Activity Report 2009

Activity Report
2009
Summary
Unit Description ................................................................................................................................ 4
A – Publications ...........................................................................................................................5
Publications in International Journals ................................................................................................ 6
Accepted Papers / In Press ............................................................................................................ 8
Special Issues ................................................................................................................................ 9
Publications in National Journals ....................................................................................................... 9
Books .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Publications in books ....................................................................................................................... 10
Papers presented at International Scientific Conferences ................................................................ 11
Papers presented at National Scientific Conferences ....................................................................... 17
B – Organization of Scientific Conferences .................................................................................. 18
Organizing Comitte.......................................................................................................................... 19
As members of International Program Comittees ............................................................................ 19
As Reviewers ................................................................................................................................... 21
PhD. Thesis ...................................................................................................................................... 24
PhD Supervisions ............................................................................................................................. 24
Msc. Thesis ...................................................................................................................................... 27
PhD. Courses offered ....................................................................................................................... 30
MsC. Courses offered ...................................................................................................................... 31
E– Projects ................................................................................................................................. 34
G - Prototypes............................................................................................................................ 69
Unit Description
The Institute of Systems and Robotics—University of Coimbra (ISR-UC) is a Portuguese private, nonprofit research institution. ISR-UC promotes advanced multidisciplinary R&D in the areas Mobile
Autonomous Robotics, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Search and Rescue Robotics, Robotic
Manipulation, Computer Vision, Medical Robotics, Assistive Technologies, Biomedical Engineering,
Advanced Industrial Energy and Automation Technologies. ISR-UC gives special attention to
international scientific research cooperation and to training and education Initiatives. ISR was
founded in 1992 together with two other sites in IST-Lisbon and FEUP-Porto with the global purpose
of setting up a first class multi-disciplinary research team, able to carry out leading edge research in
several important areas of science and technology, with a special emphasis in automation and
robotics.
ISR- UC is organized in three research groups:
-Automation and Mobile Robotics,
-Computer and Robot Vision,
-Operations Management.
The unit has the following management bodies:
–The Plenary, which includes all researchers, and in which the Directors of the Groups, as well as the
Director of the Unit are elected. The Plenary meets at least once every 2 years, and if there is a
particularly important decision.
–The Scientific Council, which is composed by all researchers of the unit with a Ph.D. The Scientific
Council, analyses the Activities Report and the Plan of Activities, prepared by the Group Directors
and the Unit Director
–The Directors of the Groups coordinate the research in their groups with a large degree of
autonomy, and have the responsibility to provide strategic guidance for the research activities as
well as to coordinate the reporting activities of each group.
–The Director of the Unit has the overall responsibility of the daily management of the global affairs
of the unit, and represents the unit externally, namely with the outside institutions. The Director of
the Unit takes part in the management of ISR at national level.
4
A – Publications
5
Publications in International Journals
1. Aníbal de Almeida, Carlos Inverno, and L. Santos (2009). “Integration of Renewable
Energies for Trolleybus and Mini-Bus Lines in Coimbra”, World Electric Vehicle Journal,
vol. 3, Dec. 2009.
2. Baoming Ge, Aníbal de Almeida, and Fernando Ferreira (2009). “Design of Transverse Flux
Linear Switched Reluctance Motor”, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 45(1).
3. C. Premebida, O. Ludwig, and U. Nunes (2009). “LIDAR and vision-based pedestrian
detection system”, Journal of Field Robotics, Wiley InterScience, 26(9), 696-711.
4. Carlos F. Gomes, Mahmoud M. Yasin, João V. Lisboa (2009), “Benchmarking competitive
methods and strategic choices of Portuguese SMES: Traditional practices and new realities”.
Benchmarking: An International Journal, Volume: 16, Issue: 6, Page: 729 – 740;
5. J. P. Ferreira, Manuel Crisóstomo, and A. Paulo Coimbra (2009). “Human gait acquisition
and characterization”, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 58(9), 29792988.
6. J. P. Ferreira, Manuel Crisóstomo, and A. Paulo Coimbra (2009). “SVR vs. Neural-Fuzzy
Network controllers for the sagittal balance of a biped robot”, IEEE Transactions on Neural
Networks, 20(12), 1885-1897.
7. J.P. Ferreira, Manuel Crisóstomo, A. Paulo Coimbra and Bernardete Ribeiro (2009). “Control
of a biped robot with support vector regression in sagittal plane, IEEE Transactions on
Instrumentation and Measurement”, 58(9), 3167- 3176.
8. L. G. B. Mirisola, J. Dias (2009). “Exploiting Attitude Sensing in Vision-Based Navigation
for an Airship”, Online Journal of Robotics, vol. 2009, Hindawi.
9. Mário Augusto e Filipe Coelho (2009), “Market orientation and new-to-the-world products:
Exploring the moderating effects of innovativeness, competitive strength, and environmental
forces”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 36, Nº 1, pp. 94-108
10. M. Marcos, J. Tenreiro-Machado, and T Azevedo-Perdicoúlis (2009). “Trajectory planning of
redundant manipulators using genetic algorithms”, Communications in Nonlinear Science
and Numerical Simulation, 14 (7), Elsevier.
6
11. M. Outeiro, R. Chibante, A. Carvalho, and Aníbal de Almeida (2009), “A new parameter
extraction method for accurate modelling of PEM fuel cells”, Int. Journal of Energy
Research, 30(11), Wiley Interscience.
12. Mário Augusto; João Lisboa e Elísio Brandão, (2009), “The return on equity of European
firms: Economic sectors and country effects”, International Journal of Decision Sciences,
Risk and Management,Vol. 1, Nº ¾, pp. 246-257;
13. Nuno Gonçalves and Helder Araújo, “Estimating Parameters of Noncentral Catadioptric
Systems Using Bundle Adjustment”, Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU) CVIU Vol. 113, No. 1, January 2009, p.11-28.
14. Omar Tahri, Y. Mezouar , N. Andreff, P. Martinet, (2009) “Visual servoing of GoughStewart platform using omnidirectional camera”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Volume 25,
Issue 1, Pgs. 178-183.
15. P. Wojtczaka, T. G. Amaral, O.P. Dias, A. Wolczowskie (2009), “Hand movement
recognition based on biosignal analysis”, in Engineering Applications of Artificial
Intelligence, Elsevier, Vol.22 (4-5)
16. Pedro Moura and Aníbal de Almeida (2009). “Integrating Wind Power in Portugal,
Renewable Energy World”, 12 (6), pp. 45 – 52.
17. Tamir Caras and Zohar Pasternak (2009). “Long-term environmental impact of coral mining
at the Wakatobi marine park”, Indonesia, Ocean and Coastal Management 52(10), Elsevier.
18. Yasin, Mahmoud M, Gomes, Carlos F. e Almeida, Filipe (2009), “Effective Managerial
Performance and Education: Towards Closing Gaps”, International Journal of Continuing
Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp.59–73;
19. Yasin, Mahmoud M., Gomes, Carlos F. e Miller, Phillip E. (2009), “Characteristics of
Portuguese Public Sector Project Managers: Toward Closing the Effectiveness Gap”, Project
Management Journal, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 47-55;
20. Yasin, Mahmoud; Augusto, Mário; Alavi, Jafar e Lisboa, João (2009), “A Structural Equation
Modeling Approach to Assessing the Effectiveness of Quality Improvement Initiatives in
Service Organizations: A Systematic Perspective”. International Journal of Business and
Systems Research, Vol. 2, Nº3, pp 372-385;
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21. Z. Pasternak, F. Bartumeus, and F. Grasso (2009). Lévy-taxis: a novel search strategy for
finding odor plumes in turbulent flow-dominated environments, Journal of Physics A:
Mathematical and Theoretical, 42(43), IOPScience.
Accepted Papers / In Press
1. J.R. Cardoso and F. Silva Leite. Exponentials of skew-symmetric matrices and logarithms of
orthogonal matrices, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Elsevier.
2. L. Machado, Fátima Silva Leite and K. Krakowski. High Order Smoothing Splines versus
Least Squares Problems on Riemannian Manifolds, Dynamical and Control Systems,
Springer.
3. Luciano Oliveira, Urbano Nunes, Paulo Peixoto, “On Exploration of Classifier Ensemble
Synergism in Pedestrian Detection”, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation
Systems, Vol. 11, N. 1
4. Luciano Oliveira, Urbano Nunes, Paulo Peixoto. “Semantic fusion of laser and vision in
pedestrian detection”, Pattern Recognition, Elsevier.
5. M. Cistelecan, F. Ferreira, and M. Popescu. Adjustable Flux Three-Phase AC Machines With
Combined Multiple-Step Star-Delta Winding Connections, IEEE Transactions on Energy
Conversion.
6. M. Graça Marcos, J. A. Tenreiro Machado, T. Azevedo-Perdicoúlis. A Fractional Approach
for the Motion Planning of Redundant and Hyper-Redundant Manipulators, Signal
Processing, Elsevier
7. M. Marcos, J. Tenreiro Machado, T. Azevedo-Perdicoúlis. An Evolutionary Approach for the
Motion Planning of Redundant and Hyper-redundant Manipulators. Nonlinear Dynamics,
Springer.
8. M. Tavakoli, Lino Marques, and Aníbal de Almeida. Development of an Industrial Pipeline
Inspection Robot, Journal of Industrial Robots, Emerald Group Pub.
9. M. Tavakoli, Lino Marques, and Aníbal de Almeida. Self Calibration of Mobile Arms and its
Application on Climbing Robots, Robotica, Cambridge Univ. Press.
8
10. M. Tavakoli, Lino Marques, and Aníbal de Almeida. 3DCLIMBER: Climbing and
Manipulation over 3D Structures, Mechatronics, Elsevier.
11. Omar Tahri, Y. Mezouar, “On Visual Servoing based on Efficient Second Order
Minimization’’, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Elsevier
12. Oswaldo Ludwig and Urbano Nunes.. Novel Maximum-Margin Training Algorithms for
Supervised Neural Networks, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 20(12), 1885-1897.
13. P. Lopes dos Santos, T Azevedo-Perdicoúlis, J. Ramos, J. Martins de Carvalho, G. Jank, J.
Milhinhos (accepted). An LPV Modelling and Identification Approach to Leakage Detection
in High Pressure Natural Gas Transportation Networks, IEEE Transactions on Control
Systems Technology.
14. Pedro Moura and Aníbal de Almeida, Multi-Objective Optimization of a Mixed Renewable
System with Demand-Side Management, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews.
15. S. B. Akat, V. Gazi and Lino Marques. Asynchronous Particle Swarm Optimization Based
Search with a Multi-Robot System: Simulation and Implementation on Real Robotic System,
in Turkish Journall of Electrical Eng and Computer Sciences.
Special Issues
1. U. Nunes, C. Laugier, and M. Trivedi (2009) (Guest-Editors). Introducing Perception,
Planning and Navigation for Intelligent Vehicles: An Editorial, Special Issue of IEEE
Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 10(3).
2. “Computer Vision and Image Understanding” - Special Issue on Omnidirectional Vision,
Guest Editor: Joao P. Barreto.
Publications in National Journals
1. Ferreira, F; Cruz, S. (2009), Visão Geral sobre Selecção, Controlo e Manutenção de
Motores de Indução Trifásicos, Revista Manutenção, N.os 102-105, 2009-2010.
9
2. Martins, António e Augusto, Mário, “Is thin Capitalization a Fiscal Problem? An Empirical
Analysis that Shows it may be Overstated”, Revista de Finanças Públicas e Direito Fiscal,
Vol. 2, Nº1, 2009, pp.161-179.
3. J. Monteiro and R. Rocha. “Robust Real-Time Digital Control for Differential
Mobile Robots”. Invited technical article for Robótica − Revista Técnico-Científica,
ISSN: 0874-9019, Nr. 76, pages 16-21, Out. 2009.
Books
1. Martins,
António;
Cruz,
Isabel;
Augusto,
Mário;
Silva,
Patrícia
Pereira
e
Gonçalves,Paulo Gama (2009), “Manual de Gestão Financeira Empresarial”, Coimbra
Editora, Coimbra, Agosto de 2009 [ISBN: 978-972-32-1728-5], 534 p;
2. T-P Azevedo Perdicoúlis et al., Análise Numérica com Scilab para Engenheiros Vila
Real: UTAD, Série Didáctica, Ciências Aplicadas, Nr 345, 2009.ISBN: 978-972-669897-5.
Publications in books
1. F. Ferreira, I. Amorin, R. Rocha J. Dias; T-SLAM: Registering Topological and
Geometric Maps for Robot Localization, Multisensor Fusion and Integration for
Intelligent Systems, H. Hahn, et al. (Eds), LNEE, Springer.
2. L. Mirisola, J. Dias; Tracking a Moving Target from a Moving Camera with RotationCompensated Imagery, in Intelligent Aerial Vehicles, I-Tech Pub., Ch. XVIII, T. M. Lam
(Ed).
3. Moutinho, L. Mirisola, J.R. Azinheira, and J. Dias, Project DIVA: Guidance and Vision
Surveillance Techniques for an Autonomous Airship, in Robotics Research Trends, Ch.
II, Nova Publishers.
