A. Paulo Moreira

University of Porto | UP · Departamento de Engenharia Eletrotécnica e de Computadores

In the field of intelligent autonomous robots, integrating optimization techniques with classical control theory methods for mobile robot control is an increasingly prominent area of research. The combination enhances robots' ability to perform their tasks more efficiently, reliably, and safely. This paper addresses the development of a path and mo...

Performing tasks in agriculture, such as fruit monitoring or harvesting, requires perceiving the objects’ spatial position. RGB-D cameras are limited under open-field environments due to lightning interferences. So, in this study, we state to answer the research question: “How can we use and control monocular sensors to perceive objects’ position i...

RGB-D sensors face multiple challenges operating under open-field environments because of their sensitivity to external perturbations such as radiation or rain. Multiple works are approaching the challenge of perceiving the 3D position of objects using monocular cameras. However, most of these works focus mainly on deep learning-based solutions, wh...

Robotic competitions stand as platforms to propel the forefront of robotics research while nurturing STEM education, serving as hubs of both applied research and scientific innovation. In Portugal, the Portuguese Robotics Open (FNR) is an event with several robotic competitions, including the Robot@Factory 4.0 competition. This competition presents...

The extraction of geometric information from the environment may be of interest to localisation and mapping algorithms. Existent literature on extracting geometric features from 2D laser data focuses mainly on detecting lines. Regarding corners, most methodologies use the intersection of line segment features. This paper presents a feature extracti...

Robotic competitions stand as platforms to propel the forefront of robotics research while nurturing STEM education , serving as hubs of both applied research and scientific innovation. In Portugal, the Portuguese Robotics Open (FNR) is an event with several robotic competitions, including the Robot@Factory 4.0 competition. This competition present...

The manufacturing domain faces a challenge in making timely decisions due to the large amounts of data generated by digital technologies such as Internet-of-Things, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Twin, and Big Data. By integrating recommendation systems is possible to support the decision-makers in handling large amounts of data by deliverin...

Quadruped robots have gained significant attention in the robotics world due to their capability to traverse unstructured terrains, making them advantageous in search and rescue and surveillance operations. However, their utility is substantially restricted in situations where object manipulation is necessary. A potential solution is to integrate a...

Fiducial markers play a fundamental role in various fields in which precise localization and tracking are paramount. In Augmented Reality, they provide a known reference point in the physical world so that AR systems can accurately identify, track, and overlay virtual objects. This accuracy is essential for creating a seamless and immersive AR expe...

Quadruped robots are gaining attention in the research community because of their superior mobility and versatility in a wide range of applications. However, they are restricted to procedures that do not need precise object interaction. With the addition of a robotic arm, they can overcome these drawbacks and be used in a new set of tasks. Combinin...

Agricultural robots are exposed to adverse conditions reducing the components’ lifetime. To reduce the number of inspection, repair and maintenance activities, we propose using audio-based systems to diagnose and detect anomalies in these robots. Audio-based systems are non-destructive/intrusive solutions. Besides, it provides a significant amount...

The extraction of geometric information from the environment may be of interest to localisation and mapping algorithms. Existent literature on extracting geometric features from 2D laser data focuses mainly on detecting lines. Regarding corners, most methodologies use the intersection of line segment features. This paper presents a feature extracti...

Several thousand grapevine varieties exist, with even more naming identifiers. Adequate specialised labour is not available for proper classification or identification of grapevines, making the value of commercial vines uncertain. Traditional methods such as genetic analysis or ampelometry are time-consuming, expensive and often require expert skil...

Robots are increasingly present in our lives, sharing the workspace and tasks with human co-workers. However, existing interfaces for human-robot interaction / cooperation (HRI/C) have limited levels of intuitiveness to use and safety is a major concern when humans and robots share the same workspace. Many times, this is due to the lack of a reliab...

Long-term operation of robots creates new challenges to Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms. Long-term SLAM algorithms should adapt to recent changes while preserving older states, when dealing with appearance variations (lighting, daytime, weather, or seasonal) or environment reconfiguration. When also operating robots for long...

Robotics and intelligent systems are intricately connected, each exploring their respective capabilities and moving towards a common goal [...]

Robotics and intelligent systems are key technologies to promote efficient and innovative applications in the most diverse domains (industry, healthcare, agriculture, construction, mobility, etc [...]

Purpose Visual perception enables robots to perceive the environment. Visual data is processed using computer vision algorithms that are usually time-expensive and require powerful devices to process the visual data in real-time, which is unfeasible for open-field robots with limited energy. This work benchmarks the performance of different heterog...

The efficient application of phytochemical products in agriculture is a complex issue that demands optimised sprayers and variable rate technologies, which rely on advanced sensing systems to address challenges such as overdosage and product losses. This work developed a system capable of processing different tree canopy parameters to support preci...

Purpose: Visual perception enables robots to perceive the environment. Visual data is processed using computer vision algorithms that are usually time-expensive and require powerful devices to process the visual data in real-time, which is unfeasible for open-field robots with limited energy. This work benchmarks the performance of different hetero...

