Development of a Robotic Harvesting Mechanism for Button Mushrooms

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 565-575
Author(s):  
Mingsen Huang ◽  
Xiaohu Jiang ◽  
Long He ◽  
Daeun Choi ◽  
John Pecchia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Success Rate ◽  
Air Pressure ◽  
List Type ◽  
Test Results ◽  
End Effector ◽  
Suction Cup ◽  
System A ◽  
Laboratory Test Results ◽  
Target Locations ◽  
Robotic Harvesting

HighlightsA robotic mushroom picking mechanism was developed, including positioning, picking, and stipe trimming.The picking end-effector was designed based on a bending motion around the stipe-substrate joint.The overall success rate of the developed picking mechanism reached 91.4%.Acting time and air pressure for the suction cup were studied in mushroom bruise level tests.Abstract. Button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) harvesting mainly relies on costly manpower, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Robotic harvesting is an alternative method to address this challenge. In this study, a robotic mushroom picking mechanism was designed, including a picking end-effector based on a bending motion, a four degree-of-freedom (DoF) positioning end-effector for moving the picking end-effector, a mushroom stipe trimming end-effector, and an electro-pneumatic control system. A laboratory-scale prototype was fabricated to validate the performance of the mechanism. Bruise tests on the mushroom caps were also conducted to analyze the influence of air pressure and acting time of the suction cup on bruise level. The test results showed that the picking end-effector was successfully positioned to the target locations. The success rate of the picking end-effector was 90% at first pick and increased to 94.2% after second pick. The main reason for the failures was inclined growing condition of those mushrooms, resulting in difficulties in engaging the mushroom cap with the suction cup facing straight downward. The trimming end-effector achieved a success rate of 97% overall. The bruise tests indicated that the air pressure was the main factor affecting the bruise level, compared to the suction cup acting time, and an optimized suction cup may help to alleviate the bruise damage. The laboratory test results indicated that the developed picking mechanism has potential to be implemented in automatic mushroom harvesting. Keywords: Bruise test, End-effector, Mushroom, Robotic harvesting.

Design and Evaluation of a Pneumatic Gantry Robot for the Grinding of Steel Blanks

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashar Raoufi ◽  
Brian Surgenor
Keyword(s):  
Field Tests ◽  
Grinding Process ◽  
Programmable Logic ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Pressure Transducers ◽  
System A ◽  
Laboratory Test Results ◽  
Combined Control ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Gantry Robot

This paper describes the design and evaluation of a pneumatic gantry robot that is used to grind the edges of steel blanks as part of a finishing operation prior to being stamped. The objective of this research project is to automate the grinding process in order to reduce the frequency of cracking. The required force and degree of precision needed were thought to be within the capabilities of a pneumatically actuated robot. This would keep the cost of the apparatus down, which was important given the low capital cost of the manual operation. Furthermore, given that manipulation of the air pressure is the mechanism used to move a pneumatic actuator, the combined control of force and position is inherent to the system. A number of different pneumatic circuit configurations were examined before adopting a design that uses a combination of directional solenoid and flow control valves controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Pressure transducers and analog linear potentiometers are used for data acquisition. Laboratory test results are presented as well as a discussion of additional work that must be completed with the pneumatic gantry robot before field tests are conducted.

scholarly journals An individualized risk prediction model for new-onset, progression and regression of chronic kidney disease in a retrospective cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes under primary care in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Yang ◽  
Tsun Kit Chu ◽  
Jinxiao Lian ◽  
Cheuk Wai Lo ◽  
Shi Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Kidney Disease ◽  
Kidney Disease ◽  
Electronic Health Records ◽  
Laboratory Test ◽  
List Type ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Laboratory Test Results ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
New Onset

AbstractObjectivesThis study is aimed to develop and validate a prediction model for multi-state transitions across different stages of chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus under primary care.SettingWe retrieved the anonymized electronic health records of a population based retrospective cohort in Hong Kong.ParticipantsA total of 26,197 patients were included in the analysis.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe new-onset, progression, and regression of chronic kidney disease were defined by the transitions of four stages that were classified by combining glomerular filtration rate and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio. We applied a multi-scale multi-state Poisson regression model to estimate the rates of the stage transitions by integrating the baseline demographic characteristics, routine laboratory test results and clinical data from electronic health records.ResultsDuring the mean follow-up time of 1.7 years, there were 2,935 patients newly diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, 1,443 progressed to the next stage and 1,971 regressed into an earlier stage. The models achieved the best performance in predicting the new-onset and progression with the predictors of sex, age, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, serum creatinine, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides and drug prescriptions.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that individual risks of new-onset and progression of chronic kidney disease can be predicted from the routine physical and laboratory test results. The individualized prediction curves developed from this study could potentially be applied to routine clinical practices, to facilitate clinical decision making, risk communications with patients and early interventions.Article summaryStrengths of this studyEarly predictions for chronic kidney disease progression and timely intervention is critical for clinical management of patients with diabetes.We successfully developed a multi-scale multi-state Poisson regression models that achieved the satisfactory performance in predicting the new-onset and progression of chronic kidney diseases.The model incorporates the predictors of demographic characteristics, routine laboratory test results and clinical data from electronic health records.The individualized prediction curves could potentially be applied to facilitate clinical decision making, risk communications with patients and early interventions of CKD progression.Limitations of this studyThe cohort has a relatively short follow-up period and the retrospective study design might suffer from report bias and selection bias.

