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Autonomous Robots: Modeling, Path Planning, and Control (Lecture Notes In Physics #Vol. 107)
by Farbod FahimiIt is at least two decades since the conventional robotic manipulators have become a common manufacturing tool for different industries, from automotive to pharmaceutical. The proven benefits of utilizing robotic manipulators for manufacturing in different industries motivated scientists and researchers to try to extend the applications of robots to many other areas by inventing several new types of robots other than conventional manipulators. The new types of robots can be categorized in two groups; redundant (and hyper-redundant) manipulators, and mobile (ground, marine, and aerial) robots. These groups of robots, known as advanced robots, have more freedom for their mobility, which allows them to do tasks that the conventional manipulators cannot do. Engineers have taken advantage of the extra mobility of the advanced robots to make them work in constrained environments, ranging from limited joint motions for redundant (or hyper-redundant) manipulators to obstacles in the way of mobile (ground, marine, and aerial) robots. Since these constraints usually depend on the work environment, they are variable. Engineers have had to invent methods to allow the robots to deal with a variety of constraints automatically. A robot that is equipped with those methods is called an Autonomous Robot. Autonomous Robots: Kinematics, Path Planning, and Control covers the kinematics and dynamic modeling/analysis of Autonomous Robots, as well as the methods suitable for their control. The text is suitable for mechanical and electrical engineers who want to familiarize themselves with methods of modeling/analysis/control that have been proven efficient through research.
Autonomous Robots and Agents (Studies in Computational Intelligence #76)
by Gourab Sen GuptaThis book collects the extended versions of the best papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Autonomous Robots and Agents, ICARA 2006, held at Palmerston North, New Zealand, December, 2006. It covers theoretical and methodological aspects of incorporating intelligence in autonomous robots and agents, detailing the collaborative efforts and methods needed to overcome challenges faced in the real world and accomplish complex tasks.
Autonomous Safety Control of Flight Vehicles
by Xiang Yu Lei Guo Youmin Zhang Jin JiangAerospace vehicles are by their very nature a crucial environment for safety-critical systems. By virtue of an effective safety control system, the aerospace vehicle can maintain high performance despite the risk of component malfunction and multiple disturbances, thereby enhancing aircraft safety and the probability of success for a mission. Autonomous Safety Control of Flight Vehicles presents a systematic methodology for improving the safety of aerospace vehicles in the face of the following occurrences: a loss of control effectiveness of actuators and control surface impairments; the disturbance of observer-based control against multiple disturbances; actuator faults and model uncertainties in hypersonic gliding vehicles; and faults arising from actuator faults and sensor faults. Several fundamental issues related to safety are explicitly analyzed according to aerospace engineering system characteristics; while focusing on these safety issues, the safety control design problems of aircraft are studied and elaborated on in detail using systematic design methods. The research results illustrate the superiority of the safety control approaches put forward. The expected reader group for this book includes undergraduate and graduate students but also industry practitioners and researchers. About the Authors: Xiang Yu is a Professor with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. His research interests include safety control of aerospace engineering systems, guidance, navigation, and control of unmanned aerial vehicles. Lei Guo, appointed as "Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professor", is a Professor with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. His research interests include anti-disturbance control and filtering, stochastic control, and fault detection with their applications to aerospace systems. Youmin Zhang is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada. His research interests include fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control, and cooperative guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) of unmanned aerial/space/ground/surface vehicles. Jin Jiang is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. His research interests include fault-tolerant control of safety-critical systems, advanced control of power plants containing non-traditional energy resources, and instrumentation and control for nuclear power plants.