A robot simulation system is a basic need for any robotics application. With it, developers' teams of robots can test their algorithms and make initial calibrations without risk of damage to the real robots, assuring safety. However, building these simulation environments is usually time-consuming work, and when considering robot fleets, the simula...

Long-term operation of autonomous robots creates new challenges to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Varying conditions of the vehicle's surroundings, such as appearance variations (lighting, daytime, weather, or seasonal) or reconfigurations of the environment, are a challenge for SLAM algorithms to adapt to new changes while prese...

The technological market is increasingly evolving as evidenced by the innovative and streamlined manufacturing processes. Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) are widely employed in the electronics fabrication industry, resorting to the Gerber open standard format to transfer the manufacturing data. The Gerber format describes not only metadata related to...

The digital twin has been gaining significant attention from the academia and industry sectors in the last few years. The digital twin concept enables monitoring, diagnosis, optimisation, and decision support tasks to improve industrial systems operation. One of the identified challenges in this field is the need to improve the decision support cyc...

Odometry calibration adjusts the kinematic parameters or directly the robot’s model to improve the wheeled odometry accuracy. The existent literature considers in the calibration procedure only one steering geometry (differential drive, Ackerman/tricycle, or omnidirectional). Our method, the OptiOdom calibration algorithm, generalizes the odometry...

This paper studies the state-of-the-art of active perception solutions for manipulation in agriculture and suggests a possible architecture for an active perception system for harvesting in agriculture. Research and developing robots for agricultural context is a challenge, particularly for harvesting and pruning context applications. These applica...

With the continuously growing usage of collaborative robots in industry, the need for achieving a seamless human–robot interaction has also increased, considering that it is a key factor towards reaching a more flexible, effective, and efficient production line. As a prominent and prospective tool to support the human operator to understand and int...

Nowadays, a laboratory operator in the areas of chemistry, biology or medicine spends considerable time performing micropipetting procedures, a common, monotonous and repetitive task which compromises the ergonomics of individuals, namely related to wrist musculoskeletal disorders. In this work, the design of a kinesthetic teaching approach for aut...

Nowadays, robotic manipulators’ uses are broader than industrial needs. They are applied to perform agricultural tasks, consumer services, medical surgeries, among others. The development of new cost-effective robotic arms assumes a prominent position to enable their wide-spread adoption in these application areas. Bearing these ideas in mind, the...

The world is living the fourth industrial revolution, marked by the increasing intelligence and automation of manufacturing systems. Nevertheless, there are types of tasks that are too complex or too expensive to be fully automated, it would be more efficient if the machines were able to work with the human, not only by sharing the same workspace b...

The development of robotic solutions for agriculture requires advanced perception capabilities that can work reliably in any crop stage. For example, to automatise the tomato harvesting process in greenhouses, the visual perception system needs to detect the tomato in any life cycle stage (flower to the ripe tomato). The state-of-the-art for visual...

The automation of agricultural processes is expected to positively impact the environment by reducing waste and increasing food security, maximising resource use. Precision spraying is a method used to reduce the losses during pesticides application, reducing chemical residues in the soil. In this work, we developed a smart and novel electric spray...

Augmented and virtual reality have been experiencing rapid growth in recent years, but there is still no deep knowledge regarding their capabilities and in what fields they could be explored. In that sense, this paper presents a study on the accuracy and repeatability of Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 (augmented reality device) and HTC Vive (virtual realit...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a programming by demonstration (PbD) system based on 3D stereoscopic vision and inertial sensing that provides a cost-effective pose tracking system, even during error-prone situations, such as camera occlusions. Design/methodology/approach The proposed PbD system is based on the 6D Mimic innovative...

Augmented and Virtual Reality have been experiencing a rapidly growth in recent years, but there is not still a deep knowledge on their capabilities and where they could be explored. In that sense, this paper presents a study on the accuracy and repeatability of the Microsoft's HoloLens 2 (Augmented Reality device) and HTC Vive (Virtual Reality dev...

Autonomous Robots with multiple directional thrusters are normally over-actuated systems that require nonlinear control allocation methods to map the forces that drive the robot’s dynamics and act as virtual control variables to the actuators. This process demands computational efforts that, sometimes, are not available in small robotic platforms....

This paper presents a novel light-weighted Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), an over-actuated tilt-rotor quadrotor with an innovative control allocation technique, named as Fast Control Allocation (FCA). In this arrangement, every motor has its own independent tilting command angle. By using this novel approach, the aircraft enhances its yawing capabi...

Odometry calibration adjusts the kinematic parameters or directly the robot's model to improve the wheeled odometry accuracy. The existent literature considers in the calibration procedure only one steering geometry (dif-ferential drive, Ackerman/tricycle, or omnidirectional). Our method, the OptiOdom calibration algorithm, generalizes the odometry...

The development of robotic solutions for agriculture requires advanced perception capabilities that can work reliably in any crop stage. For example, to automatise the tomato harvesting process in greenhouses, the visual perception system needs to detect the tomato in any life cycle stage (flower to the ripe tomato). The state-of-the-art for visual...