10
Papers presented at International Scientific Conferences
1. A. Ribeiro, A. Sirgado, J. Aperta, Ana Lopes, J. Guilherme, P. Correia, G. Pires, U. Nunes ;
A Low-cost EEG Stand-alone for Brain Computer Interface, Biodevices09
2. Ali Marjovi, J. Nunes, Lino Marques, Aníbal de Almeida; Multi-robot exploration and fire
searching, IROS09
3. Ali Marjovi, J. Nunes, Lino Marques, Aníbal de Almeida; Multi-robot fire searching in
unknown environment, FSR09.
4. Ali Marjovi, J. Nunes, Lino Marques; Sonar-based multi-robot exploration and mapping,
WRISE09
5. Ali Marjovi, Lino Marques, J Penders; Guardians Robot Swarm: Exploration and Firefighter
Assistance, IROS09 WNRS
6. Aníbal de Almeida, Paula Fonseca, Feildberg, N., Grinden, B.,Kreitz, T., Dupret, M. (2009),
Characterization of the Household Electricity Consumption in the EU, Potential Energy
Savings and Specific Policy Recommendations, 5th International Conference on Energy
Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting (EEDAL2009), Berlin, Germany, June1618, 2009.
7. Aníbal de Almeida; Fernando Ferreira; J. Fong; B. Conrad. (2009), Standards for SuperPremium Efficiency Class for Electric Motors, IEEE Industrial & Commercial Power
Systems Technical Conf. (ICPS'09), May 2009.
8. Aníbal de Almeida.; Carlos Patrão; Fernando Ferreira, João Fong. J. Rivet, L. (2009), Energy
Efficient Elevators and Escalators, European Conference for an Energy Efficient Economy,
(eceee2009), La Colle sur Loup, Nice, France, 1-6 June 2009.
9. Aníbal de Almeida.; Carlos Patrão; Fernando Ferreira.; João Fong. (2009), Technical and
Economical Analysis of Elevators and Escalators Technologies, 6th Inter. Conf. on Energy
Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems (EEMODS'09), Nantes, 2009.
10. António Martins e Mário Augusto, “Is Thin Capitalization a Fiscal Problem? An Empirical
Analysis”, Actas da 32nd Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association, 12-15
de Maio de 2009, Tampere, Finlândia (23 p.).
11
11. Azevedo Perdicoúlis, T-P and G. Jank (2009), Linear Quadratic OL-Nash Games on
Repetitive Processes with Smoothing.
Proceedings of nDS2009, Junho-Julho 2009,
Thessaloniki, Greece.
12. Bastos, César F S e Gomes, Carlos F., “A Influência dos Recursos Humanos na
implementação e utilização dos sistemas de medição de performance – as especificidades das
pme’s”, proceedings of the xxxiii encontro da anpad, são paulo, brasil, 2009, pp. 1-15;
13. Bastos, César F S e Gomes, Carlos F., “A medição de performance nas pequenas e médias
empresas: Características específicas e processos de implementação”, Proceedings of the XIX
Spanish – Luso Conference on Management, Baeza, Espanha, 2009;
14. C. Maduro, K. Batista, J. Batista, “Estimating Traffic Intensity using Profile Images on
Rectified Images”, IEEE ICIP 2009 - IEEE Int. Conference on Image Processing, Cairo,
Egypt, Nov. 7-11, 2009.
15. C. Maduro, K. Batista, J. Batista, “Estimating Vehicle Velocity using Image Profiles on
Rectified Images”, in H. Araújo, Ana M. Mendonça, A. Pinho and Maria I. Torres (Eds.)
IbPRIA2009 – Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
Springer-Verlag, London, pp. 64-71, 2009.
16. Carlos F. Gomes, e Mahmoud Yasin, and Youssef Yasin, “Tracking Operational
Effectiveness in Healthcare Operational Settings”, Proceedings of the Midwest Business
Administration Academy International Conference, Chicago, EUA, 2009, pp. 1-21;
17. Carlos F. Gomes, e Mahmoud Yasin, e João Lisboa, “Utilization and Relevance of
Performance Measures in Manufacturing Organizations”, Proceedings of the 40th Annual
Meeting of the Decision Science Institute, New Orleans, Louisiana, EUA, 2009, pp. 351-356;
18. Carvalho, Marquinha e Augusto, Mário (2009), “A TQM e Desempenho Financeiro das
Empresas: Uma Aplicação Empírica no Contexto Português”, Actas das XIX Jornadas
Hispano Lusas de Gestión Científica, 5-6 de Fevereiro de 2009, Baeza, Espanha (16 p.);
19. Cistelecan, M.; Ferreira, F.; Popescu, M. (2009), Adjustable flux three phase a.c. machines
with combined multiple-step star-delta winding connections, 2009 IEEE Inter. Electric
Machines and Drives Conf. (IEMDC'09), Miami, Florida, USA, 3-6 May, 2009.
20. Cristiano Premebida, Oswaldo Ludwig, Jackson Matsuura, Urbano Nunes; Exploring Sensor
Fusion Schemes on Pedestrian Detection in Urban Scenarios, IROS09 WPPNIV
12
21. D. Faria and J. Dias, 3D Hand Trajectory Segmentation by Curvatures and Hand Orientation
for Classification through a Probabilistic Approach, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on
Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'2009), USA.
22. D. Faria, H. Aliakbarpour, J. Dias, Grasping Movements Recognition in 3D Space Using a
Bayesian Approach , International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR 2009),
Germany.
23. D. Faria, J. A. Prado, P. Drews Jr. and J. Dias, Object Shape Retrieval through Grasping
Exploration, European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR'09), Croatia.
24. D. Faria, R. Martins, J. Dias, Human reach-to-grasp generalization strategies: a Bayesian
approach, Workshop at Robotics: Science and Systems 2009, Understanding the Human
Hand for Advancing Robotic Manipulation, USA.
25. Fernando Ferreira, Aníbal de Almeida (2009), Large-Scale Downsizing of Induction Motors
Requiring Stator Rewinding as a Low-Cost Strategy to Save Energy and Extend Motors
Lifetime, 6th Inter. Conf. on Energy Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems (EEMODS'09),
Nantes, 2009.
26. Fernando Ferreira, Aníbal de Almeida (2009), Overview and Novel Proposals on In-Field
Load Estimation Methods for Three-Phase Squirrel-Cage Induction Motors, 6th Inter. Conf.
on Energy Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems (EEMODS'09), Nantes, 2009.
27. Fernando Ferreira, Aníbal de Almeida, J. Carvalho. (2009), Experiments to Observe the
Impact of Power Quality and Voltage-Source Inverters on the Temperature of Three-Phase
Cage Induction Motors using an Infra-Red Camera, 2009 IEEE Inter. Electric Machines and
Drives Conf. (IEMDC'09), Miami, Florida, USA, 3-6 May, 2009.
28. Fernando Ferreira, Aníbal de Almeida, M. Cistelecan. (2009), Voltage Unbalance Impact on
the Performance of Line-Start Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors, 6th Inter. Conf. on
Energy Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems (EEMODS'09), Nantes, 2009.
29. H. Palaio, J. Batista, “Kernel Based Multi-Object Tracking using Gabor Functions Embedded
in a Region Covariance Matrix”, in H. Araújo, Ana M. Mendonça, A. Pinho and Maria I.
Torres (Eds.) IbPRIA2009 – Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (Lecture Notes in
Computer Science) Springer-Verlag, London, pp. 72-79, 2009.
13
30. H. Palaio, Jorge Batista, “A Kernel Particle Filter Multi-Object Tracking using Gabor-based
Region Covariance Matrices”, IEEE ICIP 2009 - IEEE Int. Conference on Image Processing,
Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 7-11, 2009.
31. H. Palaio, K. Batista, C. Maduro, Jorge Batista, “Ground plane velocity estimation
embedding rectification on a particle filter multi-target tracking”, IEEE ICRA 2009 – Int.
Conference on Robotics and Automation, Kobe, Japan, May 12-17, 2009.
32. J. Ferreira, J. Prado, Jorge Lobo, Jorge Dias; Multimodal Active Exploration Using a
Bayesian Approach, IASTED RA09
33. J. P. Barreto, J. Roquette, P. Sturm, F. Fonseca, "Automatic Camera Calibration Applied to
Medical Endoscopy", British Machine Vision Conference, September 2009.
34. J. Prado, L. Santos, Jorge Dias, A Technique for Dynamic Background Segmentation using a
Robotic Stereo Vision Head - IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human
Interactive Communication, Japan.
35. J. Prado, L. Santos, Jorge Dias, Horopter based Dynamic Background Segmentation applied
to an Interactive Mobile Robot, International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR
2009), Germany.
36. José L.Martinho, e Carlos F. Gomes, “O Impacto das Tecnologias de Informação na
Performance das Empresas Portuguesas: Um Modelo de Investigação”, Proceedings of the
XIX Spanish Luso Conference on Management, Baeza, Espanha, 2009;
37. L. Mirisola and Jorge Dias, Uma Metodologia de Odometria Visual/Inercial e Slam 3D com
um Vant, IX Symp. Brasileiro de Aut. Inteligente
38. L. Perdigoto, J. P. Barreto, Rui Caseiro and Hélder Araujo. "Active Stereo Tracking of
Multiple Free Moving Targets", CVPR’2009-IEEE Int. Conf. on Computer Vision and
Pattern Recognition, Miami, June 2009.
39. L. Santos, J. Prado , Jorge Dias, Human Robot Interaction Studies on Laban Human
Movement Analysis and Dynamic Background Segmentation (IROS’2009), IEEE/RSJ
International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, USA.
40. Lino Marques; Good Experimental Methodologies for Mobile Robot Olfaction, RSS09
WGEMR
14
41. Lino Marques, Jorge Dinis, António Coimbra, Manuel Crisóstomo, J Ferreira; 3D HyperRedundant Robot, XI-CHLIE09
42. Lino Marques; OlfMark: A benchmark for mobile robot odour source localisation, IROS09
WPEBNIRS
43. Mahmoud Tavakoli, Lino Marques, Aníbal de Almeida; A comparison study on pneumatic
muscles and electrical motors, ieee robio09;
44. Mahmoud Tavakoli, Lino Marques, Aníbal de Almeida; Self Calibration of Step-by-Step
Based Climbing Robots, IROS09
45. Margarida. Urbano, J. Fonseca, Urbano Nunes, Ana Lopes; A New Approach for Operating
Powered Wheelchairs by People with Severe Impairments, DSAI09
46. Nuno Gonçalves, A. C. Nogueira, “Projection through quadric mirrors made faster”,
OMNIVIS’09 – The 9th Workshop on Omnidirectional Vision, Camera Networks and NonClassical Cameras, in conjunction with ICCV’09, Kyoto, Japan, October 4, 2009.
47. Omar Tahri, Y. Mezouar, F. Chaumette, P. Corke, “ Generic Decoupled Image-Based Visual
Servoing for Cameras Obeying the Unified Projection Model”, IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages 1116-1121 Kobe, May 12-17 2009, Japan
48. P. Núñez, P. Drews Jr, R. Rocha and J. Dias. “Data Fusion Calibration for a 3D Laser Range
Finder and a Camera using Inertial Data”. In Proc. of 4th European Conf. on Mobile Robots
(ECMR'2009), Mini/Dubrovnik, Croatia, pages 31-36, Sep. 23-25, 2009.
49. P. Núñez, P. Drews Jr, R. Rocha, M. Campos and J. Dias. “Novelty Detection and 3D
Shape Retrieval based on Gaussian Mixture Models for Autonomous Surveillance
Robotics”. In Proc. of 2009 IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems
(IROS'2009), St. Louis, MO, USA, pages 4724-4730, Oct. 11-15, 2009.
50. P. Sousa, Lino Marques; KheNose: A mobile robot smartsensor for risky environments,
WRISE09.
51. Paula Fonseca, Aníbal de Almeida, N. Feildberg, Markogiannakis, C. Kofod, (2009),
Characterisation of the Household Electricity Consumption in the EU, Potential Energy
Savings and Specific Policy Recommendations, European Conference for an Energy Efficient
Economy, (eceee2009), La Colle sur Loup, Nice, France, 1-6 June 2009.
15
52. Pedro
Martins,
Jorge
Batista,
“Identity
and
Expression
Recognition
on
Low
DimensionalManifolds”, IEEE ICIP 2009 - IEEE Int. Conference on Image Processing,
Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 7-11, 2009.
53. Pedro Martins, Jorge Batista, “Simultaneous Identity and Expression Recognition using Face
Geometry on Low Dimensional Manifolds”, in H. Araújo, Ana M. Mendonça, A. Pinho and
Maria I. Torres (Eds.) IbPRIA2009 – Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (Lecture Notes
in Computer Science) Springer-Verlag, London, pp. 505-512, 2009.
54. Pedro Moura and Aníbal de Almeida (2009), Methodologies and Technologies for the
Integrations of Renewable Resources in Portugal, Renewable Energy World Europe 2009,
May 26 - 28, Cologne, Germany.
55. Pedro Moura and Aníbal de Almeida, (2009), Minimization of Energy Storage Requirements
for a Mixed Renewable System with Demand-Side Management, 2009 IEEE/IAS Industrial
& Commercial Power Systems Technical Conference (I&CPS), May 3 - 7, Calgary, Canada.
