Swiss Fed Institute of Tech Zürich ETH
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blue-c II
- blue-c II is a collaborative project at ETH together
with the institutes CAAD, CGL, CVG, IWF.
The focus of blue-c-II is to investigate and develop fundamental methods for
collaboration environments and multi-modal acquisition, interaction with
large and complex physical environments and the usage of data.
Within this institute, "data handling" will be researched to support the
collaborative process of co-located and remote teamwork within the "virtual
project room". Therefore it focuses on data-handling in order to elaborate,
collect, share and interact with data. The final goal of this project is to
improve the efficiency as well as the effectiveness of the collaborative and
interdisciplinary product design process by applying new communication
technologies such as eye-to-eye videoconferencing and video-based
interaction.
COGNIRON (Cognitive Robot Companion ; 2004-07)
- Description of the project
The overall objectives of this project are to study the perceptual,
representational, reasoning and learning capabilities of embodied robots in
human centered environments. The project develops methods and technologies
for the construction of such cognitive robots, able to evolve and grow their
capacities in close interaction with humans in an open-ended fashion.
Expected results are basic methods, algorithms and architectures and their
integration and long-term experimentation and scientific evaluation on
embodied robotic systems in different settings and situations.
In the focus of this research endeavor, is the development of a robot whose
ultimate task is to serve humans as a companion in their daily life. The
robot is not only considered as a ready-made device but as an artificial
creature, which improves its capabilities in a continuous process of
acquiring new knowledge and skills.
Besides the necessary functions for sensing, moving and acting, such a robot
will exhibit the cognitive capacities enabling it to focus its attention, to
understand the spatial and dynamic structure of its environment and to
interact with it, to exhibit a social behavior and communicate with other
agents and with humans at the appropriate level of abstraction according to
context.
The design of the cognitive functions of this artificial creature and the
study and development of the continuous learning, training and education
process in the course of which it will mature to a true companion, are the
central research themes of the project.Research Area within project
(Spatial Cognition and Multimodal Situational Awareness)
To address the understanding of how an embodied system can come to a
conceptualization of sensory-motor data, generate plans and actions to
navigate and manipulate in typical home settings. The concept formation is
considered in a broad sense, i.e. the ability to interpret situations, i.e.
states of the environment and relationships between components of the
environment that are static or evolving over time. The robot can observe
these states or be part of the evolving action itself.
The robot will use different sensing modalities, and can also act in order
to improve its understanding of the situation or to disambiguate its
interpretation.
Dynamic Locomotion with Quadrupeds
- This projects aims towards the design and construction
of an energy efficient robotic quadruped that is capable of various dynamic
motions including fast walking, trotting, bounding, and galloping. The
primary focus is the production of an actual mechanical prototype. The
prototype and the associated control strategies will be developed so as to
maximize dynamic performance while minimizing energy consumption. In
particular, to make the system as energy efficient as possible, we intend to
exploit natural, or passive, dynamics in ways that have been the focus of
significant previous research and shown themselves to be effective in
bipedal robots. The extension of the concept of passive dynamics to
quadrupedal robots, and more importantly the actual realization of such a
system, has to date received very little attention by other researchers. The
principal parts of the project are:
- Developing simulation capabilities to aid design calculations and
evaluate controller performance.
- The development of fundamentally new control strategies that
incorporate the advantageous characteristics of passive dynamics into an
optimal controller with deadbeat attitude feedback.
- Designing, fabricating, and testing a mechanical prototype to
evaluate controller stability, robustness, and performance.
Exomars
- Autonomous vehicles in uneven terrain need to rely on
efficient suspension mechanisms that allow negotiating obstacles of
different kinds, while consuming the least energy possible to increase the
time of autonomy. There is an increasing need for all-terrain robots,
especially in places that are not accessible by humans or where the risk of
a human mission is too high, e.g. space exploration or operations in
unstructured, hazardous or polluted environment.
The ASL took part in
various phases of the Exomars project and the work of its collaborators is
summarized in the following sections:
Pre-study phase A
coming soon...
Pre-study phase B1
A trade-off between possible suspension mechanism candidate was conducted.
It involved the RCL-C, RCL-E and the CRAB. In order to test these on an
equal basis, their weight, footprint and wheels where the same. This was
achieved using a modular structure. The tests were conducted on well-defined
obstacle (e.g. such as the step, and so on...) which offered the equal tests
conditions for all the candidates.
Phase B1
ASL was first responsible for implementing the low-level control algorithms
of the rover BreadBoard. The software was implemented on a LEON2
microprocessor, using RTEMS.
