Francisco Blanes

Universitat Politècnica de València | UPV · Institute of Industrial Control Systems and Computing (ai2)

This article presents a novel bioinspired technology for the cooperation and coordination of heterogeneous robot swarms in uncontrolled environments, utilizing an artificial pheromone composed of magnetized ferrofluids. Communication between different types of robots is achieved indirectly through stigmergy, where messages are inherently associated...

Junto con el desarrollo de la industria 4.0 y la inclusión de procesos distribuidos y flexibles en diferentes arquitecturas como puede ser la de fabricación en enjambre, se han realizado avances en las funciones de los robots móviles que pueden aparecer en dichos escenarios tales como los AGV o los AMR, para poder trabajar en entornos con humanos d...

Multicore systems were developed to provide a substantial performance increase over monocore systems. But shared hardware resources are a problem as they add unpredictable delays that affect the schedulability of multicore hard real-time systems. In recent years much effort has been put into modelling interference and proposing scheduling technique...

Con los avances en la industria 4.0 y la transformación digital, es indispensable lograr la comunicación entre los distintos dispositivos que conforman la planta industrial. Sin embargo, esta orientación a la interoperabilidad de los productos que a nivel de dispositivos como los PLC’s está generalizada, no lo es tanto en el ámbito de los robots. E...

Swarm robotics finds inspiration in nature to model behaviors, such as the use of pheromone principles. Pheromones provide an indirect and decentralized communication scheme that have shown positive experimental results. Real implementations of pheromones have suffered from slow sensors and have been limited to controlled environments. This paper p...

En la planificación de sistemas de tiempo real crí­tico es clave encontrar un plan temporal en el que las tareas pueden ejecutarse antes de que venza el plazo establecido. Para lograr este objetivo se pueden utilizar diferentes tipos de algoritmos de planificación. Además de encontrar un plan factible, muchas veces es beneficioso, de todos los plan...

Actualmente, las plataformas para robots que implementan ROS son ampliamente usadas en investigación. Éstas han probado ofrecer una solución fiable para reutilizar algoritmos. No obstante, estos cuentan con ciertos inconvenientes. Aunque la arquitectura ROS ha sido diseñada con la posibilidad de trabajar de forma distribuida, este diseño presenta a...

El presente trabajo aborda el diseño y desarrollo de un módulo Java de comunicaciones que implementa el protocolo de comunicaciones FINS-TCP, protocolo diseñado por la empresa OMRON para llevar a cabo comunicaciones con los PLC’s entre un equipo (computador) y un PLC, o entre varios PLC’s. Una vez diseñado el módulo de comunicaciones se llevara a c...

In this paper a novel tuning procedure for Two-Degree-of-Freedom (2-DOF) PID controllers is proposed. The tuning methodology is based on an Uncertainty and Disturbance Estimator. As a result, an equivalent 2-DOF PID controller with simpler tuning rules is obtained. One advantage of the proposed method is that tracking performance and disturbance re...

Embedded systems used in critical systems, such as aeronautics, have undergone continuous evolution in recent years. In this evolution, many of the functionalities offered by these systems have been adapted through the introduction of network services that achieve high levels of interconnectivity. The high availability of access to communications n...

This paper outline a proposal to study the build-up process of digital capabilities in SMEs and technology-based startups that are produced through the exchange of complementary knowledge between external stakeholders. The SMART4ALL consortium aims to accelerate the launch and adoption of emerging technologies that potentially ensure the improvemen...

Object recognition is a necessary task for many areas of technology, such as robot navigation or the intelligent reconstruction of environments in order a robot can interact with these objects. This article presents an architecture that integrates distributed heterogeneous information to recognise objects. The architecture uses devices that can pro...

Object recognition, which can be used in processes such as reconstruction of the environment map or the intelligent navigation of vehicles, is a necessary task in smart city environments. In this paper, we propose an architecture that integrates heterogeneously distributed information to recognize objects in intelligent environments. The architectu...

Objects recognition is a necessary task in smart city environments. This recognition can be used in processes such as the reconstruction of the environment map or the intelligent navigation of vehicles. This paper proposes an architecture that integrates heterogeneous distributed information to recognize objects in intelligent environments. The arc...

