Mechatronics, robotics and components for automation and control: IFAC milestone report
Introduction
Control technologies and applications have experienced highly significant developments in the last 10 years. These developments have been driven by progress in innovative sensors and actuators, and the increasing performance of computer systems, including embedded systems for control.
In addition, recent developments of communication technologies have also led to novel distributed control technologies, including systems with wire and wireless communications in the control loops and networked systems with multiple interconnected objects (see for example http://www.embedded-wisents.org/). The application domains are very large; including process control with very complex interconnected systems, factory automation as well as robotics, building automation, and transportation systems, which is today one of the most “pushing” domains.
This paper pays significant attention to the field of components and instruments for control including sensors, actuators, embedded systems and communications.
The paper also devotes particular attention to mechatronic systems. For many years control engineers have been using sensors and electronic processing to enhance and/or alter the performance of mechanical systems, in many cases to provide a level of functionality that is not possible without the electronics. The sophistication which has more recently been possible through increasingly powerful processing devices and heightened software skills has resulted in an increasing trend towards embedded mechatronic solutions involving a synergetic combination of mechanics, electronics, software and computing. This necessitates a multi-disciplinary understanding of the relevant scientific and engineering principles, and the individual knowledge of the mechatronic engineer must be sufficiently comprehensive to be able to create the innovative combination that makes up mechatronic solutions.
Robotics is a relatively new field in science and engineering. The broadly accepted definition is that robotics is an intelligent connection of perception to action. Robot perception is performed by sensors. Sensors allow robots to sense and interact with the changing environment. Information acquired by the robot is then processed using intelligent algorithms. The resulting commands are passed on to the actuators—devices that drive joints and actuate parts of the robots. This paper also focuses on Robotics.
The study of interactions between human and machines is an important aspect in the adoption of control technologies involving both technical issues and social implications. Human–machine studies consider all conditions, where humans (individuals as well as groups) use, control or supervise tools, machines or technological systems. It fosters analysis, design, modeling and evaluation of human–machine systems (HMS) which includes: decision making and cognitive processes, modeling of human performance (reliability, mental work load, predictability), real and virtual environments, design methodology, task allocation-sharing and job design, intelligent interfaces, human operator support, work organization, and selection and training criteria. Over the last few decades a shift from the more hardware oriented HMS-topics to the more software and system oriented topics is recognized, which may be characterized by cognitive ergonomics. All these aspects related to human–machine interactions are also considered in the paper.
Finally, it should be noted that the paper also discusses the implications of cost oriented automation, or affordable automation, which is a cross-sectoral field involving theory, technology, and application as well as economical and social issues. Therefore the focus is not upon cheap components and instruments for control tasks, but upon the life-cycle of automation systems regarding cost-effectiveness. Maintenance is a crucial point, and therefore has to be considered integrated with a performance-oriented product- and process-development. An agile human–human and human–machine collaboration to fulfil this demands has to be developed.
This paper is an update of the corresponding sections of the previously published report (Ollero et al., 2002), originally presented at the15th IFAC World Congress. It presents new developments and trends in the above fields. The paper is organized as follows. Current key problems are addressed in Section 2. Section 3 is devoted to the accomplishments and trends. The forecast of the involved technologies is presented in Section 4. Sections 5 and 6 are devoted to the conclusions and references.
Section snippets
Components and instruments
Partitioning a complex system into more manageable units is essential to cope with today's increasing complexity of process control and biomedical applications. In this set of units, intelligent sensors play an essential role in the operation of complex real-life distributed systems. The aim of intelligent sensors is to sample raw data in order to extract some information, where information can be defined as a measure of how well the data fit into information patterns. The field of large
Components and instruments
In the area of factory automation (see proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, 2003) we may expect a future intensive use of intelligent components in applications ensuring the monitoring of the environment (see Akyilidiz, Su, Sankarasubramaniam, & Cayiri, 2002). The research in new solid state sensors using microelectronic technologies, embedding signal processing and pattern recognition functionalities will probably evolve soon in the
Components and instruments
The design of sensors, especially biomedical sensors, introduces new challenging constraints. The design of a biomedical sensor is for example strongly affected by the restricted shape, size and the weight the sensor must have. Power restrictions apply themselves, due to the inability to supply the energy through the traditional wires. Implanted biomedical sensors are also expected to be operational for an extended period-of-time.
The capability of exchanging the information through a wireless
Conclusions
This paper has outlined the current key problems, accomplishments and forecasts in control technologies including components and instruments, mechatronics, robotics, human–machine systems and cost oriented automation.
Two different general trends can be identified. The first one is the development of embedded components and systems integrating perception, control and actuation functions that can be used, eventually, in a transparent way. This trend has been motivated by recent technological
A. Ollero. Electrical Engineering (1976), Dr Engineer (1980) with award at the Univ. Seville. Assistant Professor at the Univ. Sevilla. Full Professor and Head of Department at the Univ. Santiago (Vigo, Spain) and Univ. Málaga (Spain), where he was also Director of the School of Engineering. “Stagiaire” at LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France (1979) and Visiting Scientist (1990–1991) at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA. Since 1993 he is full Professor at the E.S.