56. Pedro Pinto; Mário Augusto, e Paulo Gama, “Relações Bancárias, Governo da Empresa e
Desempenho: Uma Revisão da Literatura”, Actas da Annual Conference of the International
Association for the Scientific Knowledge (IASK), 22-24 de Junho de 2009, Sevilha, Espanha,
pp. 360-372;
57. Rui Cortesão, Brian Zenowich, Rui Araújo, and William Townsend, “Robotic
Comanipulation with Active Impedance Control”, Proc. ASME/AFM 2009 World
Conference on Innovative Virtual Reality (WINVR 2009), pp. 1-7, Chalon-sur-Saône,
France, February 25-26, 2009.
58. S Akat, V Gazi, Lino Marques; Asynchronous Particle Swarm Optimization Based Robotic
Search with a Multi-Robot System: Simulation and Application, WRISE09.
59. S. Gasparinni, P. Sturm and João. Barreto. "Plane-Based Calibration of Central Catadioptric
Cameras", ICCV’2009-IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, Kyoto, Sept.
27—Oct. 4, 2009.
60. Torres, Pedro M., Lisboa, João V. e Yasin, Mahmoud M., “E-Commerce Strategies
Performance Analysis: An Empirical Research”. Publicado nos Proceedings do 10º bi-annual
International Meeting do Decisions Science Institute, Nancy, 24-27 Junho 2009, pp. 252-62;
61. Yasin, Mahmoud M, Gomes, Carlos F. e Al-Najjar, Mohammad, “A Selected Literature
Review of Performance Measurement in the Service Sector: Approaches and Models”,
16
Proceedings of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Decision Science Institute, New Orleans,
Louisiana, EUA, 2009, pp. 361-366;
Papers presented at National Scientific Conferences
1. F. Ferreira, S. Cruz; Visão Geral sobre Selecção, Controlo e Manutenção de Motores de
Indução Trifásicos, Revista Manutenção, N.os 102-105, 2009-2010.
2. Ferreira, F.; Cruz, S., Visão Geral sobre Selecção, Controlo e Manutenção de Motores de
Indução Trifásicos, Revista Manutenção, N.os 102-105, 2009-2010;
3. J. Monteiro and R. Rocha; Robust Real-Time Digital Control for Differential Mobile Robots,
Revista Técnico-Científica, n. 76, Out. 2009
4. M. Lourenço , J. P. Barreto, "A SIFT Extension to Radial Distorted Images", in RECPAD
2009– 15º Conf. Portuguesa em Reconhecimento de Padrões. October 2009.
5. R. Melo, J. P. Barreto, "Interfaces and Visualization in Clinical Endoscopy", in RECPAD
2009 – 15º Conf. Portuguesa em Reconhecimento de Padrões. October 2009.
17
B – Organization of Scientific Conferences
18
Organizing Comitte
1. IbPRIA’2009-4th Iberian Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis, Povoa do
Varzim, June 10-12, 2009 (Helder Araújo, General Chair);
2. VISAPP’2009 - International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications,
Lisbon, 5-8 February 2009 (Helder Araújo, Program Chair);
3. IROS09, 3rd PPNIV Workshop, USA (U. Nunes, co-organizer)
4. ICRA09, SNODE Workshop, Japan (U. Nunes, co-organizer)
Invited talks
•
Joao P. Barreto, Image Geometry in Medical Endoscopy through the Embedding of the
Projective Plane into High Dimensional Projective Spaces, Mathematical Aspects of
Imaging, Modeling and Visualization in Multiscale Biology (workshop UT Austin Portugal), Austin, Texas, USA, March 2009.
•
T. Azevedo-Perdicoúlis, Quanto tempo o tempo tem? E proposta de algumas actividades,
Realmat (plenary talk), Sabrosa, Março 2009.
As members of International Program Comittees
•
40th Annual Meeting of Decision Sciences Institute, New Orleans, EUA, session [MM-10] –
Manufacturing Strategy II,( Carlos Ferreira Gomes);
•
AMiRE, Symp. on Autonomous Minirobots for Research and Edutainment, RoboWorld
Congress, Korea. (Lino Marques)
•
CLAWAR2009, Turkey. (Lino Marques, Aníbal de Almeida)
•
CVPR’2009 -IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern
Recognition (Helder Araújo, Program Committee);
19
•
EPCG’2009 - 17º Encontro Português de Computação Gráfica, Robotica’2009Festival Nacional de Robótica (Helder Araújo);
•
Estudos de Gestão, Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, Portugal (João Veríssimo
Lisboa , Editorial Board);
•
ETFA2009, IEEE Emerging Techn. and Factory Automation, Spain (Rui Araújo)
•
ICAR’2009 - 14th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (Urbano Nunes,
Helder Araújo);
•
ICARA2009, Conference on Autonomous Robots and Agents, New Zealand (Lino Marques)
•
ICCP2009, Conf. Intell. Computer Comm. and Processing, Romania (Urbano Nunes);
•
ICCV’2009 - IEEE Int. Conference on Computer Vision (Helder Araújo);
•
ICIAR’2009 - International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition (Helder
Araújo);
•
ICINCO2009, Italy ( Fátima Silva Leite, Urbano Nunes, Hélder Araújo)
•
ICRA’2009 - IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (Helder Araújo, Associate
Editor);
•
ICRA’2009- IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Jorge Batista);
•
InMotion09: Pervasive Techn. for Improved Mobility and Transportation, Japan (U. Nunes)
•
International Journal of Decision Sciences, Risk and Management (Carlos Ferreira Gomes)
•
International Journal of Decision Sciences, Risk and Management (João Veríssimo Lisboa,
Editorial Board);
•
InterTIC2009, Tecnologias de la Información y Communicación, IASK
Conferencia Ibero-Americana, Sevilla, Spain, Jun. 22-24, 2009. (Rui Rocha, Program
Committee);
•
IROBOT'2009 Thematic Track on Intelligent Robotics (at Epia 2009), Portugal (Urbano
Nunes)
•
IROS09, IEEE Intelligent Robots and Systems, USA (Urbano Nunes, Joao P. Barreto)
20
•
ITSC2009, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems, USA (Urbano Nunes)
•
IV09, IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symp., China (U. Nunes)
•
MMH-09, Workshop on Mechatronics in Medicine and Health, New Zealand. (Lino
Marques);
•
Physics and Mathematics’ Day. 14 January, 2008, Coimbra Institute of Engineering,
Coimbra, Portugal (João R. Cardoso, Scientif Board)
•
RA’2009 - 14th IASTED International Conference on Robotics and Applications
(Helder Araújo);
•
Revista Galega de Economia, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. (João Veríssimo
Lisboa , Editorial Board);
•
RISE2009, IARP Workshop on Robotics for Risky Interventions and Environmental
Surveillance, Belgium (Lino Marques)
•
ROBOTICA2009, Conf. on Auton. Robot Systems and Competitions, Portugal (R. Cortesão,
U. Nunes)
•
SAC2009, 24th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing 2009 - Special track on
Intelligent Robotic Systems, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Mar. 9-12, 2009. (Rui Rocha,
Program Committee);
•
SAC2009, ACM Symp. on Applied Computing, Track on Intell. Robotic Systems, USA (Rui
Rocha)
•
Scientific Council of Tourism and Management Studies, University of Algarve (Carlos
Ferreira Gomes)
•
Trimester in Combinatorics and Control, Spain (Fátima Silva Leite)
As Reviewers
•
IECON’2009-35th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
(Helder Araújo);
21
•
IECON’2009-35th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
(Jorge Batista);
•
ICRA’2009-IEEE Int. Conf. in Robotics and Automation (Joao P. Barreto);
•
OMNIVIS’2009--Int. Workshop in Omnidirectional Vision, Camera Networks and
non-Conventional Cameras (Joao P. Barreto, reviewer);
•
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (Rui Araújo);
•
Expert Systems: The Journal of Knowledge Engineering (Rui Araújo);
•
IEEE Transactions on Robotics (Rui Araújo);
•
IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks (Rui Araújo);
•
Notas Económicas (Paulo Gama);
•
Journal of Empirical Finance (Paulo Gama).
•
Strategic Outsourcing, an International Journal (Carlos Ferreira Gomes);
•
Business Process Management Journal (Carlos Ferreira Gomes);
•
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance (Carlos Ferreira Gomes);
•
International Journal of Production Research (João Veríssimo Lisboa);
•
Revista de Contabilidade e Gestão (João Veríssimo Lisboa);
•
International Journal of Production Economics (João Veríssimo Lisboa).
•
Estudos de Gestão – Portuguese Journal of Management Studies (João Veríssimo Lisboa);
•
International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management (João
Veríssimo Lisboa).
22
C – Graduate Studies
23
PhD. Thesis
1. L. Mirisola, Exploiting Attitude sensing in vision-based navigation, mapping and tracking
including results from an airship, UC, Ad J.Dias;
2. R. Solea, Sliding mode control applied in trajectory-tracking of WMRs and Autonomous
Vehicles, UC, Ad U. Nunes and A. Filipescu;
3. J. Rett, Robot-Human interface using laban movement analysis inside a Bayesian
Framework, UC, Ad J. Dias;
4. Fernando Ferreira, Strategies to improve the performance of three-phase induction motor
driven systems, UC, Ad. Aníbal de Almeida.
PhD Supervisions
1. Ana Cristina Lopes, Shared-control based navigation of human-centered WMRs, (U. Nunes
e A.T. de Almeida);
2. André Marques, “Rolling maps”, Supervisor: F. Silva Leite, Expected conclusion: 2013;
3. António Paulino, Audio-assisted event detection on camera networks, Supervisor: H.
Araújo;
4. António Pedro Soares Pinto, “Relações bancárias, governo da empresa e desempenho”,
Advisor Mário Gomes Augusto (with Paulo Gama);
5. Carla Fernandes, “Sentimento do investidor e transparência do mercado”, Advisor Paulo
Gama (with Elisabete Vieira);
6. Carlos Alberto Coêlho Belchior, Monitoring and Advanced Control of Wastewater
Treatment Plants, Supervisor: Rui Alexandre de Matos Araújo and Jorge Afonso Cardoso
Landeck;
7. Carlos Manuel Almeida Santos, Image Processing Metrology for Monitoring the Vertical
and Transversal displacements of Suspended Bridges, Supervisor: Jorge Batista;
24
8. César Faustino da Silva Bastos, “Os Sistemas de Medição da Performance nas PME´s –
Factores que influenciam a sua implementação e utilização”, Advisor Carlos Ferreira Gomes;
9. Cristiano Premebida, Detecção e classificação de objectos em outdoors com base em fusão
de informação laser e visão, (U. Nunes);
10. Cristina Ausenda Nobre Marques Peguinho Carvalho, “O Reconhecimento do valor das
opções reais pelo mercado e a estrutura de capital das empresas – A importância da estrutura
de capital flexível”, Advisor Mário Gomes Augusto;
11. Fernanda Cunha e Castro, Models of Stereo and Visual Attention for a Binocular Vision
System, Supervisor: Helder Araújo and Jorge Batista;
12. Fernando Moita, Sistemas sensoriais para detecção de obstáculos e navegação de veículos
autónomos, (U. Nunes);
13. Francisco Alexandre Andrade de Souza, Computational Intelligence Methodologies for
Soft Sensors Development in Industrial Processes, Supervisor: Rui Alexandre de Matos
Araújo;
14. Gabriel Pires, Classificação de Biosinais para interface humano com dispositivos e meio
envolvente, (U. Nunes e M. Castelo-Branco);
15. Jérôme Amaro Mendes, Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Industrial Processes, Supervisor: Rui
Alexandre de Matos Araújo;
16. José Luis Ferreira Martinho, “O impacte das Tecnologias de Informação na Performance
das Organizações”, Advisor Carlos Ferreira Gomes;
17. Laodiceia Amorim Weersma, “Avaliação da capacidade inovativa empresarial: uma
proposta de métrica na perspectiva de indústria transformadora brasileira” (in progress),
Advisor João Veríssimo Lisboa;
18. Luciano Oliveira, Semantically Integrating Laser and Vision in Pedestrian Detection, (U.
Nunes e P.Peixoto);
19. Luís Adriano Preto Mendes Afonso, “Análise de Alguns Sistemas Dinâmicos Descritos por
Equações às Derivadas Parciais.”, J.A. Tenreiro Machado and T-P Azevedo-Perdicoúlis,
Expected conclusion: 2010;
20. Luis Conde Bento, Control and Sensor Fusion for Autonomous Navigation, (U. Nunes);
25
21. Luís Godoi Valentim, “Determinantes e moderadores das práticas das PMEs portuguesas”
(in progress), Advisor João Veríssimo Lisboa;
22. Luís Miguel Perdigoto, Perception and Interaction in Human/Robot Cooperation,
Supervisor: H. Araújo;
23. Marco Silva,
Instrumentação e gestão de energia em veículos eléctricos, (U. Nunes e
R.Araújo);
24. Margarida Urbano, Adapting powered wheelchairs to facilitate quadriplegic person´s
mobility and to their integration in smart houses, (J. Alberto Fonseca e U. Nunes);
25. Maria da Graça Marcos, “Análise de Alguns Sistemas Dinâmicos Não-Lineares Através de
Funções Ortogonais”, J.A. Tenreiro Machado and T-P Azevedo-Perdicoúlis, Expected
conclusion: 2010;
26. Maria João da Silva Jorge, “O governo das sociedades e suas implicações na gestão do
risco financeiro” (in progress), Advisor Mário Gomes Augusto;
27. Michel Antunes, Register and Recognition in Clinical Endoscopy using Volumetric PreOperative Data as Statistical Prior, Supervisor: J. P. Barreto;
28. Miguel Lourenço, Matching and Recognition in Endoscopic Images, Supervisor: J. P.
Barreto;
29. Nuno Alexandre Cid Martins, Monitoring Activities using a Network of Sparse Cameras,
Supervisor: Helder Araújo and Jorge Batista;
30. Oswaldo Ludwig, Novas técnicas neuronais de aprendizagem para aprendizagem para
percepção em ITS (U. Nunes e R. Araújo);
31. Paulo Oliveira, “Características do Governo Empresarial e Performance: O Caso Português”,
(in progress), Advisor Paulo Gama. ;
32. Paulo Sampaio Abreu Madeira, Methods and Techniques for Panoramic Multimedia
Video, Supervisor: Helder Araújo;
33. Pedro Alexandre Dias Martins, 4D Facial Dynamics for Identity Recognition, Supervisor:
Jorge Batista;
34. Pedro Fernandes (tema: Tecnologias de simulação, informação e comunicação para
modelação e controlo de tráfego, (U. Nunes);
26
35. Pedro Marcelo da Rocha Torres, “Estratégias genéricas de e-commerce” (in progress),
Advisor João Veríssimo Lisboa;
36. Pedro Miraldo, 3D Reconstruction Using Multiple and Heterogeneous Cameras, Supervisor:
H. Araújo;
37. Pedro Moura, Analysis of Methodologies and Technologies for the Large Scale Integration
of Intermittent Power Sources, Supervisor: Aníbal de Almeida;
38. Ricardo Machado Maia, Recharging and Routes Planning of Electrical Vehicles in Urban
Environments, Supervisor: Rui Alexandre de Matos Araújo;
39. Vanda Roque, “Os Determinantes das Decisões de Investimento de Carteira Internacional
Evidência empírica para diferentes tipos de investidores”, Advisor Paulo Gama (with Maria
do Céu Cortez).