The second activity of ASL within phase B1 was to conduct the test campaign
with the BreadBoard, into the Oerlikon Space facilities. This received a
quite large echo in the media, as it can be seen below.
IM2
- The idea of controlling machines not by manual
control, but by mere "thinking" (i.e., the brain activity of human subjects)
has fascinated humankind since ever, and researchers working at the
crossroads of computer science, neurosciences, and biomedical engineering
have started to develop the first prototypes of brain-machine interfaces
(BMI) over the last decade or so. Thus, researchers have been able to train
monkeys, who had implanted tens of microelectrodes in their brain, to
control a robot arm. Human subjects, on their side, have shown the
possibility to drive a mobile robot between rooms in a house model using
non-invasive EEG recordings .
Although these promising first results are attracting significant attention
from an increasing number of research laboratories around the world, most of
the issues being explored are related to "augmented communication" where
fast decision-making is not critical as it is the case for real-time control
of robotics devices and neuroprosthesis. The latter kind of applications is
the most challenging for BMI and it is the goal of this project. In
particular, we will explore mental teleoperation of a mobile robot based on
non-invasive brain activity related to motor tasks (i.e., subjects imagine
natural movements of their body that are translated into similar actions of
the robot) and multiple modalities of feedback (visual, auditory, haptic and
vestibular).
KoBaS - Knowledge Based Customized
Services
- The Problem Addressed
In order to pursue the increasing needs of flexibility and competitiveness,
manufacturing machines are growing more and more complex. Thus the tasks
performed by these machines become complex too. The greater integration
between the machine performances and the related process parameters becomes
also a crucial requirement that the user of the manufacturing machine has
difficulties to grasp and control. Task planning, maintenance,
configuration, training…, as a result, grow complex too and new competencies
and larger knowledge of the process parameters, machine performances and
their interaction are needed.
Project Short Description
The project objective is to promote a Network of SMEs capable of providing
“KoBaS services”, where the service is a customized knowledge based
solution, developed, thanks to the methodologies and tools studied and
realized within the project, for the specific machine, that will enhance
machine performance under several aspects:- Man-Machine interface based on low cost Virtual Reality
- Machine task programming based on Knowledge Based Systems
- Machine task Simulation in a innovative three-dimensional customized
environment
- Real Time Analysis services for the evaluation of the quality of the
item produced
- Machine Configuration Support and Mechatronics
- Advanced Machine maintenance with autonomous decision making and
leaning capabilities
- Machine training based on Virtual Reality techniques
- Machine management functions
The KoBaS consortium consists of a well-balanced mix of 27 international
partners, coming from 10 different European countries and China, including
17 SMEs, 2 Industries and 8 RTD performers. ASL at ETH Zurich is responsible
for the service ‘Machine Configuration Support and Mechatronics’.
muFly
- Autonomous micro flying robots combine a large variety
of technological challenges and are therefore an excellent showcase for
leading edge micro/nano technologies and their integration with information
technology towards a fully operational intelligent micro-system. This
project proposes, therefore, the development and implementation of the first
fully autonomous micro helicopter comparable in size and weight to a small
bird. The key challenges of the project include innovative concepts for
power sources, sensors, actuators, navigation and helicopter design and
their integration into a very compact system. The envisaged fully autonomous
micro-helicopter will weight less than 30g and measure only 10cm in
diameter. The project shall develop and demonstrate innovative approaches
and technologies in:
- system level design and optimization of autonomous micro aerial
vehicles,
- multifunctional use of components (integration of camera and
distance sensor, batteries doubling as structural elements, or a
propeller used for gyroscopic stabilization),
- design of "smart" miniature inertial sensors and omnidirectional
vision sensors with polar pixel arrangement,
- miniaturized fuel-cells,
- miniaturized piezoelectric actuators with enhanced power to weight
ratios, and
- control and navigation concepts that can cope with limited sensor
and processing performance.
The final system is expected to find applications in surveillance of
buildings and large indoor areas that are difficult to access on wheels or
legs, rescue missions in
buildings after natural disasters or terror attacks, surveillance of
dangerous areas, chemical and nuclear plants or law enforcement in public
areas. The resulting micro-helicopter will represent the first demonstration
of a fully autonomous indoor flying robot of its size and its successful
realization will be a landmark achievement in integrated micro/nano
technology and micro aerial vehicles.
robots@home
- The objective of robots@home is to provide an open
mobile platform for the massive introduction of robots into the homes of
everyone.
The innovations will be:
- A scaleable, affordable platform in response to the different
application scenarios of the four industrial partners: domotics,
security, food delivery, and elderly care.
- An embedded perception system providing multi-modal sensor data for
learning and mapping of the rooms and classifying the main items of
furniture.
