The Brains4Buildings project aims to develop methods to design new smart building climate management systems that, among other things, reduce energy consumption, increase comfort and respond flexibly to user behavior. We set out to develop design guidelines to help B4B stakeholders when designing innovative user interfaces for such systems. We built upon our prior user research and requirements (deliverables 3.04 & 3.09) to formulate design dimensions. The dimensions encompass the different elements of user control and system feedback and the range in which they can exist. The design dimensions played a key role as a foundation for the design process and during evaluation and analysis. Within this work package, we ultimately want to gain a deeper understanding of the elements of the design dimensions and to formulate design guidelines. Building climate systems are generally designed for the specific context/building they are built into and thus the goals for the user interfaces can vary greatly. Therefore, a well-defined use case was necessary, which we defined in collaboration with one of our work package partners - Spectral. We chose an iterative approach to design for the use case, moving between design, prototype and test phases, depending on the insights gained along the way. Finally, we synthesized a list of key insights that led to design guidelines. In our final deliverable (D3.11) we aim to evaluate these guidelines.
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This work presents the development of an adaptive controller for dynamics compensation of unicycle-type mobile robots and their use in a decentralized control of a leader-follower formation. In this control system there is no need for exchanges of information between the robots and the follower.
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The adaptive approach to thermal comfort has gained unprecedented exposure and rising status recently among the thermal comfort community at the apparent expense of the heat balance approach for the evaluation of naturally ventilated buildings. The main appeal of this adaptive approach lies in its simplicity whereby the comfort temperature is expressed as a function of the outdoor air temperature only. The main responsibility for attaining thermal comfort is given to the individual, who is supposed to have some degree of control over the personal thermal environment. The adjustment of expectation enables a wider comfort temperature range in which occupants feel comfortable. Arguments in favor of the adaptive approach have been based on the results from a large number of field studies conducted across the globe involving the occupants of various types of buildings. It is not surprising, therefore, to watch proliferation of papers on the adaptive approach in the scientific domain and the incorporation of adaptive findings into standards and guidelines. However, there are a number of issues in the advancement of this approach, which have had little exposure in the literature. This paper looks critically at the foundation and underlying assumptions of the adaptive model approach and its findings.
In the last decade, the automotive industry has seen significant advancements in technology (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles) that presents the opportunity to improve traffic safety, efficiency, and comfort. However, the lack of drivers’ knowledge (such as risks, benefits, capabilities, limitations, and components) and confusion (i.e., multiple systems that have similar but not identical functions with different names) concerning the vehicle technology still prevails and thus, limiting the safety potential. The usual sources (such as the owner’s manual, instructions from a sales representative, online forums, and post-purchase training) do not provide adequate and sustainable knowledge to drivers concerning ADAS. Additionally, existing driving training and examinations focus mainly on unassisted driving and are practically unchanged for 30 years. Therefore, where and how drivers should obtain the necessary skills and knowledge for safely and effectively using ADAS? The proposed KIEM project AMIGO aims to create a training framework for learner drivers by combining classroom, online/virtual, and on-the-road training modules for imparting adequate knowledge and skills (such as risk assessment, handling in safety-critical and take-over transitions, and self-evaluation). AMIGO will also develop an assessment procedure to evaluate the impact of ADAS training on drivers’ skills and knowledge by defining key performance indicators (KPIs) using in-vehicle data, eye-tracking data, and subjective measures. For practical reasons, AMIGO will focus on either lane-keeping assistance (LKA) or adaptive cruise control (ACC) for framework development and testing, depending on the system availability. The insights obtained from this project will serve as a foundation for a subsequent research project, which will expand the AMIGO framework to other ADAS systems (e.g., mandatory ADAS systems in new cars from 2020 onwards) and specific driver target groups, such as the elderly and novice.
The RAAK Pro MARS4Earth project focuses on the question of whether it is possible to develop a prototype of a modular and autonomous aerial manipulator (drone + robot arm) that can physically interact with a realistic outdoor environment, and what possibilities this creates to several application domains. In essence, the aerial manipulator acts as "arms and hands in the air", which can be used for both active interaction (maintenance of offshore windturbine) and passive interaction (selective plant treatment and firefighting). The modular aerial manipulator consists of four basic building blocks: • Mission-specific interaction module(s); • Intelligent surface exploration; • Adaptive interaction control algorithm(s); • Advanced on-board perception and decision module(s). In the meantime the first version of the aforementioned modular building blocks have been designed and realized by various consortium partners. However, due to the various measure of the COVID 19, consortium partners and researchers were not able to carry out the integration of various modules to realize the complete system. Moreover, it was not possible to conduct thorough tests in the operational environment to evaluate the performance of the first prototype. This is a crucial step tp realize the aerial manipulator with the envisaged modularity and performance. In this RAAK Impulse project, we will conduct integration of the first versions of the modules developed by the various consortium partners. Moreover, we will conduct thorough test in Emshave and Twente safety campus to investigate the functionality and performance of the developed integrated prototype. With this Impulse, we will be able to make up for the delay caused by the COVID -19 measures and conclude the project by realizing the original objectives of the MARS4Earth project.
Het RAAK-mkb project Smart Mobility is uitgevoerd door het lectoraat Automotive Control van Fontys hogeschool Automotive Engineering. Binnen het project is een living lab ontwikkeld voor onderzoek en ontwikkeling op het gebied van autonoom en coöperatief rijden. Omdat het lectoraat in het voorjaar van 2015 is gestopt, is verdere ontwikkeling van dit living lab voor onderwijs en onderzoek moeizaam verlopen. Met dit project is het mogelijk het living lab verder in te zetten voor onderwijsdoeleinden binnen het curriculum van Automotive Engineering en in kaart te brengen van de mogelijkheden voor vervolgonderzoek in samenwerking met de beroepspraktijk bij het lectoraat Future Power Train. Het living lab bestaat uit een auto (Toyota Prius) voorzien van sensoren, instrumentatie en controlesystemen waarmee de autonome en coöperatieve rijfuncties gerealiseerd kunnen worden. Het living lab wordt nu reeds gebruikt als development platform voor een studententeam van HBO en TU studenten (www.ateam.nl). Het Top-up project maakt het mogelijk dit living lab ook in het tweede leerjaar in te zetten als leermiddel.
