scholarly journals Soft robotic shell with active thermal display

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukiko Osawa ◽  
Yuho Kinbara ◽  
Masakazu Kageoka ◽  
Kenji Iida ◽  
Abderrahmane Kheddar
Keyword(s):  
Layer Structure ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Heat Conducting ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Circulating Water ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Soft Shell ◽  
Almost All

AbstractAlmost all robotic systems in use have hard shells, which is limiting in many ways their full potential of physical interaction with humans or their surrounding environment. Robots with soft-shell covers offer an alternative morphology which is more pleasant in both appearance and for haptic human interaction. A persisting challenge in such soft-shell robotic covers is the simultaneous realization of softness and heat-conducting properties. Such heat-conducting properties are important for enabling temperature-control of robotic covers in the range that is comfortable for human touch. The presented soft-shell robotic cover is composed of a linked two-layer structure: (1) The inner layer, with built-in pipes for water circulation, is soft and acts as a thermal-isolation layer between the cover and the robot structure, whereas (2) the outer layer, which can be patterned with a given desired texture and color, allows heat transfer from the circulating water of the inner part to the surface. Moreover, we demonstrate the ability to integrate our prototype cover with a humanoid robot equipped with capacitance sensors. This fabrication technique enables robotic cover possibilities, including tunable color, surface texture, and size, that are likely to have applications in a variety of robotic systems.

Development of an autonomous robotic system for beard shaving assistance of disabled people based on an adaptive force tracking impedance control

2021 ◽  
pp. 095440622098482
Author(s):  
Oladayo S Ajani ◽  
Samy FM Assal
Keyword(s):  
Impedance Control ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Robotic System ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Robotic Assistance ◽  
Head Pose ◽  
Detection And Tracking ◽  
Control Scheme ◽  
Force Tracking

Recently, people with upper arm disabilities due to neurological disorders, stroke or old age are receiving robotic assistance to perform several activities such as shaving, eating, brushing and drinking. Although the full potential of robotic assistance lies in the use of fully autonomous robotic systems, these systems are limited in design due to the complexities and the associated risks. Hence, rather than the shared controlled or active robotic systems used for such tasks around the head, an adaptive compliance control scheme-based autonomous robotic system for beard shaving assistance is proposed. The system includes an autonomous online face detection and tracking as well as selected geometrical features-based beard region estimation using the Kinect RGB-D camera. Online trajectory planning for achieving the shaving task is enabled; with the capability of online re-planning trajectories in case of unintended head pose movement and occlusion. Based on the dynamics of the UR-10 6-DOF manipulator using ADAMS and MATLAB, an adaptive force tracking impedance controller whose parameters are tuned using Genetic Algorithm (GA) with force/torque constraints is developed. This controller can regulate the contact force under head pose changing and varying shaving region stiffness by adjusting the target stiffness of the controller. Simulation results demonstrate the system capability to achieve beard shaving autonomously with varying environmental parameters that can be extended for achieving other tasks around the head such as feeding, drinking and brushing.

scholarly journals Phase separation during blood spreading

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Houssine Benabdelhalim ◽  
David Brutin
Keyword(s):  
Phase Separation ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Whole Blood ◽  
Crime Scene ◽  
Blood Pool ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Crime Scene Investigators ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Pool Area

AbstractBlood pools can spread on several types of substrates depending on the surrounding environment and conditions. Understanding the influence of these parameters on the spreading of blood pools can provide crime scene investigators with useful information. The focus of the present study is on phase separation, that is, when the serum spreads outside the main blood pool. For this purpose, blood pools with constant initial masses on wooden floors that were either varnished or not were created at ambient temperatures of $$21~^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ 21 ∘ C , $$29~^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ 29 ∘ C , and $$37~^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ 37 ∘ C with a relative humidity varying from 20 to 90%. The range $$21~^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ 21 ∘ C to $$37~^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ 37 ∘ C covers almost all worldwide indoor cases. The same whole blood from the same donor was used for all experiments. As a result, an increase in relative humidity was found to result in an increase in the final pool area. In addition, at the three different experimental temperatures, the serum spread outside the main pool at relative humidity levels above 50%. This phase separation is more significant on varnished substrates, and does not lead to any changes in the drying morphology. This phenomenon is explained by the competition between coagulation and evaporation.

