142 pubblicazioni classificate nel seguente modo:

Disturbance Observer Based Control for a Remotely Operated Vehicle
IFAC-PapersOnLine
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Elsevier B.V.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper presents a Disturbance Observer Based Control scheme which deals with the full pose tracking control problem of a Remotely Operated Vehicle. The uncertainties are lumped, estimated by a Nonlinear Disturbance Observer and feed-forwarded in a tracking controller. The solutions only relies on known quantities, providing a dynamic disturbance compensation and ultimately bounded errors. The order of the disturbance observer is a design parameter, which is able to provide additional integral actions. Finally, numerical simulations test the proposed technique.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/338263

Observer-based residual generator for fault detection and isolation of convex sets
IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: IEEE Computer Society
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper, we formulate and solve a novel residual generation problem that incorporates elements from both set-based estimation and unknown input observers. The objective is to determine whether the unknown input variables (e.g., possible faults) lie in a generic convex set of the input (fault) space, without needing to estimate the exact value of these variables. The output residual states if the unknown variables belong to a predefined region or not. Sufficient existence conditions are proven and discussed from a geometric point of view. An extension to non-convex, or even non-connected sets is also provided. The need to detect whether an unknown variable lies inside a region of the input space is motivated by fault detection and isolation purposes. Hence, simulation results showcase how the solution can deal with actuator fault isolation in autonomous systems, namely a quadrotor.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/338334

Antagonistic Model Predictive Control for Quadrotor Cyber Attacks
MESA 2024 - 20th International Conference on Mechatronic, Embedded Systems and Applications, Proceedings
Autore/i: Cavanini, Luca; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Siyyal, SHAFQAT ALI; Monteriu', Andrea
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper presents an attack strategy for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. Unmanned aerial vehicles are driven by two-layer control systems composed of an inner loop driving the vehicle’s altitude and attitude and an outer loop managing the position. In this study, it is assumed that the attacker can access the lower control loop and modify the control signal driving the actuators. While the vehicle is under attack, an optimal policy oriented to drive the vehicle in a failure condition is applied to compute the hacked control signals, thus overriding the inner-loop controller. This optimal policy is an Antagonistic Controller based on the Model Predictive Control paradigm. The antagonistic controller iteratively evaluates the effect of a possible attack, within the available attack time interval, to identify the suitable operating condition to initiate the attack. This evaluation is performed by the analysis of a performance index related to the Antagonistic Control state predictions to damage the vehicle. The proposed approach has been tested in simulation using a detailed nonlinear quadrotor model to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/337057

Human-Like Robotic Handwriting with Inverse Kinematic Using a Mobile Telescopic Arm
MESA 2024 - 20th International Conference on Mechatronic, Embedded Systems and Applications, Proceedings
Autore/i: Troconis, LUIGI GABRIEL; Genova, Oleg; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper, we present a method to enable the Stretch robot, developed by Hello Robots Inc., to perform letter writing tasks in a predefined configuration, using its telescopic arm gripper. Our method leverages inverse-forward kinematics techniques and is implemented in both Python and MATLAB for simulation purposes while, for real-world applications, we solely utilize Python, to interface directly with the Stretch robot through its SDK. To facilitate this capability, we modify the description of the Stretch, incorporating 14 distinct parts along with a virtual base component to enable controlled base movement. This virtual base acts as a prismatic joint, allowing for the adjustment of the base position. However, during the implementation of the inverse-forward kinematics in both simulation and real-world scenarios, we encountered an unexpected base movement. To address this issue, we propose the use of a threshold, mitigating such behavior. Moreover, we provide detailed insights into the results obtained with and without the proposed threshold. Specifically, we observe a significant reduction in precision errors when employing the threshold, with an average decreasing from 7.4 cm to 0.2 cm in real-world scenarios. This improvement underscores the efficacy of our proposed approach in enhancing the accuracy and stability of the Stretch robot during letter writing tasks.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/337058

An Overview of Approaches and Methods for the Cognitive Workload Estimation in Human–Machine Interaction Scenarios through Wearables Sensors
BIOMEDINFORMATICS
Autore/i: Iarlori, Sabrina; Perpetuini, David; Tritto, Michele; Cardone, Daniela; Tiberio, Alessandro; Chinthakindi, Manish; Filippini, Chiara; Cavanini, Luca; Freddi, Alessandro; Ferracuti, Francesco; Merla, Arcangelo; Monteriu', Andrea
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: Background: Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) has been an important field of research in recent years, since machines will continue to be embedded in many human actvities in several contexts, such as industry and healthcare. Monitoring in an ecological mannerthe cognitive workload (CW) of users, who interact with machines, is crucial to assess their level of engagement in activities and the required effort, with the goal of preventing stressful circumstances. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the assessment of CW using wearable sensors in HMI. Methods: this narrative review explores several techniques and procedures for collecting physiological data through wearable sensors with the possibility to integrate these multiple physiological signals, providing a multimodal monitoring of the individuals’CW. Finally, it focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence methods in the physiological signals data analysis to provide models of the CW to be exploited in HMI. Results: the review provided a comprehensive evaluation of the wearables, physiological signals, and methods of data analysis for CW evaluation in HMI. Conclusion: the literature highlighted the feasibility of employing wearable sensors to collect physiological signals for an ecological CW monitoring in HMI scenarios. However, challenges remain in standardizing these measures across different populations and contexts.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/333313

Special issue on advancements in ambient assisted living: integrating technology and human-centered design for enhancing user well-being and care
JOURNAL OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE AND HUMANIZED COMPUTING
Autore/i: Monteriu', A.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/328853

Actuator Fault Tolerant Control for a Remotely Operated Vehicle based on Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter
12th IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety for Technical Processes SAFEPROCESS 2024
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea
Editore: Elsevier B.V.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a strategy for detecting and isolating actuator faults in an overactuated Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) with six degrees of freedom. Fault detection and isolation are based on the Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (AEKF), which is a recent extension of the well-known Kalman Filter designed for nonlinear dynamics and additive disturbances estimation. The residuals generated by the AEKF act as directional residuals, and fault isolation is performed by calculating the cosine similarity between the residuals and the columns of the control effectiveness matrix. The decision is then used in a simple fault-tolerant control allocation algorithm, without the need to alter the control law. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the estimation method in the presence of thruster failures.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/337060

Multirotor Lift Estimation Under Battery Discharge and Blade Faults
IEEE Conference Proceedings
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea; Scalella, Simone; Zhang, Yihang
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: During a flight, battery discharge leads to a re-duction in output voltage, in line with the well-known nonlinear relation between battery voltage and its state of charge. This paper investigates the consequences of battery discharge on motor lift and, ultimately, on drone dynamics. The impact of battery voltage variation is then compared to that of blade faults in terms of magnitude, also highlighting similarities and differences. Furthermore, we derive a set of linear regressions and simple nonlinear equations from experimental data to describe the relationships between rotor speed, lift force, duty cycle, battery voltage, and propeller characteristics.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/333314

An Assistive Robot in an Indoor Scenario: the Stretch Hello Robot as Environment Organizer
2023 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering, MetroXRAINE 2023 - Proceedings
Autore/i: Ali, M. F.; Nchekwube, D. C.; Genova, O.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Assistive robots are common in the research community and are also becoming widespread as commercial solutions, especially for indoor applications, such as domestic settings, offices, or care facilities. The use of a robot in such scenarios can provide value in the form of an increase in efficiency, a reduction in physical strain on humans, and an improvement in accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Motivated by this value addition, this paper proposes the use of the Hello Robot Stretch RE-2 as an assistive robot for organizing an indoor environment. The robot has an arm with three degrees of freedom and a gripper able to grasp and release items. It uses an adversarial comparison of default and current environment scan to perform organization tasks. The study focuses on the utilization of the Stretch RE-2 developed by Hello-Robot Inc. to improve indoor environments, simulated with tables and different objects, providing a comprehensive analysis of the encountered challenges, and offering recommendations for future works.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/327374

Fault Tolerant Control for Tilted Hexarotors Under a Rotor Failure
IFAC-PapersOnLine
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Elsevier B.V.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper addresses the active fault tolerant control problem for a tilted hexarotor under both actuator faults and failures, modelled respectively as partial or total losses of effectiveness. A disturbance observer based control approach is adopted in order to estimate faults and failures, and cope with them at the control level. An inner-outer loop tracking control law is then designed which, thanks to the actuation properties of the hexarotor, does not require any reconfiguration neither in response to a fault nor failure. The control scheme is tested in simulation, with parameters of a real hexarotor and realistic sensor noise.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/326991

Editorial: Robots in assisted living environments: Enhancements, challenges and future perspectives
Robots in assisted living environments: Enhancements, challenges and future perspectives
Autore/i: Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.; De Lucena, V. F.; Ferracuti, F.; Iarlori, S.
Editore: Frontiers Media S.A.
Luogo di pubblicazione: AVENUE DU TRIBUNAL FEDERAL 34, LAUSANNE, CH-1015, SWITZERLAND
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/314013

UAV-FD: a dataset for actuator fault detection in multirotor drones
IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; D'Alleva, Lorenzo; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea
Editore: IEEE
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Multirotor drones are equipped with propellers that may get damaged in flight in case of a collision with an obstacle or a rough landing. In view of safety-critical applications, such as flying over crowded areas or future passenger drones, being aware of a damaged actuator becomes essential to enhance system integrity. Therefore, in this paper we present a public dataset, namely UAV-FD, where real flight data from a multirotor under the effects of a chipped blade are collected. A conventional ArduPilot-based controller is employed, where the ArduPilot firmware is customized to increase the signal logging rate of selected variables, thus capturing information at higher frequencies. Moreover, the actual speed of each motor is measured and made available. Finally, we provide an illustrative fault detection strategy, based on MATLAB Diagnostic Feature Designer toolbox, to show how the dataset can be used and the blade chipping can be detected.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/320071

Active Fault Diagnosis and Control of a Morphing Multirotor Subject to a Stuck Arm
MACHINES
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a fault tolerant control law for a morphing quadrotor, where the considered morphing ability is that of extendable/telescopic arms. This quite recent class of systems is able to provide a good trade-off between payload capabilities, maneuverability, and space occupancy. However, such degrees of freedom require dedicated servomotors, which in turn implies more possible faults. Thus, the problem of diagnosis for the telescopic servo motors subject to a stuck fault is considered. System symmetries are exploited and used in a residual generator design, which triggers an active fault isolation/identification phase. External disturbances are also taken into account and estimated through a nonlinear disturbance observer. A classical double-loop controller closes the loop, providing an overall control system structure that follows the disturbance observer-based control paradigm. The control scheme is validated through realistic numerical simulations, and the closed-loop performances are analyzed.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/317351

