Cooperative Adaptive Control for Cloud-Based Robotics

This paper studies collaboration through the cloud in the context of cooperative adaptive control for robot manipulators. We first consider the case of multiple robots manipulating a common object through synchronous centralized update laws to identify unknown inertial parameters. Through this development, we introduce a notion of Collective Sufficient Richness, wherein parameter convergence can be enabled through teamwork in the group. The introduction of this property and the analysis of stable adaptive controllers that benefit from it constitute the main new contributions of this work. Building on this original example, we then consider decentralized update laws, time-varying network topologies, and the influence of communication delays on this process. Perhaps surprisingly, these nonidealized networked conditions inherit the same benefits of convergence being determined through collective effects for the group. Simple simulations of a planar manipulator identifying an unknown load are provided to illustrate the central idea and benefits of Collective Sufficient Richness.Comment: ICRA 201

Secure tenure for home ownership and economic development on land subject to native title

The public policy debate on land rights, the struggle of Indigenous peoples to have their pre-colonial possession of land recognised and interests in how land rights might be exercised to fulfil Indigenous peoples’ hopes for economic development and home ownership.Those people who have had their native title rights and interests in land legally recognised are contemplating the implications for their future prosperity. They are pondering the types of investments they can make to develop their land for social and economic purposes, the use and development rights they might temporarily exchange for income, or, as a last resort, the rights and interests they are prepared to relinquish in return for compensation. Western Australia (WA) presents a unique case in the Australian context because, unlike other states and the Northern Territory, WA does not have a statutory Aboriginal land rights system despite its large and remote Aboriginal population. What is termed ‘Aboriginal land’ in Western Australia covers approximately 12 per cent of the state but has generally been granted at the discretion of the Minister for Lands, or else is held in trust as a reserve for the ‘use and benefit of Aboriginal inhabitants’.1 This estate has not been transferred to Aboriginal ownership under state legislation on the basis of statutory rights conferred on Aboriginal people as the result of a formal claim based on their cultural connections to the land or waters. According to the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma (AHRC 2005), this reflects ‘protection’ style legislation from the 19th century, which has been the basis of calls for reform of the system since the early 1980s (Seaman 1984; Bonner 1996; Casey 2007)

Playing to win or trying your best: Media representations of national anxieties over the role of sport participation during the 2002 commonwealth games.

In the last few years, growing concern has emerged in New Zealand sport about the shift towards a more commercial or professionalised model of sport and away from a mass participation-based model. In the midst of a relatively intense period of debate and concern over this change in direction, the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place in Manchester, England. In this article, we analyse how media coverage of the Games articulated with the broader public debate over the direction of New Zealand sport. Grounded in the assumption that the media both reflects and impacts on public understandings of cultural issues, we believe this analysis of coverage of the Games reveals a profound ambivalence over a more profess ionalised model of sport and points to an unwillingness to give up traditional values of sports participation in order to win. We explore how this debate articulates with current tensions in the realm of Physical Education and suggest that health and physical educators have an important role to play in challenging current pressures towards a win-at-all-costs approach to sport

Method of Producing Improved Bearing Components by Elimination or Control of Fiber Orientation, Including Magnetic Analysis

Producing improved bearing components by elimination or control of fiber orientatio

Acoustic analysis of an induction motor with viscoelastic bearing supports

The demand for silent bearing applications has resulted in the development of an effective damping layer between the outer ring of a rolling bearing and the surrounding structure. By means of numerical modeling using both FEM and BEM techniques an induction motor for household appliances is analyzed. A hybrid modeling approach combining measured structural velocities with a BEM formulation is used to validate the acoustic model. The numerical results are compared with results obtained from sound intensity measurements estimating the radiated sound power level for a running electric mo tor. It is found that a relatively simple boundary element model is capable of predicting the radiated sound power in a wide frequency range. By using BEM in combination with the radiation modes formulation it is found that a properly designed viscoelastic layer in the vicinity of the bearing is theoretically capable of reducing a fair amount of sound emitted by the motor

Walter Burley Griffin is dead. Long live Walter Burley Griffin's planning ideals!

In 2010 the ACT Government commenced a major public consultation exercise called ‘Time to Talk – Canberra 2030’ on Canberra’s long term future as part of developing a new strategy plan for Canberra. In this context, the then ACT Planning Minister, Andrew Barr MLA, published a short article on his personal website proclaiming that Walter Burley Griffin is dead. According to Barr, Griffin has not had any involvement in the planning and development of Canberra since 1920 and that his plans for the city were never really implemented. Barr stated Griffin’s ideals should not be ‘re-interpreted’ and we ‘should not be casting back a century for answers to Canberra’s contemporary challenges’ because ‘Griffin could never have foreseen the changes in lifestyles that technology has delivered and that climate change will require’. Barr bemoaned the fact that Griffin’s legacy continues to dominate debate about the future of Canberra and that Griffin is still held in high regard in Canberra planning circles. Barr argued therefore, that it was time to move beyond Griffin’s planning legacy. Despite the fact that no planner can ever clearly foresee the changes the future brings, there are several good reasons why Griffin’s planning ideals continue to pervade Canberra’s planning. This article explores two of Griffin’s planning ideals for Canberra and how they have endured in the development of two of Canberra’s strategic plans. The paper argues that these planning ideals still have currency today and will continue to have currency well into the future