31 documents found, page 1 of 4
Pocket-sized portable labs: control engineering practice made easy in Covid-19 ...
Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Soares, Filomena; Cardoso, AlbertoNew pocket-sized laboratories are proving to be an excellent tool as complementary equipment that students and lecturers can deploy to test control engineering design techniques. Here, the description and outcome results of an IFAC activity funded project entitled as Pocket-Sized Portable Labs: Control Engineering Practice Made Easy are presented. The project was executed in Portugal, from January 2021 to the e...
Your turn to learn – flipped classroom in automation courses
Soares, Filomena; Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Leão, Celina PintoFlipped Classroom approach was implemented in an Automation course with around 100 students. Videos focused on GRAFCET topics were given to students prior to class and problem-based challenges were solved in class by the students in a collaborative way. The teacher’s role was to guide students in their learning process. The goal was to identify students’ behavior regarding this learning approach, and the videos...
Integrating MIT app-inventor in PLC programming teaching
Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Cunha, J. Boaventura; Soares, FilomenaThe potentialities of using mobile devices such as smartphones for teaching/learning purposes are huge. However, in some teaching areas its use is still residual. The use of mobile applications in the context of teaching PLC programming techniques is addressed in this work. The MIT App-Inventor II is deployed to develop mobile applications for learning purposes. An android based application entitled Time-Counts...
Teaching PLC timers and counters programming using MIT app-inventor
Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Cunha, J. Boaventura; Soares, FilomenaCurrent students and technologies demand using new learning/teaching techniques. The potentialities of using mobile devices such as smartphones for teaching/learning purposes are huge. However, in some teaching areas its use is still residual. The use of mobile applications in the context of teaching PLC programming techniques is addressed in this work. The MIT App-Inventor II is deployed to develop mobile appl...
A support tool for teaching grafcet : engineering students' perceptions
Leão, Celina Pinto; Soares, Filomena; Machado, José Mendes; Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Cunha, J. BoaventuraModeling discrete event systems with sequential behavior can be a very hard and complex task. Some formalisms are used in this context, such as: Petri Nets, Statecharts, Finite automata, Grafcet and others. Among these, Grafcet seems to be a good choice because it is easy: to learn, to understand and to use. Teaching Grafcet is then relevant within engineering courses concerned with Industrial Automation. A vir...
Spreading Algorithm for Single-Objective Problems
Pires, E. J. Solteiro; Mendes, Luís; Lopes, António M.; Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Tenreiro Machado, J. A.This paper addresses the problem of finding several different solutions with the same optimum performance in single objective real-world engineering problems. In this paper a parallel robot design was proposed. Thereby, this paper presents a genetic algorithm to optimize uni-objective problems with an infinite number of optimal solutions. The algorithm uses the maximin concept and -dominance to promote diversit...
Multi-Criteria Manipulator Trajectory Optimization Based on Evolutionary Algori...
Pires, E. J. Solteiro; Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Tenreiro Machado, J. A.This paper proposes a method, based on a genetic algorithm, to generate smoth manipulator trajectories in a multi-objective perspective. The method uses terms proportional to the integral of the squared displacements in order to eliminate the jerk movement. In this work, the algorithm, based on NSGA-II and maximin sorting schemes, considers manipulators of two, three and four rotational axis (2R, 3R, 4R). The e...
Maximin Spreading Algorithm
Pires, E. J. Solteiro; Mendes, Luís; Lopes, António M.; Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Tenreiro Machado, J. A.; Vaz, João; Rosário, Maria J.This paper presents a genetic algorithm to optimize uni-objective problems with an infinite number of optimal solutions. The algorithm uses the maximin concept and -dominance to promote diversity over the admissible space. The proposed algorithm is tested with two well-known functions. The practical results of the algorithm are in good agreement with the optimal solutions of these functions. Moreover, the propo...
Fractional Particle Swarm Optimization
Pires, E. J. Solteiro; Tenreiro Machado, J. A.; Oliveira, P. B. de MouraThe paper addresses new perspective of the PSO including a fractional block. The local gain is replaced by one of fractional order considering several previous positions of the PSO particles. The algorithm is evaluated for several well known test functions and the relationship between the fractional order and the convergence of the algorithm is observed. The fractional order influences directly the algorithm co...
Maximin spreading algorithm
Pires, E. J. Solteiro; Mendes, Luís; Lopes, António M.; Oliveira, P. B. de Moura; Machado, J. A. Tenreiro; Vaz, João; Rosário, Maria J.This paper presents a genetic algorithm to optimize uni-objective problems with an infinite number of optimal solutions. The algorithm uses the maximin concept and e-dominance to promote diversity over the admissible space. The proposed algorithm is tested with two well-known functions. The practical results of the algorithm are in good agreement with the optimal solutions of these functions. Moreover, the prop...