Introduction to AI Robotics

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Introduction to AI Robotics ( Chapter 1. From
Teleoperation To Autonomy ) (12-09-19)
Sungmin Lee (???) Division of Electronic
Engineering, Chonbuk National University
Intelligent Systems Robotics Lab.
http//robotics.jbnu.ac.kr
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overview
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What Can Robots Be Used For?

• 1) nuclear, space, military
• 2) service industry, agriculture
• 3) demining an area of land mines, urban search
  and rescue.
• 4) THE 3 DS (dirty, dull, or dangerous.)

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A Brief History of Robotics(1)

• Robotics has its roots in a variety of sources,
  including the way machines are controlled and the
  need to perform tasks that put human workers at
  risk.
• In 1942, the United States embarked on a top
  secret project, called the Manhattan Project, to
  build a nuclear bomb.
• Many military leaders of both sides of World War
  II believed the winner would be the side who
  could build the first nuclear device the Allied
  Powers led by USA or the Axis, led by Nazi
  Germany.
• World War II
• (1939. 9. 1 1945. 9. 2)

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A Brief History of Robotics(2)

• One of the first problems that the scientists and
  engineers encountered was handling and processing
  radioactive materials, including uranium and
  plutonium, in large quantities.

Solution 1
Solution 2
Telemanipulator
Glove box
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Industrial manipulators
First industrial manipulator - Unimate
Robot arms began being introduced to industries
in 1956 by Unimation. Armed for duty. A Unimate
robot really, just an arm- picks up and puts
down parts in a General Electric factory
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AGVs(automated guided vehicles)
Mobile cart
The first AGV system was built and introduced in
1953. It was a modified towing tractor that was
used to pull a trailer and follow an overhead
wire in a grocery warehouse. By the late 50's and
early 60's towing AGVs were in operation in many
types of factories and warehouses.
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A Brief History of Robotics(3)

• Despite the emerging Luddite effect, industrial
  engineers in each of the economic powers began
  working for a black factory in the 1980s. A
  black factory is a factory that has no lights
  turned on because there are no workers.
• But two unanticipated trends undermined
  industrial robots in a way that the Luddite
  movement could not.
• First, industrial engineers did not have
  experience designing manufacturing plants with
  robots.
• The second trend was the changing world economy.
  Customers
• were demanding mass customization. (Mass
  customization is also referred to as agile
  manufacturing.)

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Components of a Telesystem

• Teleoperation is when a human operator
  TELEOPERATION controls a robot from a distance
  (tele means remote)

Remote
Local
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Ways of Controlling a Robot

• RC-ing
• you control the robot
• you can view the robot and its relationship to
  the environment
• ex. radio controlled cars, bomb robots
• operator isnt removed from scene, not very safe
• teleoperation
• you control the robot
• you can only view the environment through the
  robots eyes
• dont have to figure out AI
• semi- or full autonomy
• you might control the robot sometimes
• you can only view the environment through the
  robots eyes
• ex. Sojouner with different modes
• human doesnt have to do everything

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Teleoperation

• Human controls robot remotely
• Hazardous materials
• Search and rescue
• Some planetary rovers
• Considerations
• Feedback (video, tactile)
• User interfaces (cognitive fatigue, nausea)
• Time/distance

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Ex1. Teleoperation systems
DarkStar
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV ) 7 second
communications lag (satellite relay)
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Ex2. Teleoperation systems
Predator
4 people to control it (52-56 weeks of
training) one for flying two for instruments one
for landing/takeoff plus maintenance, sensor
processing and routing
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Teleoperation Best Suited For

• 1. The tasks are unstructured and not repetitive.
• 2. The task workspace cannot be engineered to
  permit the use of industrial manipulators.
• 3. Key portions of the task require dexterous
  manipulation, especially hand-eye coordination,
  but not continuously.
• 4. Key portions of the task require object
  recognition or situational awareness.
• 5. The needs of the display technology do not
  exceed the limitations of the communication link
  (bandwidth, time delays).
• 6. The availability of trained personnel is not
  an issue.

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Teleoperation Problems

• 1. cognitive fatigue
• 2. communications bandwidth
• 3. communications lag
• 4. too many people to run one robot

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Teleoperation Solutions

• Telepresence
• improves human control, reduces simulator
  sickness and cognitive fatigue by providing
  sensory feedback to the point that teleoperator
  feels they are present in robots environment
• Semi-autonomous
• Supervisory Control
• human is involved, but routine or safe portions
  of the task are handled autonomously by the robot
• Shared Control
• human initiates action, interacts with remote by
  adding perceptual inputs or feedback, and
  interrupts execution as needed
• Traded Control
• human initiates action, does not interact

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Ex1. Telepresence
Telepresence is when humans sense that they are
at a certain location, but when in fact, they are
many miles away.
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Ex2. Telepresence

• The TELESAR V telexistence robot avatar, is his
  labs latest masterpiece. The robot can transmit
  sight, hearing and even touch, so when you cant
  be there, its the next best thing.

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Ex3. Telepresence
Films about telepresence
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The Seven Areas of AI

• 1. knowledge representation.
• 2. understanding natural language.
• 3. Learning.
• 4. planning and problem solving.
• 5. Inference.
• 6. Search.
• 7. Vision.

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Summary

• Teleoperation arose as an intermediate solution
  to autonomy,
• but it has a number of problems cognitive
  fatigue, high
• communications bandwidth, short delays, and many
  
• one human to robot ratios.
• Telepresence tries to reduce cognitive fatigue
  through enhanced
• immersive environments
• Semi-autonomy tries to reduce fatigue, bandwidth
  by delegating
• portions of the task to robot

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• Thank you