Autonomous Safety Control of Flight Vehicles
by Xiang Yu Lei Guo Youmin Zhang Jin JiangAerospace vehicles are by their very nature a crucial environment for safety-critical systems. By virtue of an effective safety control system, the aerospace vehicle can maintain high performance despite the risk of component malfunction and multiple disturbances, thereby enhancing aircraft safety and the probability of success for a mission. Autonomous Safety Control of Flight Vehicles presents a systematic methodology for improving the safety of aerospace vehicles in the face of the following occurrences: a loss of control effectiveness of actuators and control surface impairments; the disturbance of observer-based control against multiple disturbances; actuator faults and model uncertainties in hypersonic gliding vehicles; and faults arising from actuator faults and sensor faults. Several fundamental issues related to safety are explicitly analyzed according to aerospace engineering system characteristics; while focusing on these safety issues, the safety control design problems of aircraft are studied and elaborated on in detail using systematic design methods. The research results illustrate the superiority of the safety control approaches put forward. The expected reader group for this book includes undergraduate and graduate students but also industry practitioners and researchers. About the Authors: Xiang Yu is a Professor with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. His research interests include safety control of aerospace engineering systems, guidance, navigation, and control of unmanned aerial vehicles. Lei Guo, appointed as "Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professor", is a Professor with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. His research interests include anti-disturbance control and filtering, stochastic control, and fault detection with their applications to aerospace systems. Youmin Zhang is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada. His research interests include fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control, and cooperative guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) of unmanned aerial/space/ground/surface vehicles. Jin Jiang is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. His research interests include fault-tolerant control of safety-critical systems, advanced control of power plants containing non-traditional energy resources, and instrumentation and control for nuclear power plants.
Autonomous Search
by Youssef Hamadi Eric Monfroy Édéric SaubionDecades of innovations in combinatorial problem solving have produced better and more complex algorithms. These new methods are better since they can solve larger problems and address new application domains. They are also more complex which means that they are hard to reproduce and often harder to fine-tune to the peculiarities of a given problem. This last point has created a paradox where efficient tools are out of reach of practitioners.Autonomous search (AS) represents a new research field defined to precisely address the above challenge. Its major strength and originality consist in the fact that problem solvers can now perform self-improvement operations based on analysis of the performances of the solving process -- including short-term reactive reconfiguration and long-term improvement through self-analysis of the performance, offline tuning and online control, and adaptive control and supervised control. Autonomous search "crosses the chasm" and provides engineers and practitioners with systems that are able to autonomously self-tune their performance while effectively solving problems. This is the first book dedicated to this topic, and it can be used as a reference for researchers, engineers, and postgraduates in the areas of constraint programming, machine learning, evolutionary computing, and feedback control theory. After the editors' introduction to autonomous search, the chapters are focused on tuning algorithm parameters, autonomous complete (tree-based) constraint solvers, autonomous control in metaheuristics and heuristics, and future autonomous solving paradigms.Autonomous search (AS) represents a new research field defined to precisely address the above challenge. Its major strength and originality consist in the fact that problem solvers can now perform self-improvement operations based on analysis of the performances of the solving process -- including short-term reactive reconfiguration and long-term improvement through self-analysis of the performance, offline tuning and online control, and adaptive control and supervised control. Autonomous search "crosses the chasm" and provides engineers and practitioners with systems that are able to autonomously self-tune their performance while effectively solving problems. This is the first book dedicated to this topic, and it can be used as a reference for researchers, engineers, and postgraduates in the areas of constraint programming, machine learning, evolutionary computing, and feedback control theory. After the editors' introduction to autonomous search, the chapters are focused on tuning algorithm parameters, autonomous complete (tree-based) constraint solvers, autonomous control in metaheuristics and heuristics, and future autonomous solving paradigms.This is the first book dedicated to this topic, and it can be used as a reference for researchers, engineers, and postgraduates in the areas of constraint programming, machine learning, evolutionary computing, and feedback control theory. After the editors' introduction to autonomous search, the chapters are focused on tuning algorithm parameters, autonomous complete (tree-based) constraint solvers, autonomous control in metaheuristics and heuristics, and future autonomous solving paradigms.This is the first book dedicated to this topic, and it can be used as a reference for researchers, engineers, and postgraduates in the areas of constraint programming, machine learning, evolutionary computing, and feedback control theory. After the editors' introduction to autonomous search, the chapters are focused on tuning algorithm parameters, autonomous complete (tree-based) constraint solvers, autonomous control in metaheuristics and heuristics, and future autonomous solving paradigms.
