Contemporary systems and cybernetics

Citation

Rudall, B.H. (2003), "Contemporary systems and cybernetics", Kybernetes, Vol. 32 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2003.06732daa.001

Contemporary systems and cybernetics

Keywords: Automation, Cybernetics, R&D, Technical innovation

Abstract Gives reports and surveys of selected current research and developments in systems and cybernetics. They include: Technologies against crime; Biologically-inspired machines; Cybernetics and Robotic systems; Body-monitoring system; Automated vehicles; European network.

Technologies against crime

Crime is finally under attack by those who are responsible for spending the tax-payers money on research activities. Although there have been a great number of “spin-offs” from research initiatives set up for entirely different purposes there have been many programmes of research directed solely at preventing criminal activities. There are, of course, exceptions where governments are themselves directly affected. In the United Kingdom crime is high on the political agenda of the main parties and it is also an issue, which with the help of the media is receiving a great deal of attention. We are told that it is simply not a matter of increasing the police and security services but of harnessing science and the major technologies towards both the detection and prevention of crime.

Certainly in Europe one government research agency is to increase its expenditure in a bid to encourage its engineering and science base to develop the next generation of technologies to deal with the increased crime. In the United Kingdom an initial budet of £3 million is to be added to the £7 million already being spent by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council on its “Technologies for Crime Prevention and Detection” crime-related research programmes.

In the UK we are told that crime costs the economy £50 billion a year. It is, therefore, a very good investment for any government to encourage its scientists and engineers to think about what their disciplines can offer in the fight against crime. Current research in Britain is largely concerned with information technology and communication activities such as data encryption and CCTV technologies.

The UK’s research council EPSRC says that its:

• •

  programme aims to support technologies that will help achieve a safe living environment, improve security of people and property, provide proof and protection of identity, and aid forensic science and crime detection.

  An important aspect of the programme is that participants must be “connected” – that is, they must demonstrate collaboration with potential users of the technology, such as the police or manufacturers. This partnership need not require a financial input. This is to ensure that the research is addressing issues of relevance.

  The kinds of technologies that might be developed range from new materials for protective clothing to miniaturised devices for on-site forensic analysis and “smart” security systems integrated into the structure of buildings.

More details about the UK initiative may be obtained from: The EPSRC. E-mail: pilar-sepulveda@epsrc.ac.uk; Web site: www.epsrc.ac.uk

Biologically-inspired machinesPioneer neurophysiologist

Cyberneticians and systemists already know about the pioneering work of the neurophysiologist William Grey Walter. He was a world leader in many endeavours and in particular, in electroencephalography. His work and contribution to science was recalled last year at a workshop held at the Hewlett-Packard Laboratories at Bristol, UK, when Dr Owen Holland (University of Essex, UK) gave an insight into Dr Grey Walter’s life and work. This was a workshop that set out to highlight research in the field of biologically-inspired robots. The attendance at this event indicated the interest in this research area and many who attended were surprised at the high number of postgraduate students and international delegates who were present.

We were told that Dr Grey Walter was among the first to grasp the potential offered by mobile autonomous robots to test how high-level observable behaviours might arise from low-level sensory, neural and motor processes. This potential, Dr Holland said:

• •

  … was embodied in the world-famous “tortoise” mobile robots. In Grey Walter’s own words “these machines are perhaps the simplest that can be said to resemble animals. Crude though they are, they give an eerie impression of purposefulness, independence, and spontaneity.”

Current and future developments

This research gathering was sponsored by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the BBSRC in support of the Adaptive and Interactive Behaviour of Animal and Computational Systems (AIBACS). This is another initiative of the EPSRC at the interface of biology, engineering and computing.

Some of the internationally acclaimed practitioners across a range of the relevant disciplines put the subject in perspective.

For example, Rodney Brooks of MIT’s AI Laboratory, US, gave a critical view of the past, present and future of the bio-inspired robotics. He believes that:

• •

  … the field needs some application successes, tools to understand biological systems, and the consideration of features of biological creatures such as metabolism.

Further comments on future prospects were made by Michael Arbib of the University of Southern California, US, who said that:

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  There is a lot of biology out there waiting to inspire researchers in biologically-inspired robotics.