Msc. Thesis
1. Ana Catarina Figueira de Mesquita Figueiredo, Reconhecimento e Seguimento da Pose da
Mão, Supervisor: Paulo Peixoto, 2009;
2. A Gonçalves, Gestão de Energia em Veículos Eléctricos, Ad Urbano Nunes, Marco Silva;
3. António Domingos Lopes, Detecção e Seguimento 3D do Foco de Atenção Visual de
Humanos, Supervisor: Jorge Batista, 2009;
4. C. Silva, Controlador para seguidor solar, Supervisor: Lino Marques;
5. Cláudio Roberto Pereira Macedo Campos Fernandes, Identificação Automática do
Género de Pessoas Através da Análise de Imagens Faciais, Supervisor: Paulo Peixoto, 2009;
6. David Emanuel Ribeiro Delgado, Classification and Fusion of Classifiers Using Neural
Networks: Application on People Detection, Supervisors: Urbano José Carreira Nunes, Rui
Alexandre de Matos Araújo, and Oswaldo Ludwig Junior, Conclusion: September, 2009;
7. David Portugal, RoboCops: A Study of Coordination Algorithms for Autonomous Mobile
Robots in Patrolling Missions, Supervisor: Rui Rocha, 2009
8. Emanuel Filipe Sá de Oliveira Neto, Tratamento das não-estacionaridades das propriedades
dos artefactos de gradiente em gravações EEG-fMRI, Supervisor: Helder Araújo, 2009;
27
9. F. Petitprès, TCL interface for expressive head model, Supervisor: Pedro Menezes
10. Filipe da Silva Oliveira Marinheiro, AIRMA II: Automatic Image Recognition for Mobile
Advertising-Region Based Image Training and Recognition, Supervisor: P. Peixoto, 2009;
11. G Cabrita, All-terrain mobile robot, Supervisror: Lino Marques;
12. G. Rodrigues, Hardware Interface for XPY, Supervisror: Jorge Lobo
13. Gonçalo Luís Vaz Monteiro, Traffic Video Surveillance for Automatic Incident Detection
on Highways, Supervisor: Jorge Batista, 2009;
14. J Lucas, AquaFinder: Mapeamento de ambientes e seguimento de plumas químicas,
Supervisor: Lino Marques
15. J Soares, “Veículo Aéreo Autónomo Alimentado a Energia Solar”, Supervisor: Lino
Marques.
16. J. Cardoso, Sistema de localização baseado em DGPS, Supervisor Urbano Nunes, Fernando
Moita
17. J. Quintas, Desenvolvimento de estilos de interacção homem-robô, Ad P. Menezes
18. Jérôme Amaro Mendes, Design of Fuzzy Systems for Control and Inference, Supervisor:
Rui Alexandre de Matos Araújo, September, 2009;
19. João Filipe Henriques, Seguimento de Múltiplos Alvos em Redes de Câmaras Esparsas,
Supervisor: Jorge Batista, 2009;
20. João Maia Cordeiro, Detection and object localization of a visual category in cluttered realworld scenes, Supervisor: Jorge Batista, 2009;
21. João Rosmaninho Salgado, Behaviors Detection using Temporal Boost Algorithm,
Supervisor: Jorge Batista, 2009;
22. João Simões, Reconhecimento de Espaços a partir de Imagens Omnidireccionais, Supervisor:
J. P. Barreto, 2009;
23. João Sintra, The path of the cycloid, Supervisor: F. Silva Leite, February 2009;
24. José Alexandre Paiva Nunes, Interface Homem-Máquina usando controlo remoto Wii,
Supervisor: Helder Araújo, 2009;
25. L Maricato, Integração Sensorial no Veículo Aquafinder, Supervisor: Lino Marques;
28
26. Luís Carlos Pais Lourenço, AIRMA - Automatic Image Recognition for Mobile
Advertising – Feature Extraction and Selection, Supervisor: P. Peixoto, 2009;
27. Luís Miguel Dias Tomás, Control of a 7-DOF WAM Robot Using its Dynamic Model,
Supervisor: Rui Alexandre de Matos Araújo, Conclusion: September, 2009;
28. M Ferreira, Realidade Aumentada para interface de robô móvel, Supervisor: Pedro
Menezes;
29. M. Henriques, PET-IRPS: Trajectory Planning and Execution in Hybrid Maps, Supervisor:
Rui Rocha;
30. M. Oliveira, Integração de serviços num robô móvel, Supervisor: Pedro Menezes;
31. Márcio Henriques, PET-IRPS: Trajectory Planning and Execution in Hybrid
Maps, Supervisor: Rui Rocha, 2009
32. Miguel Lourenço (Biomédica), Techniques for Key Point Detection and Matching between
Endoscopic Images, Supervisor: J. P Barreto, 2009;
33. P Godinho, Smarthome: Iluminação por LED’s, Supervisor: Lino Marques
34. P. Medronho, Projecto de Ambientes de Ventilação Controlada para Calibração de
Anemómetros, Supervisor Lino Marques
35. R Faria, Estratégias de Localização em Ambientes com Múltiplos Robôs Móveis,
Supervisor: Lino Marques;
36. R. Machado, Adaptação de mapas geográficos e planeamento de rotas na simulação de
tráfego, Supervisor: Urbano Nunes, Pedro Fernandes;
37. Rui Melo, Interfaces and Visualization in Clinical Endoscopy, Supervisor: J. P. Barreto,
2009;
38. Rui Rodrigues, Camera Calibration and Estimation of Rigid-Body Transformations using
Planar Mirror Reflection, Supervisor: J. P. Barreto, 2009;
39. S. Subra, Development de l'interface centré utilisateur, Supervisor: Pedro Menezes
40. Sabrina Maria Gonçalves Rodrigues, AIRMA: Automatic Image Recognition for Mobile
Advertising – Image Training and Recognition, Supervisor: P. Peixoto, 2009;
41. Sérgio Neto Granjeiro, Facial Verification Module, Supervisor: P. Peixoto, 2009;
29
42. Tânia Liliana da Silva Louro, Control of Tasks of a Robot Manipulator, Supervisor: Rui
Alexandre de Matos Araújo and Rui Pedro Duarte Cortesão, September, 2009
PhD. Courses offered
•
“Statistics” , Institution: School of Economics, University of Coimbra, João Veríssimo
Lisboa;
•
“Research Project” , Institution: School of Economics, University of Coimbra, João
Veríssimo Lisboa;
•
“New Developments in Management II”, School of Economics, University of Coimbra, João
Veríssimo Lisboa;
•
“Seminar”, School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Carlos Ferreira Gomes;
•
“Intelligent Control” (PhD Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering), Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of
Coimbra, Rui Araújo;
•
“Robotics and Manipulation Design” (PhD Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering),
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology,
University of Coimbra, Jorge Batista and Rui Araújo;
•
“Methodologies in Mobile Robotics” (PhD Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering),
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology,
University of Coimbra, Urbano Nunes and Rui Araújo;
•
“Computational Methods for Estimation”, Detection and Identification, Faculty of Science
and Technology, University of Coimbra, João P. Barreto.
•
"Cooperative Robotics", Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra,
Rui Rocha.
30
MsC Courses Offered
•
“Applied Mathematics”, Master Course in Building Services Engineering. Coimbra Institute
of Engineering, João R. Cardoso;
•
“Corporate Finance” (MBA), School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Mário Gomes
Augusto;
•
“Financial Investments”, School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Paulo Gama;
•
“Fuzzy Control and Learning” (Master Electrical and Computer Engineering), DEEC – FCT
– University of Coimbra, Rui Araújo
•
“Industrial Simulation”, (MBA), School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Carlos
Ferreira Gomes;
•
“Investments and Financial Markets” (MBA), School of Economics, University of Coimbra,
Paulo Gama.
•
“Operations Strategy” (MBA), School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Carlos Ferreira
Gomes;
•
“Statistical Methods”, (MBA), School of Economics, University of Coimbra, João Veríssimo
Lisboa;
•
“Strategic Management Simulation”, (MBA), School of Economics, University of Coimbra,
Carlos Ferreira Gomes;
D - International Networks and Exchange Activities
•
Luís Machado visited the University of Liège, in Belgium, between April 15 and June 15,
2009. The objective of this visit was to initiate collaboration with Prof. Rodolphe Sepulchre
who is the coordinator of the “Systems and Control and Systems and Modeling Research
Group”. During this visit, Luís Machado has been also invited by the “Research Group on
Large Graphs and networks” of the Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, to
give an informal seminar about the curve fitting problem on Riemannian manifolds.
31
•
Quanto tempo o tempo tem? E proposta de algumas actividades, com A. Cerveira, Sessão
Plenária, Realmat, Sabrosa, Março 2009. Sessão convidada (Teresa Azevedo-Perdicóulis);
•
Quanto tempo o tempo tem? E Construcao de um relogio de sol Equatorial, com A. Cerveira,
Escola EB 2,3 Monsenhor Jerónimo do Amaral, Vila Real, Alunos do 5º ano do ED, Março
2009 (Teresa Azevedo-Perdicóulis);
•
Quanto tempo o tempo tem? E Construcao de um relogio de sol Equatorial, com A. Cerveira,
Biblioteca Municipal, Vila Real, Alunos do 5º do ED, Março 2009 (Teresa AzevedoPerdicóulis);
•
Sol e Sombra … Entra na onda! Com A. cerveira, UTAD-Departamento de Matemática, Vila
Real, alunos de 10,11 e 12. Estágio na área de Matemática. EVM09, de 20--23 de Julho de
2009 (Teresa Azevedo-Perdicóulis);
•
Palestra sobre eficiência energética, Colégio Rainha Santa Isabel, Coimbra, 19 Fevereiro
2009 (Paula Fonseca);
•
Characterisation of the Household Electricity Consumption in the EU, Potential Energy
Savings and Specific Policy Recommendations, European Conference for an Energy Efficient
Economy, (eceee2009), La Colle sur Loup, Nice, France, 1-6 June 2009 (A. de Almeida e
Paula Fonseca);
•
"Optimização da Utilização de Energia Eléctrica em Força Motriz", 16/Junho/2009 - Porto –
AEP (Carlos Patrão);
•
"Optimização da Utilização de Energia Eléctrica em Força Motriz", -17/Junho/2009 - LisboaAIP (Carlos Patrão);
•
Auditing: PAVIGRES, 2/10 de Março 2009 (Carlos Patrão);
•
Consulting for EDP (A. de Almeida, Carlos Patrão, Pedro Moura, Pedro Esteves, Paula
Fonseca)
•
“Introdução à Robótica Médica”, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, December, 2009 (Rui
Cortesão);
•
“Active Impedance Control Design for Human-Robot Comanipulation”, ISIR-UPMC, Paris,
France, November, 2009 (Rui Cortesão);
32
•
“Aplicações de Robótica Médica”, Congresso Inovar a Medicina, Lisbon, Portugal,
November, 2009 (Rui Cortesão);
•
“Do we need medical robotics?”, Second Int. Conf. on Minimally Invasive Surgery, Braga,
Portugal, May 2009 (Rui Cortesão);
•
“Robótica Médica para quê?”, Encontro Nacional de Estudantes de Engenharia Biomédica,
Coimbra, Portugal, Fevereiro, 2009.
