Santiago Timoteo Puente Méndez

Comparative study of vectorial morphological operations in different color spaces

In this paper, we present the results of the extension of the mathematical morphology to color images by treating multi-channel data as vectors. The approach presented here uses the HSI and related color spaces (intuitives). A modification of the lexicographical order for vectorial processing is developed. The importance of this new method lies on automatic selection of elements of the HSI and related color spaces to form an ordering structure. The achievement of the algorithm is realized through the introduction of a weight factor to reduce the high preference of the first component of the classic lexicographical order. Experimental results demonstrate the improvement of this new method.

Web teleoperation of robots with simulation feedback

The use of a robot arm for industry is a very common problem. A great quantity of these robots have to have a remote human controller to achieve its task successfully. The user knows what is happening with the robot arm through sensors. This information has to arrive to the user and if it consists of a video then the system needs a high bandwidth to carry it to the user in real-time. The present system uses a simulation feedback instead of video information; this type of feedback gets as much information as a video with a lower bandwidth. The simulation of the system is based on virtual reality modeling feedback language (VRML) to model the robot arm which reproduces the movements of the real robot. This method of feedback has the advantage of required little information to afford the user a real approach to the system. The proposed system lets the user move the robot arm with different point-to-point trajectories and different possibilities of movement. The aim of this kind of laboratory is to facilitate the access for students and professionals in the field of robotics. This system is used for teaching university students the themes of robotics. It improves the training of the students permitting them access to a real robot which would be impossible for universities to afford if each student needed his own robot to practice. This paper presents a remote laboratory approach for experimentation with a real robot, which uses the communication techniques of the web.

Disassembly movements for geometrical objects through heuristic methods

This paper presents a non-destructive disassembly method. It tries to make up for limitations of other methods based on contact surfaces. It uses a contact surfaces graph and shows an algorithm to obtain the movement sequence needed for the disassembly of two objects, using a composition of transfer movement. It performs a second filter to obtain the exact disassembly direction from the group of directions obtained from the contact surfaces. The filter employs a mobile robotic heuristic to feedback the contact surface graph throughout the disassembly process. The heuristic generates an environment map to infer the region where the probability of collision with the other objects is lower. To achieve the disassembly the paper presents a method for modeling the elements implied in the disassembly process. This virtual model of the environment allows us to quickly process the elements and the simulation of the movements for disassembly. This model can be used to either schedule the disassembly process or to test, during the design stage, whether the products can be easily disassembled.This paper presents a non-destructive disassembly method. It tries to make up for limitations of other methods based on contact surfaces. It uses a contact surfaces graph and shows an algorithm to obtain the movement sequence needed for the disassembly of two objects, using a composition of transfer movement. It performs a second filter to obtain the exact disassembly direction from the group of directions obtained from the contact surfaces. The filter employs a mobile robotic heuristic to feedback the contact surface graph throughout the disassembly process. The heuristic generates an environment map to infer the region where the probability of collision with the other objects is lower. To achieve the disassembly the paper presents a method for modeling the elements implied in the disassembly process. This virtual model of the environment allows us to quickly process the elements and the simulation of the movements for disassembly. This model can be used to either schedule the disassembly process or to test, during the design stage, whether the products can be easily disassembled.

Product disassembly scheduling using graph models

Disassembly problem is a current issue for industrial companies. Governments of different countries promote research in this field. This paper presents the following points. First a brief state of the art in disassembly planning. Next it exposes a solution for the disassembly problem of industrial products. It uses a combination between direct and indirect graph representation for the product, all components that have physical entity are considered as vertices of the graph. Edges of the graph represent the relationships between vertices. There are three different types of edges. First corresponds with accessibility and fastener restrictions. Second corresponds with direct relations between components without fasteners. Last one corresponds with contact relationships, which represent an indifferent choice of the vertices. Based on that representation the paper exposed a method to find the best sequence to disassemble a component. Costs of disassembling each component and of changing tool between each pair of vertices and different sequences of the disassembly are taken into consideration. This method consists in a function minimization defined in the graph domain. In the last point of the paper this method is tested with a remote control disassembly. This method gives a solution to the problem, if several solutions, with the same cost, exist then it gives all of them, and any one of these disassemble sequences could be used to achieve to the target component.Disassembly problem is a current issue for industrial companies. Governments of different countries promote research in this field. This paper presents the following points. First a brief state of the art in disassembly planning. Next it exposes a solution for the disassembly problem of industrial products. It uses a combination between direct and indirect graph representation for the product, all components that have physical entity are considered as vertices of the graph. Edges of the graph represent the relationships between vertices. There are three different types of edges. First corresponds with accessibility and fastener restrictions. Second corresponds with direct relations between components without fasteners. Last one corresponds with contact relationships, which represent an indifferent choice of the vertices. Based on that representation the paper exposed a method to find the best sequence to disassemble a component. Costs of disassembling each component and of changing tool between each pair of vertices and different sequences of the disassembly are taken into consideration. This method consists in a function minimization defined in the graph domain. In the last point of the paper this method is tested with a remote control disassembly. This method gives a solution to the problem, if several solutions, with the same cost, exist then it gives all of them, and any one of these disassemble sequences could be used to achieve to the target component.© (2002) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Simulation and Scheduling of Real-Time Computer Vision Algorithms

A fully integrated development tool for computer vision systems has been built in the framework of this paper. There are many applications that help the user in the design of such systems, using graphical interfaces and function libraries. Even in some cases, the final source code can be generated by these applications. This paper goes a step beyond; it allows the development of computer vision systems from a distributed environment. Besides, and as a distinctive characteristic with regard to other similar utilities, the system is able to automatically optimize task scheduling and assignment, depending on the available hardware.

SASEPA: Simultaneous Allocation and Scheduling with Exclusion and Precedence Relations Algorithm

An algorithm for allocating and scheduling tasks in multiprocessor environments is presented. Its main characteristic is its orientation towards machine vision applications. In this sense it deals with the peculiarities of systems which combine generic-type processors with Image Acquisition and Processing Boards. The main goal of the algorithm is total processing time reduction; such are the requirements when we deal with automated industrial inspection applications. By simultaneously tackling the phases of allocation and scheduling, the results obtained are better than those offered by traditional algorithms. The system is applied to a process of citrus fruit inspection, and its performances are also evaluated over randomly generated task graphs.

Assistance Robotics and Biosensors

This Special Issue is focused on breakthrough developments in the field of biosensors and current scientific progress in biomedical signal processing. The papers address innovative solutions in assistance robotics based on bioelectrical signals, including: Affordable biosensor technology, affordable assistive-robotics devices, new techniques in myoelectric control and advances in brain–machine interfacing.

An improvement of a SLAM RGB-D method with movement prediction derived from a study of visual features

This paper presents a method for the fast calculation of a robot’s egomotion using visual features. The method is part of a complete system for automatic map building and Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM). The method uses optical flow to determine whether the robot has undergone a movement. If so, some visual features that do not satisfy several criteria are deleted, and then egomotion is calculated. Thus, the proposed method improves the efficiency of the whole process because not all the data is processed. We use a state-of-the-art algorithm (TORO) to rectify the map and solve the SLAM problem. Additionally, a study of different visual detectors and descriptors has been conducted to identify which of them are more suitable for the SLAM problem. Finally, a navigation method is described using the map obtained from the SLAM solution. Graphical Abstract