Fault-Tolerant Control of a Variable-Pitch Quadrotor under Actuator Loss of Effectiveness and Wind Perturbations
SENSORS
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: The actuator fault-tolerant control problem for a variable-pitch quadrotor is addressed under uncertain conditions. Following a model-based approach, the plant nonlinear dynamics are faced with a disturbance observer-based control and a sequential quadratic programming control allocation, where only kinematic data of the onboard inertial measurement unit are required for the fault-tolerant control, i.e., it does not require the measurement of the motor speed nor the current drawn by the actuators. In the case of almost horizontal wind, a single observer handles both faults and the external disturbance. The estimation of the wind is fed forward by the controller, while the actuator fault estimation is exploited in the control allocation layer, which copes with the variable-pitch nonlinear dynamics, thrust saturation, and rate limits. Numerical simulations in the presence of measurement noise show the capability of the scheme to handle multiple actuator faults in a windy environment.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/317352

Mental Fatigue Evaluation for Passive and Active BCI Methods for Wheelchair-Robot During Human-in-the-Loop Control
2023 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering, MetroXRAINE 2023 - Proceedings
Autore/i: Omer, K.; Vella, F.; Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) aim to develop practical and realistic solutions to assist both healthy and disabled individuals in their Activities of Daily Living (ADL). This paper focuses on the application of BCIs and Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) to correct or perform actions by machines through brain stimulation. The authors investigate mental load and fatigue during extended tasks using mental load indices in BCI human-in-the-loop experiments, specifically involving human observation and error perception to rectify errors in obstacle detection by a wheelchair-mobile robot. The study compares the passive method utilizing Error-Related Potentials (ErrPs) with potential active methods such as P300 or Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential (SSVEP) in terms of mental load and signal classification accuracy. The Mental Fatigue Index (MFI) and other power-ratio indices are used to estimate mental load. Preliminary results indicate that passive BCIs induce lower mental fatigue compared to active methods for the same task, making them suitable for applications involving elderly or disabled individuals. However, the passive method utilizing ErrPs exhibits lower task engagement, causing participants to lose attention and feel drowsy, leading to reduced classification accuracy compared to other BCI methods such as SSVEP.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/327373

Augmenting robot intelligence via EEG signals to avoid trajectory planning mistakes of a smart wheelchair
JOURNAL OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE AND HUMANIZED COMPUTING
Autore/i: Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.; Porcaro, C.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: Assistive robots operate in complex environments and in presence of human beings, but the interaction between them can be affected by several factors, which may lead to undesired outcomes: wrong sensor readings, unexpected environmental conditions, or algorithmic errors represent just a few examples of the possible scenarios. When the safety of the user is not only an option but must be guaranteed, a feasible solution is to rely on a human-in-the-loop approach, e.g., to monitor if the robot performs a wrong action during a task execution or environmental conditions affect safety during the human-robot interaction, and provide a feedback accordingly. The present paper proposes a human-in-the-loop framework to enable safe autonomous navigation of an electric powered and sensorized (smart) wheelchair. During the wheelchair navigation towards a desired destination in an indoor scenario, possible problems (e.g. obstacles) along the trajectory cause the generation of electroencephalography (EEG) potentials when noticed by the user. These potentials can be used as additional inputs to the navigation algorithm in order to modify the trajectory planning and preserve safety. The framework has been preliminarily tested by using a wheelchair simulator implemented in ROS and Gazebo environments: EEG signals from a benchmark known in the literature were classified, passed to a custom simulation node, and made available to the navigation stack to perform obstacle avoidance.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/290315

Real-time propeller fault detection for multirotor drones based on vibration data analysis
ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Monteriu', A.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: This article presents a Fault Detection (FD) method to deal with propeller faults on multirotor drones in real-time. Several solutions have been proposed in the literature, however, they depend on additional sensors and/or dedicated hardware to deal with heavy computational complexity. So, they cannot be implemented in off-the-shelf commercial devices, i.e., without the aid of additional on-board sensors and/or extra computational power. The proposed method, instead, requires the on-board Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) data only: by combining Finite Impulse Response (FIR), together with sparse classifiers, only a subset of the features is actually needed online and the FD is thus feasible in real-time. Design and tests are based on real flight data from a hexarotor, equipped with a conventional ArduPilot-based controller. The classification accuracy in testing is up to 93.37% (98.21%) with a binary tree (Linear Support Vector Machine (LSVM)). Moreover, the space and time complexity of the proposed method is low: on a PixHawk Cube flight controller, it requires less than 2% of the cycle time, and can then run in real-time. Finally, the proposed fault detection solution is model-free and it can be easily generalized to other multirotor vehicles.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/314749

Redundancy Resolution Scheme for Manipulators Subject to Inequality Constraints
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTROL, AUTOMATION, AND SYSTEMS
Autore/i: Pagnotta, D. P.; Monteriu', A.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Maciejewski, A.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: The aim of this paper is the development of a redundancy resolution scheme for manipulators able to cope with kinematic constraints. In detail, the structure of the controller is of weighted least norm (WLN) type. The constraints are modeled as unilateral inequalities and can be general scalar functions (linear or nonlinear) of both the joint position and the joint velocity variables. In this work, a general procedure is proposed in order to include constraints of different types, namely functions of joint position or velocity only, functions of both joint position and velocity with a time dependent or time independent threshold. Simulations are performed in Matlab-Simulink environment and two tests are performed: the first employs a single 7-DOF arm, while in the second a dual-arm system composed of two 7-DOF manipulators is used. Results show that the proposed redundancy resolution scheme is capable of satisfying complex inequality constraints where other known methods fail.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/314012

Fault Tolerant Control of a Variable Pitch Quadrotor
15th European Workshop on Advanced Control and Diagnosis (ACD 2019)
Autore/i: Felicetti, Riccardo; Baldini, Alessandro; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea
Editore: Springer
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: In this paper, we solve the fault tolerant tracking problem for a variable pitch quadrotor. Following the Disturbance Observer Based Control design paradigm, we face the observation problem for the blade pitch, and consequently the related fault and failure diagnosis problems. The control allocation algorithm solves the optimal redistribution problem of the control effort among the propellers in case of actuation failure. The optimization problem takes into account the energy consumption, the health condition of the actuators and the presence of input constraints, such as saturation and rate of change limits. In particular, we face the specific problem of lock-in-place servo failures, which reduce the number of the control actions in the system. Indeed, together with a fault detection and isolation module, lock-in-place servo failures can be managed in the control allocation algorithm while keeping the tracking capabilities. The proposed optimal fault tolerant accommodation algorithm can be coupled with most of the nonlinear control laws commonly applied to conventional multirotor systems. Numerical simulations with noise and constraints show the capability of the scheme to handle this class of failures.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/306214

Actuator fault tolerant control via active fault diagnosis for a remotely operated vehicle
IFAC-PapersOnLine - Part of special issue: 11th IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety for Technical Processes SAFEPROCESS 2022
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/306217

Fault Tolerant Control for Remotely Operated Vehicles with Thruster Faults using Nonlinear Disturbance Observers
IFAC-PapersOnLine
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper, a disturbance observer based control strategy is developed to provide fault tolerance to thruster faults for a remotely operated vehicle. The scheme relies on the vehicle’s position, orientation and velocity information only, without the need for additional measurements from the thrusters such as voltage, current, and rotation speed. Because the system is over-actuated, a bank of observers is designed for purposes of fault detection and isolation. A nonlinear disturbance observer is designed to restructure itself, according to the fault isolation outcome, to estimate the fault magnitude. The fault estimation is finally exploited by the control law using an active fault tolerant control strategy. The solution is designed for the cases where at most one faulty thruster is expected. The fault tolerant control strategy is tested in simulation, where a severe thruster fault is injected.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/309954

Hexarotor Fault Tolerant Control Using a Bank of Disturbance Observers
2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper proposes the design of an actuator fault tolerant control scheme for a hexagon shaped multirotor. The approach relies on the so called disturbance observer based control. First, a fault isolation module, based on a bank of observers, is designed in order to locate a fault in the over actuated multirotor system. Then, a set of disturbance observers provides the fault estimation, leading to an autoconfigurable switching scheme. Finally, the fault estimation is used at the control level to mitigate the effects of the fault. The design is discussed for up two possible simultaneous faults, and simulation results confirm that the designed scheme can provide fault tolerant capabilities to a hexarotor system.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/306215

Human-in-the-Loop Approach for Enhanced Mobile Robot Navigation
2022 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for Extended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering (MetroXRAINE)
Autore/i: Omer, Karameldeen; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Iarlori, Sabrina; Monteriu, Andrea; Porcaro, Camillo
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/309937

Fault Diagnosis of Rotating Machinery Based on Wasserstein Distance and Feature Selection
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Autore/i: Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.; Romeo, L.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: This article presents a fault diagnosis algorithm for rotating machinery based on the Wasserstein distance. Recently, the Wasserstein distance has been proposed as a new research direction to find better distribution mapping when compared with other popular statistical distances and divergences. In this work, first, frequency- and time-based features are extracted by vibration signals, and second, the Wasserstein distance is considered for the learning phase to discriminate the different machine operating conditions. Specifically, the 1-D Wasserstein distance is considered due to its low computational burden because it can be evaluated directly by the order statistics of the extracted features. Furthermore, a distance weighting stage based on neighborhood component features selection (NCFS) is exploited to achieve robust fault diagnosis at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions and with high-dimensional features. In detail, the NCFS framework is here adapted to weight 1-D Wasserstein distances evaluated from time/frequency features. Experiments are conducted on two benchmark data sets to verify the effectiveness of the proposed fault diagnosis method at different SNR conditions. The comparison with state-of-the-art fault diagnosis algorithms shows promising results.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/289740

Modeling and Control of a Telescopic Quadrotor Using Disturbance Observer Based Control
2022 30th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED)
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Morphing multirotors are characterized by the capability to modify their shape during the flight, in order to negotiate narrow gaps without the need for miniaturization, thus preserving flight time and payload. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model for a morphing quadrotor characterized by telescopic arms: as extendable arms move, the center of mass position changes, as well as the inertia of the vehicle. Then, we address the tracking control problem of the telescopic quadrotor under external additive disturbances (e.g., wind), following the disturbance observer based control approach. The control scheme consists in an inner/outer loop structure, where both loops interact with a nonlinear disturbance observer. Closed loop performances are analyzed and the control scheme is validated through a realistic numerical simulation.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/306216

A human-in-the-loop approach for enhancing mobile robot navigation in presence of obstacles not detected by the sensory set
FRONTIERS IN ROBOTICS AND AI
Autore/i: Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Iarlori, Sabrina; Monteriu', Andrea; Omer, Karameldeen Ibrahim Mohamed; Porcaro, Camillo
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: Human-in-the-loop approaches can greatly enhance the human-robot interaction by making the user an active part of the control loop, who can provide a feedback to the robot in order to augment its capabilities. Such feedback becomes even more important in all those situations where safety is of utmost concern, such as in assistive robotics. This study aims to realize a human-in-the-loop approach, where the human can provide a feedback to a specific robot, namely, a smart wheelchair, to augment its artificial sensory set, extending and improving its capabilities to detect and avoid obstacles. The feedback is provided by both a keyboard and a brain-computer interface: with this scope, the work has also included a protocol design phase to elicit and evoke human brain event-related potentials. The whole architecture has been validated within a simulated robotic environment, with electroencephalography signals acquired from different test subjects.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/309938