•
Investigação: conceitos e relatos de projectos em robótica móvel e veículos inteligentes,
FEUP, 18 Feve. 2009 (U. Nunes);
•
Investigação: projectos em robótica móvel e veículos inteligentes, in: Jornadas de EE e das
Telecomunicações, IPCB, 27 May 2009 (U. Nunes);
•
Exposição de um protótipo do Projecto HCOGICOS (interacção homem-computador) na I
Feira de Ciência e Tecnologia de Alcobaça, de 17 a 21 de Março em Alcobaça, Portugal
(Paulo Peixoto);
•
Palestra de divulgação cientifica na Escola Secundária de Pombal em 24/03/2010 com o título
«As novas formas de interface homem-computador» (Paulo Peixoto)
•
Apresentação "Visão Artificial" no dia 21 de Março de 2009, na Feira de Ciência e
Tecnologia de Alcobaça (Hélder Araújo);
•
Apresentação "Visão Artificial" em Junho de 2009 na Escola Secundária Avelar Brotero, para
os alunos dos cursos da noite (Hélder Araújo).
33
E– Projects
34
Project name: SInCACI - Intelligent Systems for
Control Acquisition and Industrial
Communication
Coordinator (PI):Rui Araújo (at FCTUC)
Funding: 130246 € by “ADI - Agência de
Inovação, SA”and “AControl – Automação e
Controle Industrial, Lda”
Duration of the action: 2009/04/01 until
2012/03/31
Project Description: Objectives/scope: R&D on intelligent control and decision methods;
Development of a general-purpose Fuzzy Control System (FCS); On-line process control and
monitoring; Controller specification and implementation; Visualization of the process state;
Devices/process failure reports; Direct application to industry problems; Research computational
intelligence techniques for the development of soft sensors for industrial application; R&D on
industrial communication and processing modules: industrial distributed real-time communication
fieldbus protocols: ControlNet, Ethernet/IP, DeviceNet; ProfiNet. Relevant properties to industrial
fieldbuses: Real-time operation, Reliability, Deterministic, Error-proof, Easy to extend and maintain.
Direct application to industry problems; Selling on market. Achievements: The project is starting;
On-going work:
On-line process control
and monitoring; Controller specification and
implementation; Visualization of the process state; Devices/process failure reports; R&D on soft
sensors; Interface modules between different fieldbus protocols; Interface ControlNet / RS232;
35
Modules with capacity to execute relevant processing in industrial automation and control
environments. Direct application to industry problems;
Project name: ITraffic – Automatic Traffic
Event Detection for the BRISA Telematic
System (Code: INO-DAI 01 CE)
Coordinator (PI): Jorge Batista
Funding: €76956,00/year, by Brisa
In order to support safe and efficient driving, it is important to classify the behaviours of vehicles and
to understand their interactions on typical traffic scenarios. Until recent years, this task was
performed by human operators at traffic control centers, but the huge increase on the number of
available cameras requires automatic traffic surveillance systems
In the last decades, one of the most important efforts in ITS research has been the development of
visual surveillance systems that could help reduce the number of traffic incidents and traffic jams in
urban and highway scenarios. Although the large number of systems based on different types of
sensors and their relative performance, vision based systems are very useful to collect very rich
information about road traffic.
Brisa has recently built a Operational Coordinate Center (CCO) and is in the process of installing
more than four hundred traffic surveillance cameras as part of his Traffic Telematic System (STR).
36
The primary goal of the project was the detection and tracking of potentially anomalous traffic events
along the highway roads. By anomalous events we mean the detection of vehicles that stopped on the
highway, vehicles driving
in lane's opposite direction and also vehicle that are constantly switching between lanes. The system
should be able to identify each vehicle and track its behaviour, and to recognize dangerous situations
or events that might results from a chain of such behaviours. The system should be robust to
illumination changes and small camera movements, being able to robustly track vehicles against
occlusions and crowded events.
The promising results obtained with the project BRISA I gave us the opportunity to embrace a solid
partnership for R&D through the creation of a ISR-BRISA R&D Laboratory totally funded by BRISA
on a annual contract basis, renewable, with the purpose of developing solutions for a wide range of
research challenges that needs to be addressed on ITS.
Project name: Gene Predit - Automatização da
Plataforma de Recolha e Preparação de
amostras Biológicas.
Coordinator (PI): Jorge Batista
Budget : €54000,00
Duration of the action: August 2009, August
2011
37
This project is mainly a technological project on which the ISR is involved only at a
scientific&technological supervision level. The project was submitted by Gene Predit S.A. to QREN
2009 under the scientific supervision of ISR team members.
The purpose of the project is the development of a robotic system with multiple degrees of
freedom for the automatic collection and preparation of biological samples (drosophilae flies) to be
used on the identification of genetic biomarkers associated to certain pathologies and the
identification of drugs for the treatment of certain diseases.
Project name: Dinâmina Facial 4D para
Reconhecimento de Identidade (Projecto
PTDC/EIA-CCO/108791/2008)
Coordinator (PI): Jorge Batista
Funded by FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia
Budget : €58166,00
ABSTRACT:
The human face has been the subject of tremendous scrutiny in the fields of human cognition,
computer vision, image processing and computer graphics, and is perhaps the most extensively
researched facet of our body. This is hardly surprising given the importance of its function in social
interactions. The face is the primary medium for conveying identity, cognitive state, emotive intent
and disseminating affective responses. Although humans use language as the main channel for
conveying facts and schemes, it does not match the face’s capacity for communicating emotions:
- “The face is rich in communicative potential. It is the primary site for communicating emotional
states; it reflects interpersonal attitudes...”
- The study of how facial expressions transmit affective information was pioneered in behavioural
psychology by Ekman and his associates. From these studies it was discovered that facial expressions
are uniquely human, basic emotional expressions are consistent in exhibition and interpretation across
all demographics, and emotional messages are constructed by the actions of certain facial muscles .
- Due to its complex dynamic nature, the study of the face from a computational perspective has
resulted in increasingly more sophisticated tools in non-rigid object modelling and tracking, object
parameterisation and recognition, occlusion handling and extracting invariant features in real-world
settings.
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Automated facial analysis has been motivated by some very desirable applications, which consider
both its static nature, such as identity recognition, and its dynamic nature, such as expression
recognition, visual speech recognition and the realistic animation of virtual humans. This analysis has
also paved new insights and tools in medical applications, behavioural science, security, education
and human computer interaction.
- Much of this analysis has been conducted on static2D or 3Dimages or short2D image sequences.
However there has been very little work in investigating facial dynamics in video-rate 3D data. The
advantages of 3D over 2D data in pattern recognition tasks have been largely considered as a means
to overcome variations in pose and illumination. However, 3D information over time also provides us
with a complete description of how an object deforms in 4D spatiotemporal space without the loss of
information which is incurred as part of the 2D image projection process. With respect to the human
face, one important use for this is to analyse the ways in which individuals can, or are able to deform
their face while performing expression or speech. We can use this analysis to explore the similarities
and idiosyncrasies of facial motion across individuals, which has important applications in
physiological and clinical studies. We can also use this to generate individualized dynamic facial
models for highly realistic animation. Another direction of research stems from the question of
whether it is possible to characterise an individual based on their facial motion. For example, how can
we quantify the similarly between two peoples’ smiles? Which expressions best discriminate
individuals? Is it possible to build a prototypical 4D model of how people smile? How are individual
differences reflected as a deviation from this model? To the best of our knowledge, these questions
have received a very small amount of attention in 2D image analysis, and none in 3D sequences.
From a biometrics point of view, the concept of recognising a person based on facial motion is
attractive; since facial movements comprise a complex sequence of muscle activations, it is almost
impossible to imitate another person’s facial expressions and these facial motion characteristics are
unique to an individual. Furthermore, the use of facial motion is in certain aspects more robust to
fraudulent attacks than current static face recognition algorithms, which fail if presented with a
physical model of a person’s face. Facial dynamics are also independent of lighting, pose and
appearance changes (such as wearing make-up), which are apparent in real-world environments. In
experimental psychology, determining the precise role of facial motion in determining identity is still
largely unknown, and is actively pursued. By exploring this notion using computer vision techniques,
we will be able to evaluate the strength of the dynamic cue in identity recognition.
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Project name: AIRMA: Automatic Image
Recognition for Mobile Advertising
Project: QREN 3391/2008
Funded by AdI (Agência da Inovação) 140K€.
Project in cooperation with WIT Software
Principal Investigator: Paulo Peixoto.
Project Description:
The AIRMA project aims to develop a software system for automatic recognition of
advertising content contained in photographs taken with a mobile phone.
Let's consider the following use case: an advertising company intends to promote the sales of
a soda in cans and therefore inform consumers that they should take a picture of the product and send
it through their mobile phone. By doing this, the consumer will be eligible to receive a discount
coupon, win a prize or participate on an advertising contest. The system is able to receive the image
sent by the mobile phone and enters into a process of automatically recognizing the brand, product or
codes self-contained in the photo. The successful recognition of the promotion will associate it to the
consumer.
In this scenario, the consumer only needs to get a picture and send it via the mobile phone.
The advertising company maintains a database of the participants and later will be able to make direct
campaigns and promotions.
The AIRMA system is targeted for clients of big brand companies, advertising companies as
well as mobile network operators. The project is a partnership between the WIT-Software company
and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) from University of Coimbra.
The DEEC is responsible for the research and development of the software module for
recognizing advertising content into the images. WIT-Software is responsible for the implementation
of a software system that includes a central server with a web interface for the management of brands,
campaigns and users, etc. and it will integrate the outcomes of the work undertaken by DEEC.
Additionally, the software prototype to be developed and installed in the mobile phone will be able to:
(i) Capture images from the mobile phone's camera;
40
(ii) Send image to the central server;
(iii) Provide relevant information to the user, in case of successful recognition of brands contained in
the photo.
Project name: ArthroNav Computer Assisted Navigation in Orthopedic
Surgery using Endoscopic Images
Coordinator (PI): João P. Barreto
Funding Agency: FCT
Duration of the action: 36 months (Oct 1, 2007
– Sept. 30, 2010).
Description :
The 3D reconstruction of scenes using monocular video sequences is an active research
problem in computer vision. The literature covers, not only 3D reconstruction, but also related
subjects as camera calibration and 3D registration. However, most of the described methodologies
were developed for perspective images of everyday scenes. The goal of this project is to extend this
framework to endoscopic video sequences in the context of computer aided orthopedic surgery
(CAOS). Our target application is the visualization and navigation during the reconstruction of the
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) using arthroscopy (endoscopic observation of articulations). Since
we aim to develop methods to extract 3D information from endoscopic images, the project outcome
will be useful for many other minimally invasive medical procedures.
A surgical navigator is a visualization system providing real-time positional information
about instruments and tools with respect to a target organ (bones). The position and orientation of
external rigid objects, like the arthroscope and surgical tools, can be easily computed using a
commercial optical tracker (Fig. 4). A stereo head with infrared cameras (the optical tracker) tracks a
41
set of LED markers that are rigidly attached to each instrument. Simple triangulation is used to
determine the 3D pose of the different tools in a common world reference frame. The main difficulty
in developing a CAOS system for ACL reconstruction is the estimation of the position and orientation
of the femur/tibia. The patient's leg moves during the surgery, and optical tracking can not be used
because the bones are not visible from the outside. We propose to solve the problem by reconstructing
the knee joint from the arthroscopic video stream. The partial reconstructions can be registered with
pre-operative volumetric images (typically CT scan) in order to estimate the 3D pose of the
femur/tibia with respect to the camera. Since the rigid motion of the arthroscope is tracked by the
external stereo head, we can compute the position and orientation of the bones in the world coordinate
system where the surgical tools are referenced.
Despite of the recent developments in
computer
vision,
working
with
arthroscopic
images remains a challenging problem. We will
focus our research efforts in the following issues:
1. Geometry of Image Formation - The arthroscope
is a non-conventional vision sensor and can not be
described by the perspective model. We intend to
derive a suitable projection model, study the image
geometry, and develop calibration methods.
2. 3D Reconstruction - The reconstruction of the knee joint is difficult due to the nature of the scenes,
the image distortion and the lightning conditions. The camera calibration and the tracking of its
motion will partially constrain the problem. Nevertheless we need to investigate features types that
can be reliably tracked, deal with textureless regions, etc.
3. 3D Registration - The recovered local structure must be registered with a pre-operative CT scan.
The 3D registration algorithm must be accurate despite of the leg's movements, sparse local 3D
information, and real-time requirements.
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Project name: CHMS - Cluster in Healthcare &
Medical Solutions
Project: QREN 3391/2008
Description :
ISR-UC is a partner of "CHMS- Cluster in Healthcare & Medical Solutions".
CHMS is a regional network leaded by "Instituto Pedro Nunes", that promotes the
collaboration across different institutions interested in health care and medical technology.
The objective is to stimulate and enhance the potential of the region in this sector.
The cluster is multi-disciplinary and gathers more than 75 partners, from companies to
research institutes, passing by hospitals and govern entities. The CHMS network is a follow
up of the consortium "XHMS - Redes de Competências/Centro de Excelência Healthcare and
Medical Solutions".
ISR-UC participated in XHMS as technology provider in the RDFixer
project. This project is a collaboration with Critical Software SA (another partner of XHMS),
and has been recently awarded with funding from the QREN program (project Ver-Saúde
that will start in 2009).