Enabling impedance-based physical human–multi–robot collaboration: Experiments with four torque-controlled manipulators

2021 ◽  
pp. 027836492110536
Author(s):  
Niels Dehio ◽  
Joshua Smith ◽  
Dennis L. Wigand ◽  
Pouya Mohammadi ◽  
Michael Mistry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Contact Forces ◽  
Torque Control ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Control Approach ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Compliant Control ◽  
Multi Robot

Robotics research into multi-robot systems so far has concentrated on implementing intelligent swarm behavior and contact-less human interaction. Studies of haptic or physical human-robot interaction, by contrast, have primarily focused on the assistance offered by a single robot. Consequently, our understanding of the physical interaction and the implicit communication through contact forces between a human and a team of multiple collaborative robots is limited. We here introduce the term Physical Human Multi-Robot Collaboration (PHMRC) to describe this more complex situation, which we consider highly relevant in future service robotics. The scenario discussed in this article covers multiple manipulators in close proximity and coupled through physical contacts. We represent this set of robots as fingers of an up-scaled agile robot hand. This perspective enables us to employ model-based grasping theory to deal with multi-contact situations. Our torque-control approach integrates dexterous multi-manipulator grasping skills, optimization of contact forces, compensation of object dynamics, and advanced impedance regulation into a coherent compliant control scheme. For this to achieve, we contribute fundamental theoretical improvements. Finally, experiments with up to four collaborative KUKA LWR IV+ manipulators performed both in simulation and real world validate the model-based control approach. As a side effect, we notice that our multi-manipulator control framework applies identically to multi-legged systems, and we execute it also on the quadruped ANYmal subject to non-coplanar contacts and human interaction.

Network-Based Continuous Education Opportunities

2014 ◽  
pp. 117-134
Author(s):  
Edita Butrimė ◽  
Vaiva Zuzevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Educational Support ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Almost All

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze and present theoretical and empirical findings about the ways that teachers in Higher Education (HE) interpret the role of ICT for their professional development both as teachers in HE and as medical professionals in some cases. Two research questions were formulated: 1) Why is the employment of technologies fully accepted and promoted in almost all aspects of professional activity, but employment of ICT for teaching and learning at HE is not always used to its full potential? 2) What (if any) educational support is needed for university teachers to use available e-learning opportunities for their own development as teachers to a greater extent? Educational support for university teachers to use contemporary information communication technologies and network provisions more effectively for their competence development are presented.

A Round-Up of Modern Opinion

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hashim Kamali
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Almost All

This chapter presents a selection mainly of twentieth-century scholarly opinion, both Sunni and Shi’a, on wasaṭiyyah and its role and manifestation in the textual data and historical development of Islamic scholarship, as well as the management of community affairs. Wasaṭiyyah relates closely to justice, but it is multifaceted and tends to influence almost all aspects of the individual conduct, as well as relations in society and with the outside world. The chapter discusses how wasaṭiyyah begins in the inner self of the individual and from there spreads out to influence relations with others and one’s surrounding environment, concluding with the point that rejecting extremism and embracing moderation are the keys toward treating others with dignity, accepting our differences, and coexisting with each other in peace and harmony.

scholarly journals About geoecological situation in the Selenga river basin (Western Transbaikalia) in the Palaeolithic

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-64
Author(s):  
N. P. Kalmykov ◽  
R. Ts. Budaev
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Selenga River Basin ◽  
Cooling Period ◽  
Selenga River ◽  
River Terraces ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Small Force ◽  
Pleistocene Mammals ◽  
Long Acting