Predictive Maintenance of Industrial Equipment using Deep Learning: from sensory data to remaining useful life estimation
2022 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for Extended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering (MetroXRAINE)
Autore/i: Nchekwube, David.; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Iarlori, Sabrina; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu, Andrea
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/309936

Ambient Assisted Living: Italian Forum 2019
LECTURE NOTES IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Autore/i: Monteriu', Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro
Editore: Springer International Publishing
Classificazione: 3 Libro
Abstract: This book documents the state of the art in the field of ambient assisted living (AAL), highlighting technologies and services which aim to improve health and quality of life, while promoting active aging. The coverage is wide ranging, with topical sections devoted to human monitoring, smart living services, biomedical and robotic solutions, including different case studies and real-world examples where assistive technologies are successfully applied. The book comprises a selection of the best, refereed papers presented at the 10th Italian Forum on Ambient Assisted Living (ForItAAL), held in Ancona, Italy, in June 2019, which represents the annual event that involves the Ambient Assisted Living Italian Association and brought together researchers, technology teams, policy makers, and stake-holders. Readers will find that the expert contributions offer clear insights into the ways in which the most recent exciting advances may be expected to assist in addressing the needs of the elderly and those with chronic conditions.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/289262

Disturbance Observer Based Fault Tolerant Control for Tilted Hexarotors
2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2021
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Tilted multirotors have superior redundancy and tracking capabilities over conventional multirotors with coplanar and collinear rotors. As such, they can potentially cope with actuator faults while still achieving tracking in both position and attitude. In this paper, the tracking fault tolerant control problem for a tilted hexarotor is addressed. Actuator partial loss of effectiveness is treated as a multiplicative fault, and the design approach is that of the disturbance observer based control. A feedback linearization based composite controller is then proposed for the faults accommodation. Simulation results show that the proposed active fault tolerant control scheme is able to cope with actuator faults.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/291647

Preface
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Ambient Assisted Living: Italian Forum 2019
Autore/i: Monteriu', A.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.
Editore: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/289264

Assistive Robot for Mobility Enhancement of Impaired Students for Barrier-Free Education: A Proof of Concept
Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Autore/i: Freddi, A.; Giaconi, C.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.; Proietti Pagnotta, D.
Editore: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: Smart wheelchairs are in the category of assistive robots, which interact physically and/or non-physically with people with physical disabilities to extend their autonomy. Smart wheelchairs are assistive robots that enhance mobility, and can be especially useful for improving access to university premises. This paper proposes a smart wheelchair that can be integrated with an academic management system to enable students who have serious leg problems and cannot walk on their own to reach any academic building or room on a university campus autonomously. The proposed smart wheelchair receives information from the academic management system about the spaces on campus, the lesson schedule, the office hours of lecturers, and so on. Students can select the desired task from the user interface. The smart wheelchair can then guide the student autonomously to the desired point of interest, while planning the best barrier-free route inside the campus/building and, simultaneously, avoiding fixed and moving obstacles. The assistive robot has localization and navigation capabilities, which allow students to move about campus freely and autonomously, and benefit from a barrier-free education.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/294635

Human-in-the-Loop Approach to Safe Navigation of a Smart Wheelchair via Brain Computer Interface
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, L.; Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: Assistive robots operate in complex environments and in presence of human beings, as such they are influenced by several factors which may lead to undesired outcomes: wrong sensor readings, unexpected environmental conditions or algorithmic errors represent just few examples. When the safety of the user must be guaranteed, a possible solution is to rely on a human-in-the-loop approach, e.g. to monitor if the robot performs a wrong action or environmental conditions affect safety during the interaction, and provide a feedback accordingly. The proposed work presents a human supervised smart wheelchair, i.e. an electric powered wheelchair with semiautonomous navigation capabilities of elaborating a path planning, whose user is equipped with a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) to provide safety feedbacks. During the wheelchair navigation towards a desired destination in an indoor scenario, possible problems (e.g. obstacles) along the trajectory cause the generation of error-related potentials signals (ErrPs) when noticed by the user. These signals are captured by the interface and are used to provide a feedback to the navigation task, in order to preserve safety and avoiding possible navigation issues modifying the trajectory planning.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/289263

Development and experimental validation of algorithms for human–robot interaction in simulated and real scenarios
JOURNAL OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE AND HUMANIZED COMPUTING
Autore/i: Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriù, A.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: The development of robots, which can safely and effectively interact with people and assist them in structured environments, is an open research problem whose importance has been growing rapidly in the last years. Indeed working in shared environments with human beings, these robots require new ways to achieve human–robot interaction and cooperation. This work presents an approach for performing human–robot interaction by means of robotic manipulators. The interaction is composed by three main steps, namely the selection, the recognition and the grasping of an object. The object selection is recorded on the base of a gesture execution, realized by the user in front of a RGB-D camera and associated to each particular object. The object recognition is achieved by means of the RGB cameras mounted on the two manipulator arms, which send the workspace information to a specific classifier. With the aim of realizing the grasping step, the object position and orientation are extracted in order to correctly rotate the gripper according to the object on the desk in front of the robot. The final goal is to release the grasped object on the hand of the user standing in front of the desk. This system could support people with limited motor skills who are not able to get an object on their own, playing an important role in structured assistive and smart environments, thus promoting the human–robot interaction in activity of daily living.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/272954

Development of a Fuzzy Logic Controller for Small-Scale Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Cogeneration Plants
APPLIED SCIENCES
Autore/i: Cioccolanti, Luca; De Grandis, Simone; Tascioni, Roberto; Pirro, Matteo; Freddi, Alessandro
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: Solar energy is widely recognized as one of the most attractive renewable energy sources to support the transition toward a decarbonized society. Use of low- and medium-temperature concentrated solar technologies makes decentralized power production of combined heating and power (CHP) an alternative to conventional energy conversion systems. However, because of the changes in solar radiation and the inertia of the different subsystems, the operation control of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants is fundamental to increasing their overall conversion efficiency and improving reliability. Therefore, in this study, the operation control of a micro-scale CHP plant consisting of a linear Fresnel reflector solar field, an organic Rankine cycle unit, and a phase change material thermal energy storage tank, as designed and built under the EU-funded Innova Microsolar project by a consortium of universities and companies, is investigated. In particular, a fuzzy logic control is developed in MATLAB/Simulink by the authors in order to (i) initially recognize the type of user according to the related energy consumption profile by means of a neural network and (ii) optimize the thermal-load-following approach by introducing a set of fuzzy rules to switch among the different operation modes. Annual simulations are performed by combining the plant with different thermal load profiles. In general, the analysis shows that that the proposed fuzzy logic control increases the contribution of the TES unit in supplying the ORC unit, while reducing the number of switches between the different OMs. Furthermore, when connected with a residential user load profile, the overall electrical and thermal energy production of the plant increases. Hence, the developed control logic proves to have good potential in increasing the energy efficiency of low- and medium-temperature concentrated solar ORC systems when integrated into the built environment.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/290771

Cyber-physical manufacturing systems: An architecture for sensor integration, production line simulation and cloud services
ACTA IMEKO
Autore/i: Prist, Mariorosario; Monteriu', Andrea; Pallotta, Emanuele; Cicconi, Paolo; Freddi, Alessandro; Giuggioloni, Federico; Caizer, Eduard; Verdini, Carlo; Longhi, Sauro
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: The pillars of Industry 4.0 require the integration of a modern smart factory, data storage in the Cloud, access to the Cloud for data analytics, and information sharing at the software level for simulation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) capabilities. The resulting cyber-physical system (CPS) is often termed the cyber-physical manufacturing system, and it has become crucial to cope with this increased system complexity and to attain the desired performances. However, since a great number of old production systems are based on monolithic architectures with limited external communication ports and reduced local computational capabilities, it is difficult to ensure such production lines are compliant with the Industry 4.0 pillars. A wireless sensor network is one solution for the smart connection of a production line to a CPS elaborating data through cloud computing. The scope of this research work lies in developing a modular software architecture based on the open service gateway initiative framework, which is able to seamlessly integrate both hardware and software wireless sensors, send data into the Cloud for further data analysis and enable both HIL and cloud computing capabilities. The CPS architecture was initially tested using HIL tools before it was deployed within a real manufacturing line for data collection and analysis over a period of two months.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/286215

Preface
The First Outstanding 50 Years of "Universita Politecnica delle Marche": Research Achievements in Life Sciences
Autore/i: Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.; Freddi, A.; Aquilanti, L.; Ceravolo, M. G.; Carnevali, O.; Giordano, M.; Moroncini, G.
Editore: Springer International Publishing
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/283639

Estimation of actuator faults in quadrotor vehicles: From theory to validation with experimental flight data
IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu', A.; Tempesta, M.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper, we propose the experimental validation of a fault observer which allows to reconstruct the time behaviour of an injected fault effect on a quadrotor actuator. The observer is firstly presented, designed, and its stability property analyzed for independent multiplicative faults/failures on each actuator. Then, the experimental setup is described, taking into consideration the adopted hardware and software implementation, both of them based on commercial and easy to plug-in components. Parameter estimation is also considered in order to obtain numerical evaluations of all the unknown constants of the actual physical system. For the considered experimental setup, the results confirm the validity of the proposed observer, within an acceptance tolerance.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/285071

Constrained control allocation for a remotely operated vehicle with collective azimuth thrusters
28th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, MED 2020
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Remotely operated vehicles commonly have propellers with fixed position and orientation. In this paper, we highlight the advantages of equipping remotely operated vehicles with azimuth thrusters. In particular, both energy saving and increased trajectory tracking performances can be achieved with respect to the fixed orientation case. On the other hand, managing thrusters' orientation represents a further computational burden: the constraints are characterized by the presence of trigonometric functions, thus they require, in general, the use of onerous nonlinear solvers. Our proposal is to steer collectively the thrusters, in order to simplify both the optimization algorithm and the mechanical structure of the ROV. The proposed control allocation algorithm calculates, at first, the orientation of the propeller to minimize the energy consumption while taking into account saturation and rate limits. Then, single thrusts are calculated using a quadratic programming framework. Simulation results show the relevance of energy savings and tracking improvements.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/284405

Online Fault Detection: A Smart Approach for Industry 4.0
2020 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd 4.0 and IoT 2020 - Proceedings
Autore/i: Prist, Mariorosario; Monteriù, Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Cicconi, Paolo; Giuggioloni, Federico; Caizer, Eduard; Verdini, Carlo; Longhi, Sauro
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: The fourth industrial age takes the manufacturing factory to a new level by introducing smart, extendible, flexible, modular and customized mass production technologies. Production lines or machines need to be integrated at the management level to be industry 4.0 compliant: in this way they can create and optimize a customer-oriented production, while constantly maintaining good performance conditions. In this context, one of the main challenges is the possibility to detect faults as fast as possible, to accurately diagnose those faults which can negatively affect the overall production cycle, and finally address them before it is too late. Due to the great importance that electric motors play in this context, an online smart algorithm for fault detection in electric motors is proposed in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been validated by applying it on an experimental benchmark, where the results show that the method is accurate and fast in detection of faults.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/283503