43
Project name: MORFEU— MultiObjective Robot Fleet for improved
commUnication
Coordinator (PI): H. Araújo
Funding Agency: FCT
Funding: 186.838,00€
Description:
In many disaster situations the human intervention may involve several risks. These threats
may derive from different factors such as damaged infrastructures which can potentially collapse at
any instant, inflicting damage to working rescue teams. In addition to this, a hazardous environment
may also result from broken gas pipes, biohazard materials and other harmful substances. The usage
of robotic rescue agents is a powerful tool for rescue operations where no human casualties need to be
at risk. These agents can perform common rescue operation tasks and generally operate with
reconnaissance purposes, gathering information from many possible sensors. Similarly to a human
rescue team, a team of robot agents moves through the disaster impact zone in search of relevant
information which may include the search of trapped victims. An important requirement for any
rescue team is that some communication infrastructure is always, or at least frequently available.
This requirement is fundamental for non-autonomous teams and, particularly, for timely
transmission of critical data. The proposed rescue scheme considers multiple robot teams equipped
with traditional sensors such as a laser range finder, an omnidirectional video camera and an
omnidirectional wireless antenna using the IEEE 802.11 standard. Each team should be remotely
controlled, as whole, by a human operator, thus reinforcing the importance of connectivity
maintenance.
The connectivity requirement should autonomously be met by each individual robot which
progressively adjusts its own position in order to optimize the network connectivity. As an additional
objective, each robot should also maintain a relative positioning system. The robot position can be
44
obtained through triangulation amongst other team nodes, such that the entire team is aware of all its
robots’ positions. Regarding the desired positioning system, one important aspect is that certain
nodes, anchor nodes, possess additional positioning information which can be obtained from sensors
such as GPS, when available, or even from known reference points when they are identified. As
previously explained, there is a hybrid navigation mode for robots, where an entire team is remotely
controlled and where within each team there is an autonomous node movement. This movement is
based on each robot’s coordinates with connectivity and relative positioning maintenance objectives
as a concern.
This aspect motivates the need of a communication method that efficiently achieves
suitable performance for the correct operation of the mobile nodes. For this purpose, Wireless Mobile
Ad-hoc networks are going to be used. Mobile Ad-hoc networks (MANETs) aim at providing a selfconfigured, self-maintained and self-administrated reliable wireless network without the need of any
existent infrastructure. Regarding the proposed rescue approach, the wireless network benefits from
the organized robot teams which by themselves keep as an objective maintaining network
connectivity. However, from the network perspective, connectivity may not be sufficient to efficiently
support the rescue services used during the operations.
Project title: DENO - DEvelopment of Nonlinear Observers
(PTDC/EEA-ACR/67020/2006)
Responsible: Pedro Rodrigues de Aguiar (IST-Lisbon)
Research team: Pedro Rodrigues de Aguiar (ISR/IST-Lisbon), Joao
Pedro Hespanha (University of California Santa Barbara(UCSB),
USA), Diogo Gomes (IST-Lisbon), Fátima Silva Leite (ISRCoimbra) and Michail Athanasiadis (ISR/ISR-Lisbon)
Funding entity: FCT
Total award period covered: September 2007 – August 2010
Global budget: 124.998,00 €
Summary of the project:
The DENO project aims to study, develop and design nonlinear observers that explicitly address the
nonlinear dynamics of the plant, uncertainty of the parameters, disturbances, and noise. The emphasis
45
will be placed on the analysis of stability, convergence of the estimation error and robustness of the
proposed observers. It is important to stress that the lack of these properties may lead to catastrophic
failures for the applications (e.g., control of autonomous vehicles). Another important objective of
this project is the design of nonlinear observers in the context of state estimation over networks.
Spawned by the advent of nanotechnology, advanced communication systems, and the
miniaturization of electro-mechanical devices, considerably effort is now being placed on the
deployment of networked sensors distributed over a wide area. Sensor networks have been finding
application in a variety of areas that range from environmental monitoring and surveillance, to
navigation of moving vehicles. However, the presence of a network poses a number of challenging
problems that traditionally have not been taken into account in observer system design, which may
imply poor performance or even instability. The network itself is a dynamical system that exhibits
special characteristics such as communication delays and data loss. Thus, the problem of estimating
the state of a remote system based on measurements carried through a network must be addressed
taking into account the communication channel. The DENO project will extend the research frontier
on nonlinear observers beyond its current boundary and will have a significant impact on the
development of several important application areas. It will also attract new researchers to this
important field.
Project title: DcopGas - Leakage detection, control and optimisation
in high pressure gas networks (PTDC/EEA-CRO/112341/2009)
Responsible: Paulo Jorge de Azevedo Lopes dos Santos (FEUPOporto)
Research team: Paulo Jorge de Azevedo Lopes dos Santos(ISRPorto/FEUP), Teresa Paula C. Azevedo Perdicoulis (ISR-Coimbra,
UTAD)
Funding entity: Call for Funding of Research and Development
Projects in all Scientific Domains - 2009
Total award period covered: submitted on the 16-12-2009.
Global budget: € 193.632,00€
Description:
This project intends to bring together researchers from the Engineering Faculty of Oporto
University and ISR Coimbra with interests in systems theory and control to develop new low-cost
and effective tools for gas leakage detection and control and optimisation of high pressure distribution
46
gas networks. It is also intention of this working group to promote discussion and bring together
partners involved in the theory and practice of a gas transport and distribution and members from the
Control Community. Contacts are already established with some entities working in the theory and
practice of a gas transport and distribution network, such as REN-Gasodutos, LIWACOM, the
institute of Professor G. Leugering at Erlangen University (Germany) and SIMONE Research Group
from Czech Republic, as well as members of the Control Community belonging to the Technical
Committees of Signal Processing from International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) and of
System Identification and Adaptive Control from the IEEE Control System Society where the project
IR is an active element. The work will have a special focus on the modelling of the gas network for
leakage detection and control and optimisation. Leak detection has been in practice for liquid
pipelines for some time with very good results regarding leak detection sizing and location. For gas
transport networks major improvements have been achieved but there is still much work to be done
until a certifiable envelope is possible. In this project we propose to model each pipeline as a Linear
Parameter Varying (LPV) System. The model will be identified using the measured mass flow and
pressures at the end nodes. Identification algorithms recently developed by some project team
members will be used for this purpose. If necessary, new algorithms can be developed. A state
estimator based on the estimated model will monitor the pipeline and will detect the gas leakage and
it will estimate its size. A methodology based in the solution of the partial differential equation (PDE)
(distributed model, from a control point of view) will be considered for leak location. Since this
requires the PDE (distributed model) identification this will be one of the project research topics.
Simpler methods for leak location based on engineering intuition will be also developed in parallel.
Control and optimisation of gas networks are dynamic problems of large dimension, generally
nonlinear and geographically dispersed. The decentralised nature of the problem justifies for the
choice of a non-cooperative mathematical formulation, where the optimisation problem is replaced by
a search for an equilibrium among players. In particular, Nash games capture the non cooperative
nature of the problem as well as the seemingly antagonistic behaviour of the different interests which
need to be taken into account in the management and control of the network. A situation of conflict or
cooperation in which more than one decision maker choose strategies at certain points in time is a
dynamic game. In a noncooperative framework the players gain some dynamic information through
the decision process, whose evolution is described either by a differential or a difference equation.
Stochastic perturbations will be introduced in the model, and a stochastic version will be compared
with the deterministic models. The properties of the Nash games will be studied when the underling
dynamics is represented by a differential and algebraic equations (DAE) system, namely the
47
representation of the solution is obtained in terms of the Riccati equations. Also, a multistage
approach for the same problem in the framework of repetitive processes will be investigated. The
work developed, as well as the obtained results, will be presented in small workshops and written in
periodical reports, as well as published in international journals and conference proceedings. Prof
Gerhard Jank from RWTH-Aachen in Germany and Prof. José Arquel Ramos from Nova
Southeastern University, FL, USA will be the project consultants.
Project name: Change Best: Promoting the development of
an energy efficiency service (EES) market - Good practice
examples of changes in energy service business, strategies,
and supportive policies and measures in the course of the
implementation of Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use
efficiency and energy services
Project Coordinator: Wuppertal Institut
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Aníbal T. de Almeida
Programme component: Intelligent Energy Europe
Project number: IEE/08/234434
Duration of the action: 36 months (June 2009 - June 2012)
Partners:
Wuppertal Institute (DE), e7 Energie Markt Analyse GmbH (AT), The Energy Efficiency Center
(CZ), Energy Saving Bureau (EE), Association for the Research and the Development of Industrial
Methods and Processes (FR), ELECTRICITY OF France (FR), Association of rational usage of
energy and water (DE), Lund University (SE), HELESCO S.A. (GR), Politecnico di Milano - Energy
Department (IT), Ekodoma (LV), ISR-University of Coimbra (PT), Energy research Centre of the
Netherlands (NL), Black Sea Regional Energy Centre (BG), Energy Piano (DK), Regional Energy
Agency of Central Macedonia (EL), Krakow Institute for Sustainable Energy (PL), Center for Energy
Systems (SK), Jozef Stefan Institute – Energy Efficiency Centre (SI), ESCAN, S.A. (ES).
48
Webpage:
http://www.changebest.eu/
Project description:
A main objective of the Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services
(ESD) is to stimulate the market for energy services and for the delivery of other energy efficiency
improvement measures to final consumers. In order to achieve this objective, the ESD gives a special
role to energy distributors, distribution system operators and retail energy sales companies. On the
other hand, there are different types of "pure" energy service companies (ESCOs) in the market ready
to expand their business in the field of energy efficiency services (EES).
Against this background, it is important to know, how and to which extent the EES market could be
further developed, what are appropriate business strategies and promising services not only for
“advanced” companies but also for “beginners”, what is a policy framework suitable to stimulate
market development and to overcome existing barriers, and which role energy companies developing
towards sustainable ESCOs could play.
The final outputs and results of the study will be:
a platform for collecting results on the EES market development in the course of the
implementation of the ESD and beyond
from questionnaires, national workshops, and own monitoring and analysis by the project,
from different IEE and other European and national projects focusing on the development and
implementation of EES and of a respective service market, and
from different projects and studies on the changing role of energy companies and ESCOs in
the course of the implementation of Directive 2006/32/EC.
a better understanding of how and towards which direction the ESD and its implementation
works, and how this process could be improved,
the identification of the factors that are important, supportive or even necessary for the
development of an EES market,
49
methodologies and strategies how to easily start and further develop business activities in the
EES market, not only for “advanced” companies, but also for “beginners”,
a collection of good practice of strategies, business cases and supporting policy instruments,
an outlook on the impact that the EU package “20 20 20 by 2020” and further European and
national climate mitigation policies and measures will have on the EES market development,
a bundle of new energy (efficiency) services developed in co-operation with partners from
practice (B2B and B2C), that ease companies to enter into the EES market or to expand their EES
business,
recommendations for the further development of the ESD, national policy frameworks, the
EES market, and the role of energy companies and ESCOs in this market,
communication and dissemination materials, events and publications, and
the start of a European network for the development of EES.
Project name: IDEAL EPBD: Improving Dwellings by
Enhancing Actions on labeling for the EPBD
Project Coordinator: Energy Research centre of the
Netherlands (ECN)
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Aníbal T. de Almeida
Programme component: Intelligent Energy Europe
Project number: IEE/07/600/SI2.499426
Duration of the action: 36 months (October 2008 - Oct 2011)
Partners:
ISR-University of Coimbra (PT), Black Sea Regional Energy Centre (BG), Danish Building Research
Institute (DK), Catholic University of Louvain (BE), Building Research Establishment Ltd (UK),
50
Technical research Centre of Finland (FI), Oeko Institute.V. - Institute for Applied Ecology (DE),
EKODOMA (LV) and ENVIROS (CZ).
Webpage:
http://www.ideal-epbd.eu/
Project description: The EPBD requires for existing dwellings (<1000m2) an energy performance
certificate when they change of owner/tenant, including a label and recommendations of costeffective energy saving measures. No obligation exists to carry out these saving measures. Basic idea
of certificates is that household’s decision processes are based on financial savings. Experiences with
prior labelling/auditing programmes show that not all cost-effective saving measures are carried out.
If these earlier experiences form an indication of the effectiveness of the EPBD, a risk exists that a
large part of the energy saving potential in existing dwellings will not be realised under the EPBD.
This is especially relevant as existing dwellings are responsible for major part of the saving potential
in dwellings. The project IDEAL EPBD will analyse consumer behaviour, barriers and policy
instruments in 10 different countries. It will provide empirical evidence and monitoring by applying
in-depth interviews and electronic questionnaires and will develop policy action plans to change
consumer behaviour, which will be disseminated in the complete EU-27, in order to optimise the
effect of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
Specific Objectives:
This project aims at improving the implementation of the EPBD in order to realise the full energy
savings potential by defining Member State specific policy recommendations to change home owner
and stakeholder behaviour. It will:
1. Monitor results of EPBD regarding behaviour and institutional factors
2. Provide insights in behaviour, role of professionals and role of policies
3. Provide feedback to professionals and policy makers
4. Contribute to policy development
51
Experiences with labelling and auditing programs showed that the homeowner’s decisions are not
based on financial savings alone. The consequence of this can be that a large part of the saving
potential in existing dwellings will not be realized under the EPBD.
