Develop Real-Time Robot Control Architecture Using Robot Operating System and EtherCAT

This paper presents the potential of combining ROS (Robot Operating System), its state-of-art software, and EtherCAT technologies to design real-time robot control architecture for human–robot collaboration. For this, the advantages of an ROS framework here are it is easy to integrate sensors for recognizing human commands and the well-developed communication protocols for data transfer between nodes. We propose a shared memory mechanism to improve the communication between non-real-time ROS nodes and real-time robot control tasks in motion kernel, which is implemented in the ARM development board with a real-time operating system. The jerk-limited trajectory generation approach is implemented in the motion kernel to obtain a fine interpolation of ROS MoveIt planned robot path to motor. EtherCAT technologies with precise multi-axis synchronization performance are used to exchange real-time I/O data between motion kernel and servo drive system. The experimental results show the proposed architecture using ROS and EtherCAT in hard real-time environment is feasible for robot control application. With the proposed architecture, a user can efficiently send commands to a robot to complete tasks or read information from the robot to make decisions, which is helpful to reach the purpose of human–robot collaboration in the future.

Modelling the effects of lung cancer motion due to respiration

Background and objectives: To justify the concept of validating conformal versus intensity-modulated approach in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and methods: For 10 patients representative of the spectrum of tumour sizes and locations, two plans were prepared: one with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) technique and the other with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique. Preliminary measurements were performed in static conditions. For each of the field angles considered, the motion kernel was generated to simulate tumour motion trajectories, with the largest amplitude in the cranio-caudal direction of 4, 6, and 8 mm. The measurement results determined the agreement between the planned and measured doses. Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the motion patterns, with the smallest amplitudes for clinical target volume in 3DCRT. For IMRT, the significant differences between 0 mm vs. 6 mm and 0 mm vs. 8 mm amplitudes were found. The motion impact on delivered vs. planned doses had less effect on the oesophagus in 3DCRT compared to that in IMRT. The observed differences were comparable for the heart. Interpretation and conclusions: For maximal amplitudes below 4 mm, the disagreement between planned and delivered doses can be neglected. However, the amplitudes above 5 mm and 7 mm lead to significant changes in IMRT and 3DCRT dose distribution, respectively.

Nonlinear directionally selective subunits in complex cells of cat striate cortex

1. We have analyzed receptive fields (RFs) of directionally selective (DS) complex cells in the striate cortex of the cat. We determined the extent to which the DS of a complex cell depends on spatially identifiable subunits within the RF by studying responses to an optimally oriented, three-luminance-valued, gratinglike stimulus that was spatiotemporally randomized. 2. We identified subunits by testing for nonlinear spatial RF interactions. To do this, we calculated Wiener-like kernels in a spatial superposition test that depended on two RF positions at a time. The spatial and temporal separation of light and dark bars at these two positions varied over a spatial range of 8 degrees and a temporal range of +/- 112 ms in increments of 0.5 degree and 16 ms, respectively. 3. DS responses in complex cells cannot be explained by their responses to single light or dark bars because any linear superposition of responses whose time course is uniform across space shows no directional preference. 4. Nonlinear interactions between a flashed reference bar that is fixed in position and a second bar that is flashed at surrounding positions help explain DS by showing multiplicative-type facilitation for bar pairs that mimic motion in the preferred direction and suppression for bar pairs that mimic motion in the null direction. Interactions in the preferred direction have an optimal space/time ratio (velocity), exhibited by elongated, obliquely oriented positive domains in a space-time coordinate frame. This relationship is inseparable in space-time. The slope of the long axis specifies the preferred speed, and its negative agrees with the most strongly suppressed speed in the opposite direction. 5. When the reference bar position is moved across the RF, the spatiotemporal interaction moves with it. This suggests the existence of a family of nearly uniform subunits distributed across the RF. We call the subunit interaction, as averaged across the RF, the “motion kernel” because its spatial and temporal variables are those necessary to specify the velocity, the only parameter that distinguishes a moving image from a temporally modulated stationary image. The nonlinear interaction shows a spatial periodicity, which suggests a mechanism of velocity selectivity for moving extended images.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)