Actuator fault tolerance for a WAM-V catamaran with azimuth thrusters
Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control of Robotic and Autonomous Systems
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Hasegawa, Kazuhiko; Monteriù, Andrea; Pandey, Jyotsna
Editore: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Luogo di pubblicazione: London
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: In this chapter, we present a fault-tolerant control scheme for an over-actuated unmanned surface vehicle (USV) equipped with two azimuth thrusters. The scheme manages the most common actuator faults, i.e., loss of efficiency of the thruster and lock-in-place of the azimuth angle. The scheme is based on a three-layer architecture: a heuristic-based control policy for proper reference generation, a control law for the vehicle dynamics to achieve speed tracking of the generated reference, and a control allocation level for optimally redistributing the control efforts among the thrusters even in presence of actuator faults and failures. The control allocation and the control policies are the main focus of the chapter, since their reconfiguration capabilities allow tolerance with respect to actuator failures. On the contrary, the control law does not depend on the health status of the system. The scheme is then tested in simulation, using a nonlinear model of a wave adaptive modular vessel catamaran.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/288337

Foreword
Fault Diagnosis and Fault-tolerant Control of Robotic and Autonomous Systems
Autore/i: Monteriu', Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro
Editore: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Luogo di pubblicazione: London
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/288315

Conclusions
Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control of Robotic and Autonomous Systems
Autore/i: Monteriù, Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro
Editore: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Luogo di pubblicazione: London
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/288316

The first outstanding 50 years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche”: Research achievements in life sciences
Autore/i: Longhi, S.; Monteriu', A.; Freddi, A.; Aquilanti, L.; Ceravolo, M. G.; Carnevali, O.; Giordano, M.; Moroncini, G.
Editore: Springer International Publishing
Classificazione: 7 Curatele
Abstract: Introduction The book describes the significant multidisciplinary research findings at the Università Politecnica delle Marche and the expected future advances. It addresses some of the most dramatic challenges posed by today’s fast-growing, global society and the changes it has caused. It also discusses solutions to improve the wellbeing of human beings. The book covers the main research achievements in the various disciplines of the life sciences, and includes chapters that highlight mechanisms relevant to all aspects of human diseases, the molecular, cellular, and functional basis of therapy, and its translation into the management of people’s health needs. It also describes research on traditional and innovative foods to enhance quality, safety and functionality, and to develop bioactive/nutraceutical compounds. Further chapters address conservation and management of various environments, from the forests to the oceans, describing the studies on countermeasures against climate changes and terrestrial/aquatic pollutants, and on terrestrial/marine biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes, erosion of genetic biodiversity, innovative aquaculture feed, sustainable crop production and management of forests. Lastly, the book reports the findings of research work on different classes of biomolecules, and on the molecular basis of antibiotic resistances and their diffusion.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/283638

Fault Diagnosis and Fault-tolerant Control of Robotic and Autonomous Systems
Control, Robotics and Sensors
Autore/i: Monteriu', Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro
Editore: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Luogo di pubblicazione: London
Classificazione: 3 Libro
Abstract: Robotic systems have experienced exponential growth thanks to their incredible adaptability. Modern robots require an increasing level of autonomy, safety and reliability. This book addresses the challenges of increasing and ensuring reliability and safety of modern robotic and autonomous systems. The book provides an overview of research in this field to-date, and addresses advanced topics including fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control, and the challenging technologies and applications in industrial robotics, robotic manipulators, mobile robots, and autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. Chapters cover the following topics: fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control of unmanned aerial vehicles; control techniques to deal with the damage of a quadrotor propeller; observer-based LPV control design of quad-TRUAV under rotor-tilt axle stuck fault; an unknown input observer based framework for fault and icing detection and accommodations in overactuated unmanned aerial vehicles; actuator fault tolerance for a WAM-V catamaran with azimuth thrusters; fault-tolerant control of a service robot; distributed fault detection and isolation strategy for a team of cooperative mobile manipulators; nonlinear optimal control for aerial robotic manipulators; fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control techniques for aircraft Systems; fault-tolerant trajectory tracking control of in-wheel motor vehicles with energy efficient steering and torque distribution; nullspace-based input reconfiguration architecture for over-actuated aerial vehicles; data-driven approaches to fault-tolerant control of industrial robotic systems.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/288304

Machine learning-as-a-service for consumer electronics fault diagnosis: A comparison between matlab and azure ML
Digest of Technical Papers - IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics
Autore/i: Prist, M.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Freddi, A.; Pallotta, E.; Ciabattoni, L.; Cicconi, P.; Giuggioloni, F.; Caizer, E.; Verdini, C.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Today, the improvement of the product value in consumer goods, such as new services to increase the positive customer experience, is the subject of many research activities. In a context where the product complexity becomes ever greater and the product life-cycle is always shorter, the use of intelligent tools for supporting all phases of the product life-cycle is very important. One of the aspects that is taking interest is to support the consumer in fault management. This analysis are well-known practices in the industrial, automotive fields, etc. but less used for consumer electronics. This paper analizes a Cloud service based on a Machine Learning (ML) approach used to provide fault detection capabilities to household appliances equipped with electric motors and compare the results with on premise ML algorithms provided research tools. The purpose of this paper is to perform a preliminary comparison of ML algorithm performances provided by two software, namely Microsoft Azure (cloud solution) and MATLAB (on premise solution), on a study case. In detail, the vibration data of an asynchronous motor installed in an oven extractor hood for commercial restaurant kitchen have been analyzed. To this end, two classification algorithms have been selected to implement fault diagnosis techniques.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/276300

Actuator Fault Tolerant Control of Variable Pitch Quadrotor Vehicles
21th IFAC World Congress
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Variable pitch quadrotors can experience actuation faults and failures of two main types: one type related to the rotor system and the other one related to the blade pitch servo. In this paper, we face the fault tolerant attitude tracking problem for a variable pitch quadrotor, in case of partial loss of effectiveness of the rotor system or lock-in-place of the blade pitch servo. The proposed solution is based on the combination of the Disturbance Observer Based Control design paradigm together with that of Active Fault Diagnosis. In detail, an observer is designed for estimating the thrust produced by each rotor. An active diagnosis scheme is adopted to discriminate which fault/failure is affecting the system. Finally, a control allocation algorithm solves the optimal redistribution problem of the control effort among the rotors, subject to different constraints. The proposed overall optimal fault tolerant control scheme can be coupled with most of the nonlinear control laws commonly applied to conventional, fixed pitch, quadrotor systems. Numerical simulations show the capability of the proposed scheme to handle both loss of effectiveness of the rotor system or lock-in-place of the blade pitch servo.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/289741

Actuator Fault-Tolerant Control Architecture for Multirotor Vehicles in Presence of Disturbances
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT & ROBOTIC SYSTEMS
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: In this article we present an actuator fault-tolerant control architecture for the attitude and altitude tracking problem of multirotor aircrafts, under the effects of unknown drag coefficients and external wind. The tracking problem is faced by splitting it into two sub-problems, namely control law and control allocation. The control law is designed in terms of desired forces and moments which should act on the system, it does permit to exploit possible estimations of the disturbances acting on the vehicle and does not depend on the multirotor configuration. The control allocation, instead, optimally solves the redistribution of the control efforts among the motors according to the specific multirotor configuration, moreover it can actively cope with actuator faults whenever their estimations are available. Numerical simulations based on realistic scenarios confirm that the control architecture permits to solve the attitude and altitude tracking problem, despite the effects of faults and disturbances on the system.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/275398

Architecture for Cooperative Interacting Robotic Systems Towards Assisted Living: A Preliminary Study
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering
Autore/i: Ciuccarelli, L.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriù, A.; Ortenzi, D.; Proietti Pagnotta, D.
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: The present study aims at providing a robotic architecture system composed by a semi-autonomous mobile robot and a manipulator robot. The user, on a smart wheelchair, is able to move in an indoor environment, by selecting, through a user-interface, the room where he/she wants to move and the object he/she would like to get. In case an object is selected, the user is automatically driven in front of a robotic workstation, where the desired object is picked and placed by a robotic arm in front of the user. The system has been tested on a simulator, and preliminary experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed architecture.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/263384

Special issue on “Smart Homes”: Editors’ notes
SENSORS
Autore/i: Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: In this editorial, we provide an overview of the content of the Special Issue on “Smart Homes”. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a comprehensive collection of some of the current state-of-the-art technologies in the context of smart homes, together with new advanced theoretical and technological solutions that enable smart technology diffusion into homes.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/264813

Empowered Optical Inspection by Using Robotic Manipulator in Industrial Applications
IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Autore/i: Galdelli, A.; Pagnotta, D. P.; Mancini, A.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu, A.; Frontoni, E.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Nowadays the inspection of products at the end of line represents a critical phase. At this stage, it is necessary to look for defects in order to prevent the quality check to fail, and to provide information for improving the production as well. This task can be performed by using several sensing technologies, and the contactless optical inspection plays a key role. In this regard, the use of advanced robotic manipulators offers the capability to change the viewpoint of a given object and to inspect its multiple faces. We propose an approach that combines the use of photometric stereo to derive a 3D model of objects, empowered by the super-resolution that is applied on the original dataset (upstream) or on the normal images (downstream) in order to increase the quality of the final 3D model. The vision system is mounted on a robotic manipulator, able to grasp and change the viewpoint, thus offering a more complete view of the object to be inspected. The obtained results show that the developed solution increases the quality of the derived 3D models used for inspection tasks on different faces of the objects; this is achieved by using the manipulation ability offered by the adopted robotic platform.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/275366

Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems for Industry 4.0: Architectural Approach and Pilot Case
2019 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd 4.0 and IoT 2019 - Proceedings
Autore/i: Prist, M.; Monteriu, A.; Freddi, A.; Pallotta, E.; Cicconi, P.; Giuggioloni, F.; Caizer, E.; Verdini, C.; Longhi, S.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: The pillars of Industry 4.0 require a modern smart factory to be integrated, store data into the Cloud, access the Cloud for data analytics and share information at software level for simulation and Hardware-In-the-Loop capabilities. The resulting Cyber-Physical System is often called Cyber-Physical Manufacturing System, and it becomes fundamental to cope with the increased system complexity and the desired performances. However, since a lot of old production systems are based on monolitic architectures, with limited external communication ports and reduced local computational capabilities, it is very difficult to make such production lines compliant to Industry 4.0 pillars. Wireless Sensor Network is a solution for the smart connection of a production line to a Cyber-Physical System architecture, data processing through Cloud Computing. The scope of this research work is to propose an intermediate layer within the architecture that allows each device, production line and machine to be independently connected despite the adopted protocol. The solution is based on OSGi Framework, which is able to seamlessly integrate both hardware and software wireless sensors, send data into the Cloud for further data analysis, and grant both Hardware-In-the-Loop and Cloud Computing capabilities. A general description of the architecture is here proposed, together with preliminary results on a real manufacturing line for data collection and analysis over a period of two months.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/270113