In order to optimize the effect of the EPBD, it is important to fully understand the complexity of
consumer and stakeholder behaviour, and the effect of policies, to transform these to country specific
insights and policy recommendations.
Project name: Energy2B - Stimulate students to make an
energy difference through local & European idea
competitions and entrepreneurial services
Project Coordinator: University of Sheffield
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Aníbal T. de Almeida
Programme component: Intelligent Energy Europe
Project number: IEE/08/630
Duration of the action: 36 months (May 2009 - April 2012)
Partners:
University of Sheffield (UK), Qeam (NL), SWIS (NL), 1st Mile (DK), New Frontier Services (BE),
Innova BIC (IT), University of Maribor (SI), Technical University of Sofia (BG) and Technical
University of Lodz
Webpage:
http://www.energy2b.eu/
52
Project description: Project Energy2b is an innovation stimulating initiative that targets university
students and encourages them to turn energy innovation ideas into reality via new business start-ups.
The project’s infrastructure will be facilitated by a newly created web platform, which will enable
idea competitions at national and European level. Ten local competitions for energy innovation ideas
are offered on the Energy2b platform in five European countries (UK, PT, PL, SI and BG). The best
energy innovations are selected for boot camp and follow up services given by energy / business
planning / investment experts in the five countries. In parallel, 2 European idea competitions are
organized, leading to the creation of energy innovations that have the potential to be funded for startup. Ten of the best energy innovations will be showcased at local and European exhibitions and
efforts made to facilitate the transformation of student ideas into “eco energy” innovations.
Expected results:
•
Web platform to facilitate local & European idea competitions regarding energy
innovations
•
Frameworks for idea competitions, boot camps and follow-up services for students
•
Database of ideas in the field of energy innovations
•
Students experience entrepreneurship and creativity regarding ideas in the field
energy innovations and alter their attitude in the field energy saving, renewable
energy, energy & environment
53
Project name: SELINA Standby and off mode energy
losses in new appliances measured in shops
Project Coordinator: ISR-University of Coimbra
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Aníbal T. de Almeida
Programme component: Intelligent Energy Europe
Project number: IEE/07/563/SI.499206
Duration of the action: 24 months (Oct 2008 – Oct 2010)
Partners:
École des Mines -ARMINES (FR), Politecnico di Milano eERG (IT), EnEffect (BG), Seven (CZ),
CRES (GR), ARCE (RO), e-ster (BE), Fraunhofer ISI (DE), SIA Ekodoma (LV), IT Energy ApS
(DK), Intertek Testing & Certification Ltd (UK), University of Technology Graz, Institute of
Electrical Power Systems (AT).
Webpage:
http://www.selina-project.eu/
Project description: This project is directed to characterize the EU market in terms of standby and of
consumption in new electrical and electronic household and office equipment, being sold in shops, by
developing an appliance specific measuring methodology. A large scale monitoring of new equipment
will allow characterizing low power modes “lopomos”, of the equipment being sold in a large sample
of EU Countries. This would allow creating an equipment database with the market trends, which is a
major tool for policy makers to define future policies and regulations. The purpose of these standby
measurements on a common set of products is to allow national and international comparison of these
like products across different countries and regions. Such measurement will heighten the awareness
of stakeholders of the magnitude of standby power and will provide a focal point to highlight
differences across regions. The main objective of this project is to identify effective market
54
transformation policies initiatives targeted at all the key stakeholders involved in the manufacture,
distribution, sales and operation of appliances with standby and off-mode losses. As a result it is
expected to achieve a huge savings of electricity (80 TWh projected by 2020) and carbon emissions
(30 MTons of CO2 by 2020).
Project name: E4 – Energy Efficient Elevators and
Escalators
Project Coordinator: ISR-University of Coimbra
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Aníbal T. de Almeida
Programme component: Intelligent Energy Europe
Project number: EIE/07/111/SI2.466703
Duration of the action: 30 months (15Oct 2007 – 15 April
2010)
Partners:
ELA (BE), Fraunhofer ISI (DE), KAPE S.A. (PL), ENEA (IT),
Webpage:
http://e4project.eu
Project description:
The Energy-Efficient Elevators and Escalators is a project supported by the European Commission’s
Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. This project is targeted at the improvement of the energy
performance of elevators and escalators, in the tertiary sector buildings and in the multi family
residential buildings. Elevators and escalators are the crucial element that makes it practical to live
and work several floors of above ground.
The project will characterize people conveyors electricity consumption in the tertiary sector and in
residential buildings in the EU, and promote the efficient use of electricity in this type of loads
55
through the application of the best available technologies in the market. Recommendations and
procurement guidelines will be produced.
On this website, information will be updated and amended continuously. Furthermore, you will find
links to the websites of IEE, Green Building, ELA.
roject name: MODERN - MObility, Development and
Energy use ReductioN
Project full title: Mobility, Development and Energy use
Reduction
Acronym: MODERN
Project Coordinator: Mr. Gabriel Vladut
Program Component: CIVITAS
Program Number: 219041
Duration of the action: 48 months (15/10/2008 –
15/10/2012)
Partners:
Local Council of Craiova Municipality (RO), Regia Autonoma de Transporti Craiova (RO), Institutu
de Projectari Automatizari SA Craiova (RO), Comune di Brescia (IT), Brescia Mobilità (IT), Brescia
Trasporti (IT), University of Brescia (IT), Ayuntamento de Vitoria-Gasteiz (ES), Transportes
Urbanos de Vitoria (ES), Centro de Estudios Ambientales (ES), Ente Vasco de la Energía (ES), Real
Automovil Club Vasco-Navarro (ES), Câmara Municipal de Coimbra (ES), Serviços Municipalizados
de Transportes Urbanos de Coimbra (ES), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia de Coimbra (PT),
Critical Software SA (PT), Prodeso Ensino Profissional LDA (PT), Perform Energia LDA (PT),
Municipaly of Ostrava (CZ), Ostravské Komunikace (CZ), Dopravní Podnik Ostrava AS (CZ),
Istituto di Studio per l’ Integrazione dei Sistemi (IT), CORE srl (IT), Methodos SpA (IT), Mobility
Venice AISBL (BE).
Webpage:
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http://www.civitas-initiative.org
Project description:
The CIVITAS – CIty, VITAlity and Sustainability – is a Program co-financed by the European
Union, with the main objective of promoting and implementing sustainable urban mobility measures
in several European cities. The MODERN Project – MObility, Development and Energy use
ReductioN – was developed in the context of the CIVITAS PLUS Program and includes Coimbra,
located in the Centre Region of Portugal, as one the participant cities. One of the main tasks of the
MODERN Project is the integration of renewable energies in the trolleybus traction lines and in the
electric battery operated mini-buses. Given the nearby hydropower resource of the Mondego river, a
study was carried out in order to assess the technical and economical feasibility of hydropower
production at an already existing multi-purpose mobile dam-bridge, located in the northwest of
Coimbra, where eventually a very low head run-of-river small-hydropower plant can be installed. As
the main civil works have already been done, the hydropower installation costs will be significantly
reduced because the expenses will mainly resume to hydro-mechanical, hydro-electrical and electrical
equipment, with expected low hydraulic structure impact, as well as minimum environmental and
visual impacts. The optimization of the hydroelectric production will take in to account the seasonal
water supply demands for agricultural, municipal and industrial use, the water discharges from the
upstream reservoir system of Aguieira–Raiva–Fronhas, the very low head turbines available
technology, the physical constraints of the structure and the special feed-in tariff for renewable power
plants. The small-hydropower plant, coupled with the electric public urban transportation fleet, will
contribute to a sustainable mobility concept, reducing electric grid transportation losses by
decentralized production and reducing green gases emissions, contributing to urban air quality
improvement and to the Kyoto Protocol fulfilment.
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Project name: GROUND MED
Chiller
Project Coordinator: Centre for Renewable Energy
Sensors
Actuators
Sources (CRES) - Greece
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Aníbal T. de Almeida
Supervising
Network
(Ethernet)
Controller Board
Programme component: FP7 Programme
Project number: TREN/FP7EN/218895
FieldBus
Smart
Sensors
Duration of the action: 60 months ( 2009 – 2014)
Smart
Actuators
Building
Partners:
Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (GR), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (FR), European
Heat Pump Association (BE), Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH (DE), Compagnie
Industrielle d'Applications Thermiques (FR), Hiref Spa (IT), University of Oradea (RO), ISRUniversity of Coimbra (PT), Gejzir d.o.o., Podjetje za poslovne storitve (SL), Geoteam Technisches
Büro für Hydro-geologie, Geothermie und Umwelt GesmbH(AT), Universidad Politécnica de
Valencia (ES), BESEL S.A. (ES), ECOSERVEIS (ES), European Geothermal Energy Council (BE),
Groupement pour la Recherche sur les Echangeurs Thermiques (FR), University College Dublin (IE),
Università degli Studi di Padova (IT), Edrasis - C. Psallidas S.A.(GR), Centre Technique des
Industries Aérauliques et Thermique (FR), OCHSNER Wärmepumpen GmbH (AT), Escola Superior
De Tecnologia De Setubal (PT), GROENHOLLAND geo environmental solutions (NL), KTH-EGI
Research and education in energy for the future (SE), ENEREN (IT)
Webpage:
http://www.groundmed.eu/
Project description:
Is a collaborative project which demonstrates innovating ground source heat pump solutions in 8
buildings in Mediterranean EU member States. It involves 25% research and technology development
and 75% demonstration (including dissemination activities) of integrated GSHP systems for heating
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and cooling of considerably higher seasonal coefficient of performance (SPF) than present
technology.
The main objective of GROUND-MED is to demonstrate the superior energy efficiency (SPF>5,0 for
year round operation) of the next generation of ground source heat pump systems for heating and
cooling in South Europe. For this purpose 8 buildings-demonstration sites have been selected (one in
Portugal, two in Spain, one in South France, one in Italy, one in Slovenia, one in Romania and one in
Greece).
Project name: PmITS06-Perception Methods
for an Intelligent Transportation System using
On-Board and Off-Board Sensing
Coordinator (PI): Urbano Nunes
Duration of the action: 36 months (October 1,
2007 - Sept 30, 2010).
Project description:
This project aims at enhancing the perception capability of an ITS, which is clearly the most complex
problem to deal with in the domain of fully and partially automated vehicles. Perception of the
environment, to provide safe and comfortable navigation with anti-collision behaviour is among all
the technologies needed for vehicles the most critical one in the deployment of cybercars, because of
the safety issues both for occupants and road users, including pedestrians.
Most existing projects in this area tackle the problem of developing autonomous cars in well defined
and controlled scenarios, interacting among themselves through some type of fixed infrastructure that
basically provides a communication means. In this new project, a new paradigm will be under
research which consists in integrating intelligent infrastructure sensing data with vehicles on-board
59
sensing to increase environment perception. The adoption of this paradigm is well fitted for ITS
specific scenarios. Applicative scenarios include any domain where a mixed traffic of pedestrians,
(slowly moving) vehicles and other moving objects share a common network of pathways. Hospitals,
residential areas, historical city centres, airports, industrial areas, public parks are some of the
environments where the network of autonomous vehicles could operate with a fixed, intelligent
infrastructure. On this project, the main focus resides on the research of methods and algorithms for
robust and reliable perception of pedestrians and other moving obstacles in ITS specific scenarios.
The perception system will integrate information from both on-board and off-board tracking and
classification modules. These modules are the research core of this proposal together with the fusion
module that will integrate them.
Project Title: GUARDIANS: Group of Unmanned Assistant Robots Deployed in Aggregative
Navigation supported by Scent detection”.
Project coordinator: Lino Marques
Project Description: GUARDIANS are a swarm of
autonomous robots applied to navigate and search
an urban ground. The project's central example is
an industrial warehouse in smoke, as proposed by
the Fire and Rescue Service. The job is time
consuming and dangerous; toxics may be released
and humans senses can be severely impaired.
Humans get disoriented and may get lost. The
robots warn for toxic chemicals, provide and maintain mobile communication links, infer localization
information and assist in searching. They enhance operational safety and speed and thus indirectly
save lives.
The novelty of the project is that we develop a swarm of autonomous robots that is able to
adequately assist and safeguard a human squad leader. The robots navigate autonomously and
accompany a human squad-leader. They connect to a wireless ad-hoc network and forward data to the
squad-leader and the control station. The network is self-organizing, adapts to connection failures by
modifying its connections from local up to central connections. The autonomous swarm operates in
communicative and non-communicative mode. In communicative mode automatic service discovery
60
is applied: the robots find peers to help them. The wireless network also enables the robots to support
a human squad-leader operating within close range. The aim is for flexible and seamless switching
between these modes in order to compensate for loss of network signals and to support and safeguard
the squad-leader. Several robot platforms are used, off-the-shelf mini-robots as well as middle sized
robots. The emphasis in data collection is on toxic plume detection, to enable olfactory-based
navigation, allow safe progress for the human squad-leader and to detect plume sources.
