Research Papers - Dept of Information Technology
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Publication Embargo Developing A User-Friendly Interface from Robotic Applications Development(IEEE, 2022-10-04) Fernando, W. A. M.; Jayawardena, C; Rajapaksha, U. U. S.In this research, we have developed a web-based Robot Operating System (ROS) learning environment with its own set of tools. Our system is a comprehensive learning environment where students can go through the tutorials using the web interface and use our web-based development environment for writing scripts. Furthermore, students can use the web-based Gazebo simulator to visualize the robots. In addition, our learning environment also has its own set of tools that students can utilize for testing and troubleshooting robots. One of the other benefits of our system is that it is platform independent, and hence it can be accessed from either computer, mobile phone or tablet. Our system also has a dropdown for selecting commands. In this, all the descriptions and syntaxes of the commands are predefined and populated whenever a command is added from the dropdown. In addition, we have developed multiple other features that make this system much easier to use and user-friendly. In order to verify the usability of the system, we have performed a heuristic evaluation, and our findings show that the system complies with nine of the ten heuristics in Nielsen’s framework. In addition, our system complies with twelve of the fourteen heuristics in Zhang’s framework. We performed a performance evaluation as well. In this, we compared the performance of simulating our web-based system against running the same simulation directly from a Linux-based ROS server using the Gazebo client. The results showed that our system was faster by a small margin.Publication Open Access Design, Implementation, and Performance Evaluation of a Web-Based Multiple Robot Control System(Hindawi, 2022-05-30) Rajapaksha, U. U. S; Jayawardena, C; MacDonald, B. AHeterogeneous multiple robots are currently being used in smart homes and industries for different purposes. The authors have developed the Web interface to control and interact with multiple robots with autonomous robot registration. The autonomous robot registration engine (RRE) was developed to register all robots with relevant ROS topics. The ROS topic identification algorithm was developed to identify the relevant ROS topics for the publication and the subscription. The Gazebo simulator spawns all robots to interact with a user. The initial experiments were conducted with simple instructions and then changed to manage multiple instructions using a state transition diagram. The number of robots was increased to evaluate the system’s performance by measuring the robots’ start and stop response time. The authors have conducted experiments to work with the semantic interpretation from the user instruction. The mathematical equations for the delay in response time have been derived by considering each experiment’s input given and system characteristics. The Big O representation is used to analyze the running time complexity of algorithms developed. The experiment result indicated that the autonomous robot registration was successful, and the communication performance through the Web decreased gradually with the number of robots registered.Publication Embargo Moving Robots in Unknown Environments Using Potential Field Graphs(IEEE, 2022-02-23) Panagoda, M; Lokuliyanage, M; Senarath, A; Nethmini Nisansala, N. K. V. M; Rajapakshe, R. W. A. D. U; Rajapaksha, S; Jayawardena, CThe purpose of this research paper is to introduce a new navigation algorithm for Robot Operating System (ROS) based robots which will allow complete autonomous traversal in any given indoor environment. Turtle bot3 burger bot is the sample robot chosen for this project. This will be equipped with a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) scanner with the default settings, ultrasound, Intel Real Sense camera, etc. Environment information gathered via these sensors will be sent into a remote computer for processing since the raspberry pie micro-controller with the turtle bot burger is not enough to carry out a high computation-intensive task. Once the information is received series of tasks will be carried out by the remote personal computer before executing the newly developed navigation algorithm. The data from the LIDAR scanner help to generate a 2-dimensional(2D) potential field graph. Then it will later be used for path planning by navigation algorithm. Furthermore, the Real sense camera is used for object boundary detection to produce more accurate data for the navigation algorithm. Once all the data proceed, data will return to the robot, where the navigation algorithm will start execution in parallel with a recovery behavior algorithm and scan algorithm. The recovery behavior algorithm is responsible for guiding the robot to face away from an obstacle in an event where the predetermined path is obstructed. Furthermore, it is responsible for maintaining accurate data in the cost map. Subsequently, the scanning algorithm will be used to generate maps.Publication Embargo Moving a Robot In Unknown Areas Without Collision Using Robot Operating System(IEEE, 2022-02-23) Gayashani, K. K. P; Rajapaksha, S; Jayawardena, CNowadays, robots have become a most crucial role. With technology development, we can do so many things using robotic technology. There are lots of projects in which robots move in a known area. This study proposes a mechanism to move a robot in an unknown area. We can use this kind of robot in hazardous environments, and we can use this robot in several ways. The proposed system is based on the Robotic Operation System (ROS) and the simulator Gazebo. The obstacle avoidance part is done using a laser sensor. After that, there should be a direction-changing mechanism in the developing algorithm. That implemented using loops. Because after the robot changes direction, it again needs to check whether another object is there in the navigated location. The proposed algorithm was developed with the autonomous navigation mechanism. Map generation is another functionality of this project. It is done using Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM). Map visualization was done using the Rviz application. With the robot’s movement, the robot’s current position is calculated using x, y, and z coordinates. Also, this project has included reverse navigation functionality. Reverse navigation is a novel section in this research work. The objective of this study and the outcome is to move the robot without having any crashes. Also, we can use this to evaluate dangerous areas. Experimental results of the direction and velocity changes have been mentioned in the results and discussion section.Publication Embargo Web Based User-Friendly Graphical Interface to Control Robots with ROS Environment(IEEE, 2021-12-01) Rajapaksha, D. D; Nuhuman, M. N. M; Gunawardhana, S. D; Sivalingam, A; Mohamed Hassan, M. N; Rajapaksha, S. K; Jayawardena, CWe have proposed a web-based approach to controlling robots in simulation. This web application will provide a simple user interface to demonstrate the various capabilities