy immediately after stroke, it will lose it power and muscle control, resulting in a claw like appearance and loss of function. Activities of the patient daily living will be significantly effected. Current therapy on the affected limb in the hospital is expensive and difficult to manage due to the limited amount of resources compared to the number of patients. We introduce a pneumatic actuated wearable hand and forearm device in this thesis. It is designed according to the hand and arm kinematics. It can help the patients keep power on each finger and help maintain the coordination of different fingers to achieve daily living movements. It consists of forearm brace, rehabilitation glove and artificial muscles. The custom made artificial muscles also known as McKibben Artificial Muscles are used in antagonistic pairs to control the fingers flexion and extension. The rehabilitation device is small, lightweight, home-based, and has large force capabilities. It is also affordable to the patients due to the specially designed low-cost artificial muscles. The rehabilitation device was controlled by solenoid valves in conjunction with a Mitsubishi M32/83C 16-bit micro controller. Experiments on the pneumatic elbow brace have shown that it is capable of moving each finger from full extension to flexion, to perform actions like pinching and allows the coordinated movement of two fingers.