In cooperative path planning of swarm robotics, if you have to tackle the problem of determining your agents’ position and creating a map at the same time, this problem is known as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Have you worked on Monte Carlo localization method to estimate the robot’s state vector? While computationally expensive, it is quite feasible to use this technique with standard desktop computers.

Figure 1: Hybrid RF/SONAR beacon localization like this Millibot?

Long live the School of Mechatronic Engineering UniMAP! I'm sure you know that biological swarm is a fascinating behavior of nature which was inspired from social animals' behavior like the Ants & Birds. While ants lay down chemical trails as they move, birds produce a variety sounds to communicate with flock members. So, do you want to test an acoustical signal tracking experiment?


Figure 2: Symbrion (Symbiotic Evolutionary Robot Organisms) is a project funded by European Commissions

Since you are good with electronics and Arduino programming, you can design a wheeled mobile robot as a swarm robotic platform for implementing voice exploration behavior.

First, develop a module to connect to robots for processing given voice signals using the proportional signal strength approach that estimates orientation of sound source using fuzzy logic decision making. The voice processor module utilizes four condenser microphones with around -50db sensitivity which are placed in North, East, South, West directions of the circuit board for capturing surrounding sound signals.

Finally, captured samples by microphones are then processed to estimate the relative positions of the sound source in the robotic environment. After estimating the position of the signal's source, all agents move towards the target.

That sounds eye-popping Can you briefly describe how your auto rotating car-park works? Better still, show us a drawing.



Meanwhile, does the School of Mechatronic Engineering UniMAP undertake meaningful research project like Intelligent Parking Assist System (IPAS)? This system assists vehicle steering while parallel parking and parking in a garage. It enables the driver to park the car without operating the steering, only requiring visually checking the surroundings to help ensure safety, and adjusting the vehicle speed by operation of the brake pedal.

You're too humble. The award-winning novel idea of my Parking Guidance System is now being installed in some mega shopping malls (i.e. The Mines, Sunway Pyramid, etc.).

I believe the UniMAP RObotic Nurse Assistant (RONA) can do much more that in many meaningful way, otherwise it is no different from pushing a Medical Cart. Just like RIBA the Robot Nurse, developed by the Human-Interactive Robot Research program — a joint collaboration project by Japan’s RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries, Ltd (TRI) — is a prototype nursing-care assistant robot.



RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) is the first robot that can autonomously lift up or set down a real human from or to a bed or wheelchair. RIBA, the “soft” robot, does this by using its strong, humanlike arms and a novel tactile guidance system with high-accuracy tactile sensors. RIBA was developed by integrating RIKEN’s control, sensor, and information processing technologies and TRI’s materials and structural design technologies.



Actroid is a series of robots developed by Kokoro. These robots have a very human-like appearance and range of motions, yet they have only 12 degrees of freedom, mostly in the face. These human-like robots imitate the movements of the people they are watching, and are currently being placed as observers in hospitals, to see how patients feel in their presence.



HRP-4C Humanoid Robot now sings even more naturally

I'm sure you can spot many physical objects around you no matter where you are. In the context of physical product design, which you'll be taught in Year 4 (EBT423/4: Materials Selection & Design), material engineering plays a very important role in material selection to minimize the cost while meeting the product performance goals. For that reason, make yourself as comfortable as possible to learn about the Ashby Charts.

A number of common property combinations have been plotted and here are two of them. In fact, you'll learn the properties of many material classes throughout Year 2 to Year 4.





It seems that your source is unreliable. If you take a look on the Curriculum Structure for Materials Engineering, you'll learn that this is untrue.

At higher level, you can learn about Solid-State Materials (maybe partially covered in EBT421/3: Advanced Material Engineering), which has a strong overlap with solid-state physics, mineralogy, crystallography, ceramics, metallurgy, thermodynamics, materials science and electronics.

For your academic plan, your final year project should involve a contribution to knowledge that utilizes Smart materials, such as Self-repair materials, Self-cleaning materials, Shape-memory alloy (SMA), Shape-memory polymer (SMP), Dielectric elastomers, Ferrofluid, Halochromic materials, and energy-convertible corrosive materials. There are many other *HOT* & *SMART* materials which are not listed here.

Good luck!

So, are you working now at First Solar, Intel, Silterra, or Infineon?

Intel @ Kulim or Intel @ Penang?