- A safe and robust navigation method that finally sets the case for
using the platform in homes everywhere. The system is tested in four
homes and at a large furniture store, e.g., IKEA. Developers as well as
lay persons will show the robot around, indicate rooms and furniture and
then test the capabilities by commanding to go to the refrigerator or
dining table.
The scenario-driven approach is inspired by recent work in cognitive
science, neuroscience and animal navigation: a hierarchical cognitive map
incorporates topological, metric and semantic information. It builds on
structural features observed in a newly developed dependable embedded stereo
vision system complimented by time-of-flight and sonar/infrared sensors.
This solution will be developed along three progressively more challenging
milestones leading up to a mobile platform that learns four homes, navigates
safely and heads for at least ten annotated pieces of furniture.
Sky-Sailor
- The goal of this project is to design and build a
solar powered micro airplane for autonomous exploration. This system, named
Sky-Sailor, is fully autonomous in navigation and power generation. Equipped
with solar cells covering its wing, it retrieves energy from the sun in
order to supply power to the propulsion system and the control electronics,
and charge the battery with the surplus of energy. During the night, the
only energy available comes from the battery, which discharges slowly
until the next morning when a new cycle starts.
This project started in 2004 under a contract with European Space Agency to
study the feasibility of a Martian Solair Airplane. A lot of work was done
on the optimization of the various elements of the energy chain, from the
solar celsl to the propeller. The actual prototype weighs 2.4 kg for a
wingspan of 3.2 meters. The 216 silicone solar cells are able to deliver up
to 90 W at noon during summer whereas the power consumption of the airplane
is 16 W at level flight. In June 2008, the objective of Sky-Sailor was
reached. The airplane flew more than 27 hours continuously and autonomously.
This 874 km flight proved for the first time that it is feasible to stay in
the air with the only use of solar energy, and at constant altitude, without
the help of altitude gain before the night or thermal soaring.
SPARC
- The SPARC Project forms an European effort to improve
general trafic safety be aplying intelligent X-by-wire technology to
vehicles powertrains. Within this project the Autonomous Systems Lab of ETH
is envolved in the development of an intelligent driver assistant system
allowing the vehicle to detect environment features like lanes and other
traffic participants independently from the driver and devolop strategies
for a good reaction on that particular environment.
SPARC stands for Secure Propulsion using Advanced Redundant Control. The
goal of SPARC is to substantially improve traffic safety and efficiency for
heavy goods vehicles using intelligent x-by-wire technologies in the
powertrain. To prove this standardized concept an automotive
Software/Hardware platform will be developed that is scalable and usable
from heavy goods vehicles down to small passenger cars (sPC) and be
integrated therein. SPARC will propose a complete automotive concept of an
open system architecture, where software functionalities of different
partners can be integrated easily. Two validation vehicles of this
architecture will be build and evaluated.
Front End
- The goal of this project is to develop integrative
methods for the Front End of the Product Innovation Process. It was
conducted in collaboration with toolpoint and ITEM, University St. Gallen.
I-Puls
- I-Puls: Measurement and Development of Innovation
Capability
The goal of this project was to develop a method to measure and to improve
innovation capability of Swiss Small and Medium Sized Companies. The method
has been developed and applied with several project partners (Alcan, Mammut,
Furrer-Jacot, Marquardt etc.). The method is supported by a Web Application
(www.ipi.ethz.ch) and so allows the documentation of the whole process.
The CTI-funded project I-Puls was finished in 2007. We continue applying and
improving the I-Puls tool.
MPPro
- MPPro - Variant Management of Modular Product
Families
Today, companies face increasing cost pressure and a growing demand for
customization of products. An answer to this double challenge is effective
variant management using modular product families. This allows for economies
of scale through the reuse of modules and customization through
customer-specific configuration of modules. While numerous well-established
approaches exist to initially define a modular product family, the variant
management of the modular product family in the market phase, has not yet
been answered in research.
This question is of vital importance though. Many companies experience that
in the market phase of the modular product family, more and more special
products are being brought to market whose cost/sales price ratio is
significantly worse than that of standard products. As a result, the modular
product family as a whole becomes less and less profitable. What is needed,
are concepts and tools to support the variant management of modular product
families in the market phase. The required concepts and tools are developed
within this project.
Skip
- The goal of this project was to improve the innovation
processes in Swiss Small and Medium Sized Companies. The resulting
innovation process model is documented on www.ipi.ethz.ch and in Markus
Bircher (2005): Die integrale Produktinnovation. The simulation tool of the
front end of innovation is documented in Vera de Vries (2006):
Systemtheoretischer Ansatz für die frühe Phase des
Produkt-Innovationsprozesses.