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--- teaching:mfe:ia [2016/03/14 16:02]
mdorigo [Development of remote monitoring software for intelligent structures]
+++ teaching:mfe:ia [2016/03/14 16:15]
mdorigo [Development of remote monitoring software for intelligent structures]
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-===== Formal verification of a swarm robotics behavior through statistical model checking =====
-The goal of this thesis is to apply statistical model
+===== Swarm construction: Development of remote monitoring software for intelligent structures =====
-checking to formally verify properties of a collective behavior of a
-robot swarm. Verifying that a system behaves as desired in all
-possible situations is necessary when autonomous robots are involved.
-This is particularly true in swarm robotics systems, where the
-interactions of large number of individuals can result in behaviors
-difficult to predict. Model checking is a common technique to formally
-prove properties of a system. However, its results are limited to
-small systems, because medium-sized or large systems are
-computationally impossible to analyze.
-This thesis is will explore the application of a novel model checking technique, called statistical model checking, to formally verify a swarm robotics system. A collective behavior will be firstly implemented in
+S-blocks are dynamically reconfigurable blocks used for autonomous construction applications. When two or more S-blocks are assembled they are capable of communicating with each other over a near field communication (NFC) wireless interface. The goal of this master thesis is to develop software to monitor (and control) the blocks in an intelligent structure remotely over the auxiliary Zigbee-based wireless interface. As only one block in the structure is fitted with this wireless interface, it is required that the other blocks communicate with the PC, via routing messages through the block-to-block NFC interfaces. This will require the software on the S-Blocks to be enhanced to use preemptive task swapping, to allow multiple blocks to communicate with each other simultaneously.
-simulation and then analyzed through statistical model checking.
-Required skills: the candidates should be acquainted with C/C++
-programming and have a working knowledge of the English language.
-  * Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]] and Manuele Brambilla (IRIDIA)
-===== ROBO-POINTER -- A New Device for Human-Robot Interaction =====
-In this project, the student will design and implement a novel human-robots interaction system.
-The human uses a special laser pointer (called robo-pointer), and by simply pointing to a specific robot he can select it, check its status on a dedicated monitor and send to the robot instructions.
-Now, our arena is equipped with a multi-camera tracking system that allows to detect the 3D position of the robots.
-The student will design a radio sensor network to detect the 3D position of the robo-pointer.
-The two pieces of information will be combined to trigger the selection of the pointed robot.
-* Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]] and Andreagiovanni Reina (IRIDIA)
-===== Let a robot swarm get around home! =====
-Robot swarms have very limited knowledge of their environment and therefore, moving around a complex environment (i.e., room with obstacles, building, ...) is a complex task. The idea of this project is to allow an overhead multi-camera tracking system -- that has a complete vision and knowledge of the environment -- to interact with a robot swarm in order to help the swarm move to a specific goal in the environment (for instance, moving from the kitchen to a bedroom of a house).
-The multi-camera tracking system's software is already developed. The student will be supposed to (i) develop a GUI that allows a human operator to specify a goal in the environment, (ii) design and implement a communication protocol (between the tracking system and the robot swarm) that guarantees efficiency and scalability and finally, (iii) test the interaction system in a simulated environment.
-* Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]], Gaëtan Podevijn, and Andreagiovanni Reina (IRIDIA)
-===== Online Framework to Compose Robotic Solutions =====
-The design of swarm robotics systems is a challenging task due to difficulties to predict and model swarm systems.
-The most common approach is a trial-and-error process where the developer tries solutions, tests them in simulation and corrects the code to eventually achieve the desired global outcome.
-The project aims to ease this design process: the developer have access to the code of already solved problems (called code-modules), and he can graphically combine the code-modules through a graphical interface to create his own solution.
-The student is supposed to design this novel online framework that offers two main functionalities: (1) to compose new solutions combining the existing code-models to solve new open problems, and (2) to code new code-modules and submit them to the online system.
-* Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]], Andreagiovanni Reina, and Gianpiero Francesca (IRIDIA)
-===== UML for Swarm robotics: formal specification of a collective behavior =====
-Swarm robotics is an interesting approach to the
-coordination of hundreds of robots as it promotes the realization of
-systems which are scalable, robust and flexible. However, up to now,
-swarm robotics application has been quite limited, also due to the
-lack of an engineering approach to its development.
-In particular, formal specification has not been applied yet to swarm
-robotics systems.
-In this thesis, we will explore possible ways to formally specify
-swarm robotics systems. As a starting point we will consider UML and
-UML extensions like AUML and UML for multi-agent systems. If
-necessary, we will develop a specific extension for swarm robotics
-systems. Once the preliminary work is done we will consider an
-example, perform formal specification of a task and then implement the
-system in simulation.