Actuator Fault Tolerant Position Control of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Conference on Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems, SysTol
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Rigatos, G.
Editore: IEEE Computer Society
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper we design a fault tolerant single-loop position control of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle. We design a nominal control law by using a feedback linearisation approach. The controlled variables are decoupled using higher order derivatives of the model. We propose an active fault tolerant controller to cope with multiplicative faults affecting the actuators: a nonlinear diagnostic observer is adopted to estimate the fault magnitude, while a control allocation algorithm is used to compensate for the presence of actuator faults. Numerical simulations show the increased tracking capabilities of the proposed scheme with respect to the non tolerant one.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/275077

ErrP Signals Detection for Safe Navigation of a Smart Wheelchair
2019 IEEE 23rd International Symposium on Consumer Technologies, ISCT 2019
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, L.; Ferracuti, F.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Assistive robots operate in complex environments and in presence of human beings, as such they are influenced by several factors which may lead to undesired outcomes: wrong sensor readings, unexpected environmental conditions or algorithmic errors represent just few examples. When the safety of the user must be guaranteed, a possible solution is to rely on a human-supervised approach. The proposed work presents a smart wheelchair, i.e. an electric powered wheelchair with semiautonomous navigation capabilities, whose user is equipped with a Brain Computer Interface. During the wheelchair navigation, possible problems (e.g. obstacles) along the trajectory cause the generation of error-related potentials signals when noticed by the user. These signals are captured by the interface and are used to provide a feedback to the navigation task, in order to preserve safety and avoiding possible navigation issues.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/272749

Octarotor fault tolerant control via dynamic surface control
2019 18th European Control Conference, ECC 2019
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper we present a Disturbance Observer Based Control for an octarotor unmanned aerial vehicle, taking into account the actuator dynamics. The scheme is robust to the uncertainties of the model dynamics, the actuator dynamics and it can also manage the presence of actuator faults and failures. The control law is based on a combination of Back-stepping and Dynamic Surface Control, where the feedback linearisation change of coordinates is applied to part of the state space dynamics in order to avoid the explosion of terms. The distribution of the control efforts among the actuators is optimally provided by an allocation algorithm which minimizes the energy consumption even in presence of uncertainties.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/270111

Preface
The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche”: Research Achievements in Physical Sciences and Engineering
Autore/i: Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Freddi, A.; Frontoni, E.; Germani, M.; Revel, G. M.
Editore: Springer International Publishing
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: Preface of the Book entitled << The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche”: Research Achievements in Physical Sciences and Engineering >>
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/281313

Dual-arm manipulators kinematic control under multiple constraints via virtual joints approach
Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
Autore/i: Proietti Pagnotta, D.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.
Editore: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: A kinematic controller for a dual-arm system able to cope with kinematic constraints is presented in this paper. The kinematic controller is designed according to the Relative Jacobian method to achieve cooperation of a couple of 7 DOF robotic arms. The kinematic redundancy obtained from cooperation is exploited to execute other subtasks along the main task. The concept of virtual joint space proposed in the General Weighted Least Norm (GWLN) method is employed in order to include the constraints in the problem. Firstly, the GWLN is reformulated for a dual-arm system, including only the joint limit avoidance subtask. Then, the obstacle avoidance subtask is also considered and a new version of the kinematic controller is derived when the number of constraints is larger than the number of joints. Simulation are performed on the model of the Baxter Robot, in the Matlab-Simulink environment.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/272748

Fault Tolerant Control for an Over-Actuated WAM-V Catamaran
IFAC-PapersOnLine
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Hasegawa, K.; Monteriu, A.; Pandey, J.
Editore: Elsevier B.V.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper we propose a fault/failure tolerant control scheme for a catamaran with two azimuth thrusters. The scheme is based on a three level architecture: a heuristic-based control policy for proper reference generation, a control law for the vehicle dynamics to achieve speed tracking of the generated reference, and a control allocation level for optimally redistributing the control efforts among the thrusters even in presence of actuator faults and failures; finally, the low level control is invariant with respect to the fault/failure scenario, as well as the control law. The proposed architecture has been simulated considering the nonlinear model of a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel catamaran, with the aim of tracking a reference expressed in waypoints, even when faults/failures affect one or more thrusters.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/275083

Direct position control of an octarotor unmanned vehicle under wind gust disturbance
2019 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2019
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper we present the design of a direct position control law of an octarotor under the presence of wind gust. The nominal control law is designed on a Newton-Euler model using a feedback linearisation technique, where a double integral control law is chosen in order to decouple the controlled variables' dynamics. Then, the wind gust effect is attenuated through an additive correction term, which is based on disturbance observer. An exogenous system is considered in order to estimate the wind gust derivatives, and the overall closed loop boundedness is discussed. Numerical simulations are then reported in order to show the effectiveness of the control scheme, where the observer based technique is compared with the nominal one.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/270112

From the Control Systems Theory to Intelligent Manufacturing and Services: Challenges and Future Perspectives
The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche” Research Achievements in Physical Sciences and Engineering
Autore/i: Bonci, Andrea; Conte, Giuseppe; Corradini, Maria Letizia; Freddi, Alessandro; Ietto, Leopoldo; Ippoliti, Gianluca; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea; Orlando, Giuseppe; Orsini, Valentina; Perdon, Anna Maria; Scaradozzi, David; Zanoli, Silvia Maria
Editore: Springer Nature
Luogo di pubblicazione: Berlin
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: Control Science has played over time and still continues to have a key role for the development of human society such that, in the XX century, it has been recognized as an independent discipline. During the ‘50’s, one of the first international scientific congress to address the area of control theory, namely, the “Convegno Internazionale sui Problemi dell’Automatismo”, was held in Italy, at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, Italy. In this context, ten years later, the Automatic Control group of the Università di Ancona was born. In this chapter, we want to revisit the main results achieved in the last 50 years by the Automatic Control group of Ancona focusing, in particular, on the recent achievements about linear and nonlinear control; robust, stochastic, adaptive and optimal control; model predictive control; fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control; aerial, terrestrial and underwater unmanned vehicles control; automotive control; switching systems analysis and control; underwater robotics; intelligent manufacturing and cyber-physical production systems. The contribution aims to provide the main challenges on these topics and their future perspectives.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/279926

The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche”: Research achievements in Physical Sciences and Engineering
Autore/i: Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Freddi, A.; Frontoni, E.; Germani, M.; Revel, G. M.
Editore: Springer International Publishing
Classificazione: 3 Libro
Abstract: The book describes the significant multidisciplinary research findings at the Università Politecnica delle Marche and the expected future advances. It addresses some of the most dramatic challenges posed by today’s fast-growing, global society and the changes it has caused. It also discusses solutions to improve the wellbeing of human beings. The book covers the main research achievements in the different disciplines of the physical sciences and engineering, as well as several research lines developed at the university’s Faculty of Engineering in the fields of electronic and information engineering, telecommunications, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing technologies, energy, advanced materials, chemistry, physics of matter, mathematical sciences, geotechnical engineering, circular economy, urban planning, construction engineering, infrastructures and environment protection, technologies and digitization of the built environment and cultural heritage. It highlights the international relevance and multidisciplinarity of research at the university as well as the planned research lines for the next years.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/281290

Preface
The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche” Research Achievements in Social Sciences and Humanities
Autore/i: Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Bettin, Giulia; Cardinali, Silvio; Chiucchi, Maria Serena; Gallegati, Marco
Editore: Springer Nature
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: The book describes significant multidisciplinary research findings at the Università Politecnica delle Marche and the expected future advances. It addresses some of the most dramatic challenges posed by today’s fast-growing, global society and the changes it has caused, while also discussing solutions to improve the wellbeing of human beings. The book covers the main research achievements made in the social sciences and humanities, and includes chapters that focus on understanding mechanisms that are relevant to all aspects of economic and social interactions among individuals. In line with Giorgio Fuà’s contribution, the interdisciplinary research being pursued at the Faculty of Economics of Università Politecnica delle Marche is aimed at interpreting the process of economic development in all of its facets, both at the national and local level, with a particular focus on profit and non-profit organizations. Various disciplines are covered, from economics to sociology, history, statistics, mathematics, law, accounting, finance and management.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/283201

Human-Robot Cooperation via Brain Computer Interface in Assistive Scenario
ser. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Am- bient Assisted Living: Italian Forum 2017
Autore/i: Foresi, G.; Freddi, A.; Iarlori, S.; Longhi, S.; Monteriù, A.; Ortenzi, D.; Proietti Pagnotta, D.
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: In the last years, the development of robots for assisting and collaborating with people has experienced a large growth. Applications for assistive robots include hospital service robots, factory intelligent assistants and personal homecare robots. Working in shared environments with human beings, these robots require effective ways to achieve an increasing human-robot cooperation. This work presents a possible approach for performing human-robot cooperation, namely recognition of a user selected object by means of Brain Computer Interface (BCI), followed by pick and place via a robotic arm. The object selection is achieved introducing a BCI that allows the user, after a training phase, to choose one among six different objects of common diffusion. The selection is achieved by interpreting the P300 signals generated in the brain, when the image of the object, desidered by the user, appears on a computer screen as a visual stimulus. The robot then recognizes, through a classifier, the selected object among others within its workspace, and inscribes it in a rectangle shape. Finally, the robot arm is moved in correspondence to the object position, the gripper is rotated according to the object orientation and the object grasped and moved into a different position on a desk in front of the robot. This system could support people with limited motor skills or paralysis, playing an important role in structured assistive environments in a near future.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/263385

The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche”: Research Achievements in Social Sciences and Humanities
Autore/i: Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro; Bettin, Giulia; Cardinali, Silvio; Chiucchi, Maria Serena; Gallegati, Marco
Editore: Springer International Publishing
Classificazione: 7 Curatele
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/288188

Recurrence Quantification Analysis of Stator-Current Measurements for Electric Motor Fault Classification
IECON Proceedings (Industrial Electronics Conference)
Autore/i: Ferracuti, F; Freddi, A; Longhi, S; Monteriu, A
Editore: IEEE
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) allows to quantify the periodic behavior using recurrence plots instead of deriving information purely from visual analysis. The current study presents a preliminary analysis of stator-current measurements for electric motor fault detection and classification by means of the recurrence quantification theory. Firstly, a preliminary visual inspection of the recurrence plots of stator-current measurements for healthy and faulty electric motors is presented. Thereafter, the following RQ metrics are analyzed: the recurrence rate, the determinism, the divergence, the Shannon entropy, the laminarity and the trapping time. Then, the RQ metrics are used as predictors for fault detection and classification. The classification results (100% fault classification accuracy), which are presented using the linear support vector machine classifier, show that the RQA can be considered as a tool for motor current signature analysis.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/278775