Autonomous Sensor Networks: Collective Sensing Strategies for Analytical Purposes (Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors)
by Daniel FilippiniThis volume surveys recent research on autonomous sensor networks from the perspective of enabling technologies that support medical, environmental and military applications.State of the art, as well as emerging concepts in wireless sensor networks, body area networks and ambient assisted living introduce the reader to the field, while subsequent chapters deal in depth with established and related technologies, which render their implementation possible. These range from smart textiles and printed electronic devices to implanted devices and specialized packaging, including the most relevant technological features.The last four chapters are devoted to customization, implementation difficulties and outlook for these technologies in specific applications.
Autonomous Ships and the Law (ISSN)
by Henrik Ringbom Erik Røsæg Trond SolvangInterest in autonomous ships has grown exponentially over the past few years. Whereas a few years ago, the prospect of unmanned and autonomous vessels sailing on the seas was considered unrealistic, the debate now centers on when and in what format and pace the development will take place.Law has a key role to play in this development and legal obstacles are often singled out as principal barriers to the rapid introduction of new technologies in shipping. Within a few years, autonomous ships have turned from a non-issue to one of the main regulatory topics being addressed by the International Maritime Organization. However, the regulatory discussion is still in its infancy, and while many new questions have been raised, few answers have been provided to them to date.Increased automation of tasks that have traditionally been undertaken by ships' crews raises interesting legal questions across the whole spectrum of maritime law. The first of its kind, this book explores the issue of autonomous ships from a wide range of legal perspectives, including both private law and public law at international and national level, making available cutting-edge research which will be of significant interest to researchers in maritime law.Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Autonomous Ships and the Law (ISSN)
by Henrik Ringbom Erik Røsæg Trond SolvangInterest in autonomous ships has grown exponentially over the past few years. Whereas a few years ago, the prospect of unmanned and autonomous vessels sailing on the seas was considered unrealistic, the debate now centers on when and in what format and pace the development will take place.Law has a key role to play in this development and legal obstacles are often singled out as principal barriers to the rapid introduction of new technologies in shipping. Within a few years, autonomous ships have turned from a non-issue to one of the main regulatory topics being addressed by the International Maritime Organization. However, the regulatory discussion is still in its infancy, and while many new questions have been raised, few answers have been provided to them to date.Increased automation of tasks that have traditionally been undertaken by ships' crews raises interesting legal questions across the whole spectrum of maritime law. The first of its kind, this book explores the issue of autonomous ships from a wide range of legal perspectives, including both private law and public law at international and national level, making available cutting-edge research which will be of significant interest to researchers in maritime law.Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Autonomous Software-Defined Radio Receivers for Deep Space Applications (JPL Deep-Space Communications and Navigation Series #13)
by Joseph H. YuenThis book introduces the reader to the concept of an autonomous software-defined radio (SDR) receiver. Each distinct aspect of the design of the receiver is treated in a separate chapter written by one or more leading innovators in the field. Chapters begin with a problem statement and then offer a full mathematical derivation of an appropriate solution, a decision metric or loop-structure as appropriate, and performance results.
The Autonomous State of Childcare: Policy and the Policy Process in Britain (Routledge Revivals)
by Serena LiuThis title was first published in 2001. Public childcare provision in Britain is an issue that raises much passion and has been the source of much disappointment. Free childcare in Britain is limited. Public policy has been slow to change in terms of providing more childcare. Insufficient public childcare provision is a barrier to acheiving equal rights for women, especially within the employment sector. This book sets out to search for the factors crucial to constraining the development of childcare policy and public childcare provision. It looks at schemes that have been set up but that ultimately fail in allowing women to work by not providing the necessary childcare provision. The book looks at the issue of childcare provision, how the policy process works, the different types of childcare provision past and present, and implementation and operation of childcare schemes.