It was interesting to note that whilst the field is in dire need of some inspired strategies for biologically-motivated research and asked for thoughts about how the many disciplines that are relevant to this work could be brought together the worldwide initiatives in interdisciplinary research carried out by cyberneticians and systemists remained untapped.

Contributions, however, are invited from any reader with thoughts on the subject either to the forum section of this journal or direct to those involved with this reported workshop – Mark.hylton@epsrc.ac.uk

It should be noted that the proceedings of this particular workshop have been published as a web-accessible Hewlett-Packard Technical Report. The link with the arts is further highlighted by the publication of the selected papers from this reported event as a special issue of the:

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Part A).

Cybernetics and robotic systemsCockroach-based robots

A recent article published in the UK’s Guardian Newspaper by Duncan Steel of the Space-Technology Department at the University of Salford, UK, describes how cockroach-based robots could explore Mars.

There are already numerous examples of robotic devices that have been designed to imitate living creatures. Animals are the obvious choice, but insects and birds have not been neglected. It is no surprise, therefore, to read that the cockroach is to be a role model for the designers of robots that need to explore the surface of Mars.

We are told that the surface of Mars has low-lying cliffs and gullies where signs of water seepage has been identified from orbit. This surface tends to be the roughest and the toughest. Stable and dextrous movement is apparently difficult to achieve.

Dr Carol Stoker, who is an expert on Mars at the Nasa Ames Research Center, California, USA, says that:

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  As is always true with robotics, legs are fine – its knowing where to put them that is hard.

The author of this article writes that:

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  Movement complexity grows rapidly with the number of legs. In contrast, the stability of a robot increases with the limb count.

  To avoid falling over when stationary, any robot needs at least three legs. That is, the device must cast a shadow on the ground within which the centre of gravity must fall.

  A robot must have at least four legs if it is to be statically stable and also able to move slowly, because when one foot is raised, the other three can still encompass the centre of gravity.

  More legs are desirable but that implies computational complexity. Perhaps things could be simplified. A hexapod can operate as a double tripod: the front and back legs on one side are paired with the middle on the other making one tripod, likewise for the remaining triplet. Such an arrangement may then walk on fiat ground, but we want to explore the rough terrain of Mars, so the idea is hardly useful.

The question to be posed then is: what approach should be made? Three alternative approaches have been suggested, and are listed below.

1. 1.

   The radio link time between Mars and the Earth is only minutes, so it makes little difference if a computer or human located at the home-base takes several seconds to decide which leg to move next. This approach is likened to “playing chess by mail” and the rover robot would not wander very far.

2. 2.

   Make the machine sufficiently autonomous to decide for itself what to do next.

3. 3.

   Look at the action of creatures such as ants or spiders since they do not have the processing power to plan a sequence of leg movements – they just do it!

If the last approach is considered a possible one it is necessary to carry out a study of what such creatures do with their legs. Centipedes are, we are told, easy to understand because their legs move in a series of waves and they have a great deal of redundancy. So it does not matter if several legs miss the ground during a movement because enough contact is made for overall success. Cockroaches are different and were chosen for high speed filming of their leg movements. They are fast movers so it was hoped that a study of their actions would reveal their leg movements. As a result, test robots about the size of a shoe similar to the structure of a cockroach’s legs were built and tested.

It appears that its front, middle and rear legs bend and move in quite different ways. We are told that:

• •

  Such models, set to repeat pre-defined movements regardless of what they are up against, can negotiate pebbly ground and barriers taller than themselves where wheeled robots would be stuck. They can scuttle along far faster than the sedate pace of Sojourner, which Nasa landed on Mars in l997, or the twin rovers planned for dispatch next year.

What is required now is a strategy for their use, individually robotic cockroaches are unreliable but sent out onto a planet surface in mass could well result in returning some useful data. Man-made robotic cockroaches could well have a future in space.