The data are presented on the time of the first appearance of prehistoric humans in the Selenga River Basin, where human interaction with the natural environment took place during the cooling period, with its maximum registered in the end of the Pleistocene. It is shown that the changes in the relief were controlled by the activity of tectonic phases, one of which having caused the uprising of the Baikal Depression shoulders and the lowering of its bottom to the current depth. It has been noted that denudation and accumulation contributed to the formation of foothills and river terraces, inhabited by Palaeolithic humans. Stepwise climatic changes being non-antagonistic to the surrounding environment favoured the preservation of many species of the Pleistocene mammals, which nowadays compose the current teriofauna. The extinction of key mammals (Mammuthus, Coelodonta) is not attributed to the ancient human activities. The presented research results allow considering ancient humans being an integral component of geosystems, which influenced them indirectly by impacts though of a small force but long-acting and destabilizing their balance, i.e., extension of settlements and ancient residential landscapes.

scholarly journals The Urban Backyard: Resilient spaces for urban dwellers.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thomas Hemi
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Hybrid Form ◽  
Sense Of Ownership ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Large Plot ◽  
Almost All ◽  
High Density Housing ◽  
New Zealanders

<p>The unsustainable nature of New Zealand’s ongoing suburban expansion is reflected by our self-entitled obsession with owning space or land. In a survey commissioned by Mitre 10 (Mitre 10, 2014), 1500 New Zealanders were asked for their opinions of the size of backyards and how they use them. “Most survey respondents, 84 per cent, agreed they liked the idea of the traditional Kiwi quarter-acre paradise - a large plot of land with a standalone house on it, and almost all said they would rather live on the traditional quarter-acre section than in high-density housing.” (Small, 2014)  The backyard is a classic space that New Zealanders feel entitled to possess ownership, but if all we require is “enough room for a barbecue” and want “a bit of grass out the back” then we are consuming more space than we need. (Small, 2014) Here, begins an argument for a change in planning.Living in closer and more compact cities has been the catalyst to a more life-filled and active space in American and European cities. But close and compact are not typical to the vernacular in New Zealand. A hybrid form of city living could be found by experimenting with the typical New Zealand suburban lifestyle in urban spaces. By doing so more New Zealanders may decide to live in these new urban spaces. This research explores how a dense urban settlement can integrate the suburban model of a backyard to help facilitate better living spaces in Wellington. Smoothing the barrier between public and privatised space will help these spaces become more appropriated for encouraging human interaction and eventually promoting a sense of ownership and community over the shared backyard space.</p>

scholarly journals A Complex Component of the Nervous System: Brachial Plexus

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-06
Author(s):  
Nephthys Sanzhar ◽  
Erasyl M Davis ◽  
M.K. Siminoski
Keyword(s):  
Brachial Plexus ◽  
Imaging Modality ◽  
Traumatic Injury ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Brachial Plexopathy ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Obstetric Brachial Plexus ◽  
Almost All

Brachial plexopathy is a type of peripheral neuropathy. Injuries to the brachial plexus can be classified according to their severity, ranging from neuropraxia, the mildest form, to axonotmesis and neurotmesis, the most severe forms. The causes of brachial plexopathy include traumatic and non-traumatic injuries. Because the brachial plexus can sustain various types of injuries, different imaging modalities are required. Recent advances in diagnostic imaging have enabled better investigation of brachial plexopathy. This article reviews the major and most widely used imaging methods used for investigating brachial plexopathy along with newer modalities. The indications, advantages, and disadvantages of each modality are examined. The major factor in realizing the full potential of any imaging method is the knowledge of the requesting physician about the capabilities and limitations of each method. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the standard imaging modality for evaluating non-traumatic injury to the brachial plexus; however, there are several limitations to its use and, therefore, other modalities should be pursued. MR myelography should be used for traumatic meningoceles and root avulsions. MR neurography is a relatively new technique with massive potential. It is a tissue-specific modality with the ability to elicit morphological as well as pathological features of nerves. CT myelography is the gold standard for evaluating traumatic injury of the brachial plexus. Other potential uses are with tumors of the brachial plexus as well as obstetric brachial plexus palsies. Finally, sonography is addressed. With its ability to detect almost all plexopathies and the fact that it does not employ radiation and can be done in virtually every patient, it should be the baseline or, at least, the screening method for plexopathies.

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