The Autonomous State of Childcare: Policy and the Policy Process in Britain (Routledge Revivals)
by Serena LiuThis title was first published in 2001. Public childcare provision in Britain is an issue that raises much passion and has been the source of much disappointment. Free childcare in Britain is limited. Public policy has been slow to change in terms of providing more childcare. Insufficient public childcare provision is a barrier to acheiving equal rights for women, especially within the employment sector. This book sets out to search for the factors crucial to constraining the development of childcare policy and public childcare provision. It looks at schemes that have been set up but that ultimately fail in allowing women to work by not providing the necessary childcare provision. The book looks at the issue of childcare provision, how the policy process works, the different types of childcare provision past and present, and implementation and operation of childcare schemes.
The Autonomous State of Childcare: Policy and the Policy Process in Britain (Routledge Revivals)
by Serena LiuThis title was first published in 2001. Public childcare provision in Britain is an issue that raises much passion and has been the source of much disappointment. Free childcare in Britain is limited. Public policy has been slow to change in terms of providing more childcare. Insufficient public childcare provision is a barrier to acheiving equal rights for women, especially within the employment sector. This book sets out to search for the factors crucial to constraining the development of childcare policy and public childcare provision. It looks at schemes that have been set up but that ultimately fail in allowing women to work by not providing the necessary childcare provision. The book looks at the issue of childcare provision, how the policy process works, the different types of childcare provision past and present, and implementation and operation of childcare schemes.
The Autonomous State of Childcare: Policy and the Policy Process in Britain (Routledge Revivals)
by Serena LiuThis title was first published in 2001. Public childcare provision in Britain is an issue that raises much passion and has been the source of much disappointment. Free childcare in Britain is limited. Public policy has been slow to change in terms of providing more childcare. Insufficient public childcare provision is a barrier to acheiving equal rights for women, especially within the employment sector. This book sets out to search for the factors crucial to constraining the development of childcare policy and public childcare provision. It looks at schemes that have been set up but that ultimately fail in allowing women to work by not providing the necessary childcare provision. The book looks at the issue of childcare provision, how the policy process works, the different types of childcare provision past and present, and implementation and operation of childcare schemes.
The Autonomous System: A Foundational Synthesis of the Sciences of the Mind
by Szabolcs Michael de Gyurky Mark A. TarbellThe Fundamental Science in "Computer Science" Is the Science of Thought For the first time, the collective genius of the great 18th-century German cognitive philosopher-scientists Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer have been integrated into modern 21st-century computer science. In contrast to the languishing mainstream of Artificial Intelligence, this book takes the human thought system as its model, resulting in an entirely different approach. This book presents the architecture of a thoroughly and broadly educated human mind as translated into modern software engineering design terms. The result is The Autonomous System, based on dynamic logic and the architecture of the human mind. With its human-like intelligence, it is capable of rational thought, reasoning, and an understanding of itself and its tasks. "A system of thoughts must always have an architectural structure." —Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Presentation
The Autonomous System: A Foundational Synthesis of the Sciences of the Mind
by Szabolcs Michael de Gyurky Mark A. TarbellThe Fundamental Science in "Computer Science" Is the Science of Thought For the first time, the collective genius of the great 18th-century German cognitive philosopher-scientists Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer have been integrated into modern 21st-century computer science. In contrast to the languishing mainstream of Artificial Intelligence, this book takes the human thought system as its model, resulting in an entirely different approach. This book presents the architecture of a thoroughly and broadly educated human mind as translated into modern software engineering design terms. The result is The Autonomous System, based on dynamic logic and the architecture of the human mind. With its human-like intelligence, it is capable of rational thought, reasoning, and an understanding of itself and its tasks. "A system of thoughts must always have an architectural structure." —Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Presentation
Autonomous Systems – Self-Organization, Management, and Control: Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, October 6-7, 2008
by Bernd Mahr Huanye ShengThe 2008 TUB-SJTU joint workshop on “Autonomous Systems – Self-Organization, Management, and Control” was held on October 6, 2008 at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. The workshop, sponsored by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Technical University of Berlin brought together scientists and researchers from both universities to present and discuss the latest progress on autonomous systems and its applications in diverse areas. Autonomous systems are designed to integrate machines, computing, sensing, and software to create intelligent systems capable of interacting with the complexities of the real world. Autonomous systems represent the physical embodiment of machine intelligence. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to theory and modeling for autonomous systems; organization of autonomous systems; learning and perception; complex systems; multi-agent systems; robotics and control; applications of autonomous systems.