The pose control (position and orientation) of a robot is important to control how and when the robot gets to the desired pose at the desired time in order to perform some task. Controlling omnidirectional robots is of great interest due to their complete maneuverability. So, we use Proportional-Integrative (PI), Proportional-Derivative (PD), and F...

The pose control (position and orientation) of a robot is important to control how and when the robot gets to the desired pose at the desired time in order to perform some task. Controlling omnidirectional robots is of great interest due to their complete maneuverability. So, we use Proportional-Integrative (PI), Proportional-Derivative (PD), and F...

The robotic grasping task persists as a modern industry problem that seeks autonomous, fast implementation, and efficient techniques. Domestic robots are also a reality demanding a delicate and accurate human–machine interaction, with precise robotic grasping and handling. From decades ago, with analytical heuristics, to recent days, with the new d...

The constant advances in agricultural robotics aim to overcome the challenges imposed by population growth, accelerated urbanization, high competitiveness of high-quality products, environmental preservation and a lack of qualified labor. In this sense, this review paper surveys the main existing applications of agricultural robotic systems for the...

The development of robotic systems to operate in forest environments is of great relevance for the public and private sectors. In this sense, this article reviews several scientific papers, research projects and commercial products related to robotic applications for environmental preservation, monitoring, wildfire firefighting, inventory operation...

The transport of patients from the inpatient service to the operating room is a recurrent task in a hospital routine. This task is repetitive, non-ergonomic, time consuming, and requires the labor of patient transporters. In this paper is presented a system, named Connected Driverless Wheelchair, that can receive transportation requests directly fr...

When the COVID-19 pandemic hits Portugal in early March 2020, medical doctors, engineers and researchers, with the encouragement of the Northern Region Health Administration, teamed up to develop and build, locally and in a short time, a ventilator that might eventually be used in extreme emergency situations in the hospitals of northern Portugal....

Robots are increasingly present in our lives, sharing the workspace and tasks with human co-workers. However, existing interfaces for human-robot interaction / cooperation (HRI/C) have limited levels of intuitiveness to use and safety is a major concern when humans and robots share the same workspace. Many times, this is due to the lack of a reliab...

The COVID-19 virus outbreak led to the need of developing smart disinfection systems, not only to protect the people that usually frequent public spaces but also to protect those who have to subject themselves to the contaminated areas. In this paper it is developed a human detector smart sensor for autonomous disinfection mobile robot that use Ult...

The legged robots can insert themselves in environments for which the robots with wheels are simply incapable of be inserted, as is the case of obstacles of large dimensions, terrain loose or steep slopes. The objective of this work is to develop the modeling of hexapods robots and simulate them in a virtual environment of mechanical systems, which...

Inspired by observing the motions of vessels at sea, the E-Motions has been proposed as an innovative concept capable of converting wave (and wind) induced roll oscillations on multipurpose offshore floating platforms into electricity. The device can be integrated, theoretically, into any type of offshore floating structure, given its simple 3-comp...

Data acquisition is a critical task for localisation and perception of mobile robots. It is necessary to compute the relative pose between onboard sensors to process the data in a common frame. Thus, extrinsic calibration computes the sensor’s relative pose improving data consistency between them. This paper performs a literature review on extrinsi...

The constant increase in the world population has progressively demanded that humanity develop new technologies to face challenges such as providing high-quality food to the consumer market. In this sense, the concept of precision agriculture arises, proposing the development of agricultural activities such as preparing the land, sowing, planting,...

Several approaches with interesting results have been proposed over the years for robot grasp planning. However, the industry suffers from the lack of an intuitive and reliable system able to automatically estimate grasp poses while also allowing the integration of grasp information from the accumulated knowledge of the end user. In the presented p...

The transport of patients from the inpatient service to the operating room is a recurrent task in the hospital routine. This task is repetitive, non-ergonomic, time-consuming, and requires the labour of patient transporters. With that came the idea of developing a driverless wheelchair capable of providing an on-demand mobility service to hospitals...

Data acquisition is a critical task for localisation and perception of mobile robots. It is necessary to compute the relative pose between onboard sensors to process the data in a common frame. Thus, extrinsic calibration computes the sensor’s relative pose improving data consistency between them. This paper performs a literature review on extrinsi...

Localisation is a critical problem in ground mobile robots. For dead reckoning, odometry is usually used. A disadvantage of using it alone is unbounded error accumulation. So, odometry calibration is critical in reducing error propagation. This paper presents an analysis of the developments and advances of systematic methods for odometry calibratio...

Many real-world robotic scenarios require performing task planning to decide courses of actions to be executed by (possibly heterogeneous) robots. A classical centralized planning approach has to find a solution inside a search space that contains every possible combination of robots and goals. This leads to inefficient solutions that do not scale...

Localisation is a critical problem in ground mobile robots. For dead reckoning, odometry is usually used. A disadvantage of using it alone is unbounded error accumulation. So, odometry calibration is critical in reducing error propagation. This paper presents an analysis of the developments and advances of systematic methods for odometry calibratio...