Abstract
Purpose - This paper aims to address a mobile robot localization system that avoids using a dedicated laser scanner, making it possible to reduce implementation costs and the robot's size. The system has enough precision and robustness to meet the requirements of industrial environments. Design/methodology/approach - Using an algorithm for artificial beacon detection combined with a Kalman Filter and an outlier rejection method, it was possible to enhance the precision and robustness of the overall localization system. Findings - Usually, industrial automatic guide vehicles feature two kinds of lasers: one for navigation placed on top of the robot and another for obstacle detection (security lasers). Recently, security lasers extended their output data with obstacle distance (contours) and reflectivity. These new features made it possible to develop a novel localization system based on a security laser. Research limitations/implications - Once the proposed methodology is completely validated, in the future, a scheme for global localization and failure detection should be addressed. Practical implications - This paper presents a comparison between the presented approach and a commercial localization system for industry. The proposed algorithms were tested in an industrial application under realistic working conditions. Social implications - The presented methodology represents a gain in the effective cost of the mobile robot platform, as it discards the need for a dedicated laser for localization purposes. Originality/value - This paper presents a novel approach that benefits from the presence of a security laser on mobile robots (mandatory sensor when considering industrial applications), using it simultaneously with other sensors, not only to guarantee safety conditions during operation but also to locate the robot in the environment. This paper is also valuable because of the comparison made with a commercialized system, as well as the tests conducted in real industrial environments, which prove that the approach presented is suitable for working under these demanding conditions.

Abstract
This paper describes a robot with 12 degrees of freedom for pick-and-place operations using bricks. In addition, an optimization approach is proposed, which determines the state of each joint (that establishes the pose for the robot) based on the target position while minimizing the effort of the servomotors avoiding the inverse kinematics problem, which is a hard task for a 12 DOF robot manipulator. Therefore, it is a multi-objective optimization problem that will be solved using two optimization methods: the Stretched Simulated Annealing method and the NSGA II method. The experiments conducted in a simulation environment prove that the proposed approach is able to determine a solution for the inverse kinematics problem. A real robot formed by several servomotors and a gripper is also presented in this research for validating the solutions.

Abstract

Abstract
The research proposes a novel technological solution for marker-based human motion capture called WirelessSyncroVision (WSV). The WSV is formed by two main modules: the visual node (WSV-V) which is based on a stereoscopic vision system and the marker node (WSV-M) that is constituted by a 6-DOF active marker. The solution synchronizes the acquisition of images in remote muti-cameras with the ON period of the active marker. This increases the robustness of the stereoscopic system to illumination changes, which is extremely relevant for programming industrial robotic-arms using a human demonstrator programming by demonstration (PbD). In addition, the research presents a robust method named Adaptive and Robust Synchronization (ARS), that is designed for temporal alignment of remote devices using a wireless network. The algorithm models the phase difference as a function of time, measuring the parameters that must be known to predict the synchronization instant between the active marker and the remote cameras. Results demonstrate that the ARS creates a balance between the real-time capability and the performance estimation of the phase difference. Therefore, this research proposes an elegant solution to synchronize image acquisition systems in real-time that is easy to implement with low operational costs; however, the major advantage of the WSV is related to its high level of flexibility since it can be extended toward to other devices besides the PbD, for instance, motion capture, motion analysis, and remote sensoring systems.

Abstract
This paper presents the proposal of a Low cost Mobile Robot prototype with On Board Laser Scanner, prototyped to compete at the Robot (R) Factory Mobile Robot competition. The robot is equipped with a hacked Neato XV-11 Laser Scanner, being a very low cost, alternative, when compared with the current available laser scanners. It is presented the description of its sensors and actuators, providing valuable information that can be used to develop better designs of controllers and localization systems. The robot is equipped with the 37Dx52L, which is a low cost 12v motor equipped with encoders and a 29:1 reduction gearbox, being a very popular actuator in the mobile robotics domain. The robot is also equipped with an USB camera applied to acquire image, that will be processed, in order to provide information concerning the part material status.

Abstract
Particle filters (PFs) are computationally intensive sequential Monte Carlo estimation methods with applications in the field of mobile robotics for performing tasks such as tracking, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and navigation, by dealing with the uncertainties and/or noise generated by the sensors as well as with the intrinsic uncertainties of the environment. However, the application of PFs with an important number of particles has traditionally been difficult to implement in real-time applications due to the huge number of operations they require. This work presents a hardware implementation on FPGA (field programmable gate arrays) of a PF applied to SLAM which aims to accelerate the execution time of the PF algorithm with moderate resource. The presented system is evaluated for different sensors including a low cost Neato XV-11 laser scanner sensor. First the system is validated by post processing data provided by a realistic simulation of a differential robot, equipped with a hacked Neato XV-11 laser scanner, that navigates in the Robot@Factory competition maze. The robot was simulated using SimTwo, which is a realistic simulation software that can support several types of robots. The simulator provides the robot ground truth, odometry and the laser scanner data. Then the proposed solution is further validated on standard laser scanner sensors in complex environments. The results achieved from this study confirmed the possible use of low cost laser scanner for different robotics applications which benefits in several aspects due to its cost and the increased speed provided by the SLAM algorithm running on FPGA.