In the current context of distributed systems, the communications have moved from a model based on connected nodes, to a model that must connect processes, or including connect data. There are many paradigms, mechanisms and architectures to give support to these distributed systems. Most of these mechanisms are extensions or evolutions of distribut...

Nowadays ROS (Robot Operating System) based platforms have been widely used in state of art robot researches because of providing reliable mechanisms for fast robot development and algorithm reuse. Among them, modular robots are presented as a Distributed Control System (DCS), in which the data supply and the flow rates must be ensured to guarantee...

Mobile robots need to manage a lot of sensors and actuators using micro-controllers. To do complexes tasks, a highly computation central unit is also needed. In many cases, a robot is a intelligent distributed system formed with a central unit, which manages and distributes several specific tasks to some micro-controller embedded systems onboard. N...

Nowadays robots are evolving from using a central computer unit with high computation capability to a distributed system configuration. Most cases present a robot formed with a central unit, which manages and distributes several specific tasks to some embedded systems on-board. Now these embedded systems are also evolving to more complex systems th...

In Distributed Control Systems (DCS) the distribution of sensor data needs to be optimized in order to reduce the client process redundancy, i.e.: same sensor data processing in different clients. This paper presents an implementation of Embedded Networked Sensors as Smart Resources that allows to access to high-level information abstracting the us...

The inclusion of embedded sensors into a networked system provides useful information for many applications. A Distributed Control System (DCS) is one of the clearest examples where processing and communications are constrained by the client's requirements and the capacity of the system. An embedded sensor with advanced processing and communication...

The evolution of the definition of industry into the Smart factories has provide a big improvements in terms of production efficiency and promoted new ways to implement interfaces between humans and machines. A factory plan, which is achieved by means of a set of missions, implies a set of control missions. In this work is introduced how to achieve...

Coordination strategy is a relevant topic in multi-robot systems, and robot soccer offers a suitable domain to conduct research in multi-robot coordination. Team strategy collects and uses environmental information to derive optimal team reactions, through cooperation among individual soccer robots. This paper presents a diagrammatic approach to ar...

This article introduces some optimization mechanisms focused on environment management, object recognition, and environment interaction. Although the generality of the presented system, this work will be focused on its application on home assistance humanoid robots. For this purpose, a generic environment formalization procedure for semantic scener...

This paper introduces how mobile robots can perform navigation tasks by implementing a system based on the control kernel middleware (CKM), and how can take benefit of this. Smart resources are also included into the topology of the system, improving the processing and distribution of the computational load required by the system tasks. The CKM and...

In this work is presented a general architecture for a multi physical agent network system based on the coordination and the behaviour management. The system is organised in a hierarchical structure where are distinguished the individual agent actions and the collective ones linked to the whole agent network. Individual actions are also organised i...

The vision system provides to a humanoid robot the most complete information about the environment, having thus visual information extraction a great influence in the decision process of interaction with the environment. It represents one of the most resources consumer in the system, so it has to be efficiently designed without compromising the rel...

This paper introduces how a mobile robot can perform nav-igation tasks by taking the advantages of implementing a control kernel middleware (CKM) based system. Smart resources are also included into the topology of the system for improving the distribution of computa-tional load of the needed tasks. The CKM and the smart resources are both highly r...

This paper deals with the problem of humanoid robot localization and proposes a new method for position estimation that has been developed for the RoboCup Standard Platform League environment. Firstly, a complete vision system has been implemented in the Nao robot platform that enables the detection of relevant field markers. The detection of field...

This paper presents a control kernel based middleware description. Capabilities and developed functionality are enhanced. The establishment of a event-based middleware control system offers a more reliable and efficient way to perform control tasks by ensuring a proper distribution of the requirements, actions and services between the system device...

A current trend in the development and implementation of industrial applications is to use wireless networks to communicate the system nodes, mainly to increase application flexibility, reliability and portability, as well as to reduce the implementation cost. However, the nondeterministic and concurrent behavior of distributed systems makes their...

Computer vision is one of the most challenging applications in sensor systems since the signal is complex from spatial and logical point of view. Due to these characteristics vision applications require high computing resources, which makes them especially difficult to use in embedded systems, like mobile robots with reduced amount memory and compu...

