in modeling and systems engineering. MBSE uses Systems Modeling Language (SysML) as its modeling language. SysML is a domain-specific modeling language for systems engineering used to specify, analyze, design, optimize, and verify systems.
In this paper we describe the Automatic Task Demonstration Gen- erator (ATDG), a system implemented into a software prototype for teaching the operation of a robot manipulator deployed on the Inter- national Space Station (ISS). The ATDG... more
In this paper we describe the Automatic Task Demonstration Gen- erator (ATDG), a system implemented into a software prototype for teaching the operation of a robot manipulator deployed on the Inter- national Space Station (ISS). The ATDG combines the use of path planning and camera planning to take into account the complexity of the manipulator, the limited direct view of
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Research Interests: Robotics, Computer Science, Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Robot Vision, and 15 moreTelecommunications, Path planning, Space Exploration, Planning, Space flight, Relevance Feedback, Teaching Material, Just in Time, Domain Knowledge, High performance, Path Planning, Robot Manipulator, Simulation Tool, Internet, and Intelligent Tutoring
The goal of the ROSA project is to develop a variableautonomy architecture to support ground-based control of space-deployed robotic systems in dynamic workspace environments. This capability is aimed at unmanned satellite servicing... more
The goal of the ROSA project is to develop a variableautonomy architecture to support ground-based control of space-deployed robotic systems in dynamic workspace environments. This capability is aimed at unmanned satellite servicing systems that must rendezvous with, capture and service free flying objects. As data communication limitations force the system to perform free flyer capture autonomously, the ROSA project will implement a system employing a combined cognitive modelling and behaviour-based ...
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Research Interests: Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Systems Modeling, Modeling Language, and 9 moreSystem Engineering, Model Based Systems Engineering, Domain specific modeling language, Design optimization, Emerging Technology, Unified Modeling Language, System modeling, Cubesat, and Systems Modeling Language
There has been considerable interest in the unmanned exploration of Mars for quite some time [4][7][8] but the current generation of rovers can explore only a small portion of the total planetary surface. One approach to addressing this... more
There has been considerable interest in the unmanned exploration of Mars for quite some time [4][7][8] but the current generation of rovers can explore only a small portion of the total planetary surface. One approach to addressing this deficiency is to consider a rover that has greater range and that is cheaper so that it can be deployed in greater numbers. The option explored in this paper uses the wind to propel a rover platform, trading off precise navigation for greater range. The capabilities of such a rover lie between the global perspective of orbiting satellites and the detailed local analysis of current-generation rovers. The design of the Wind-Powered Mars Rover is discussed, and the prototype built at McGill University as part of a student design course is described.
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ABSTRACT Concerns control of telescience systems in space by ground-based scientists, as in the Canadian Advanced Protein Crystallization Apparatus (CAPCA). We describe in this report how the formal modelling and analysis of the... more
ABSTRACT Concerns control of telescience systems in space by ground-based scientists, as in the Canadian Advanced Protein Crystallization Apparatus (CAPCA). We describe in this report how the formal modelling and analysis of the operator-system interaction makes it possible to evaluate the “error-proneness” of the operator interface in terms of the definition and measurement of metrics related to the complexity of the operator decisions since reduced complexity often means improved reliability. The intent is to be able to compare alternative interfaces to the very same telescience infrastructure in terms of cognitive complexity (and therefore error-proneness) by carefully evaluating the operator decision-making interactions with the system in meaningful ways. As a result, our report concludes by defining candidate complexity metrics and by discussing how they might be validated by experimental work
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Collision avoidance is mission or safety critical for most robot applications. The system described here provides for real-time or near real-time monitoring of manipulator motion to detect potential collisions and prevent them. For each... more
Collision avoidance is mission or safety critical for most robot applications. The system described here provides for real-time or near real-time monitoring of manipulator motion to detect potential collisions and prevent them. For each link in the manipulator the volume swept out by its commanded motion is reserved. Using volume approximations that are easy to compute with, these reserved volumes are pairwise compared for overlap and, therefore, potential collision. Performance estimates indicate that such a space reservation system should be fast enough to act as a safety monitor and to coordinate multiple manipulator systems without advance knowledge of the manipulator trajectories. The system is thus suitable for both teleoperation and autonomous systems. Performance trade-offs and a prototype that is being implemented are discussed.