Variable Structure Control via Coupled Surfaces for Control Effort Reduction in Remotely Operated Vehicles
Offshore Mechatronics Systems Engineering
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Dyda, A. A.; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriù, Andrea; Oskin, D.
Editore: Taylor & Francis Group
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: In this chapter, a Variable Structure Control law is presented and applied to solve the tracking problem for a Remotely Operated Vehicle. Unlike the classical Sliding Mode Control, which is composed by a single sliding surface, the proposed control law presents two coupled sliding surfaces. It follows that the state space can be divided into two spaces, namely one between the surfaces and one outside them. In the region outside the surfaces, the controller is designed similarly as for the classical Sliding Mode Control, while, inside the area, the system is in free motion. It follows that the control effort is null for some time intervals, hence a reduction of control efforts is possible. In order to test the performances of the proposed technique, exhaustive simulations are made for a Remotely Operated Vehicle, and compared with classical Sliding Mode Control, where linear sliding surfaces are taken into consideration for both cases, combined with a bang-bang-type control logic. Simulation results show that, for the tracking problem, the proposed Variable Structure Control technique performs better both in terms of performances (estimated with the Integral of Absolute Error) and energy consumption (estimated with a related cost function).
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/263386

A Preliminary Study of a Cyber Physical System for Industry 4.0: Modelling and Co-Simulation of an AGV for Smart Factories
2018 Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd 4.0 and IoT 2018 - Proceedings
Autore/i: Cavanini, L.; Cicconi, P.; Freddi, A.; Germani, M.; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu, A.; Pallotta, E.; Prist, M.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/259877

Fault-Tolerant Disturbance Observer Based Control for Altitude and Attitude Tracking of a Quadrotor
MED 2018 - 26th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu, Andrea
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper presents an attitude and altitude fault-tolerant tracking control for a quadrotor using the Disturbance Observer Based Control (DOBC). A Newton-Euler model of the quadrotor is described and the fault-tolerant control problem is treated for small angles. An appropriate estimation gain is proposed for the considered system, which allows to impose desired closed loop performances. These closed loop performances are analysed, showing the boundedness properties, and highlighting the trade off between fault estimation and control effort. Numerical simulations are provided for testing the effectiveness of the proposed DOBC solution, which is compared with the classical backstepping controller in case of multiple actuation faults.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262312

Kinematic Fault Tolerant Control of a Dual-Arm Robotic System under Torque Faults
2018 14th IEEE/ASME International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications, MESA 2018
Autore/i: Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriù, A.; Ortenzi, D.; Pagnotta, D. Proietti
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: A kinematic Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) scheme for a dual-arm system affected by actuator faults is proposed in this paper. The actuator fault consists in an unknown partial joint torque reduction, which causes a loss of the desired end-effector motion. The kinematic controller is designed according to the Relative Jacobian method, while a hierarchic prioritized tasks architecture is exploited in order to perform secondary tasks. The FTC scheme includes a Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) system based on first-order sliding mode observers, in order to detect and estimate the joint torque faults on the system. The estimated fault is mapped into a perturbation of the motion of the end effector from the desired one, and compensated at the kinematic controller level. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed technique allows to reduce the tracking error (both for the absolute and the relative motion) generated by the fault for a dual-arm system composed of two planar manipulators.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262311

Cooperative Robots Architecture for an Assistive Scenario
2018 Zooming Innovation in Consumer Technologies Conference, ZINC 2018
Autore/i: Ciuccarelli, L.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Ortenzi, D.; Pagnotta, D. Proietti
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper proposes an assistive robotic solution for elderly people and/or people suffering from lower limbs problem. The proposed architecture consists of a Smart Wheelchair (SWC) and a Robotic Workstation (RW) which cooperate in order to perform an autonomous navigation and manipulation task. The system allows the user to choose a point on the map to move to and/or an object to manipulate. The SWC is able to autonomously navigate to the desired RW, while the localization is performed via an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). Moreover, QR codes have been used as landmarks to compensate the pose estimation error. The system was tested both in simulation and in a real scenario.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262309

Fault Detection, Diagnosis and Fault Tolerant Output Control for a Remotely Operated Vehicle
2018 14th IEEE/ASME International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications, MESA 2018
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Felicetti, R.; Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Fasano, A.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: An active fault tolerant control scheme for an underwater remotely operated vehicle is proposed in this work when only position and heading measurements are available. The diagnosis technique is based on a second order sliding mode observer, allowing to estimate both the unmeasured system state, namely linear and angular speeds, and the fault extent. The fault estimation is fed to a thrust allocation algorithm which achieves fault tolerant capabilities independently of the controller, attaining robustness with respect to actuator faults with any suitable control law. The overall fault diagnosis and fault tolerant scheme has been tested in simulation scenario using four different controllers and using the real world parameters of the SNAMprogetti remotely operated vehicle, thus validating the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262307

Dynamic surface fault tolerant control for underwater remotely operated vehicles
ISA TRANSACTIONS
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriù, Andrea
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: In this paper, we present a two stages actuator Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) strategy for the trajectory tracking of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Dynamic Surface Control (DSC) is used to generate the moment and forces required by the vehicle to perform the desired motion. In the second stage of the control system, a fault tolerant thruster allocation policy is employed to distribute moment and forces among the thrusters. Exhaustive simulations have been carried out in order to compare the performance of the proposed solution with respect to different control techniques (i.e., PID, backstepping and sliding mode approaches). Saturations, actuator dynamics, sensor noises and time discretization are considered, in fault-free and faulty conditions. Furthermore, in order to provide a fair and exhaustive comparison of the control techniques, the same meta-heuristic approach, namely Artificial Bee Colony algorithm (ABC), has been employed to tune the controllers parameters.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/254633

A Gestures Recognition Based Approach for Human-Robot-Interaction
2018 Zooming Innovation in Consumer Technologies Conference, ZINC 2018
Autore/i: Freddi, A.; Goffi, M.; Longhi, S.; Monteriu, A.; Ortenzi, D.; Pagnotta, D. Proietti
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This work proposes a robotic manipulator assistant for disabled users and/or for elderly people with limited motor skills. In detail, the interaction among the robot and the user is based on the user gestures recognition. The user chooses an object among those available by moving his/her arm in a specific pose, which is recognized by using an external camera. Then, images of the objects accessible to the robot are acquired via the robot camera, located at the end of the robot arm, and are analyzed by a Support Vector Machine classifier in order to recognize the user selected object. Finally, the manipulator picks the object and places it on the user's hand, whose location in the Cartesian space is determined via the external camera and updated online.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262308

A robust and self-tuning speed control for permanent magnet synchronous motors via meta-heuristic optimization
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, ADVANCED MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, Lucio; Ferracuti, Francesco; Foresi, Gabriele; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriù, Andrea; Pagnotta, Daniele Proietti
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: In a reconfigurable manufacturing scenario, control system design needs innovative approaches to face the rapid changes in hardware and software modules. The control system should be able to automatically tune its parameters to enhance machine performances and dynamically adapt to different control objectives (e.g., minimize control efforts or maximize tracking performances) while preserving at the same time stability and robustness properties. In this paper, a robust control system for permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs), together with an online self-tuning method, is presented. In particular, a robust discrete-time variable structure control (VSC) has been designed. A heuristic bio-inspired approach has been then implemented on a digital signal processor (DSP) to find the VSC parameter set which minimizes a specific objective function each time a novel speed reference is provided. Experimental results on a PMSM motor show the effectiveness of the proposed controller and tuning method, with noticeable improvements with respect to the original manufacturer-designed controller.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/254574

A Constrained Thrust Allocation Algorithm for Remotely Operated Vehicles
11th IFAC Conference on Control Applications in Marine Systems, Robotics, and Vehicles CAMS 2018
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Fasano, Antonio; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea
Editore: Elsevier B.V.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper, the constrained thrust allocation problem is studied and solved for the class of over-actuated Remotely Operated Vehicles. In detail, we find the solution of the thrust allocation when the thrusters are affected by possible faults and, simultaneously, taking into account the thrusters’ saturation limits. The proposed thrust allocation algorithm is tested both numerically, with randomly generated input samples, and applied in simulation for the trajectory tracking of a Remotely Operated Vehicle, with real parameters and in combination with different control laws. The algorithm is compared with two commonly used approaches, that are the saturated pseudo-inverse method and the Matlab Quadratic Programming solver; both accuracy and computation time are considered in the analysis of the performances. The simulations show that the proposed algorithm performs better, in terms of computation time, w.r.t. the Matlab Quadratic Programming solver, while still retaining the optimality of the solution despite the saturation constraints; moreover, there is also an improvement in the tracking error regardless of the adopted control law.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262317

A Model-based Active Fault Tolerant Control Scheme for a Remotely Operated Vehicle
10th IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety for Technical Processes SAFEPROCESS 2018
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Fasano, Antonio; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: An active failure and fault tolerant control scheme for an underwater remotely operated vehicle is proposed in this work. The proposed solution is based on a fault tolerant allocation, which takes into account an estimate of the faults on the vehicle’s thrusters for an accurate redistribution of the control effort. The diagnosis is based on a sliding mode observer, which generates three residuals and allows to evaluate the health condition of each actuator of the vehicle. The scheme can be adapted to any control law for the vehicle dynamics, and has been tested in simulation using a backstepping controller for the dynamics and with real world parameters, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed active fault tolerant control scheme.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262314

Improving Mobility and Autonomy of Disabled Users via Cooperation of Assistive Robots
36th IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE)
Autore/i: Foresi, Gabriele; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide; PROIETTI PAGNOTTA, Daniele
Editore: IEEE
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Robotic assistance for disabled users and/or for elderly people represents an active research area and, at the same time, a growing market, which will lead to commercial technological solutions in a near future. Cooperation of existing assistive technologies can represent an important step towards the development of such solutions. In this paper, we face the problem of cooperation between a smart wheelchair and one or more robotic workstations: the wheelchair can navigate autonomously and permits to choose the point to move to or the object to interact with, while the robotic workstation can interact with one or more objects within its workspace and with the user on the wheelchair. The hardware/software architecture is here presented, together with some preliminary results.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/255086

Dual-arm cooperative manipulation under joint limit constraints
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
Autore/i: Ortenzi, Davide; Muthusamy, Rajkumar; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriù, Andrea; Kyrki, Ville
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: Cooperative manipulation of a rigid object is challenging and represents an interesting and active research area, especially when these robots are subject to joint and task prioritization constraints. In cooperative manipulation, a primary task is to maintain the coordination of motions, to avoid severe damage caused by the violation of kinematic constraints imposed by the closed chain mechanism. This paper proposes a kinematic controller for dual-arm cooperative manipulation that ensures safety by providing relative coordinated motion as highest priority task and joint limit avoidance and world-space trajectory following at a lower priority. The coordination of motions is based on modular relative Jacobian formulation. The approach is applicable to systems composed of redundant or non-redundant manipulators. Experiments in simulation demonstrate the behavior of the approach under different redundancy configurations. Experiments on two robots with different number of redundant motions show the applicability of the proposed approach to cooperative manipulation under joint limit constraints.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/252247