Los sistemas de visión artificial son una de las aplicaciones más complejas del ámbito de los sistemas sensoriales en tanto la señal a tratar es compleja en términos lógicos y de espacio. Por este motivo en este tipo de aplicaciones los requerimientos computacionales son siempre muy altos lo cual hace todavía más compleja su implantación en sistema...

We present the embedded vision system used in the Standard Platform League which is one of the o cial leagues in Robocup competition. This vision system runs at frame rate in Nao robots, while detecting colour coded objects. Because biped league is quite dynamic, e - cient and robust image processing techniques should be used. Furthermore, vision c...

Current trends in the development of industrial applications enforce the use of wireless networks to communicate the system nodes mainly to increase flexibility and reliability of these applications and to reduce the implementation cost. However, in control applications, as consequence of the latency and jitter generated by the network, not always...

La robótica humanoide es uno de los campos en los que se viene trabajando en los últimos años desde un amplio abanico de áreas de conocimiento. Esto viene dado por los fundamentos multidisciplinares sobre los que se asienta esta disciplina. Por ello estas plataformas son utilizadas para validar un gran número de sistemas de diferente naturaleza, de...

Actualmente existe un gran interés por el desarrollo de aplicaciones industriales utilizando redes inalámbricas, principalmente por el aumento de la flexibilidad del sistema y la disminución de los costos de implementación. Sin embargo, los retrasos y el jitter que introduce la red de comunicaciones en las aplicaciones de control, han dado lugar a...

En este trabajo se describe el diseño y la implementación de una arquitectura distribuida para el control de robots móviles. En el desarrollo de esta arquitectura se han implementado tanto los nodos empotrados encargados del control del sistema, así como el protocolo de comunicaciones SCoCAN (Shared Channel on CAN). Este protocolo permite comunicac...

Los robots humanoides son uno de los desarrollos en sistemas robóticos que más auge están tomando hoy en día. Por un lado plantean retos a resolver (estabilidad, sensorización, integración de sistemas de visión) de gran interés desde el punto de vista de los sistemas empotrados de control, y por otro lado su natural orientación a la imitación del s...

Nowadays developments in wireless sensor and actuators networks (WSAN) applications are determined by the fulfillment of constraints imposed by the application. For this reason, in this work a characterization of WSAN applications in health, environmental, agricultural and industrial sectors are presented. A case study for detecting heart arrhythmi...

Geometric representation of the environment, known as mapping, plays an important role in mobile robotics as it support various tasks such as localization, path planning and motion control. Line models represent a popular approach to represent the geometric features of the environment. The mapping problem gives rise to a variety of solutions for us...

Mobile robots are physical agents that move and interact continuously while embedded in a dynamic environment. Communications can be one of the most difficult parts of building robot architecture because of the increasing complexity of sensor and actuator hardware, and the interaction between intelligent features and real-time constraints. Currentl...

This paper presents how to get a high control performance and a reliable operation, by means of a suitable combination of several Embedded Control Systems. For this purpose, a hierarchical and distributed control model is proposed. The model holds a set of activities that should be executed on it, such as change, switch and delegate new code of con...

In this paper, an advanced architecture for embedded control systems to be used in a mobile biped robot, called YABIRO-II, is presented. The robot has a total height of 55 cm, and a total weight of 4 Kg. Also, it has a total of 27 degrees of freedom (DOF). This number of joints enables YABIRO-II to produce many different gait configurations, and is...

This paper presents how a complex distributed control system can be inexpensively achieved using low-cost controllers. These controllers will be interconnected in a network with an open communication bus called CAN. The development of integrated circuit manufacturing technology has increased the power and performance of the microprocessors and micr...

Teleoperation and supervision of robotic systems are usually made through field buses and wired links. In this paper we present the teleoperation and supervision of a biped robot -YABIRO1- based on a wireless link. YABIRO uses two independent CAN networks for sensors and actuators control. With the development of specific devices we can monitor the...

Estimation of objects in a 3D space is a fundamental problem in computer vision and robotics. This paper describes an algorithm and its implementation for a vision module as a sensor of a biped robot (YABIRO). The embedded vision sensor is able to estimate the position of objects like spheres in 3D space. Objects are defined with their size and col...