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Research Interests: Engineering, Computer Science, Animation, Process Control, Motion Planning, and 15 morePath planning, Probabilistic Logic, Automation, Mobile Robots, Sampling methods, Robots, ROBOT, Shape, Obstacle Avoidance, Sampling strategy, Path Planning, Dynamic Environment, Degree of Freedom, Real-world Application, and Workspace
ABSTRACT Service architectures provide mechanisms for transactions and for the aggregation and composition of services, including monitoring and self-actuation within the architecture. In this paper we present an architecture appropriate... more
ABSTRACT Service architectures provide mechanisms for transactions and for the aggregation and composition of services, including monitoring and self-actuation within the architecture. In this paper we present an architecture appropriate for the computationally limited environment of space missions. We address the ever-increasing time and cost of developing and operating the information systems that space missions embody through the composition of services in this lightweight architecture. A lightweight, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) can simplify system design and can support advanced computing concepts such as autonomic logistics and autonomic computing [1]. The unifying idea in a Light Weight Service Architecture (LWSA) is to abstract away idiosyncrasies of development, connection and use. Computational nodes in such an architecture are loosely coupled and inherit the advantages associated with networks in general including fault tolerance, reusability, scalability, performance and cost.
Research Interests: Engineering, Computer Science, Distributed Computing, Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture, and 11 moreSystem Design, Fault Tolerance, Space Research, Reusability, Scalability, Space Based Architecture, Fault Tolerant, Space Missions, Service Architecture, service Business, and Information System
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ABSTRACT The current state of domain independent planning allows for a variety of levels of sophistication for describing world behavior and goals or objectives that the planner is to satisfy. Planners have become very efficient at... more
ABSTRACT The current state of domain independent planning allows for a variety of levels of sophistication for describing world behavior and goals or objectives that the planner is to satisfy. Planners have become very efficient at searching the combinatorial spaces implicitly defined by these descriptions. On the results of the AIPS-98 planning competition, Yale University Professor and AIPS Planning Competition Chair, Drew McDermott states, "It is hard to draw any conclusion from these data, except to note that all of these planners performed very well, compared to the state of the art a few years ago. Many of the plans found were 30 or 40 steps long, and some were longer than 100 steps." [1, 10]
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Today, many have attempted to provide multimedia services using IP over Satellite communication infrastructure. The traffic complexity and real-time constraints of the multimedia services pose challenges to guarantee the delivery of... more
Today, many have attempted to provide multimedia services using IP over Satellite communication infrastructure. The traffic complexity and real-time constraints of the multimedia services pose challenges to guarantee the delivery of packets end-to-end. This challenge is enhanced when we take the network dynamics into account. At present, Quality of Service (QoS) in the router’s forwarding plane provides traffic differentiation capability in the traditional terrestrial networks. While the same QoS concepts can be borrowed and implemented in the ground terminals, the satellites presently do not have the capability to understand and respect the packet differentiation done by ground terminals and carry forward that differentiation end-to-end. Hence networks with QoS implementation only in Ground terminals presently exist. In this paper, we will clearly show that partial implementation of QoS in a satellite based network cannot provide multimedia service guarantee. To solve this, we introduce a concept for satellite-based networks, namely Hierarchical QoS (H-QoS), and evaluate the multimedia traffic performance on satellitebased networks with and without H-QoS. We will clearly show that with H-QoS, we achieve better multimedia throughput. In addition, we will provide compelling reasons with performance evidence that future satellites be designed with advanced QoS features and control feedback mechanisms, to support end-to-end multimedia traffic with service guarantees. In addition, we show that H-QoS with feedback mechanism only satisfies the necessary condition to achieve end-to-end performance guarantees. We show that H-QoS in conjunction with Traffic Engineering in Inter Satellite Routing Protocol clearly provides end-to-end multimedia traffic differentiation and hence guarantees performance.
