ALBERT

Description: The supervision and feeding of grazing livestock are always difficult missions. Since animals act based on habits, the real-time monitoring data logger has become an indispensable instrument to assist farmers in recognizing the status of livestock. Position-tracked and acoustic monitoring have become commonplace as two of the best methods to characterize feeding performance in ruminants. Previously, the existing methods were limited to desktop computers and lacked a sound-collecting function. These restrictions impacted the late interventions from feeders and required a large-sized data memory. In this work, an open-source framework for a data collector that autonomously captures the health information of farm animals is introduced. In this portable hardware, a Wireless Location Acoustic Sensing System (WiLASS) is integrated to infer the health status through the activities and abnormal phenomena of farming livestock via chew–bite sound identification. WiLASS involves the open modules of ESP32-WROOM, GPS NEO-6M, ADXL335 accelerometer, GY-MAX4466 amplifier, temperature sensors, and other signal processing circuits. By means of wireless communication, the ESP32-WROOM Thing micro-processor offers high speed transmission, standard protocol, and low power consumption. Data are transferred in a real-time manner from the attached sensing modules to a digital server for further analysis. The module of GPS NEO-6M Thing brings about fast tracking, high precision, and a strong signal, which is suitable for highland applications. Some computations are incorporated into the accelerometer to estimate directional movement and vibration. The GY-MAX4466 Thing plays the role of microphone, which is used to store environmental sound. To ensure the quality of auditory data, they are recorded at a minimum sampling frequency of 10 KHz and at a 12-bit resolution. Moreover, a mobile software in pocket devices is implemented to provide extended mobility and social convenience. Converging with a cloud-based server, the multi-Thing portable platform can provide access to simultaneously supervise. Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol with low bandwidth, high reliability, and bi-direction, and which is appropriate for most operating systemsOS, is embedded into the system to prevent data loss. From the experimental results, the feasibility, effectiveness, and correctness of our approach are verified. Under the changes of climate, the proposed framework not only supports the improvement of farming techniques, but also provides a high-quality alternative for poor rural areas because of its low cost and its ability to carry out a proper policy for each species.

Description: To face contemporary problems, international engineers must be trained in advanced learning environments and with professional skills and knowledge. Sponsored by USAID (US Agency for International Development), the Build-IT (Building University-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology) program leverages the vast capabilities of the implementing partner from Arizona State University and plays a key role as an innovative pioneer in converging personalities from various fields. A well-educated engineer can contribute to the sustainable development of society. With the aim of building community-oriented education, an integrated strategy was proposed in which a problem-based learning method is investigated to apply technical knowledge. In accordance with this strategy, in our proposed method, students from Mechatronics Engineering first had to work together with other learners in the electronics, software, control automation, and mechanics fields, followed by the design of an open platform integrated multi-disciplinary approach. By collaborating with their peers in developing this hardware, students become better equipped with specialized knowledge. This process also allows students to feel confident in implementing their innovative thinking while still maintaining the core meaning of the instrument. One of the key benefits of this approach is that helping students overcome their problems concurrently enhances the engineer’s function in the community despite missing some specialized skill sets. Based on experimental works using this open framework, the present approach demonstrates that pupils in our program have sufficient ability to contribute to social achievements. Lastly, the feasible, low-cost, and visually educational instrument made by the participants showcases the value of such a multi-disciplinary approach.

Description: Nowadays, global engineers need to be equipped with professional skills and knowledge to solve 21st century problems. The educational program, created in digital learning rooms of the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) program supported by Arizona State University, became a pioneer in teaching learners to work within the community. First, the combination of a novel instructional strategy and an integrated education in which project-based approach is employed to apply the technical knowledge. During this, students in mechatronics, computer science, and mechanics must collaborate with peers from industrial systems engineering. Second, in this paper, the design of an open structure connecting multi-disciplinary major is illustrated with a new teaching approach. It is proved to be better by combining specialized understandings of various types in a wide range of applications. From this basis support, participants could implement additional components quickly while keeping the cost low, making the products feasible and user-friendly. Last but not least, students are facilitated with a free library that helps to control simply despite lacking experience in robotics or automation. Several examples show that students are capable of developing things by themselves on open design. In brief, this platform might be an excellent tool to teach and visualize the practical scenario in a multi-disciplinary field.

Description: To work in shared space with humans, autonomous systems must carry unknown loads in predefined missions. With the conventional control scheme, the grounded robot would suffer unstable motion and imprecise tracking performance. To overcome these challenges, in this paper, a novel controller using an adaptive sliding mode for autonomous grounded robots (AGR) is proposed. This control strategy takes into consideration uncertain characteristics, varying loads, and external disturbances. To analyze the tracking performance precisely, the overall error of motion system is decoupled into two subsystems where the second-order system is related to the angular tracking error and the third-order system is associated with the linear one. Initially, the dynamics model of the grounded robot is established containing different elements of nonlinear forces in order to address the technical problems. Then, the system state equation of the autonomous system is mentioned to indicate the theoretical characteristics. Based on the proposed controller, the stability of the system is validated by the Lyapunov theorem. From the results of numerical tests, three practical situations consisting of separately linear and circular trajectories with varying loads and an S-curve trajectory of a working map are suggested. The tracking performance validates that the proposed control scheme is, in various scenarios, robust, effective, and feasible. From these superior outcomes, it can be determined obviously the property of our works in accommodating the variations of cargo from applications in distribution centers, material transportation, or handling equipment.

Description: Currently, integrated trends play a key role in every aspect of automation applications. In particular, if the mechanization of agriculture becomes a competitive factor among farmers or nations, then the multi-functional transportation of agricultural products is inevitable in global trade. In sustainable transportation, the challenge of overcoming stable control in harsh environments, such as through imprecise parameters or varying loads, should be addressed. In this paper, a novel controller for a nonholonomic mechanical system able to adapt to uncertainties is proposed. Based on the multi-functional autonomous carrier (MAC), the system configuration of the kinematic and dynamic model is launched in order to identify the unstable problems that arise when tracking the trajectory. To solve these troubles, the decoupled formation of a MAC system has been investigated by considering two second-order components, namely a linear speed-based sub-system and angular speed-based sub-system. To stabilize the whole system using the Lyapunov theory, the advanced control techniques are studied. To validate the proposed approach, a series of test scenarios have been carried out. From the superior performance of numerous trials, it is clear that our approach is effective, feasible, and reasonable for the advanced control of agricultural applications.