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A. Ollero. Electrical Engineering (1976), Dr Engineer (1980) with award at the Univ. Seville. Assistant Professor at the Univ. Sevilla. Full Professor and Head of Department at the Univ. Santiago (Vigo, Spain) and Univ. Málaga (Spain), where he was also Director of the School of Engineering. “Stagiaire” at LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France (1979) and Visiting Scientist (1990–1991) at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA. Since 1993 he is full Professor at the E.S. Ingenieros, Univ. Seville. He leaded and/or participated in 58 research and development projects, including 12 projects funded by the European Commission, is the author of two books, being one of them “Premio Mundo Electrónico” (Spanish award), co-author of two books, and author or co-author of more than 250 publications including papers in journals, book chapters, and Conference Proceedings. He is currently Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics, the International Journal of Field Robotics and the “Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática”. He is Vice-Chair of the IFAC Technical Board and has been Chairman of the Coordinating Committee on “Mechatronics, Robotics and Components” (2002–2005), Chairman of the Instrumentation and Manufacturing Coordinating Committee (1999–2002) and Chairman of the Components and Instruments Committee (1993–1999).
S. Boverie received his Electrical Engineering degree and DEA in Control Engineering from INSA in 1979. He was then awarded a PhD in Automatic Control in Toulouse, 1981. After 4 years in the Helicopter division of the Aerospatiale, he joined the SIEMENS VDO Automotive SAS R&D Department in Toulouse in 1987. Since 2002 he is Head of the Department of Advanced Development for Safety Applications. He is the author and co-author of 10 patents, of many papers and of one book dedicated to the applications of fuzzy control. He was one of the editors of Control Engineering Practice journal from 1993 to 2002. He has also been strongly involved in the IFAC organization acting as Vice Chairman then Chairman of a Technical Committee and now Chairman of a Coordinating Committee.
R. Goodall spent 14 years working in industry before taking up an academic position at Loughborough University in 1982, where he is currently Professor of Control Systems Engineering in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. His research is concerned with a variety of practical applications of advanced control, usually for high performance electro-mechanical systems with research grants from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the European Commission and various industrial organizations. The research is concerned with active railway vehicle suspensions, advanced data fusion architectures for aerospace applications, and targeted processor architectures for implementation of high-performance controllers. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK, and has received a number of awards from both these institutions for his published work.
J. Sasiadek was with the Canadian Space Agency, Ottawa, Ont., Canada, in 1989–1991, and in 1985–1987, he was a Technical Director for Alberta Research Council, Calgary, Alta., Canada. He is currently Professor of Aerospace Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa. He has authored/coauthored more than 150 journal and refereed conference papers. His research interests focus on robotics and autonomous systems, especially space robotics and unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs), and guidance, navigation, and control, especially spacecraft and aircraft control and non-linear control. He is a Chair of IFAC Robotics Technical Committee. He serves as a Director of American Automatic Control Council. Dr. Sasiadek is an Associate Fellow of AIAA and a Member of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee. He was a Program Chair of the 1994 AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Scottsdale, AZ. In August 2001, he was General Chair of the 2001 AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Montreal, Que., Canada. Currently, he is a Chair of Joint IEEE Robotics and Control Systems Societies Chapter, Ottawa.
H. Erbe was born in 1937 in Bielefeld/Germany, studied Aircraft Construction at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Engineer at Focke Wulf GmbH (later Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke), studied Engineering Mechanics at TU Berlin, Germany, Research Assistant at the Institute of Mechanics of TU Berlin, PhD in Engineering Mechanics, Head of Research Group on Fracture Mechanics at the German Federal Institute on Material Research, Berlin, 1980–1986 Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Professional Education at Bremen University, and from 1986 to 2002 at TU Berlin, and member of the Research Center for Human–Machine Systems at TU Berlin. Retired in 2002.
D. Zuehlke. Professor for Production Automation, Kaiserslautern University of Technology, Director Center for Human–Machine-Interaction, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence DFKI GmbH Kaiserslautern. Professor Zuehlke received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering and Applied Computer Sciences in 1976 and his Doctor degree in Mechanical Engineering/Industrial Automation in 1983 both from Aachen Institute of Technology (RWTH Aachen), Germany. He served as a Research Engineer in the fields of Flexible Manufacturing Systems and Robotics at the WZL in Aachen. In 1985 he joined LUFTHANSA German Airlines and was responsible as a General Manager for the Aircraft Maintenance shops in Frankfurt. In 1991 Dr. Zuehlke became a Professor for Industrial Automation and Head of the Institute for Production Automation—pak—and later director of the center for human–machine-interaction at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence DFKI GmbH both at Kaiserslautern. His primary fields of interest are in Human–Machine-Interaction, Robot Programming and Simulation. He is a member of the executive board of VDI-GMA, ACM (special interest group on computer–human interaction) and GfA (German Ergonomics Society), also member of IFAC and chairman of the IFAC technical committee on human–machine-systems. Prof. Zuehlke is consultant to the European Commission, several federal funding organizations and to the industry. He received several honours in respect to his contributions to innovative science and technology.