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This demonstration will be about Roman Tutor, a system that we are developing to teach astronauts how to operate a robot manipulator deployed on the International Space Sta- tion (ISS). Operators do not have a direct view of the scene of... more
This demonstration will be about Roman Tutor, a system that we are developing to teach astronauts how to operate a robot manipulator deployed on the International Space Sta- tion (ISS). Operators do not have a direct view of the scene of operation on the ISS and must rely on cameras mounted on the manipulator and at strategic places of the environment where it operates. Roman Tutor uses a robot path-planner, not to control the manipulator, but to automatically check errors of a student learning to operate the manipulator, and to au- tomatically produce illustrations of good and bad motions in training.
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SUMMARYIn this paper we consider the problem of planning paths for articulated bodies operating in workplaces containing obstacles and regions with preferences expressed as degrees of desirability. Degrees of desirability could specify... more
SUMMARYIn this paper we consider the problem of planning paths for articulated bodies operating in workplaces containing obstacles and regions with preferences expressed as degrees of desirability. Degrees of desirability could specify danger zones and desire zones. A planned path should not collide with the obstacles and should maximize the degrees of desirability. Region desirability can also convey search-control strategies guiding the exploration of the search space. To handle desirability specifications, we introduce the notion of flexible probabilistic roadmap (flexible PRM) as an extension of the traditional PRM. Each edge in a flexible PRM is assigned a desirability degree. We show that flexible PRM planning can be achieved very efficiently with a simple sampling strategy of the configuration space defined as a trade-off between a traditional sampling oriented toward coverage of the configuration space and a heuristic optimization of the path desirability degree. For path pl...
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There has been considerable interest in the unmanned exploration of Mars for quite some time but the current generation of rovers can explore only a small portion of the total planetary surface. One approach to addressing this deficiency... more
There has been considerable interest in the unmanned exploration of Mars for quite some time but the current generation of rovers can explore only a small portion of the total planetary surface. One approach to addressing this deficiency is to consider a rover that has greater range and that is cheaper so that it can be deployed in greater numbers. The option explored in this paper uses the wind to propel a rover platform, trading off precise navigation for greater range. The capabilities of such a rover lie between the global perspective of orbiting satellites and the detailed local analysis of current-generation rovers. In particular, the design includes two inflatable wheels with an unspun payload platform suspended between then. Slightly deflating one of the wheels enables steering away from the direction of the wind and sufficiently deflating both wheels will allow the rover to stop. Current activities revolve around the development of a prototype with a wheel cross-sectional a...
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Research Interests: Engineering, Computer Science, Optimal Control, Decision Support Systems, Markov Decision Process, and 14 moreDecision support system, Markov Decision Processes, Mathematical Sciences, State Space, Mathematical Optimization, Decision Problem, Search Space, Markov chain, Assembly Automation, Backtracking, Decision Maker, Electrical And Electronic Engineering, Random Search, and Partially observable Markov decision process
Automatic 3D animation generation techniques are becoming increasingly popular in different areas related to computer graphics such as video games and animated movies. They help automate the filmmaking process even by non professionals... more
Automatic 3D animation generation techniques are becoming increasingly popular in different areas related to computer graphics such as video games and animated movies. They help automate the filmmaking process even by non professionals without or with minimal intervention of animators and computer graphics programmers. Based on specified cinematographic principles and filming rules, they plan the sequence of virtual cameras that
Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Video Game, and 12 morePath planning, Planning, Automated Planning, Trajectory, ROBOT, Linear Temporal Logic, Robot Arm, Computer Graphic, International space station, Path Planning, Boolean Satisfiability, and Temporal Logic
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... of such a strategy is that of compliance [32], where the manipulator is constrained to move along given geometric ... this example illustrates a very common and practical technique (with people, at least) for moving things around ...... more
... of such a strategy is that of compliance [32], where the manipulator is constrained to move along given geometric ... this example illustrates a very common and practical technique (with people, at least) for moving things around ... 282 BALLARD AND HARTMAN a tc r left right FIG. ...