Fault Tolerant Control Scheme for Robotic Manipulators Affected by Torque Faults
10th IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety for Technical Processes SAFEPROCESS 2018
Autore/i: Freddi, A.; Longhi, S.; Monteriù, A.; Ortenzi, D.; Proietti Pagnotta, D.
Editore: Elsevier B.V.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: A Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) scheme for robotic manipulators affected by actuator faults is proposed in this paper. The actuator fault consists in an unknown partial joint torque reduction, which causes a loss of the desired end-effector motion. The FTC scheme includes a Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) system based on a first-order sliding mode observer, in order to detect and estimate the joint torque fault. The estimated fault is mapped into a kinematic deviation of the motion of the end effector from the desired one, and compensated at the level of the kinematic controller. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme for a planar manipulator affected by two types of actuator faults, namely bias fault and partial torque fault.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262318

Statistical Spectral Analysis for Fault Diagnosis of Rotating Machines
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, Lucio; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu, Andrea
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: Condition-based monitoring of rotating machines requires robust features for accurate fault diagnosis, which is indeed directly linked to the quality of the features extracted from the signals. This is especially true for vibration data, whose quasi-stationary nature implies that the quality of frequency domain extracted features depends on the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) condition, operating condition variations and data segmentation. This paper presents a novel Statistical Spectral Analysis, which leads to highly robust fault diagnosis with poor SNR conditions, different time-window segmentation and different operating conditions. The amplitudes of spectral contents of the quasi-stationary time vibration signals are sorted and transformed into statistical spectral images. The sort operation leads to the knowledge of the Empirical Cumulative Distribution Function (ECDF) of the amplitudes of each frequency band. The ECDF provides a robust statistical information of the distribution of the amplitude under different SNR and operating conditions. Statistical metrics have been adopted for fault classification, by using the ECDFs obtained from the spectral images as fault features. By applying simple statistical metrics, it is possible to achieve fault diagnosis without classifier training, saving both time and computational costs. The proposed algorithm has been tested using a vibration data benchmark: comparison with state-of-the-art fault diagnosis algorithms shows promising results.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/252246

Dynamic Surface Control for Multirotor Vehicles
2018 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2018
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Felicetti, Riccardo; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu, Andrea
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In this paper we present the design of Dynamic Surface Control (DSC) law for multirotor vehicles. We first propose a mathematical model which can be used for a wide class of multirotor vehicles. Then, we extend the classical DSC such that it can be applied to the proposed model for tracking pitch, roll, yaw and altitude. The DSC performances are compared with other nonlinear algorithms known in the literature, namely backstepping and sliding mode, as well as PID controller, where all the control laws were tuned via the same heuristic random search algorithm in order to ensure a fair comparison.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/262305

Human-Robot Cooperation via Brain ComputerInterface in Assistive Scenario
7th Italian Forum on Ambient Assisted Living, ForitAAL 2017
Autore/i: Foresi, Gabriele; Freddi, Alessandro; Iarlori, Sabrina; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide; Proietti Pagnotta, Daniele
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: In the last years, the development of robots for assisting and collaborating with peo-ple has experienced a large growth. Applications for assistive robots include hospitalservice robots, factory intelligent assistants and personal homecare robots. Workingin shared environments with human beings, these robots have frequent need of aneffective human-robot cooperation. This work introduces a possible approach forperforming human-robot cooperation, namely recognition of a user selected objectby means of Brain Computer Interface (BCI), followed by pick and place of thesame object via a robotic arm. The object selection is achieved using a BCI thatallows to choose one among different objects of common use, by interpreting theP300 signals generated in the brain when the image of the object desidered by theuser appears on a computer screen. Then, the robot recognizes through a classifierif the selected object is within its workspace, grasps the object and moves it intoa different position. This system could support people with limited motor skills orparalysis, playing an important role in structured assistive environments in a near future.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/250030

A QR-code localization system for mobile robots: Application to smart wheelchairs
European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)
Autore/i: Cavanini, Luca; Cimini, Gionata; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Ippoliti, Gianluca; Monteriu, Andrea; Verdini, Federica
Editore: IEEE
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: A Smart Wheelchair (SW) is an electric powered wheelchair, equipped with sensors and computational capabilities, with the general aim of both enhancing independence and improving perceived quality of life of the impaired people using it. SWs belong to the class of semi-autonomous mobile robots, designed to carry the user from one location to another of his/her choice. For such systems, the localization aspect is of utmost concern, since GPS signal is not available indoors and alternative sensor sets are required. This paper proposes a low- cost artificial landmark-based localization system for mobile robots operating indoor. It is based on Quick Response (QR) codes, which contain the absolute position of the landmark: a vision system recognizes the codes, estimates the relative position of the robot (i.e., displacement and orientation) w.r.t. the codes and, finally, calculates the absolute position of the robot by exploiting the information contained in the codes. The system has been experimentally validated for self-localization of a smart wheelchair, and experimental results confirm that navigation is possible when considering an high QR-code density, while QR-code low density conditions permit to reset the cumulative odometry error.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/252389

Human indoor localization for AAL applications: An RSSI based approach
Ambient Assisted Living: Italian Forum 2016
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, Lucio; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Ippoliti, Gianluca; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Pepa, Lucia
Editore: Filippo Cavallo, Vincenzo Marletta, Andrea Monteriù, Pietro Siciliano
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: Ambient intelligence technologies have the objective to improve the quality of life of people in daily living, by providing user-oriented services and functionalities. Many of the services and functionalities provided in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) require the user position and identity to be known, and thus user localization and identification are two prerequisites of utmost importance. In this work we focus our attention on human indoor localization. Our aim is to investigate how Received Signal Strength (RSS) based localization can be performed in an easy way by exploiting common Internet of Things (IoT) communication networks, which could easily integrate with custom networks for AAL purposes. We thus propose a plug and play solution where the Beacon Nodes (BNs) are represented by smart objects located in the house, while the Unknown Node (UN) can be any smart object held by the user. By using real data from different environments (i.e., with different disturbances), we provide a one-slope model and test localization performances of three different algorithms. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/241029

Human-robot cooperation via brain computer interface
IEEE 7th International Conference on Consumer Electronics - Berlin (ICCE-Berlin)
Autore/i: Foresi, Gabriele; Freddi, Alessandro; Iarlori, Sabrina; Monteriù, Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide; PROIETTI PAGNOTTA, Daniele
Editore: IEEE
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This work proposes an approach for performing Human-Robot Cooperation (HRC) tasks by integrating a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) with a robotic manipulator. In detail, the user can select one among six different objects via BCI, which analyzes the P300 signals generated by the brain when the images of the selectable objects appear on the screen. Then, the selected object is recognized by a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, which scans the data acquired by the robot camera. Finally, the recognized object is grasped by the robotic arm and moved to a different position.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/252388

Robust control of a photovoltaic battery system via fuzzy sliding mode approach
Studies in Computational Intelligence
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea; Vaidyanathan, Sundarapandian
Editore: Springer Verlag
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: Studies in Computational Intelligence Volume 709, 2017, Pages 115-142 Robust control of a photovoltaic battery system via fuzzy sliding mode approach (Book Chapter) Baldini, A.a , Ciabattoni, L.a , Felicetti, R.a , Ferracuti, F.a , Freddi, A.b , Monteriù, A.a , Vaidyanathan, S.c a Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, Ancona, Italy b SMARTEST Research Centre, Università degli Studi eCampus, Via Isimbardi 10, Novedrate, CO, Italy c Research and Development Centre, Vel Tech University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India View additional affiliations View references (43) Abstract In this chapter we propose a novel fuzzy sliding mode approach to manage the power flow of a Photovoltaic (PV) battery system. In particular, due to the inner stochastic nature and intermittency of the solar production and in order to face the irradiance rapid changes, a robust and fast controller is needed. Sliding Mode Control (SMC) is a well-known approach to control systems under heavy uncertain conditions. However, one of the major drawbacks of this control technique is the high frequency chattering generated by the switching control term. In the proposed solution, we introduce a fuzzy inference system to set the controller parameters (boundary layer and gains) according to the measured irradiance. A comparison of the designed Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control (FSMC) with two popular controllers (PI and Backstepping) is performed. In particular, FSMC shows better performances in terms of steady state chattering and transient response, as confirmed by IAE, ISE and ITAE performance indexes. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/247236

Particle swarm optimization based sliding mode control design: Application to a quadrotor vehicle
Studies in Computational Intelligence
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea; Vaidyanathan, Sundarapandian
Editore: Springer Verlag
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: In this chapter, a design method for determining the optimal sliding mode controller parameters for a quadrotor dynamic model using the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm is presented. In particular, due to the effort to determine optimal or near optimal sliding mode parameters, which depend on the nature of the considered dynamic model, a population based solution is proposed to tune the parameters. The proposed population based-method tunes the controller parameters (boundary layers and gains) according to a fitness function that measures the controller performances. A comparison of the designed sliding mode control with two popular controllers (PID and Backstepping) applied to a quadrotor dynamic model is proposed. In particular sliding mode control shows better performances in terms of steady state and transient response, as confirmed by performance indexes IAE, ISE, ITAE and ITSE. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/247237

Personal monitoring and health data acquisition in smart homes
Human Monitoring, Smart Health and Assisted Living: Techniques and technologies
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, Lucio; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea
Editore: IET The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Luogo di pubblicazione: London
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: The use of ambient assisted living technology, namely technology to improve the quality of life of people at home, is becoming a common trait of modern society. This technology, however, is difficult to be completely defined and classified, since it addresses many different human needs ranging from the physiological sphere to the psychological and social ones. In this chapter we focus on personal monitoring and data acquisition in smart homes, and propose the results of our research activities in the form of the description of three functional prototypes, each one addressing a specific need: an environmental monitoring system to measure the respiratory rate, a domotic architecture for both comfort assessment and user indoor localization, and a device for supporting mobility indoors. Each prototype description is followed by an experimental analysis and, finally, by considerations suggesting possible future developments in the very near future.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/249842

An Avoidance Control Strategy for Joint-Position Limits of Dual-Arm Robots
IFAC 2017 World Congress
Autore/i: Foresi, Gabriele; Freddi, Alessandro; Kyrki, Ville; Monteriu', Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide; Muthusamy, Rajkumar; Proietti Pagnotta, Daniele
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: The joint position constraints of two cooperative robotic manipulators is a critical issue, especially when both manipulators grasp and move the same object. When two robots cooperate to move a grasped object from one point to another one, following a desired path, the general solution adopted in the literature is to use the kinematic redundant motions possessed by a single manipulator, in order to avoid joint constraints. However, this method requires a number of redundant motions at least equals to the number of joint constraints to satisfy. The study proposed in this paper is focused on developing a joint position limits avoidance strategy, which is able to satisfy all joint limits even when the number of redundant motions are no longer sufficient to ensure them with a classical approach. This is achieved by means of a supervisory control system, which allows to locally and temporary change the desired end-effectors motion, when the redundant motions are not available. The supervisory control sacrifices the path following task in order to ensure joint position limits avoidance, while preserving at the same time the relative end-effector motion, such that the stability of the grasped object is still ensured. The proposed strategy has been implemented on a commercial robot, namely Baxter, which possesses two anthropomorphic arms having one degree of redundancy. The obtained results prove the effectiveness of the proposed supervisor controller, which can be easily extended and applied in manufacturing scenario. Whereas path following can be temporary sacrificed (e.g., the grasped object can be moved from one point to another in different ways), the joint constraints must be strictly preserved for safety reasons.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/250443

