Abstract
This study presents an experimental research design of a PhD work, studying the effectsof the variability in the performance of the Golf putting. The instruments used to analyze the putting were two digital cameras to detect the relevant dynamic objects (i.e., ball and putter) and a biaxial accelerometer to confirm the exactmoment at which the putter hits the ball. To synchronize the instruments, it was used a trigger. The ball’s trajectory and the putting movement were automatically analyzed based on visual detection and parameter estimation. The kinematic analysis of the putting was performed using the Matlab software, to determine the amplitude, velocity and acceleration of the players’gestures. We concluded that the Golf putting action parameters are divided into different stages(i.e., backswing, downswing and follow-through) and that those can be useful to investigate the effects of variability in this movement. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

Abstract
This book presents a careful selection of the contributions presented at the Mathematical Methods in Engineering (MME10) International Symposium, held at the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra- Engineering Institute of Coimbra (IPC/ISEC), Portugal, October 21-24, 2010. The volume discusses recent developments about theoretical and applied mathematics toward the solution of engineering problems, thus covering a wide range of topics, such as: Automatic Control, Autonomous Systems, Computer Science, Dynamical Systems and Control, Electronics, Finance and Economics, Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Fractional Mathematics, Fractional Transforms and Their Applications, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, Image and Signal Analysis, Image Processing, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Motor Control and Human Movement Analysis, Nonlinear Dynamics, Partial Differential Equations, Robotics, Acoustics, Vibration and Control, and Wavelets. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

Abstract
This paper presents an analytical modelthat evaluates the performance of the Maximum Packing channel allocation technique on linear andplanar cellular systems. The main innovations introduced by this model are the deterministic identification of the system space-state SMP and its application to a multi-dimensional Markov chain. The model was thereafter applied to severalcellular systems with different characteristics: number of cells, number of channels, interferenceconstraints and offered traffic values. Simulation results have validated the model and shown that Maximum Packing technique provides the best performance among all the available algorithms. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

Abstract
Over time, biological societies such ashumans, ants or bees have shown us the advantages inherent to the collective work. It is based on such results that many researchers have been trying to successfully develop new approaches in Multi-Robot Systems. Nevertheless, several assumptions need to be assured for collective work toemerge. In this paper, it is presented the significance and the advantages of cooperation in thedifferent societies bridging the gap to the concept of robot society. In order to compare th advantages of cooperative robots, it is considered essential the development of computational simulation based on the robotic cooperation in unstructured environments. Hence, a Multi-Robot Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) using Rao-Blackwellized particle filter is implemented ina simulation environment developed in the Player/Stage platform for robot and sensor applications. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

Abstract
The main aim of this research is the development of an autonomous adaptive system for actuation, data acquisition and control of activeankle-foot orthosis. In this paper the design ofa control unit composed by microcontroller, driver and sensor system, and its application to theactuation and position of the foot orthotic segment is presented. The research work combines hardware and software design of the intelligent control device with graphical interface for representation and analysis of the data acquired duringhuman motion. The dynamic system simulation is done in Matlab Simulink and SimMechanics. A laboratory model of the proposed system was implemented to demonstrate its autonomy and verify experimentally its functionality.The proposed control device can be used in several applications involving human motion analysis and control of different types of orthoses or functional electrical stimulation used for gait correction. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

Abstract
This paper presents a statistical significance analysis of a modified version of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) on groups of simulated robots performing a distributed exploration task, denoted as RDPSO (Robotic DPSO). This work aims to evaluate this novel exploration strategy studying the performance of the algorithm under communication constraints while increasing the population of robots. Experimental results show that there is no linear relationship between the number of robots and the maximum communication range. In general, the decreased performance by the developed algorithm under communication constraints can be overcome by slightly increasing the number of robots as the maximum communication range is decreased. © 2013, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.