Project Title: AquaFinder, Marie Curie Contract MOIF-CT-2005-21733
Project coordinators: Aníbal Almeida and Lino
Marques
Chemical hot-spots are rich sources of various
chemical substances. The aquatic environment,
and particularly the seabed, contains many
chemical hot-spots which we wish to find, but
are unable to do so efficiently due to the limitations of underwater monitoring technologies. These
limitations are most evident in three very important aspects of human aquatic activity:
1) The marine mining industry, which relies on continuous detection of seabed mineral deposits such
as cobalt, gold and manganese. Growing efforts are being made to exploit these precious
resources, but the current method for locating them is still mainly through dredging of the ocean
floor. This method requires a specialized ship with heavy instrumentation, which is repetitively
lowered to the seabed (see right figure). This process is not only expensive, time-consuming and
spatially limited, but also has severe environmental flaws, creating large clouds of sediment and
destroying the natural ocean-floor habitats and their organisms.
2) Detecting and monitoring man-made pollution and sewage run-offs. The current environmental
monitoring techniques also rely on sporadic sampling, and thus suffer from similar defects. The
most common procedure involves manual sampling of the water at different points of interest,
followed by transporting the samples to a laboratory and performing various tests on the sampled
water. This method has many flaws, the most crucial of which are: (a) it does not give in-situ and
on-site results, thus wasting valuable time in the transport and laboratory analysis, (b) it achieves
61
only a very limited number of samples, and (c) sampling is conducted only at sporadic points to
which human samplers have access, thus avoiding hard-to-reach places, heavily contaminated
places, etc.
3) Locating underwater unexploded ordnance. There are many underwater and littoral sites which
must be surveyed for buried ordnance and mines. This is an extremely labour intensive and
expensive process, and even when using robots with side-scan sonar and television imagers, it is
nearly impossible.
It is clear that the current state-of-the-art in aquatic chemical exploration is insufficient, and that there
is a pressing need for carrying out further research in this field. The AquaFinder project shall focus on
a novel method for locating chemical sources: AUVs (Underwater Autonomous Vehicles), which will
be capable of sensing a specific chemical and autonomously navigate to where the concentration is
highest, thus locating the hot-spot. The navigation methods for the AUVs will be developed by
computerized simulations of chemical plumes, based on knowledge obtained from studied parasitic
marine animals which perform precisely this task, i.e. they track the odour plumes emanating from
their hosts and navigate in the chemical gradient fields in order to reach its source.
Project name: Bayesian Approach to
Cognitive Systems (BACS)
Coordinator (PI): Prof. Jorge Dias
Programme
component:
FP6-IST-
027140Duration of the action: 50 months
(Jan. 1, 2006 – Mar. 1, 2010)
Budget: 489.960 €
Partners: INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique; CNRS (Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique); MPS (Max Planck Society); IDIAP Research Institute; HUG (Hôpitaux
Universitaires de Genève); Probayes; BlueBotics; EDF (Electricité de France); Aeroscout; EPFL.
62
Webpage: http://www.bacs.ethz.ch/
Local Webpage: http://paloma.isr.uc.pt/projects/bacs/
Project description: Contemporary robots and other cognitive
artefacts are not yet ready to autonomously operate in
complex real world environments. One of the major reasons
for this failure in creating cognitive situated systems is the
difficulty in the handling of incomplete knowledge and
uncertainty. By taking up inspiration from the brains of
mammals, including humans, the BACS project will
investigate and apply Bayesian models and approaches in
order to develop artificial cognitive systems that can carry out complex tasks in real world
environments. The Bayesian approach will be used to model different levels of brain function within
a coherent framework, from neural functions up to complex behaviors. The Bayesian models will be
validated and adapted as necessary according to neuro-physiological data from rats and humans and
through psychophysical experiments on humans. The Bayesian approach will also be used to develop
four artificial cognitive systems concerned with (i) autonomous navigation, (ii) multi-modal
perception and reconstruction of the environment, (iii) semantic facial motion tracking, and (iv)
human body motion recognition and behavior analysis. The conducted research shall result in a
consistent Bayesian framework offering enhanced tools for probabilistic reasoning in complex real
world situations. The performance will be demonstrated through its applications to driver assistant
systems and 3D mapping, both very complex real world tasks.
Project name: IRPS – Intelligent Robotic Porter
System
Project Coordinator: CS Systèmes
d’Information,France (Dr. Maurice Heitz)
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Prof. Jorge Dias
Duration of the action: 36 months (Jan. 1, 2007 – Dec.
31, 2009)
63
Partners: Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements,Poland (PIAP), Scisys,UK,
Israeli Aerospace Industries, Israel, Parallel Geometry Inc,Canada, ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal, SA,
CCIT- Toulouse-Blagnac Airport,France
Budget: 415.000 €
Webpage:http://www.irps-project.net/
Project purpose: The purpose of the project is to provide mobile robotics platforms with advanced
mapping and navigation systems based on a very accurate positioning and 3D measurement
technology.
The 3D measurement technology, named LIMS (LIDAR Imaging and Measurement System) is based
on an innovative concept of real time measurement of position in presence of sparse regular objects.
The
measurement
technology
principles based on three eye-safe laser
systems were originated in IAILahav
and are patent pending.
Project goals: The main objective of
the project is to develop and integrate
an accurate 3D sensing system as a
modular component for robotics platforms, enabling fast dense mapping of large areas, populated
with sparse objects.
The project will develop and demonstrate the LIMS on high demanding application as an Intelligent
Robotic Porter System (IRPS) to help porting & guiding the public in airport areas.
64
Project name: PROMETHEUS
Project Coordinator: Swedish Defence Research
Agency – FOI – Sweden
FCTUC - Coordinator (PI): Dr. Jorge Dias
Duration of the action: 36 months (Jan. 1, 2008 –
Dec. 31, 2010).
Partners: Swedish Defence Research Agency – FOI - Sweden, ProBayes SAS - France, Speech &
Language Technology group, University of Patras - Greece, MARAC Electronics, S.A – Greece,
Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Institute for Human-Machine Communications – Germany,
Technical Educational Institute of Crete – Greece
Budget: 285.960 €
Webpage: http://paloma.isr.uc.pt/projects/prometheus
PROMETHEUS: Prediction and interpretation of human behavior based on probabilistic structures
and heterogeneous sensors
The project intends to establish a link between fundamental sensing tasks and automated cognition
processes that concern the understanding a short-term prediction of human behavior as well as
complex human interaction. The analysis of human behavior is unrestricted environments, including
localization and tracking of multiple people and recognition of their activities, currently constitutes a
topic of intensive research in the signal processing and computer vision communities. This research is
driven by different important applications, including unattended surveillance and intelligent space
monitoring.
The overall goal of the project is the development of principled methods to link fundamental sensing
tasks using multiple modalities, and automated cognition regarding the understanding of human
behavior in complex indoor environments, at both individual and collective levels. Given the two
above principles, the consortium will conduct research on three core scientific and technological
objectives:
1) Sensor modeling and information fusion from multiple, heterogeneous perceptual modalities
2) Modeling, localization, and tracking of multiple people
65
3) Modeling, recognition, and short-term prediction of continuous complex human behaviour.
Project name: Robotic-Assisted Minimally
Invasive Surgery
Coordinator (PI): Prof. Rui Cortesão
Area of Activity: Medical Robotics
Duration of the action: 3 years (starting in
October 2007)
Project Description: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) powered by robotic systems can greatly
improve surgeon's skills. Dedicated instruments that enter in the human body through tiny holes can
be tele-controlled by the surgeon through haptic devices, enhancing perception and execution of
surgery tasks. Touching points generate forces based on object parameters (such as stiffness,
impedance and friction) that are fed back to the human by haptic devices. Haptic feedback provides
realism to contact interactions, distinguishing not only different objects, but also free-space to contact
(and vice-versa) transitions. Scaling on-line tactile feedback can magnify or reduce haptic
telepresence whenever needed, which is a key functionality for advanced MIS systems. Addressing
surgical kinematic constraints in the control design enables manipulation techniques to focus only in
the task space, increasing surgeons’ dexterity. Guaranteed stability in contact with stiff objects is an
important milestone (e.g. touching another instrument or a bone) which demands advanced control
techniques, being a major obstacle for practical applications. Nowadays, robotic-assisted MIS does
not include haptic feedback in the main control loop to avoid instability problems. In this project we
plan to develop a robotic-assisted MIS setup with haptic telepresence, which has not been achieved so
far by any commercial system. The advantages over traditional surgical practices include: 1)
Augmented/scaled reality (e.g. motion and force augmentation or scaling for microsurgery); 2) Better
comfort for the surgeon; 3) Real-time integration of intra-operative data (e.g. image-guided motion
and force-controlled motion); 4) Accurate path following; 5) Enhanced mobility. Extra degrees of
66
freedom inside the body can be controlled by the surgeon; 6) Compensation of physiological motions
and surgical constraints; 7) Compensation for surgeon's hand tremor; 8) Less pain and trauma and
shorter recovery time; 9) Tele-surgery; 10) Training, learning and mentoring using virtual models;
The work plan is the following. After installing basic hardware and software, we will perform model
identification of the medical robot, needed for advanced compliant motion control. Several haptic
tele-manipulation architectures will be designed and tested to connect the master station (controlled
by the surgeon) to the medical robot. The physical limits of the system setup (e.g. time delay,
bandwidth, sampling time, noise and input saturation) have to be mapped into an optimal haptic
feeling, coded into the control architecture. Safety issues cannot be neglected, since humans are in the
workspace. Therefore, the overall architecture has to guarantee fault tolerance to sensor failure, highfidelity haptic feedback and robustness to model errors. Experimental tests in organic objects will be
carried out, paving the way to real surgical applications.
Project name:
Stork Project
Coordinator (PI): Prof. Aníbal de Almeida
This is a pioneering project to study and implement
a protection system that prevents contacts of White
Stork in the distribution grid masts of electrical
energy in a given pilot area, in order to avoid
nesting and minimize the risk of death for the
species. This avoids also the construction and
nesting sites that are critical to maintaining air
service network distribution of electricity.
In this first phase we used a technology that
uses sound frequencies audible and ultrasonic
signals. The system uses also an automatic system,
developed by the Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica (ISR), which only acts when there is the presence
or approach of a stork.
The results of this first phase it was found that the system was effective in a pilot plant when
placed before implantation and when properly parameterized.
In order to consolidate the experience of the first phase is going to start the second phase of
the project, which envisages the extension of the 22 pilot facilities.
During this time, it was found that there are other systems that may have potential benefit to
the project, such as:
67
•
Systems of capacitor micro discharges. This system is already used in most of the monuments
to exclude smaller birds (eg pigeons), so there is no risk to the integrity stemmed from the
stork.
•
Systems that generate plumes of smoke. Smoking is considered by all animals as a sign of
distress, it is considered that solution with great potential. This solution is of high interest for
installation in technical buildings (Transformer Stations and Substations).
•
Mini vibrating platforms. Like the smoke, vibration is identified by the animals as a sign of
danger.
Like the approach taken in the first phase of these systems would work only when there is
presence or approach of a stork.
The diversification of different technologies is important to be able to assess which is the
most effective and increase the success of the primary objective: to prevent electrocution of storks in
the lines and plant distribution system of electricity.
68
F – Patents and Awards
•
Joao P. Barreto, Michel Antunes, Rui Melo. "Method and apparatus for automatic calibration
of an endoscopic camera using one or more images of a planar grid with a printed chessboard
pattern." Provisional Patent Request 20091000069650.
•
Modelo de Utilidade Nacional, Rotor Diferencial para Motores Eléctricos, N.º de Processo:
10379.
•
Prémio Inovação Jovem Engenheiro, Menção Honrosa, Ordem dos Engenheiros da Região
Sul, Lisboa, 2009, http://www.ordemengenheiros.pt/oe/sul/boletim/BolOE262.pdf
•
F. Ferreira, Device for Performance and Protection Improvement of Three-Phase Induction
Motors by means of Automatic Management of the Stator Windings Connection, Process no.:
104070K (National)
•
F. Ferreira, Differential Rotor for Electric Motors, Process no.: 10379. (National utility model)
G – Prototypes
•
Biped robot with human-like gaits
•
kheNose, an IEEE1451 compliant smart olfactory system developed to use with Khepera III
robots in the GUARDIANS consortium
•
3DClimber robot
•
ISROBOT: mobile robot platform (laboratory prototype) for experimental testing of indoor
navigation and perception algorithms
•
ROBCHAIR – robotic wheelchair: A real-time software structure based on RTAI was
developed and implemented on Robchair, in order to ensure a proper system functioning
under time constraints.
•
Cybercar (YME): YME electrical vehicle was instrumented with several sensors for
autonomous navigation, and the overall control architecture was developed
•
Portable EEG recording prototype (in collaboration with Polythecnic Institute of Tomar): A
modular portable EEG device for stand-alone use was developed. It is an embedded system
69
designed for six channel recording EEG signal. Based on this prototype, new products are
being developed in collaboration with ISA (Intelligent Sensing Anywhere).
•
Toolbox for robot manipulator dynamic model simulation, computation, and control.
•
General purpose fuzzy control development system, library and engine; Integration with
OPC-based communication to industrial setups; Easy construction of Fuzzy Sets and
controller; Graphical user interface.
•
Experimental facility for synchronous acquisition of endoscopic images and opto-tracking
readings. This integration work was carried in the context of the ArthroNav project.
•
Box with back light for single image calibration of endoscopic cameras.
•
The second version of IMPEP – the robotic Integrated Multimodal Perception Experimental
Platform – has been built so as to provide a test bed for multimodal perception studies.
•
Data acquisition setup for recordings of human in-hand manipulations tasks (HANDLE
project).
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