Innovative robotic systems

Marketing the new robotic systems. Israel’s robotics company Friendly Robotics was founded in May 1995 and has been developing robotic devices that can carry out basic chores. It has already produced a robotic lawn mower for the market some 2 years ago. The second robotic device produced and being marketed now is a robotic vacuum cleaner. Now, of course there is competition from companies worldwide who are also in this market. The company, however, is meeting the opposition and sells their products under its own brand name in the US and in Europe. In 2001 the company changed its focus and the managing director Udi Peless says that their US sales have slowly picked up. He claims that last year the company sold some 15–20,000 units worldwide, and saw between $5 million and $6 million in sales of which 50 percent came from the US.

Despite the earlier problems the company believes that they are now in a solid position, Udi Peless says:

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  It is clear our vision of a home robotics market was correct. Home robotics is rapidly becoming a consumer category and there are more and more players trying to compete in the field.

Friendly says that it has two main competitors: the Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna, which introduced their robotic mower 2 years before them, and the Italian manufacturer Ambrozia, which introduced its robotic mower this year (2002). The overall market for lawn mowers in Europe and the US is about 6 million units a year. Robotic mowers are likely to capture some 10 percent. Vacuum cleaners produce afar larger market. Every year 40 million units are sold. Friendly will be producing its new robotic vacuum in late 2002, marketing it at about $1,000. To stay ahead of its rivals the company says that:

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  To try to stay ahead of the crowd, Friendly already has plans for further home robots. These include a wet-floor cleaner, which can vacuum and mop the floor, and will probably be introduced in 2003; a robotic snow shoveller; a robotic golf caddy that carries clubs around a golf course, and even a robotic garbage can that finds its own way to the street. The main problem here are the steps. Friendly has the technology, it’s just too expensive for a consumer product.

Udi Peless sums up his company’s market strategy and philosophy by publishing his belief that:

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  People are looking for liberation from chores, They simply don’t want to do these jobs any more. That’s how house-hold chores have been going in the last couple of decades. Either you get someone else to do it for you, or you get a robot to do it. In the past it wasn’t possible to mechanize this process, because technology wasn’t intelligent enough. Now it is.

Based on a report from the International Jerusalem Post – Digital Israel – 2002.

Body-monitoring system Mobile sleep laboratory

A recent article by Maria Bielikova of the Slovak University of Technology (SRCIM) published in The ERCIM News No. 51, 2002, describes a “Body- Monitoring System with EEG and EOG Sensors”. In effect, it describes the work of a team of four students from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava in developing what is called “a prototype mobile sleep laboratory”.

The author of the article writes that:

• •

  The Body-Monitoring System (BMS) is designed as a mobile device that is able to collect measured data and to act according to instructions set by a supervisor. The system consists of a body-monitoring network. In order to recognize the monitored person’s state, the monitor unit connects to various body sensors and i/o devices using either wired or wireless communication technologies. Data from all sensors is collected, stored and analysed in real time and, according to the analysis, actions may then be performed. A computer is used as an interface to the body-monitoring network, and developed software allows a supervisor to configure the monitor unit for the monitored person, to connect sensors and i/o devices, define and upload instructions for monitoring and download collected data.

Monitor unit functions

The body-monitoring system is described in some detail. In particular, the configuration and function of the monitor unit is discussed. We are told that:

• •

  The monitor unit software consists of a communication module (responsible for connecting and controlling sensors, and for gathering and pre-processing measured data), a storage module (for storage of collected data), and a policy interpretation module (responsible for controlling the behaviour of the monitor unit according to instructions defined by a supervisor).

  Two types of drivers are introduced. The role of a communication driver is to hide the way in which data is transmitted. There is one driver for every type of communication interface, e.g. a Bluetooth driver or an IEEE 802.11b driver. The communication driver does not care about the data itself: this is the role of device drivers. Each type of sensor has its own device driver. When a device driver receives a message from one of its sensors it decodes the message and informs the policy engine about the state of the sensor. To send/receive a message to/from a sensor, the device driver uses the corresponding communication driver.

  The behaviour of the monitor unit is controlled by interpretation instructions defined by a supervisor (called policies). A policy describes the monitor unit’s response to events reported by sensors. Policies are written in the Policy Markup Language (based on XML). It enables general policies to be written using “virtual” objects that are replaced by physical devices in actual runtime. The monitor unit prototype is implemented in Microsoft-embedded Visual C++ 3.0 on Compaq iPaq Pocket PC HR3870.