of robots. It is intended to be used by beginners who are interested in working with the Robot Operating System(ROS). The evaluation of the system is specifically achieved with Turtlebot3 waffle pi model. All the robot's functionalities are displayed in a simulated environment so users do not need an actual robot or direct access to ROS. The application covers various manual and autonomous functionalities of the robot while trying to be as interactive as possible. Each interface provides an overview of the function and basic implementation details. The goal of the proposed system is to make robotics accessible to anyone with web access and to mitigate the need to have a specific computer environment and knowledge in programming to access Robotics.Publication Embargo ROS Based Heterogeneous Multiple Robots Control Using High Level User Instructions(IEEE, 2021-12-07) Rajapaksha, S. K; Jayawardena, C; MacDonald, B. AHeterogeneous Multiple Robots(HMR) can be used in daily life for smart homes and industry. The differences in implementing different HMR can be minimized using middle-ware like Robot Operating System (ROS). However, the ROS topics, nodes, and message formats to subscribe and publish can differ from one robot to another. When a user expresses high-level instructions through the Web interface, all multiple robots must understand instructions uniformly and take the actions accordingly without considering each robot's internal software and hardware implementation. This paper represents an optimized ontology-based algorithm for HMR registration and control for high-level instructions. Autonomous robot registration was achieved using an ontology-based optimized algorithm. User-level high-level instructions are processed using an ontology-based algorithm to determine the corresponding actions for each robot. Finally, autonomous publication and subscription to different ROS topics were implemented using another optimized algorithm. The evaluation of the proposed algorithms was completed with Turtlebot, Husky and TiaGo robots using gazebo.Publication Embargo Ontology based optimized algorithms to communicate with a service robot using a user command with unknown terms(IEEE, 2020-12-10) Rajapaksha, S. K; Jayawardena, CIn real world applications, seamless integration of heterogeneous robots is very important to complete a task given by high level user instruction with unknown terms to all robotic devices simultaneously. In this research, we have used the technologies in Semantic Web mainly with the use of the ontology to represent the meaning of the unknown terms in the given high level instruction. If a user has given an instruction in domestic environment as “clean My Room 01 while finding my key for the car” to clean different locations with different capabilities and there can be robot who does not the meaning of the “key”. The robot can get the meaning of the unknown term by communicating with the semantic analyzer which is working with the ontology. According to our analysis we have proved that the object represented by the unknown term can be detected more accurately with compared to existing object detection algorithms since our ontology can represents more concepts related to the given object. The results indicate that if number of unknown terms in the command are increased then the time taken to process the command also be increased.Publication Embargo Lounging with robots–social spaces of residents in care: a comparison trial(Wiley Online Library, 2015-12-02) Peri, K; Kerse, N; Broadbent, E; Jayawardena, C; Kuo, T; Datta, C; Stafford, R; MacDonald, BTo investigate whether robots could reduce resident sleeping and stimulate activity in the lounges of an older persons care facility.Publication Open Access A navigation model for side-by-side robotic wheelchairs for optimizing social comfort in crossing situations(North-Holland, 2018-02-01) Nguyen, V. T; Ardekani, I; Jayawardena, COne challenge in designing side-by-side robotic wheelchairs is to improve the comfort of the users, caregivers and surrounding people in crowded environments. Among different scenarios that a side-by-side robotic wheelchair has to deal with, crossing pedestrians is a common situation. Yet techniques developed for tackling the problem of passing pedestrians have still failed to take into account enough factors related to human walking behavior, therefore the navigation plan is not natural. To tackle this problem, this paper proposes a novel navigation model for side-by-side robotic wheelchairs that considers the Friendly Link factor and Preferred Walking Velocity related to the comfort of wheelchair users, caregivers and pedestrians. The model is carried out based on an experimental observation and data collection. The developed model is then validated by comparing the distance errors between the moving solutions of the new model and previous methods with the real solutions of humans based on a natural walking scenario. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed technique is significantly better than that of previous techniques.Publication Open Access Multidisciplinary Design Approach for Implementation of Interactive Services(Springer Netherlands, 2011-10-14) Kuo, I. H; Jayawardena, C; Broadbent, E; MacDonald, B. AIn the design of service robots, a key research focus has been on Human Robot Interaction (HRI) required in service applications. HRI is one of the critical factors that determines the acceptability of a service robot. The user acceptance of a service robot and its applications is highly related to HRI, as HRI affects the user perception and user experience related to the robot. In this paper, a new design approach is proposed for designing and implementing HRI for service robot applications designed for real scenarios in the real-world environment. The objective of this design approach is to facilitate inter-disciplinary collaborations, which are essential for HRI research and for developing successful products. The proposed design approach was used in the design of the healthcare service robot “Cafero” developed at the University of Auckland in collaboration with the Electronic and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI) and Yujin Robot Company Ltd. of Korea. Vital signs measurement, medication management, entertainment and falls detection were implemented as service applications of Cafero. In the design process, UML and UMLi modelling diagrams were used to model the robot’s multi-modal and interactive behaviour. Interaction design patterns were defined to represent recurring interactions or social cues in HRI using UMLi notations. The proposed design approach emphaI- sises an iterative process to allow discovery of additional HRI requirements in the early design stage and to implement through Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE). The design of communication initiation and user identification by Cafero is presented as a case study, in order to evaluate the proposed design approach. In this case study, enabling a service robot to act proactively to the presence of a potential user and identifying the user prior to providing healthcare services is presented. For the implementation, Open-RTM component-oriented framework was used.