Autonomous Systems and Intelligent Agents in Power System Control and Operation (Power Systems)
by Christian RehtanzAutonomous systems are one of the most important trends for the next generation of control systems. This book is the first to transfer autonomous systems concepts and intelligent agents theory into the control and operation environment of power systems.
Autonomous Systems: Developments and Trends (Studies in Computational Intelligence #391)
by Herwig Unger Kyandoghere Kyamaky Janusz KacprzykThe Workshops on Autonomous Systems emanated from a gathering with the doctoral students of just three chairs at Fernuniversität in Hagen, which we organise twice per year for a number of years now. Their purpose is to discuss on-going research and to create a community spirit. Furthermore, they serve as a means of structuring the students' research processes. The workshop has grown and matured in several respects. The doctoral students presenting their work do not come from a single university anymore, but from three. Besides them and their supervisors, also other scientists became interested in the event and contribute to its programme. Following the model of Advanced Study Institutes, they are available on the premises for relaxed, informal discussions outside the formal sessions. Finally, with the co-sponsorship of Gesellschaft für Informatik, the German Computer Society, and this surprisingly comprehensive volume of contributions published by Springer-Verlag the workshop turned into a visible scientific event.
Autonomous Tracked Robots in Planar Off-Road Conditions: Modelling, Localization, and Motion Control (Studies in Systems, Decision and Control #6)
by Ramón González Francisco Rodríguez José Luis GuzmánThis monograph is framed within the context of off-road mobile robotics. In particular, it discusses issues related to modelling, localization, and motion control of tracked mobile robots working in planar slippery conditions. Tracked locomotion constitutes a well-known solution for mobile platforms operating over diverse challenging terrains, for that reason, tracked robotics constitutes an important research field with many applications (e.g. agriculture, mining, search and rescue operations, military activities). The specific topics of this monograph are: historical perspective of tracked vehicles and tracked robots; trajectory-tracking model taking into account slip effect; visual-odometry-based localization strategies; and advanced slip-compensation motion controllers ensuring efficient real-time execution. Physical experiments with a real tracked robot are presented showing the better performance of the suggested novel approaches to known techniques. Keywords: longitudinal slip, visual odometry, slip-compensation control, robust predictive control, trajectory tracking. Related subjects: Robotics – Mechanical Engineering – Mechanics – Computer Science – Artificial Intelligence - Applications
Autonomous Trajectory Planning and Guidance Control for Launch Vehicles (Springer Series in Astrophysics and Cosmology)
by Zhengyu Song Dangjun Zhao Stephan TheilThis open access book highlights the autonomous and intelligent flight control of future launch vehicles for improving flight autonomy to plan ascent and descent trajectories onboard, and autonomously handle unexpected events or failures during the flight. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, space launch activities worldwide have grown vigorously. Meanwhile, commercial launches also account for the booming trend. Unfortunately, the risk of space launches still exists and is gradually increasing in line with the rapidly rising launch activities and commercial rockets. In the history of space launches, propulsion and control systems are the two main contributors to launch failures. With the development of information technologies, the increase of the functional density of hardware products, the application of redundant or fault-tolerant solutions, and the improvement of the testability of avionics, the launch losses caused by control systems exhibit a downward trend, and the failures induced by propulsion systems become the focus of attention. Under these failures, the autonomous planning and guidance control may save the missions. This book focuses on the latest progress of relevant projects and academic studies of autonomous guidance, especially on some advanced methods which can be potentially real-time implemented in the future control system of launch vehicles. In Chapter 1, the prospect and technical challenges are summarized by reviewing the development of launch vehicles. Chapters 2 to 4 mainly focus on the flight in the ascent phase, in which the autonomous guidance is mainly reflected in the online planning. Chapters 5 and 6 mainly discuss the powered descent guidance technologies. Finally, since aerodynamic uncertainties exert a significant impact on the performance of the ascent / landing guidance control systems, the estimation of aerodynamic parameters, which are helpful to improve flight autonomy, is discussed in Chapter 7. The book serves as a valuable reference for researchers and engineers working on launch vehicles. It is also a timely source of information for graduate students interested in the subject.
Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
by Brian EvergreenFrom technologist and strategist Brian Evergreen, a bold new agenda for the role of organizational leaders in creating a more human future with technology Social good initiatives are incompatible with the current network of systems that make up and support the private and public sectors. Millions of dollars have been invested in bringing leaders together from organizations around the world to design solutions for global challenges such as the climate crisis, child labor, racism, war, and many more. Despite executive buy-in, alignment of core capabilities and resources, passionate leadership, and well-designed strategies, these initiatives inevitably fail (with a few, notable exceptions). The dawn of the Internet ignited a global redesign and rebuild of the interlocking systems that make up and support the private and public sectors today. The era of Digital Transformation extended this further through the adoption of cloud technologies and distributed computing. With a recent wave of technological advancements, organizations have arrived at another global redesign and rebuilding of the network of systems that make up society: Autonomous Transformation, revealing an opportunity for leaders to create Profitable Good through systemic design in combination with emerging autonomous technologies and surprising and remarkable partnerships. Autonomous Transformation provides a blueprint for leaders and managers who have aspired or attempted to harness artificial intelligence and its adjacent technologies for the betterment of their organization and the world, weaving strategy, business, economics, systemic design, and philosophy into four actionable steps with accompanying frameworks: Clear the Digital Fog See the Systems Choose a Problem Future Design Inevitability
Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
by Brian EvergreenFrom technologist and strategist Brian Evergreen, a bold new agenda for the role of organizational leaders in creating a more human future with technology Social good initiatives are incompatible with the current network of systems that make up and support the private and public sectors. Millions of dollars have been invested in bringing leaders together from organizations around the world to design solutions for global challenges such as the climate crisis, child labor, racism, war, and many more. Despite executive buy-in, alignment of core capabilities and resources, passionate leadership, and well-designed strategies, these initiatives inevitably fail (with a few, notable exceptions). The dawn of the Internet ignited a global redesign and rebuild of the interlocking systems that make up and support the private and public sectors today. The era of Digital Transformation extended this further through the adoption of cloud technologies and distributed computing. With a recent wave of technological advancements, organizations have arrived at another global redesign and rebuilding of the network of systems that make up society: Autonomous Transformation, revealing an opportunity for leaders to create Profitable Good through systemic design in combination with emerging autonomous technologies and surprising and remarkable partnerships. Autonomous Transformation provides a blueprint for leaders and managers who have aspired or attempted to harness artificial intelligence and its adjacent technologies for the betterment of their organization and the world, weaving strategy, business, economics, systemic design, and philosophy into four actionable steps with accompanying frameworks: Clear the Digital Fog See the Systems Choose a Problem Future Design Inevitability
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Localization, Tracking, and Formation (Cognitive Intelligence and Robotics)