System validation

To validate the system design it was tested in a specific field of medicine. “Sleep research” was chosen since by its very nature of development the body was required to be monitored. For example, studying the problem of sleep disorders sleep laboratories in hospital are used to monitor patients overnight. As with so many tests carried out in a hospital environment sleep patterns proved to be different from those experienced at home. This prototype was therefore, developed so that it could be used easily at home by patients under test.

To carry out this application Dr Bielikova indicates that the prototype employs an:

• •

  … electroencephalograph (EEG, which monitors brain waves), an electrooculograph (EOG, which monitors eye movement) and a thermometer. Analysis of EEG and EOG data allows identification of all sleep stages.

  Sensor implementation goes out from a common sensor platform designed in the course of this project. The common platform contains a detecting element, amplifiers and filters, an AD converter, a microprocessor and a Bluetooth module.

  The developed EEG sensor could also be used for continuous EEG examination. Such an examination is necessary for patients suffering from epilepsy.

Distinctive features

The project exhibited many distinctive features which were soon appreciated when it was examined at an international level. For example, it provides:

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  it provides wireless communication between various sensors attached to the human body;

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  it provides a unified way of controlling several sensors by a single monitor device. Sensors may also influence each other, e.g. it is possible to start monitoring blood pressure using a manometer as soon as an electrocardiograph (ECG) sensor reports a heart problem;

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  it is possible to adapt monitoring to the patient’s state, i.e. measurements and alert messages are controlled and provided according to the current context;

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  it allows complex schemas for sensor control to be defined and represented in a specialized language called Policy Markup Language (PML), which is powerful enough to describe mutual dependencies and cooperation among several sensors, and even to define complex schemas for taking medicine;

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  it provides a secure way to transmit and store measured data;

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  it can be used for monitoring almost any interesting body parameters, since the design supports different sensors using practically any communication technology.

Award-winning project

The project participants explored the concept of intelligent data collection from human body sensors and presented their work at the annual IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition (CSIDC 2002) World Finals where their excellent work and presentation received an award.

Biocyberneticians will be aware that research into body-monitoring systems is being carried out worldwide. It is a natural application for the new technology now available for those who are working in medicine. In consequence this system and others being developed can be used in a number of different fields and specific applications. Some of those currently being investigated as potential areas for the use of such systems are: pulse rate monitoring in sports science, sudden infant death syndrome, monitoring those who work in dangerous environments and many more possible scenarios.

We join the judges of CSIDC 2002 in congratulating the students: Peter Blstak, Matus Horvath, Peter Lacko and Marion Lekavy for their well-deserved success.

Automated vehiclesThe “Intelligent” vehicle

The use of computer systems in motor vehicles is hardly new, as they become more sophisticated the concept of a “smart” car becomes a reality. Modern cars produced using the latest automation techniques are then equipped with computers that are able to monitor and control almost all aspects of its operations, even to the extent of plotting its exact position using the global positioning system (GPS). There are projects now to control its speed from remote state contolled centres and to monitor its position so that special levies can be charged for entry to cities, and restricted tourist areas. Cars can be banned from secure areas and can be tracked at will. In essence, vehicles now designed using computer systems are manufactured using automation systems, run by computers and likely to be controlled and tracked by “Big Brother” computer centres. Vehicles are therefore already “smart” and are likely to get smarter. Manufacturers already realise this and many accept that as technology advances new devices can be implanted to improve their performance and to make them environmentally more acceptable to society. With this in mind one car maker in the United Kingdom, Lotus, is developing the “Intelligent engine” or the “thinking engine” as some developers would prefer it to be called.

The “Intelligent” engine

In developing tne “Intelligent engine” Lotus say that they are responding to the need to produce vehicles that react to different driving conditions, that can reduce exhaust emissions and save fuel while stuck in traffic jams. In specifying this “thinking engine” Lotus say that:

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  When the driver hits traffic the new Lotus automatically shuts down two of its four cylinders and trundles along with the power of a lawn mower – cutting petrol consumption by a quarter and exhaust emissions by 90 percent. But when congestion clears and the car reaches the open road, the engine kicks in with the Hallmark thrust of a typical Lotus sports car. The new engine would make an average 1.6l family saloon perform like a 2.2l turbo on the motor way and a 0.8l supermini in town.

