Volume 4, Issue 3

Stochastic Diffusion Search, first incepted in 1989, belongs to the extended family of swarm intelligence algorithms. In contrast to many nature-inspired algorithms, stochastic diffusion search has a strong mathematical framework describing its behaviour and convergence. In addition to concisely exploring the algorithm in the context of natural swarm intelligence systems, this paper reviews various developments of the algorithm, which have been shown to perform well in a variety of application domains including continuous optimisation, implementation on hardware and medical imaging. This algorithm has also being utilised to argue the potential computational creativity of swarm intelligence systems through the two phases of exploration and exploitation.

Mobile Robotic Telepresence (MRP) helps people to communicate in natural ways despite being physically located in different parts of the world. User interfaces of such systems are as critical as the design and functionality of the robot itself for creating conditions for natural interaction. This article presents an exploratory study analysing different robot teleoperation interfaces. The goals of this paper are to investigate the possible effect of using augmented reality as the means to drive a robot, to identify key factors of the user interface in order to improve the user experience through a driving interface, and to minimize interface familiarization time for non-experienced users. The study involved 23 participants whose robot driving attempts via different user interfaces were analysed. The results show that a user interface with an augmented reality interface resulted in better driving experience.

This paper describes the development of an embedded system whose purpose is to control the Novint Falcon as a robot, and to develop a control experiment that demonstrates the use the Novint Falcon as a robotic actuator. The Novint Falcon, which is a PC input device, is “haptic” in the sense that it has a force feedback component. Its relatively low cost compared with other platforms makes it a good candidate for academic application in robot modeling and control. An embedded system is developed to interface with the multiple motors and sensors present in the Novint Falcon, which is subsequently used to control three independent Novint Falcons for a “ballon- plate” experiment. The results show that the device is a viable solution for high-speed actuation of small-scale mechanical systems.