by Jing Yan Xian Yang Haiyan Zhao Xiaoyuan Luo Xinping GuanAutonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are emerging as a promising solution to help us explore and understand the ocean. The global market for AUVs is predicted to grow from 638 million dollars in 2020 to 1,638 million dollars by 2025 – a compound annual growth rate of 20.8 percent. To make AUVs suitable for a wider range of application-specific missions, it is necessary to deploy multiple AUVs to cooperatively perform the localization, tracking and formation tasks. However, weak underwater acoustic communication and the model uncertainty of AUVs make achieving this challenging. This book presents cutting-edge results regarding localization, tracking and formation for AUVs, highlighting the latest research on commonly encountered AUV systems. It also showcases several joint localization and tracking solutions for AUVs. Lastly, it discusses future research directions and provides guidance on the design of future localization, tracking and formation schemes for AUVs. Representing a substantial contribution to nonlinear system theory, robotic control theory, and underwater acoustic communication system, this book will appeal to university researchers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students in control theory and control engineering who wish to learn about the core principles, methods, algorithms, and applications of AUVs. Moreover, the practical localization, tracking and formation schemes presented provide guidance on exploring the ocean. The book is intended for those with an understanding of nonlinear system theory, robotic control theory, and underwater acoustic communication systems.
Autonomous Vehicle Ethics: The Trolley Problem and Beyond
by Ryan Jenkins, David Černý and Tomáš Hříbek"A runaway trolley is speeding down a track" So begins what is perhaps the most fecund thought experiment of the past several decades since its invention by Philippa Foot. Since then, moral philosophers have applied the "trolley problem" as a thought experiment to study many different ethical conflicts - and chief among them is the programming of autonomous vehicles. Nowadays, however, very few philosophers accept that the trolley problem is a perfect analogy for driverless cars or that the situations autonomous vehicles face will resemble the forced choice of the unlucky bystander in the original thought experiment. This book represents a substantial and purposeful effort to move the academic discussion beyond the trolley problem to the broader ethical, legal, and social implications that autonomous vehicles present. There are still urgent questions waiting to be addressed, for example: how AVs might interact with human drivers in mixed or "hybrid" traffic environments; how AVs might reshape our urban landscapes; what unique security or privacy concerns are raised by AVs as connected devices in the "Internet of Things"; how the benefits and burdens of this new technology, including mobility, traffic congestion, and pollution, will be distributed throughout society; and more. An attempt to map the landscape of these next-generation questions and to suggest preliminary answers, this volume draws on the disciplines of philosophy, sociology, economics, urban planning and transportation engineering, business ethics and more, and represents a global range of perspectives.
Autonomous Vehicle Ethics: The Trolley Problem and Beyond
"A runaway trolley is speeding down a track" So begins what is perhaps the most fecund thought experiment of the past several decades since its invention by Philippa Foot. Since then, moral philosophers have applied the "trolley problem" as a thought experiment to study many different ethical conflicts - and chief among them is the programming of autonomous vehicles. Nowadays, however, very few philosophers accept that the trolley problem is a perfect analogy for driverless cars or that the situations autonomous vehicles face will resemble the forced choice of the unlucky bystander in the original thought experiment. This book represents a substantial and purposeful effort to move the academic discussion beyond the trolley problem to the broader ethical, legal, and social implications that autonomous vehicles present. There are still urgent questions waiting to be addressed, for example: how AVs might interact with human drivers in mixed or "hybrid" traffic environments; how AVs might reshape our urban landscapes; what unique security or privacy concerns are raised by AVs as connected devices in the "Internet of Things"; how the benefits and burdens of this new technology, including mobility, traffic congestion, and pollution, will be distributed throughout society; and more. An attempt to map the landscape of these next-generation questions and to suggest preliminary answers, this volume draws on the disciplines of philosophy, sociology, economics, urban planning and transportation engineering, business ethics and more, and represents a global range of perspectives.