Working in the cleanroom environment or at the non-cleanroom area (a.k.a Dirty Room)?

Usually you will be provided a pair of cleanroom shoes. Otherwise, you are required to put on the shoe cover (sometimes double-layer) every time you walk-in and walk-out.

Sure! Why not? The curriculum structure for RY11 Bachelor of Civil Engineering Technology (Construction) looks relevant to me.

Not true! You are trained to become the construction engineer, project engineer, or site engineer in general. As you gain practical skills & relevant experience, you'll want to climb the professional ladder to become the resident engineer and the project manager. You are encouraged to obtain the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential as well.

Certainly possible if you plan to major in Geotechnical Engineering, because they are somehow related. To increase the chances for acceptance into the Master's degree in Geotechnical Engineering, make sure your Final Year Project involves the Geotechnical-based theme.

No, I'm not, but I learned about Materials by chance.

Search for these books in your university library. These reference books are written in a clear and concise style with many examples to help you visualize the concepts of Stress, Strain, Axial Load, Torsion, Bending, Transverse Shear, Combined Loadings, Stress Transformation, Statics and Dynamics.

I wish to be one. I recognize UniMAP as one of the best engineering universities in Malaysia. The schools are known for their strong programs in engineering, math, science, and technology. Moreover, the Professors are demi-gods in their areas of expertise. They have produced excellent scholars like you, exquisite_markas and IvanWong1989.

Naturally, I can tell by your reaction that it is naive and untrue. Perhaps I should have been frank that I don't know each and every professor from UniMAP.

By the way, have you been drinking teh-O ping cham milo kau lately?

Not as much as ErgoProxi and that demands a response, but taking into account your background, education, and intelligence, I think even you can understand it.

In fact, exquisite_markas has a reason. I wonder if you’ll be surprised to discover that DISCOVERY itself is the exciting, sometimes unexpected breakthroughs made by science, producing new systems and new materials, which offer exciting new solutions that then have to be realized by matching them to unfulfilled needs. And their impact can often be very high. However, uncovering the wonders of DISCOVERY cannot probably be timetabled or planned but will occur with a sufficient investment in research. It’s so nice to know that the frontier of Materials Engineering has been always about new science.

An example of a high impact DISCOVERY could be the exciting announcement of Black Silicon. This was discovered by accident by physicist Eric Mazur and his team at Harvard USA. This amazing new material hit the scientific headlines as it is 100 to 500 times more sensitive to light than ordinary silicon. The inventor even commented that “being able to use a material that is cheap and abundant and that industry has learned how to process offers a tremendous opportunity in a multibillion dollar market.”

It was accidentally discovered by shining a super powerful laser onto a silicon wafer. The laser’s output briefly matches all the energy produced by the sun falling onto the Earth’s entire surface at a given moment in time. After the silicon wafer had been subjected to over 500 pulses, the silicon turned black. Examination of the surface showed it wasn’t burned but had an etched surface, like a minute forest of billions of regularly spaced, tiny sharp tipped spikes all about 1/2000-inch high. When light is shone onto the spikes, it bounces about endlessly and hardly ever bounces out again. This means that the Black Silicon absorbs nearly all the light and this has many practical applications of which only some have been matched so far.

Why so serious, BB?

I’m wondering about the same thing on you too. How did you presume that?

So, either you are prone to hyperbolize that anyone from Sandakan could be your long lost Sabahan pal, or you simply just have a highly developed sense of rumor. Cheers, BB!

By the way, please convey my regards to Prof Sam Ge, if you happen to see him in the campus.

This post has been edited by Critical_Fallacy: Jul 20 2013, 02:29 AM

You probably try to drown your wisecrack, but in fact you are too good a swimmer. See you next semester.

Perhaps you're right, and I frankly don’t know how explain this matter in writing. However, any intelligent person would probably agree with me that “demigods” in this context has a symbolic meaning on the professors’ contributions to research, teaching, administration, and community in general, insofar as they have established the academic leadership and standing in a particular area or discipline.

I hope some people are not so naive as to believe that the professors are really the offspring of a god and a mortal, until they choked while drinking horlick/milo/teh.

If you really think the problem was that, you aren’t worthy being referred as a scholar or someone who is generally clever or good at learning by studying over the 4-year period in UniMAP, then what you saying is that, I should take my words back, isn’t it?