This paper describes the design and implementation of a CAN time-triggered based communication protocol named SCoCAN, (shared channel on CAN), intended for use in distributed control systems, as is the case of autonomous mobile robots. This protocol enables real time communication between different intelligent nodes (sensors, actuators and controll...

In this paper, we present a real time architecture for embedded control systems to be used in a mobile biped robot called YABIRO. The robot has a total of 14 degrees of freedom (DOF). This number of joints enables YABIRO to produce many different gait configurations, and is also suitable to test and validate the proposed real time control architect...

This paper analyzes the use of ultrasonic echo amplitudes to evaluate the characteristics of the detected surfaces (such as distinguishing between walls and corners). The shape and surface characteristics of the environment, such as roughness or absorption coefficient, as well as the distance and the angle of incidence, have high influence on the a...

Abstract The perception of the environment,in mobile robots is an essential task that every mobile robot must accomplish,for the autonomy,of the,vehicle. Different sensors have been used for map building purposes, and many of these approaches use ultrasonic sensors or laser rangefinders. Ultrasonic sensors are cheap and very common. However, their...

In this work, a simple model of the amplitude response of the ultrasonic echoes is used to assess about the nature of the detected objects, enabling its classification between walls and corners. The ultrasonic signal comes from a unique pair of rotating emitter/receiver transducers. The amplitude of the echoes together with their time of flight are...

In this paper is presented an architecture to control mobile intelligent robots based on the hybrid reactive/deliberative paradigm. This architecture is multi-level and distributed, and their main components are mobile software agents that interact through a distributed blackboard communications system. These agents can run on processors on board o...

In this paper, we present a new biped robot design, called YABIRO 1 . This is a small robot that can walk autonomously. We present a low cost robot platform with a structure based on low cost materials, like servomotors, inexpensive sensors, micro- controllers, etc. The robot has a total of 14 DOF. This number of joints enables YABIRO to produce ma...

The paper focuses on the behaviour of distributed control loops affected by the jitter derived from the communication latencies of CAN. The work uses a hybrid communication protocol between a pure TTP (Time Triggered Protocol) and ETP (Event Triggered Protocol), a reasonable choice for distributed real-time systems, as a reactive mobile robot. This...

This paper 1 presents a study about the amplitude of ultrasonic echoes and a simple model is proposed to predict the shape and amplitude of echoes received from different materials in environments composed of walls and corners. Using this model is possible to distinguish between walls and corners, in a single circular scan of a single ultrasonic tr...

The amplitude response of infrared (IR) sensors based on reflected amplitude of the surrounding objects is non-linear and depends on the reflectance characteristics of the object surface. As a result, the main use of IR sensors in robotics is for obstacle avoidance. Nevertheless, their inherently fast response is very attractive for enhancing the r...

Mobile robotics development provides an excellent opportunity to experiment with various architectural solutions for distributed real-time systems. This is because of the increasing complexity of sensor and actuator hardware, and the interaction between intelligent features and real-time constraints. Currently, hybrid control structures seem to be...

This paper describes an architecture for mobile robots that is suitable for teleoperation. The architecture is hybrid and has three levels: a reactive level, a deliberative level and an interface level. Reactive level is distributed and it is made up of sensor nodes and controllers. On the other hand, deliberative level establishes the knowledge an...

The perception of the environment in mobile robots is a very important task that every mobile robot must accomplish for the autonomy of the vehicle. Different sensors have been used for map building and many of these solutions use ultrasonic sensors or laser. In this paper, we present an IR sensor that uses the intensity of the signal to calculate...

In this paper, a communication system called SC (for Sistema de Comunicaciones) suitable for real time systems with distributed sensory architecture, is described. This system has been implemented into the robot YAIR, an autonomous robot with intelligent sensors that produce different measures about the environment and the robot position within it....

This paper focuses on reducing the number of angular readings per scan, using a single ultrasonic rotary device; together with the use of interpolation to achieve high angular resolution. This reduction in the number of angular readings also produces a drastic reduction in the time spent in map generation, enabling real-time response. Finally, the...

In the last few years, research in mobile robot architectures have increased because the need of autonomy. This research has been addressed mainly into multisensor robots to enhance the perception skills and fusing the data, obtaining coherency and good quality information. In this work, a robot architecture under development called YAIR is present...