The company have indicated that the new engine works by:

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  having an on-board computer that activates a “Flexible valve system” which enables to engine to react to different traffic environments;

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  producing improved combustion stability;

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  reducing fuel consumption and toxic emissions;

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  having new operation speeds of up to 7,000rpm;

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  cutting engine power in congested areas by reducing the number of cylinders in use and so cutting back on unnecessary power so that it acts like a small car; and

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  allowing maximum power to give sportscar-like acceleration on the open road with “footdown” action.

New prototypes

Currently Lotus are testing prototypes of its new engine at its factory in Norfolk, UK. They plan to use it in future models or even market it to other companies. They believe that the new smart engine will provide sportscar performance and will be environmentally friendly, thus proving attractive to those drivers who enjoy fast cars and are also aware of their present impact. The company says that future engines would be electronically controlled with the accelerator connected to a computer rather than a mechanical throttle. Some of this technology has already been used on the Formula One active suspension systems to create their active valve train engine. Development we are told will cost some £100 million, but half of this sum could come from UK government research funding. The technology is expected to be in a test car by the end of 2002.

Increased “intelligence” brings safety

Many new devices are being designed to make vehicles safe. Whilst in the UK the government has concentrated on enforcement of the speed restrictions with “state-of the art” cameras that check your speed and, if you disobey the speed limits, print your “penalty ticket” to arrive in a day or so, some companies are profiting by their development of radar-speed detectors which drivers can fit to their cars.

To many drivers a “smart car” is a car that is so “intelligent” that it enables you to disobey the current motoring laws and get away with it.

One new smart car feature that even these drivers are likely to accept is one that targets sleepy drivers. This is not merely a national problem but a truly global one. In Europe alone we are told, an estimated 30 percent of fatal accidents are caused each year by drivers who become sleepy at the wheel. The result is that the European Union is funding a project to the tune of £4 million together with private investment, to reduce this unacceptably high rate.

The project designers report that:

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  Mercedes estate cars and Fiat runarounds are being used to test up to 22 different monitors designed to detect if a driver is falling asleep at the wheel and to trigger a series of devices designed to wake them up. The test cars have been fitted with infrared cameras which monitor eye movements, touchpad sensors that measure the driver’s grip on the steering wheel and chassis monitors which check for veer. Should drivers start to doze off they can be woken by sudden blasts of airconditioned cold air while at the same time a vibrating alarm will sound and the driver’s seat will be made to shake.

The system is called the Awake System and will be patented by Daimler-Chrysler the owners of both Mercedes and Fiat.

The system should be installed in cars as soon as 2004. The European Union, we are told, will, if the trials are successful, issue a directive which would make the system compulsory in long-distance lorries. These are regarded as one of the leading causes of sleep-related road accidents.

Some scientists have reservations about the system believing that drivers may well be encouraged to drive “sleepless cars”, when they are tired. At the moment the system relies on three monitoring devices that are designed to check very small changes, in summary:

1. 1.

   out of lane – unusual veering across lanes picked up by sensors;

2. 2.

   eye-movement – driver’s eyes monitors for blink rate-infrared cameras; and

3. 3.

   steering – loss of grip on steering wheel-touchpad sensors.

In addition to this basic data about the way a car is driven the system also monitors braking frequency and can detect movement towards the rear and side mirrors. The designers do recognise, however, that no-one drives in exactly the same manner so that the system has to findout the particular features of the car’s owner (or owners).

The three warning “wake-up” alarms used by the current system were chosen after trying versions that squirted smelling salts at the dozing driver, opened windows or activated the brakes automatically. All of these were deemed to be dangerous.

New “intelligent” devices

As our technology advances more smart devices will be installed many of which will depend on the ability to construct systems with a degree of “intelligence”. Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) will, of course, bring in an enhanced degree of sophistication to such systems. On the basis of the present AI studies much can be done to improve both car safety and performance. The smart airbag which relies on the monitoring of various sensors which provide data about the car seat occupant is, but, another example of the application of our present day “state-of-the-art” system programming.