-Required skills: the candidates should be acquainted with C/C++
-programming, have a good knowledge of formal specification and UML,
-and have a working knowledge of the English language.
-  * Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]] and Manuele Brambilla (IRIDIA)
-===== A GUI for debugging the behavior of a robot swarm =====
-Debugging a robot swarm is a complex and difficult task.
-The desired behavior of the swarm is the result of the complex
-non-linear interactions of tens or hundreds of robots. When
-implementing a swarm robotics system, very often it is necessary to
-analyze individually the output of the execution of each robot, a very
-long and boring process. Since the goal of the developer is to obtain
-a specific collective behavior, it would be better to debug the system
-at the collective level and, only if necessary, at the individual
-level.
-In this thesis we will analyze a possible way to debug the collective
-behavior of a swarm of robots, using macroscopic and microscopic
-modeling. The goal is to develop a GUI that shows the state of the
-collective behavior of the system, and if the user requires it, the
-state of a single robot. We will start with a version of the debugging
-GUI that interface with the ARGoS simulator and eventually one that
-interfaces with the real robots.
-Required skills: the candidates should be acquainted with C/C++
-programming, GUI programming (QT/C++ or QT/Python or Java) and have a
-working knowledge of the English language.
-  * Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]] and Manuele Brambilla (IRIDIA)
-===== A virtual machine for mobile code in a swarm of robots =====
-Mobile code is a technology whereby nodes in a network of
-computing nodes exchange code. In other words, code migrates from
-machine to machine like an agent navigating an environment. Mobile
-code is a promising technology for swarm robotics because it would
-enable a new, novel type of robot-to-robot interaction. The aim of this
-project is produce a simple, yet high-performance virtual machine to
-support code exchange in a swarm of robots. A simple experiment with
-the robots demonstrating the capabilities of the VM will be performed.
-Required Skills: Good knowledge of C
-  * Contact: [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]] and Carlo Pinciroli (IRIDIA)
-===== Swarmscope =====
-One the main problems in the development of swarm robotics
-systems is the difficulty of producing, analyzing and debugging code for
-large distributed systems. The aim of this project is to produce a set of
-innovative tools to aid the development of complex swarm robotics
-systems. The produced tools will involve new, creative visualization
-methods and media, novel human-robot swarm interaction and effective
-debugging tools.
-Required Skills: Good knowledge of C++ and Qt4
-  * Contact: [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]] and Carlo Pinciroli (IRIDIA)
-===== Swarm construction: development of remote monitoring software for intelligent structures =====
-S-blocks are dynamically reconfigurable blocks used for swarm-based autonomous construction applications. When two or more S-blocks are assembled they are capable of communicating with each other over a near field communication (NFC) wireless interface. The goal of this master thesis is to develop software to monitor (and control) the blocks in an intelligent structure remotely over the auxiliary Zigbee-based wireless interface. As only one block in the structure is fitted with this wireless interface, it is required that the other blocks communicate with the PC, via routing messages through the block-to-block NFC interfaces. This will require the software on the S-Blocks to be enhanced to use preemptive task swapping, to allow multiple blocks to communicate with each other simultaneously.
 Required skills: The candidates should understand low level computer concepts such as: interrupts, timers, and registers, have some experience with C/C++ programming, and have a working knowledge of the English language.
@@ Line 374: / Line 230: @@
-===== Design of a holonomic drive system =====
-Unlike a differential drive system, a holonomic drive system has the advantage of being able to move in any direction at a given instant. The goal of this master thesis is to design and evaluate the performance of a holonomic drive system. The drive system will be assembled from a combination of off-the-shelf components and 3D printed parts. In order to evaluate the drive system, close loop controllers need to be designed and evaluated in C/C++.
-Required skills: The candidates should have some experience with programming in C/C++, and some experience with 3D modelling (preferably Solidworks). The candidates should be able to use basic kinematics to solve simple physics problems, and have a working knowledge of the English language.
-* Contact: [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mdorigo|Marco Dorigo]] (IRIDIA)
-===== Localisation and tracking of components in self-assembling systems =====
-The goal of this project is to apply computer vision techniques to track the growth of structures in self-assembling systems. The ability to track the growth of structures will shed light on the dynamics of self-assembly; an aspect of self-assembly that has not been well researched in the macroscopic context.
-As part of the project, the student will have to: (a) find suitable hardware (combination of camera, lens, lighting, etc.), (b) localise multiple components in an environment, (c) track the components in the environment, and (d) track the assembly of components in the environment.
-Required skills: the candidates should be able to program in C++ and have a working knowledge of the English language.
- * Contacts : [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mdorigo/HomePageDorigo/ | Marco Dorigo]] and Dhananjay Ipparthi (IRIDIA)