Effect of Ibuprofen on Serum Laboratory Test Results

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1025-1034
Author(s):  
Carol L. Colvin ◽  
Raymond J. Townsend ◽  
William R. Gillespie ◽  
Kenneth S. Albert
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Test ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Laboratory Test Results

scholarly journals Magnetic Driven Two-Finger Micro-Hand with Soft Magnetic End-Effector for Force-Controlled Stable Manipulation in Microscale

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 410
Author(s):  
Dan Liu ◽  
Xiaoming Liu ◽  
Pengyun Li ◽  
Xiaoqing Tang ◽  
Masaru Kojima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Force ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Soft Magnetic ◽  
End Effector ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
System A ◽  
Atomic Force ◽  
Afm Probe ◽  
End Effectors ◽  
Fixed End

In recent years, micromanipulators have provided the ability to interact with micro-objects in industrial and biomedical fields. However, traditional manipulators still encounter challenges in gaining the force feedback at the micro-scale. In this paper, we present a micronewton force-controlled two-finger microhand with a soft magnetic end-effector for stable grasping. In this system, a homemade electromagnet was used as the driving device to execute micro-objects manipulation. There were two soft end-effectors with diameters of 300 μm. One was a fixed end-effector that was only made of hydrogel, and the other one was a magnetic end-effector that contained a uniform mixture of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and paramagnetic particles. The magnetic force on the soft magnetic end-effector was calibrated using an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe. The performance tests demonstrated that the magnetically driven soft microhand had a grasping range of 0–260 μm, which allowed a clamping force with a resolution of 0.48 μN. The stable grasping capability of the magnetically driven soft microhand was validated by grasping different sized microbeads, transport under different velocities, and assembly of microbeads. The proposed system enables force-controlled manipulation, and we believe it has great potential in biological and industrial micromanipulation.

Quality benchmarking of smartphone laboratory medicine applications: comparison of laboratory medicine specialists’ and non-laboratory medicine professionals’ evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Snežana Jovičić ◽  
Joanna Siodmiak ◽  
Marta Duque Alcorta ◽  
Maximillian Kittel ◽  
Wytze Oosterhuis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Quality ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Laboratory Medicine ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Content Quality ◽  
Laboratory Test Results ◽  
System Usability Scale ◽  
Mobile Health Applications ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
Health Applications

AbstractObjectivesThere are many mobile health applications (apps) now available and some that use in some way laboratory medicine data. Among them, patient-oriented are of the lowest content quality. The aim of this study was to compare the opinions of non-laboratory medicine professionals (NLMP) with those of laboratory medicine specialists (LMS) and define the benchmarks for quality assessment of laboratory medicine apps.MethodsTwenty-five volunteers from six European countries evaluated 16 selected patient-oriented apps. Participants were 20–60 years old, 44% were females, with different educational degrees, and no professional involvement in laboratory medicine. Each participant completed a questionnaire based on the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) and the System Usability Scale, as previously used for rating the app quality by LMS. The responses from the two groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation.ResultsThe median total score of NLMP app evaluation was 2.73 out of 5 (IQR 0.95) compared to 3.78 (IQR 1.05) by the LMS. All scores were statistically significantly lower in the NLMP group (p<0.05), except for the item Information quality (p=0.1631). The suggested benchmarks for a useful appear: increasing awareness of the importance and delivering an understanding of persons’ own laboratory test results; understandable terminology; easy to use; appropriate graphic design, and trustworthy information.ConclusionsNLMP’ evaluation confirmed the low utility of currently available laboratory medicine apps. A reliable app should contain trustworthy and understandable information. The appearance of an app should be fit for purpose and easy to use.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and pregnancy – where are we now? A review