Human Monitoring, Smart Health and Assisted Living: Techniques and technologies
Healthcare Technologies, IET Digital Library
Autore/i: Longhi, Sauro; Monteriù, Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro
Editore: Institution of Engineering and Technology
Luogo di pubblicazione: London
Classificazione: 3 Libro
Abstract: Interest in Information and Communication Technologies for human monitoring, smart health and assisted living is growing due to the significant impact that these technologies are expected to have on improving the quality of life of ageing populations around the world. This book brings together chapters written by a range of researchers working in these topics, providing an overview of the areas and covering current research, developments and applications for a readership of researchers and research-led engineering practitioners. It discusses the promises and the possible advantages of these technologies, and also indicates the challenges for the future. Topics covered include: personal monitoring and health data acquisition in smart homes; contactless monitoring of respiratory activity; technology-based assistance of people with dementia; wearable sensors for gesture analysis; design and prototyping of home automation systems for the monitoring of elderly people; multi-sensor platform for circadian rhythm analysis; smart multi-sensor solutions for activity detection; human monitoring based on heterogeneous sensor networks; mobile health for vital signs and gait monitoring systems; and smartphone-based blood pressure monitoring for falls risk assessment.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/249837

Real-time fall detection system by using mobile robots in smart homes
IEEE 7th International Conference on Consumer Electronics - Berlin (ICCE-Berlin)
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, L.; Ferracuti, F.; Foresi, G.; Freddi, A.; Monteriu, A.; Pagnotta, D. Proietti
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: An unobtrusive method to realize human fall detection by using bluetooth beacons, a smartphone and a low cost mobile robot is presented. The method is composed by five steps. The first consists in extracting features from the smartphone acceleration data, which are then analysed online by the fall detection algorithm. Once the fall event is detected, then the location is determined by using the bluetooth signal received from beacons. Then, the mobile robot moves towards the user's location, and finally verifies if the detected fall event is a true positive or not, through a procedure based on voice interaction with the potentially fallen user. The method has been tested in laboratory, proving to be a viable solution to perform fall detection in smart homes via consumer devices.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/254640

Nonlinear control of a photovoltaic battery system via ABC-tuned Dynamic Surface Controller
IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2017
Autore/i: Baldini, Alessandro; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Felicetti, Riccardo; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriù, Andrea
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: This paper proposes a control methodology basedon Dynamic Surface Control (DSC) to manage the powerflow of a photovoltaic (PV) battery system. In particular, dueto the inner stochastic nature and intermittency of the solarproduction and in order to face the irradiance rapid changes,a robust and fast controller is needed. Dynamic Surface Controlis a modified version of Backstepping control that avoidsthe explosion of terms, which is a typical drawback of theBackstepping control and furthermore it is not affected bythe well known problem of chattering, which affects SlidingMode controllers. Dynamic Surface Control is compared to theconventional Proportional–Integral–Derivative controller (PID).In particular, DSC shows better performances in terms of steadystate chattering and transient response, as confirmed by theIntegral of the Absolute value of Error (IAE), Integral of theSquared Error (ISE) and Integral of Time multiplied by theAbsolute value of Error (ITAE) performance indexes.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/250028

Active fault tolerant control of remotely operated vehicles via control effort redistribution
Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Ciabattoni, L.; Felicetti, R.; Ferracuti, F.; Monteriù, A.; Fasano, A.; Freddi, A.
Editore: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: An active fault tolerant control technique for Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles is proposed in this paper. The main objective is to develop a controller for the tracking problem, which is robust against possible actuator faults and failures. The main advantage of the proposed fault tolerant control scheme is to develop a unique controller, and thus a unique set of control parameters, regardless the presence of faults and failures. This is achieved through a redistribution of the control effort on the healthy actuators. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the viability of the proposed fault accommodating technique.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/255563

Tecnologie assistive per la vita indipendente
La Bioingegneria per il benessere e l'invecchiamento attivo
Autore/i: Longhi, Sauro; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriù, Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide; Romeo, Luca
Editore: Pàtron Editore
Luogo di pubblicazione: Bologna
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/241724

Redundancy analysis of cooperative dual-arm manipulators
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ROBOTIC SYSTEMS
Autore/i: Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: This paper presents the redundancy analysis of two cooperative manipulators, showing how they can be considered as a single redundant manipulator through the use of the relative Jacobian matrix. In this way, the kinematic redundancy can be resolved by applying the principal local optimization techniques used in the single manipulator case. We resolve the redundancy by using the Jacobian null space technique, which permits us to perform several tasks with different execution priority levels at the same time; this is a useful feature, especially when the manipulators are to be mounted on and cooperate with a mobile platform. As an illustrative example, we present a case study consisting of two planar manip- ulators mounted on a smart wheelchair, whose degrees of redundancy are employed to move an object along a pre- defined path, while avoiding an obstacle in the manipulator’s workspace at the same time.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/238962

An integrated simulation module for cyber-physical automation systems
SENSORS
Autore/i: Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Monteriu', Andrea; Prist, Mariorosario
Classificazione: 1 Contributo su Rivista
Abstract: The integration of Wireless Sensors Networks (WSNs) into Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs) is an important research problem to solve in order to increase the performances, safety, reliability and usability of wireless automation systems. Due to the complexity of real CPSs, emulators and simulators are often used to replace the real control devices and physical connections during the development stage. The most widespread simulators are free, open source, expandable, flexible and fully integrated into mathematical modeling tools; however, the connection at a physical level and the direct interaction with the real process via the WSN are only marginally tackled; moreover, the simulated wireless sensor motes are not able to generate the analogue output typically required for control purposes. A new simulation module for the control of a wireless cyber-physical system is proposed in this paper. The module integrates the COntiki OS JAva Simulator (COOJA), a cross-level wireless sensor network simulator, and the LabVIEW system design software from National Instruments. The proposed software module has been called “GILOO” (Graphical Integration of Labview and cOOja). It allows one to develop and to debug control strategies over the WSN both using virtual or real hardware modules, such as the National Instruments Real-Time Module platform, the CompactRio, the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA), etc. To test the proposed solution, we decided to integrate it with one of the most popular simulators, i.e., the Contiki OS, and wireless motes, i.e., the Sky mote. As a further contribution, the Contiki Sky DAC driver and a new “Advanced Sky GUI” have been proposed and tested in the COOJA Simulator in order to provide the possibility to develop control over the WSN. To test the performances of the proposed GILOO software module, several experimental tests have been made, and interesting preliminary results are reported. The GILOO module has been applied to a smart home mock-up where a networked control has been developed for the LED lighting system.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/235673

A kinematic joint fault tolerant control based on relative jacobian method for dual arm manipulation systems
3rd Conference on Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems (SysTol)
Autore/i: Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Ortenzi, Davide
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: The present paper presents a fault tolerant control for dual arm manipulation systems affected by joint faults. The fault is modelled like a reduction of the maximum joint velocity due to partial torque loss of a servomotor. The system is made locally fault tolerant by exploiting its redundancy degrees via two different methods. The first method permits to reduce the manipulators' manipulability loss in case of fault occurrence, by imposing an optimal fault tolerant configuration to both manipulators; this is directly obtained from the knowledge of the Jacobian null space. The second method permits to compensate the loss of the end effectors motion using the saturation null space approach. In order to handle the dual arm system as a unique equivalent manipulator, both methods are formulated according to the relative Jacobian method. The efficiency of the proposed joint fault tolerant control is shown in a case study, where joint faults occur at different time instants.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/241026

Fault detection of nonlinear processes based on switching linear regression models
42nd Conference of the Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2016
Autore/i: Ciabattoni, Lucio; Ferracuti, Francesco; Freddi, Alessandro; Ippoliti, Gianluca; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/244862

Wireless sensor network based management system for electric bicycle-sharing
EEEIC 2016 - International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering
Autore/i: Prist, Mariorosario; Freddi, Alessandro; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Antonini, P.
Editore: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: Bicycle-sharing is an exciting new model of public-private transport provision that has quickly emerged in the past five years, and represents a possible way for enhancing sustainable mobility in smart cities of the future. This paper proposes a wireless sensor network based management system for electric bicycle-sharing of new design, where each bicycle and docking station is equipped with a measurement and communication device (i.e., a network mote), and is both sensor and actor of the wireless network. Each bicycle can keep track of its position, battery level, and communicate with the docking station, which manages the recharge cycle, and locks or releases the bicycle to the user. Since all the information is shared through the network, the management system can provide high level software services as well (e.g., the booking service). This paper describes in detail the design and the implementation of the proposed wireless sensor network based management system for electric bicycle-sharing. © 2016 IEEE.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/240562

Rapros: A ROS package for rapid prototyping
Robot Operating System (ROS)
Autore/i: Cavanini, Luca; Cimini, Gionata; Freddi, Alessandro; Ippoliti, Gianluca; Monteriu', Andrea
Editore: Springer Verlag
Classificazione: 2 Contributo in Volume
Abstract: ROS framework lacks of an internal tool to design or test control algorithms and therefore developers have to test their algorithms on-line, directly on the robotic platform they are working with. This is not always safe and possible, and a rapid prototyping tool can help during the design phase. Users can develop their algorithms directly on the controller board and safely test them in a simulated scenario. Although some rapid prototyping tools exist in the ROS community, none of them take Simulink® into consideration. In this work the authors provide an open source Rapid Prototyping tool which integrates ROS and Simulink. The proposed package is useful for control designers, who are frequently used to exploit Simulink features for control deployment. The tool can be downloaded from https://github.com/gionatacimini/rapros. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/228744

Room occupancy detection: Combining RSS analysis and fuzzy logic
IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics - Berlin, ICCE-Berlin
Autore/i: Baldini, A.; Ciabattoni, Lucio; Felicetti, R.; Ferracuti, Francesco; Longhi, Sauro; Monteriu', Andrea; Freddi, Alessandro
Editore: IEEE Computer Society
Classificazione: 4 Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)
Abstract: n this paper we focus our attention on the world of Internet of Things (IoT) objects and their potential for human indoor localization. Our aim is to investigate how Received Signal Strength (RSS) can be effectively used for identifying the position of a person at home, by exploiting common IoT communication networks. We propose a plug and play solution where the Anchor Nodes (ANs) are represented by smart objects located in the house, while the Unknown Node (UN) can be any smart object held by the user. The proposed solution automatically identifies the rooms where the smart objects are placed, by comparing a fuzzy weighted distance matrix derived from the anchor signals, with a threshold weighted distance matrix derived from the distances between rooms. The information can be easily integrated in any IoT environment to provide the estimation of the user position, without requiring the a priori knowledge of the positions of the anchor nodes. © 2016 IEEE.
Scheda della pubblicazione: https://iris.univpm.it/handle/11566/240570