European networkNetwork aims

EUREKA is a European network for market-oriented research and development. Its aim is to strengthen European competitiveness by promoting market-driven collaborative research and technological development. The EUREKA initiative enables industry and research institutes from 31 member countries and the European Union to collaborate in a bottom-up approach in developing and exploiting innovative technologies.

New EUREKA projects are being endorsed and further details of the current ones are available on the network database: www.eureka.be. In addition, profiles of research and development projects which are at an early stage of development and often seeking additional partners are published in EUREKA bulletins.

Some EUREKA projectsReaders of this journal will obviously be interested in only a selection of the reports. Some of the projects of interest are:

EUREKA projects that focus on flood, fire and other emergency applications:Advanced mobile robots:

Project reference: Σ! 18 AMR (IMP)

• •

  Advanced mobile robots used for public safety applications such as natural or industrial disasters and anti-terrorism. Capable of inspecting accident sites, moving loads, navigating stairs, slopes and unforeseen obstacles (Finished project).

Fire alarm technology:Project reference: Σ! 2414 FIRESENS

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  A major technological breakthrough in the field of fire alarm technology, the project is using advanced optical chip technology to develop optical sensors capable of detecting the gases formed when a fire breaks out. These gases occur much earlier than smoke particles, enabling a faster fire fighting response time (Ongoing project).

Automated monitoring:Project reference: Σ! 996 MAINE DIALOGS

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  The DIALOGS tootbox provides automated condition monitoring and early warning fault detection support for use in industrial processes such as chemical production and power generation plants, and plants where the consequences in the event of accidents are severe. It aims to improve the quality and flexibility of process operation to enhance safety, efficiency, product quality and plant availability through effective condition monitoring (Finished project).

Advanced fire detection system:Project reference: Σ! 354 EUROENVIRON FIDESY

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  An advanced fire detection system based on the computerised analysis of images taken by two video cameras operating in the infrared and visible field. It could also be used as an anti-sabotage security system by detecting human bodies in the darkness. Suitable for use in oil refineries, chemical plants, warehouses, complex manufacturing systems, aviation fields and hangars, marine terminals etc. (Finished project).

EUREKA projects that focus on traffic technology

Advanced traffic prioritising system:Project reference: Σ! 1637:TRAPRIO

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  Sets out to develop an advanced traffic prioritising system capable of monitoring a vehicle’s progress and changing traffic lights to clear the way ahead. It uses batteryless low frequency “tags” positioned below the road surface near road junctions, which interact with antenna fitted to the vehicle. Concept combined with GPS.

Intelligent control system:Project reference: Σ! 45 PROMETHEUS

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  … an umbrella project, has yielded a rich crop of innovative solutions which are already benefiting Europe’s citizens, including a digital road map and road guidance system to aid navigation, give advance notice of traffic congestion and accidents and offer intelligent routes; an intelligent cruise control system which automatically adjusts speed and distance to prevent sudden breaking or contact; and an automatic emergency call system, which alerts the emergency services when an accident has happened.

Sensor system for vehicle tyres:Project reference: Σ! 2375 TYRESENSE

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  … is developing a sensor system which monitors friction between tyre and road to enhance the safety of the vehicle. The sensors will also be able to detect insufficient pressure in a tyre and overheating, preventing flat and bursting tyres.

Advanced composite materials for hazards:Project reference: Σ! 2534:THERMOPOLE

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  Advanced thermoplastic composite materials developed to overcome problems with producing tapered column forms while retaining many of the performance features of conventional thermoset systems. Involves specialist software to design and produce safer street furniture such as the lamp post.

These are only some of the projects that have been completed or are “ongoing”. In the case of traffic projects not only have “smart solutions” been devised but the implementations have already caused traffic congestion, and perhaps of more importance saved lives. In the case of the project THERMOPOLE it should be noted that traditional lamp posts were responsible for nearly 100 deaths and over 800 serious injuries a year. Now the safer alternative is capable of absorbing energy in a more controlled way, crumpling in a vehicle crash.

Other EUREKA projects may not have such a dramatic contribution, but are equally innovative and provide important results.

B. H. RudallNorbert Wiener Institute and University of Wales, UK