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 428-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Rajewska ◽  
Wioletta Mikołajek-Bedner ◽  
Joanna Lebdowicz-Knul ◽  
Małgorzata Sokołowska ◽  
Sebastian Kwiatkowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Fatality ◽  
Fetal Distress ◽  
Delivery Mode ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Third Trimester ◽  
The Third ◽  
Laboratory Test Results ◽  
Protective Antibodies ◽  
Polymerase Chain

AbstractThe new acute respiratory disease severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is highly contagious. It has caused many deaths, despite a relatively low general case fatality rate (CFR). The most common early manifestations of infection are fever, cough, fatigue and myalgia. The diagnosis is based on the exposure history, clinical manifestation, laboratory test results, chest computed tomography (CT) findings and a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The effect of SARS-CoV-2 on pregnancy is not already clear. There is no evidence that pregnant women are more susceptible than the general population. In the third trimester, COVID-19 can cause premature rupture of membranes, premature labour and fetal distress. There are no data on complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection before the third trimester. COVID-19 infection is an indication for delivery if necessary to improve maternal oxygenation. Decision on delivery mode should be individualised. Vertical transmission of coronavirus from the pregnant woman to the fetus has not been proven. As the virus is absent in breast milk, the experts encourage breastfeeding for neonatal acquisition of protective antibodies.

scholarly journals Atypical anti-glomerular basement membrane disease with anti-GBM antibody negativity and ANCA positivity: a case report

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Guo ◽  
Qinghua Yin ◽  
Song Lei ◽  
Yanjun He ◽  
Ping Fu
Keyword(s):  
Basement Membrane ◽  
Glomerular Basement Membrane ◽  
Rare Case ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Case Presentation ◽  
Severe Renal Insufficiency ◽  
Laboratory Test Results ◽  
Organ Specific

Abstract Background Anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) disease is an organ-specific autoimmune disease that involves the lung and kidneys and leads to rapid glomerulonephritis progression, with or without diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, and even respiratory failure. Classic cases of anti-GBM disease are diagnosed based on the presence of the anti-GBM antibody in serum samples and kidney or lung biopsy tissue samples. However, atypical cases of anti-GBM disease are also seen in clinical practice. Case presentation We herein report the rare case of a patient with atypical anti-GBM disease whose serum was negative for the anti-GBM antibody but positive for the myeloperoxidase (MPO) anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (p-ANCA) and another atypical ANCA. Laboratory test results showed severe renal insufficiency with a creatinine level of 385 μmol/L. Renal biopsy specimen analysis revealed 100% glomeruli with crescents; immunofluorescence showed immunoglobulin G (IgG) linearly deposited alongside the GBM. Finally, the patient was discharged successfully after treatment with plasmapheresis, methylprednisolone and prednisone. Conclusion This patient, whose serum was negative for the anti-GBM antibody but positive for p-ANCA and another atypical ANCA, had a rare case of anti-GBM disease. Insights from this unusual case might help physicians diagnose rare forms of glomerulonephritis and treat affected patients in a timely manner.

scholarly journals Deviation Tolerance Performance Evaluation and Experiment of Picking End Effector for Famous Tea

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Yingpeng Zhu ◽  
Chuanyu Wu ◽  
Junhua Tong ◽  
Jianneng Chen ◽  
Leiying He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Success Rate ◽  
Negative Pressure ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Orthogonal Experiment ◽  
Spatial Position ◽  
End Effector ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
Growth Environment ◽  
End Effectors ◽  
Average Success Rate

Accurately obtaining the posture and spatial position of tea buds through machine vision and other technologies is difficult due to the small size, different shapes, and complex growth environment of tea buds. Therefore, end effectors are prone to problems, such as picking omission and picking error. This study designs a picking end effector based on negative pressure guidance for famous tea. This end effector uses negative pressure to guide tea buds in a top-down manner, thereby correcting their posture and spatial position. Therefore, the designed end effector has deviation tolerance performance that can improve the picking success rate. The pre-experiment is designed, the tip of apical bud is referred to as the descent position, and the negative pressure range is determined to be 0.6 to 0.9 kPa. A deviation tolerance orthogonal experiment is designed. Experimental results show that various experimental factors are ranked in terms of the significance level of the effect on the average success rate, and the significance ranking is as follows: negative pressure (P) > pipe diameter (D) > descent speed (V). An evaluation method of deviation tolerance performance is presented, and the optimal experiment factor-level combination is determined as: P = 0.9 kPa, D = 34 mm, V = 20 mm/s. Within the deviation range of a 10 mm radius, the average success rate of the negative pressure guidance of the end effector is 97.36%. The designed end effector can be applied to the intelligent picking of famous tea. This study can provide a reference for the design of similar picking end effectors for famous tea.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document